8.21 What Love Can Do

One afternoon, after Brady was home from work, he heard someone knocking at the door. Alayna was busy painting, so he answered it. To his surprise, Robyn was at the door. Roland had taken a vacation day and was sleeping at the time, so he definitely was not expecting her. The children had just gotten home from school, so it wouldn’t have been a good time for her to see them either. The only logical reason left was that she came to see him.

“What do you want,” Brady asked bluntly.

“Can I come in?”

“Fine,” he said and stepped aside from the doorway.

Robyn stood there looking at him for a moment trying to decide where to begin.

“Is there something you wanted,” Brady asked with annoyance.

“Yes. I, ummm…I want to be a client. I want you to train me.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Find someone else. Sorry,” he said quickly and opened the door for her.

“But, I did try to find someone else! Everyone at the gym said that you’re the best.”

“Hmph. They said that?”

“Yes.”

Brady didn’t like the idea of spending time with Robyn in such an intimate setting. He was very good at what he did, and he always kept his eye on his clients. He often needed to touch them to help correct their form. He definitely was not interested in putting his hands on her or looking at her longer than he needed to. But, Brady was very passionate about fitness, and if she really did do research on trainers, and all roads led to him, then he couldn’t possibly turn her away. Besides, he hadn’t yet made his training quota for the day, so he agreed.

“Fine. Come with me,” he said and closed the door and headed to the gym. “What are your goals?”

“I don’t need to lose a ton of weight, but I want to tone my muscles a bit.”

“Ok, let’s start you out on the treadmill so I can test your endurance.”

“What do you want me to put it on?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

She put the speed on 3.5 and the incline on 6 and started running. Brady watched her steps and her form.

“Your posture is good, but you need to run with your head up. Do you think you can go for 15 minutes?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Keep that head up.”

He watched her run for a few minutes to make sure she corrected her mistake. Right when he was going to leave her alone, he had another visitor.

“Hey, sugar bear,” a sweet voice said behind him.

Oh no, he thought. I’m not ready for this.

“H-hey, Viv! H-how are you,” he stammered in a high pitched voice.

“I’m ok. I can come back later if you’re busy.”

“No, it’s fine. You don’t have to–”

“I’ll come back later,” she said and dashed out the door.

“PLUM,” he yelled and hit the punching bag. “Do you see what you’ve done?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Robyn said, but Brady had already left.

He went outside and found Vivianna pacing with a concerned look on her face.

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s not what you think. I swear,” he said.

“I’ve come to know you very well over these past few weeks, Brady. Your eyes get as big as saucers when you’re excited or amazed. I know when you’re enjoying your food because you begin to sniff it. You get a certain look in your eye when you’re genuinely concerned. Your voice gets really high when you’re guilty. You stutter when you’re hiding something…”

“[sigh] Ok. For the record, I’m not hiding anything. There are things I’d just rather not talk about.”

“Who is she to you?”

“Do we have to do this now?”

“If you want me to stick around, we will. Who is she?”

“It’s strange a very strange relationship. She is my nephews’ aunt, and my sister’s sister-in-law, yet she is not related to me. I guess that makes her nobody to me.”

“You know what I mean, Brady.”

“Fine. The short version is we were in love in high school, she rejected me when we graduated, I was still in love with her my whole life, but now I’m not. It’s still a bit of a sore spot for me. She came by today asking me to train her, and I said no. But she insisted because she wanted to train with the best. I promise I was going to tell you about her eventually, but when you came in, I knew I was gonna have to and I just wasn’t ready. So, that’s why I acted weird. There is nothing going on. I’m sorry to alarm you. ”

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“Don’t apologize. I know I’ve given you plenty reasons to be suspicious before, and I know it may take a while for you to completely trust me. Those wild days are behind me, ok? You are the only gnome in my yard. You’re my angel!”

Yep. Robyn definitely came out at the wrong part of that conversation and got her feelings hurt. This is what happens when you do dubious things. She couldn’t stand the mush fest and went back inside.

Luckily Roland had awakened from his nap and was coming to watch TV and saw her.

“What’s that look,” he asked.

“Who’s that?”

“Who?”

“That little girl Brady is drooling all over.”

“Oh, ummm…Viviana.”

“I don’t care what her name is! Who is she?”

“That’s his girlfriend. You didn’t know?”

“Girlfriend?”

She said the words, but they just didn’t feel right coming out of her mouth. So, she tried it again.

“Brady has a girlfriend?”

“Yeah. I think they’re getting serious. Why do you care?”

“I don’t!”

“[sigh] Ok. Come sit down. Let’s talk. What’s going on with you in regard to him?”

“Nothing. At least…I want it to be nothing.”

“You still love him. He sent you packing, but you’re still hanging on, huh?”

“I guess so. I’m too old for this, Roland!”

“It’s your own fault, you know.”

“My fault? How is this my fault?”

“Girl, please! Owen treats his flowers better than you treat Brady. You’re almost an evil temptress!”

“I am not!”

“Are too! You clearly never wanted anything to do with him, but you kept hanging around giving him false hope. You even flirt back with him sometimes! This dude spent his whole LIFE chasing after you, and you don’t think that’s cruel?”

“Well…when you put it that way, it does sound a bit evil. Have I really ruined his life, Roland?”

“Yeah…you did. But Viviana is giving it back to him.”

“Hmph. Well, I guess young girls can handle crazy.”

“Actually…ever since they started hanging out, he hasn’t had an episode.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Not a one! See…that’s what love can do…and you missed out.”