“Stacy? Hey, sorry, couldn’t find my phone. Is Zach okay?” She placed a hand to her heart, and Graham dug in his pocket to get his keys ready to roll. If something happened with Zach, he’d be driving her there. No way could she drive if she was panicked about her son.
After a few moments, Kara sagged a bit, shoulders drooping. Her eyes closed and she let out a sigh. “Yeah, definitely. Oreos are one of his main food groups. No, it’s fine, I’m glad you called. You know the deal . . . any questions, always call. I hope the boys are having fun. Sure, I’ll say good night to him.”
Sensing the call was coming to a close, and there was no immediate crisis, Graham decided to give her some privacy. He headed for the door, but as he opened it, he felt her hand on his back.
As he turned around, she leaned forward and gave him a quick hug, phone still up to her ear, then stepped back, out of reach. He smiled slightly, then waved and stepped out just as she said, “Hey, Zach, you doing okay?”
It wasn’t quite how he’d envisioned the evening ending . . . but the spontaneous hug, started by her, would tide him over. For now.
CHAPTER
3
Tuesday morning brought yoga and Marines. Tuesdays were good days. Kara walked in early to the training room, ready for muffins and Marianne time, and stopped short as she caught Nikki, one of Marianne’s trainers, with her butt in the air and her head stuck under the ice machine. Her skintight khaki shorts looked like they were painted on as she wriggled and scooted around.
Kara cleared her throat, heard a muffled, feminine curse, then Nikki emerged from under the machine. Her dark blond hair was pulled back into a messy bun, but not of the fashionably messy variety. There were smudges under her eyes, and her polo had dust on it. The girl was a mess.
“Hi.” She stuck her hands behind her back and rocked back on her heels, looking younger than her early twenties, as Kara knew her to be. She looked like Zach when he’d been caught in the act and wasn’t ready to fess up yet. “Marianne’s not here yet. Did you need something?”
“Hmm.” She couldn’t say what, but something wasn’t quite right. Instead of backing out and waiting for Marianne in the more open gym, Kara let her bag hit the desk chair and settled the muffin basket on the desk. “I’ll just wait in here.”
“Oh, but . . . I’m cleaning.” As if struck by sudden inspiration, Nikki’s baby blue eyes lit with excitement. “I’m cleaning, and the smell . . . you don’t want to sit in here with it. It’ll ruin the taste of your muffins later.”
Kara sniffed delicately. Smelled just like it always did in the mornings before the sweaty Marines invaded the room. Like faded cleanser and plastic. Not the most delightful scent in the world, but not the worst. “I’ll be okay. Just do whatever you need to.”
Nikki’s eyes looked a little panicked, and she searched around before grabbing a rag and dry-wiping down the wall beside the ice machine. Kara huffed quietly and sat on one of the exam tables. She let her clogs clatter to the linoleum floor and stretched out, reaching her toes and holding. There was almost nothing a good stretch and some deep breathing couldn’t solve, as far as she was concerned.
Okay, so stretching and breathing hadn’t managed to solve her unfortunate, but unwaning yearning for one specific Marine boxer. But that’s why vibrators and batteries had been invented.
Nikki continued to clean the same exact spot on the wall, without moving. Kara wondered what her motivation for being in the gym so early was. She could have been searching for a lost earring from the day before. Maybe they were her grandmother’s and very precious.
Kara did her best not to scoff, even in her own head. More like she lost some cheap earring the night before after trying to climb on the lap of some unsuspecting Marine. The men, she gave them credit, all did their best to avoid giving her the wrong idea. But the young trainer-to-be seemed bound and determined to snag a Marine. Any of them. Pickiness was not in her personal dictionary.
“Hey,” Marianne said, running in on a dash. If she were a cartoon character, there would be dust clouds billowing in her wake. “Sorry I’m late. Brad slept over, which he doesn’t always do, especially not when I’ve got to get here early, and before I could get out of bed he—”
“Hey, Marianne!” Kara said loudly. “Look who’s here early! Nikki!”
Marianne froze midstep, then looked around wildly. Her ice blond hair swirled around her shoulders, not yet pulled up in its typical ponytail. “Wha . . . oh. Nikki . . . what are you doing here so early?”
“Cleaning,” came the curt reply. The woman turned and tossed the rag in a bin. “Why is that so weird?”
“It’s weird because—never mind.” Marianne cut herself off and let her tote bag drop on her desk chair beside Kara’s. “We’ve got an hour or so before you need to be back. Why don’t you go grab a donut and coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Mainside.”