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“Never mind then,” Lydia said. Jack would probably be tied up for a while, knowing Mr. Marshall.
“Sorry,” Kirsten said. “I didn’t know you guys were doing this right now or I would have sent the call to voicemail.”
“It’s fine,” Lydia said. And it was. They still had close to a month to combine their proposals. That was plenty of time. They’d just have to squeeze in a few more of these working lunches.
Lydia opened the file she’d just sent Jack and started working on the rooftop redesign.
Twenty
Luke
The moment Luke spotted Lydia hurrying down the sidewalk toward the youth center, he stood up from the steps and dusted off his pants, feeling oddly nervous as she drew closer.
These past few days had cemented things in his mind that he’d been wondering about. After the night in her apartment, he knew, at least as far as he was concerned, that this was more than just accidentally falling into bed together. It was more than just reaching out for comfort after a bad day. What existed between him and Lydia went beyond physical. There was a strength in the way they understood and supported each other, and real genuine concern for one another. He cared about her goals, her dreams, her desires. He wanted to see her succeed and be happy. He wanted more than casual let’s-never-mention-it-again sex. He wanted something real with Lydia, and judging by the way she was smiling at him, maybe if he ever came clean about the way he felt, Lydia would laugh and tell him she felt that way too.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets as she jogged up the steps toward him. The best thing to do right now was just focus on the running. Everything else would sort itself out.
“Hope you came prepared to sweat.”
She patted the bag strung over her shoulder. “Of course I did. But you still haven’t told me what we’re doing here.”
“What? You’renotready to show me your moves on the basketball court?” Luke said, waving her up the steps.
“You and I both know how badly that’ll end.”
He flashed her a smile. “I know. I forgot I actually promised to run youth fitness night. Since we also had training booked, I figured I could combine the two.”
“You’re saying you want me to embarrass myself in front of the children.” Inside, Lydia showed her ID and got her visitor’s badge. She strung it around her neck.
“Just try not to fall down too much,” Luke said.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Luke turned around, shooting her a grin. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”
“I don’t know if I trust your idea of fun.”
“Oh, come on,” he said. “I’m not even gonna make you do any burpees.”
He led her into the gym, where the kids were already assembled. According to Miranda, fitness nights had been a big draw since he started organizing them. He always took that as a huge compliment. If only redoing his business plan could be as easy as coming up with fitness programming at the center or plotting out a training plan.
Most of the kids were seated in the bleachers, but a group of middle schoolers had gotten ahold of the bucket of palm-sized beanbags and started hurling them at each other.
Luke picked up the whistle around his neck and gave it a short, sharp trill. Kids laughed and groaned, plugging their ears. “Drop the beanbags,” he called, and the kids took off running up the bleachers.
He turned around. Lydia was frozen on the edge of the gym floor, staring out at the massive obstacle course he’d spent the last two hours constructing. “What do you think?”
“I thought there was going to be more...running.”
“Oh, trust me, you’ll be running.”
“With Hula-Hoops and beanbags balanced on my head. Do you want me to break my leg right before the marathon?”
“Go get changed already before the kids mutiny.” While she hurried off to the changeroom, Luke addressed the room. “All right. Welcome to Fitness Night. Who’s excited to be here?” A bunch of kids drummed their feet against the bleachers. Some teasingly booed him. Luke pointed in their direction, locking eyes with Marcus, who’d shown up with a bunch of his friends. “I’m not above making you run laps.”
The kids laughed.
“What you see behind me is the Super Mega Obstacle Course Extreme. The first team to get all their members through the course together will be crowned the winners.” He picked up a clipboard. “I’ve got you divided into teams here.”
