“Cass, stop,” I said.
She shook her head, staring at the clock on the wall with a look of pure determination in her eyes. This was because Logan said she couldn’t, or shouldn’t, start exercise with something that was pretty full on. He was right but there was no way she was ever going to let him know that. Cass would collapse from exhaustion before she admitted that and it looked like she was headed right there.
“Come on, Cassie, take a few minutes to get your breath back.”
“If I stop… I won’t… start again.”
“Yeah, maybe that’s a good thing, hun.”
“He will not be… right, Chlo.” She gritted her teeth, wincing through the pain.
Christ, I was carrying her to the car.
I was surprised when Cass kept up until the end of the session. She did, however, slump to the floor as she got off her bike. I took a long swig of water before helping her up, supporting almost her entire weight.
“How you feeling there?”
“Take me to the spa,” she replied, groaning as we took just one step towards the changing rooms. “If I ever, ever suggest doing any form of exercise again, please, punch me really hard in the face.”
Laughing, I guided her to the other exit so we’d miss Logan gloating.
***
“This is a much better idea,” I said as we soaked our feet in the foot spa.
“It really is. I’m coming back tomorrow, my legs are going to kill even more then.”
“Yeah, they really are. So will you admit Logan’s right and you should have started anything else before spinning?”
“Absolutely.”
I laughed. “To his face?”
“Not a chance in hell!” That’s what I thought. “He would love that.”
“He would.”
She groaned and closed her eyes. “Are your legs not hurting at all, Chlo?”
“They ache but Logan’s been training me well. I’m starting to feel like the old me again.”
“I am so glad to hear that. And Logan is the old him again, which isn’t always a good thing, the idiot. You did that, you know.”
I shook my head. “No, he did that. He saw that I wasn’t getting it together and getting me back to the world of the living gave him something else to focus on. He healed himself.”
“Hmm,” she murmured. “I still think you had a lot to do with it.”
“Indirectly, I did. I was in no state to help anyone back then.”
“What was it like? Sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want but we’ve never really had that conversation.”
“It’s fine, I can talk about it. I was stuck, completely stuck and couldn’t see past everything I’d lost. For years I had literally no idea what I was going to do and it scared me. I missed Jace so much and could only concentrate on what we’d never get the chance to do. I’ll always love him but I don’t want to waste another second of my life, it’s far too short to not to live it.”
“We missed you at home.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. We’re all so glad you’re back now, the last five months have been a complete change, mostly for the better.”
“Hey, you’re definitely better off without that idiot. I know Rick hurt you but you’ll find someone that’ll treat you right.” Someone that didn’t think having a biological child right away was more important than their wife. There were far too many kids out there without parents and there were other options available to them to have a child of their own. Rick was just an arsehole.
She smiled. “One day. I’m done with men for now and just want to concentrate on getting my life back on track.”
I could identify with that but now my life was back on track I wanted to get back out there and see if I could form a connection with anyone. Jace had been it for me for so long and he was my first serious boyfriend so I didn’t know how dating was going to go. Would I compare them to him?
“Your perfect man will come along when you least expect it.”
“Did Jace come along when you least expected it? You were friends first.”
I tilted my head and smiled. “Yeah, he was definitely unexpected. Gamers weren’t usually my type but there was something about him, like you could never feel down because he was such a joker, that I was drawn to.”
“Do you ever wonder what it’d have been like if you’d remained friends?” I could tell she was thinking about wishing she’d never been more with Rick.
“No. It would have been a hell of a lot less painful if I’d never fallen in love with him but I would never wish it hadn’t happened.”
“So it really is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?”
That was hard but it was right. Losing Jace was unbearable but I had the most amazing memories. “I guess so. I’d go through the pain of losing him all over again to remember him telling me he loves me and generally being a big idiot.”