Just One Night Together (Flatiron Five Fitness #3) - Deborah Cooke Page 0,87
that his partners were watching him. “That’s not how I remember it.”
“I know. I see that now.” Nate gave him a look and then a tight hug. “You’ve been blaming yourself, haven’t you?”
“I thought it was my fault. I thought I let you down.”
“Not a chance, bro. You were the rock of the platoon. I can’t believe you didn’t know it.”
Damon shook his head, unable to accept that things had been so different from his recollection. “The therapist said I might be remembering it wrong. He said I should talk to you, but I couldn’t do it.”
“Dumb ass,” Nate said and slugged Damon in the shoulder. Then he looked guiltily at the priest who pretended not to have heard. “That’ll teach me to let you duck my calls.”
“Yea, it will. I’ve learned my lesson.” They grinned at each other. “I want you to meet my friends,” Damon said and turned to his partners. “This is Nate Buchanan. We served together.”
“Ooo-rah,” Kyle said and got a laugh from Damon and Nate.
Damon continued. “Nate, these are my partners at Flatiron Five Fitness...”
“That fitness club?” Nate asked, then turned on Damon. “Wait a minute? Was that you on that billboard? I thought it looked like you, but you were never that big when we served.”
“He’s been working at it,” Kyle said. He touched his own chest. “He had a really good coach.”
Damon snorted.
“Kyle’s absurdly modest, as you can see,” Cassie said to Nate.
Kyle offered his hand to Nate. “Kyle Stuyvesant. Good to meet you.”
“Wow,” Nate said after the introductions had been made. “You really have accomplished something. That place is hot.”
“Have you been to F5F?” Theo asked.
“Are you kidding me? I could never afford it.” Theo produced a day pass and handed it to Nate whose eyes lit up. “You’re kidding me.”
“No, come on down and try it out,” Ty said.
“Thank you!” Nate nudged Damon. “I’m thinking it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to come close to the number of push-ups you can do.”
“Maybe not now, but you can get the jump on some training,” Damon said. “I’m going up to Boston for a month next week.”
Understanding dawned in Nate’s eyes. “You’re on. We’ll square off when you get back.” They bumped fists, then Nate looked down at the card again. “I can’t wait to see this place inside. How long can I stay?”
“All day,” Kyle said. “We’re open six to midnight.”
“Awesome. You’re going to lose money on this day pass.”
“We can do better than that,” Cassie said smoothly. “I just thought of our next promotion.” They all turned to her and she smiled. “We’re going to offer a discount on membership to service men and women, whether they’re active or not.”
“You served: you get the discount,” Theo agreed with a nod. “I like it.”
“I’ll be saving my pennies,” Nate said with enthusiasm.
“You need to install the app to plan your day,” Meesha said and took charge of Nate’s phone. Cassie explained that he could book into classes online or just check the schedule and the entire group turned to leave the church.
Damon followed the others with the priest. He’d arranged for a small reception in the room the church used for social functions and he could hear conversation already building as he approached. A couple of kids brought the pictures and he couldn’t believe how much better he felt.
All that energy shared by others had really helped.
It was just as Haley had said.
Yet she hadn’t come. He knew why. She’d wanted him to call her, to invite her, to make the next move for once, and he hadn’t done it.
He’d make that right ASAP.
Haley heard Garrett’s voice before she saw him.
That just gave her time to have a small heart attack and compose her features before he caught up with her. She was leaving the interview and crossing the lobby of the hospital, just starting to think she might have missed seeing him, when she heard him laugh. She didn’t turn around but kept walking, letting him catch up with her.
Her heart was thundering.
The inevitable meeting was upon her and she felt more flustered than she had for the interview.
The interview had gone well. Haley arrived early, thanks to her mom being off and lending her the car, and her own inclination to leave lots of time for wrong turns. She liked the doctor and the head nurse who had spearheaded the program and thought it would be easy to work within the outline of their