Village Fool by Nathan Burgoine

Author:Nathan Burgoine [Burgoine, 'Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635559828
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2021-02-24T16:00:00+00:00

Six

January

“So, tell me the truth. How much do you hate gyms?”

Owen almost laughed, but the woman in front of him waited, and he realized she was serious.

“Oh,” Owen said. “Um. I don’t. I mean, I’ve never joined one before, but I need to do this, so…” He raised his arm, setting off a spasm of pain he’d gotten used to whenever he tried to do anything more strenuous than picking up a sock. “I don’t hate gyms.”

She kept staring at him.

“But I don’t like them, either.”

“Brilliant. Starting from an honest place is good for all of us.” Fiona Foley wasn’t at all what Owen had expected. Less of an Amazon vibe, more curvaceous than he imagined, though she was definitely strong, too. He’d expected someone with deeply tanned skin, not someone even whiter than him, nor so many freckles. She also sported a side-swept undercut that emphasized her cheekbones to perfection and made him itch to ask her who her hair stylist was. He had some major hair envy. Add a really welcoming smile, which she was aiming at him right now, and Fiona was more or less wrecking every image he’d had in mind for lesbian gym owner. “Good news is, you’ll be in the physiotherapy room for the first month or so, so you can ease into walking through those doors. You’re already ahead of the curve.”

Fiona’s office, a small glassed-in area just past the entrance to Body Positive, was full of drawings and paintings he assumed were made by children, many of which seemed to involve snowmen and Santa, despite it being past New Year’s. A picture of herself and a taller, beautiful Black woman, the two of them in really gorgeous suits and staring at each other with utter devotion, held a place of pride on the table behind her.

“We can stretch your coverage as far as possible,” Fiona said, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.

“That’s great,” he said. “But I can handle the cost if we need to do more. I work in the tech industry, so I can pretty much make my own schedule, too.”

“Are you a morning person?”

“Before this I was,” Owen said, shifting his shoulder again. “I’d like to be again.”

“I’m going to suggest Toma,” Fiona said.

“Okay,” Owen said. He had no idea what Toma was. He’d done some research and remembered a vaguely frightening description of a treatment involving electric currents, but thought it was called TENS, not Toma. Fiona, though, was waving at someone through the glass behind him, and a moment later, a low, rumbly voice said, “What’s up?”

Owen turned in the chair.

Toma, it turned out, wasn’t a what but a who, and what a who indeed. He was built broadly, with big shoulders and a wide chest, and warm tawny skin. Thick dark hair with an honest-to-God Superman curl framed a warm face that seemed open and kind. He had a short, soft-looking beard. Owen’s fingers twitched.

“Toma, this is Owen. Owen here has a physiotherapy plan, and I’d like him to work with us.

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.