The Chrysalis by Deneen Brendan

Author:Deneen, Brendan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

MONTH FIVE

The first month of her fledgling workout studio was going even better than Jenny had hoped. There was only one other place to exercise anywhere near their smallish town, and it was one of those mega-franchises that was the size of a cruise ship and cost an average person a month’s salary for an annual membership. Its huge indoor pool was a big drawing point, admittedly, but ever since some kid had experienced a phenomenal bout of diarrhea in there—info that quickly went viral—membership had allegedly dropped at a drastic rate.

For now, Jenny was doing “pay as you go,” instead of making people sign contracts, and customers seemed to love it. Word of mouth was high, and the local free weekly newspaper had even run a front-page feature on the studio, including a photo of a beaming Jenny inside the newly refurbished space. She had asked that they shoot her only from the shoulders up, and thankfully they had complied. She wasn’t hiding her pregnancy, not that she really could at this point, but she wasn’t exactly broadcasting it to potential clients either.

So far, no one seemed to mind having a pregnant personal trainer. A few women, moms themselves, had admitted that it actually made them feel a bit more comfortable when working out. Regardless of the reasons, Jenny’s little studio was a hit in the making.

Of course, Victoria had warned her that most start-ups launched in a big way, then tended to fizzle. The key was to keep the momentum going.

Good old Vic, Jenny thought as she cleaned up the studio after having finished with her last client of the day. She used to consider her sister a buzzkill, but Victoria had been full of shockingly good advice when it came to her new business venture. It was nice to have someone watching her back so closely, even if the advice was sometimes a bit too harsh.

As she walked over to the front window to turn over the OPEN/CLOSED sign, she was surprised to see someone in the doorway, the late-day autumn sunlight streaming in behind him. It took her a second to recognize Chad, the good-looking, divorced neighbor she had last seen at her house the night of the big party. Today he was wearing casual work clothes: a white dress shirt with several buttons undone at the top of his hairless chest, and formfitting khaki pants. And a very expensive-looking pair of black dress shoes.

“Hey, Jenny,” he said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No,” she laughed, pushing a couple of errant strands of hair behind an ear. “It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting anyone else today. You looking for a personal trainer?”

“Hmm,” he said, his face taking on a faux thoughtful expression. “I came in to say congratulations on the big opening. I never thought I’d be getting an aggressive sales pitch.”

“Aggressive?” Jenny responded, meeting his expression with mock outrage. “That was nothing. If you want aggressive, I can show you aggressive.”

Shit, she thought, am I flirting?

Chad put up his hands.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.