“Heeeelp,” she pleaded. “I have zero core strength.” She tried to get up, but her legs wobbled, tired from the walk earlier. “Okay, make that zero strength anywhere.”
Bex chuckled and helped her to her feet. “What else is new? And why the sudden interest in an exercise plan?”
Brooke lowered herself, bit by bit, onto a seat and swung around to face her friend. “Have I said you look great today?”
To be fair, Bex always looked good. It was the perk of having a flawless bronze complexion, a fit body and lustrous black hair. Even when she was worn out after a full day of work and single-mothering, she possessed a radiance other women could only dream of.
“Don’t change the subject. You’re up to something, I can smell it. Spill the beans.”
“I think what you smell is sweat. Maybe a little dirt, too.”
Bex crossed her arms. “I’m a mum, Brooke. Don’t think you can play coy with me.”
Brooke took a breath. She needed to just blurt it out. In theory, the more often she said it, the easier it would become. “I want to go to Mount Everest Base Camp.”
She waited for Bex to laugh, or for her brow to furrow in concern as Kat’s had, but instead she hummed deep in her throat and said, “Good for you, girlfriend. That’s awesome.”
Brooke stared. “You don’t think I’m deluding myself?”
“Hell, no.” She held a hand up for a high five, and Brooke obliged. Their palms smacked together loudly. “I think that’s a kickass plan and I’m totally on board.”
Relief made Brooke giddy, and her heart felt like it had expanded so much it pressed against the inside of her ribcage. She grabbed Bex’s hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”
Bex smiled, her lips curving mischievously. “Hey, don’t thank me yet. Thank me when I get your cute tush to Nepal.”
Brooke’s eyes watered, ready to spill over, and she blinked. She hadn’t realized how much it meant to have someone accept her dream without hesitation. “I could kiss you, Rebecca Cane.”
“Please do. It would be the closest I’ve gotten to sex in years.”
“And the moment is over.” They both laughed. “What do I need to do?” Brooke asked, turning serious.
“First, you need to make sure your health is the best it possibly can be. Listen to your body—it will know when you’re pushing too hard. But,” she cautioned, “you do need to push to a certain extent.”
“Right, got it. Push a moderate amount.”
“Just like Goldilocks.” When Brooke looked at her quizzically, she explained, “We were reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears last night. Anyway, the point is, it will be hard work. Are you up for the challenge?”
“Yes.” She’d never been more sure of anything in her life.
“Then that’s all I need to know.” Bex’s fingers drummed on the desktop as she thought. “Come by the gym next week and I’ll do some tests to see what your baseline fitness is.”
“Bad,” Brooke answered. “It’s very bad.”
Bex shrugged. “You’ve got to start somewhere. I’ll put together some ideas for a workout regime, but I’ll need to do a little research first.” Her grin widened. “I’m glad you called me.”
“Me too. And I’m glad Jack suggested it.”
Bex’s eyes narrowed, dark and glinting. “Did he? I didn’t think the two of you had much to do with each other.”
“Oh, we don’t,” Brooke said quickly, her voice telltale high. “He’s just helping me a little.”
“Jack Farrelly doesn’t ‘just help’ people. He isn’t exactly a social butterfly.”
Brooke’s cheeks heated more the longer Bex watched her without blinking. “Maybe he’s turning over a new leaf.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Be careful with him, babe.”
“Don’t worry. We won’t end up stranded on a mountainside somewhere.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Mummy!” a little girl shrieked.
Bex shot to her feet. “I’ve got to go. Drop by the gym, okay?”
Jack slung one leg over the edge of his sea kayak and cold water sloshed his feet as he found the sandy ground and stood. He dragged the kayak onto a dry section of beach and grabbed the towel he’d left with his shoes, wiping the moisture from his legs, and the sweat and dried salt from his face. His pocket buzzed and he ignored it, tipping back his water bottle and draining it in a few mouthfuls. Being out on the ocean could dehydrate a man something wicked.
His phone buzzed again, and he answered. “Hi.”
“Hey there.” The voice was female. Young and perky. Brooke.
Pleasure suffused him, and he refused to examine the reason why. “Hey, yourself.”
Not a good idea to flirt, jackass. She’s a bad match for you. Anyway, Kyle wants her.
Yet here she was, on the phone with him—not Kyle.
“I talked to Bex like you suggested,” she told him, apparently unfazed when he didn’t ask how she was or offer up any other pleasantries. “I’m going to see her later in the week to get an exercise plan, and she’s really positive about it.” She sounded upbeat and excited. Jack grinned despite himself. “Thanks so much for mentioning her, she really motivated me. I’m going to nail this exercise thing.”
Spoken like someone who’d never seen the inside of a gym. He couldn’t help but admire the way she kept bouncing back, each time more optimistic than the last. The limitations she was working within would put many people off, but not her. She was talking a million miles an hour and ready to take on the world.
Perhaps Brooke Griffiths—he’d learned her last name from Tione—had more stickability, or outright stubbornness, than he’d given her credit for. She wouldn’t be easily swayed, and damned if that wasn’t an attractive trait in a woman.
“What will you start with?”
She laughed, and he loved the sound of it, easy and carefree. The laugh of a person unburdened by life’s difficulties. But she’s not, he reminded himself. She’d had heart surgery, for crying out loud. It couldn’t have been an easy road to healing, but she still found it within herself to laugh like she’d never known hardship. Shit, she’d been through more than him and was only a fraction as cynical.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure,” she said. “I tried to work on my core today and that was a dismal failure.”
I’d like to work on your core.
“I doubt my legs are any better, based on the way they feel after walking to the waterfall, and I can’t remember the last time I used my arms for anything more arduous than gardening, so it’ll be equally challenging wherever I decide to start.”
“You should ease into it.” Listen to him, dispensing advice left, right, and center. Shouldn’t he be trying to talk her down so she wouldn’t be disappointed if she failed? But his traitorous mouth wasn’t done yet. “I’m not working tomorrow. How would you like to come for a short hike?”
He heard a quick intake of breath. This was the part where she should turn him down, for both their sakes. Surely she couldn’t actually want to spend time with him. He’d acted like a jerk toward her, and he wasn’t a great catch on his best day. If he hadn’t already known that, Claudia had sure as hell hammered the message home.