Love Fast

As Eden, Akira, and I file out of the locker room, ready to meet Hazel in the lobby for our second day of training at the Colorado Club, excitement fizzes across my skin. I hope I see Byron again after work. Less than a week ago, I was supposed to be walking down the aisle with another man. I know it doesn’t make sense that I’m almost kissing someone else. Not just almost kissing him, but thinking about him, dreaming about him, seeing him in strangers at work.

It’s just more evidence that Frank was never meant to be my future. In the two years we were dating, I never felt butterflies in my stomach the way I do when I see Byron. I have a list of questions I want to ask Byron, and I keep thinking up new ones. I never had that urgency to know Frank. Maybe whatever I’m feeling toward Byron is nothing more than childlike infatuation. But it feels good. It makes me feel alive. I’m excited for the new day. The fact that I never had that with Frank must mean I made the right decision by not marrying him.

“We’re going to start off by touring the swimming, gym, and spa facilities,” Hazel says. “We saw the Eat Well Café yesterday, but I want to get into the non-F-and-B aspects of the area. You’ll notice we don’t just say sports or even indoor sports. Indoor sports are divided into two areas. First swimming, gym, and spa, which are all on level one, and then the basketball, squash, racquetball, indoor tennis, and pickleball, which are all located on the basement level.”

“Is spa a sport?” Akira asks. She does it in such a gently inquisitive way, it’s like she was born a diplomat.

“It depends how seriously you take your relaxation,” Hazel says. She smiles and adds, “It’s not technically a sport, but as it’s in the swimming pool and gym area, we include it when we refer to our facilities on level one.”

We follow Hazel as she points out the entrances to the spa and gym. She explains that members will be able to order foods from various restaurants to be delivered to them wherever they are. “There’s no such thing as no,” she says. “If they don’t want to eat the food at Eat Well, they can order from wherever they like. As waitresses, you might not be working at Eat Well, but you may well deliver food from the restaurant you are working at to guests in the basketball court, or who are seated at Eat Well.”

“And if they want to eat in the swimming pool? Or want an order of fries in the sauna?” Akira asks.

Hazel nods like she’s been expecting the question. “You need to use your charm and influence to persuade them to a suitable dining location. If they’re on the basketball court and want a burger, that’s fine. It’s a big space, they’re probably with a group of friends who all feel similarly. If they’re in the sauna and order soup, you would say something like, ‘I can certainly get that delivered to Eat Well to be ready for you as soon as you’ve finished your sauna.’”

“If they insist on soup in the sauna?” Akira asks, an expression of concern on her face.

“Speak to your supervisor. They’ll be able to handle it. Bear in mind that while our members will be demanding and expect perfection, they’re sophisticated travelers. It’s unlikely they’ll make a request for soup in the sauna.”

Despite what Hazel says, I’m not convinced members won’t make outlandish requests. Frank was by no means a billionaire, but he liked what he liked. And he didn’t like people saying no to him. I can only imagine a billionaire will be a thousand times worse.

“The key thing,” Hazel continues, “is not to get flustered or appear shocked. You have to act like you’re taking it all in your stride—like you’ve heard this request a thousand times before. Even if you feel like a member’s being unreasonable, you can never show it. They pay an awful lot of money to have every demand catered to by us. And we have to do our best.”

For a second I can’t catch my breath, because what she’s describing reminds me of my relationship with Frank. He was paying, so he had all the power. Just like the members of the Colorado Club. It was my job to cater to his demands. At least as a waitress, I get a paycheck at the end of the week and not a ring. And I get to leave at the end of the day.

We come to the pool and stare through the glass at the inviting water.

“How come it’s full? We don’t have members arriving for a couple of weeks, do we?” Akira asks.

“Not my circus, not my monkey,” Hazel says. “But I’m sure they need to test out everything thoroughly before we launch.”

We file past the doors to the member changing rooms and, through them, enter the gym. It’s huge and full of equipment I’ve never seen before. Not that I’ve ever been a member of a gym. There’s a whirring sound in the background and I wonder if the air-conditioning is faulty, until I notice someone on one of the treadmills in the far corner of the gym. There’s something familiar about the hair, and as I turn back to whatever Hazel is saying, realization dawns.

I snap my head back toward the runner.

It looks like Byron.

But it can’t be. It doesn’t make sense. My mind is so full of him, it’s embarrassing.

Whoever it is faces away from us, so I can’t see his face. He’s shirtless, his muscular back shifting and bunching with each step. He’s built like a Greek god. From what I’ve seen of Byron, there’s no doubt he works out—but this guy has the body of an Olympic athlete.

I turn back to Hazel and she catches my eye, following my gaze to the runner in the corner. The runner who absolutely can’t be Byron.

“Let’s go,” Hazel says, her voice hushed. “We don’t want to interrupt.”

She scurries out of the gym and we follow her.noveldrama

“Was that a member?” Eden asks as we exit the gym and take the steps down to the basement level.

“We’re not open to members yet,” Hazel says. “The launch is February fifteenth.”

“So staff can use the facilities until then?” Eden asks.

“Certainly not. I’m sure you know that use of any of the facilities by staff is strictly prohibited. That was one of the first things we covered yesterday.”

“So who’s that guy?” Eden asks. She needs to drop it. Hazel is clearly getting more and more irritated. It really doesn’t matter who the guy is, does it? Unless it’s Byron, in which case, it matters a lot.

“That’s Mr. Miller,” Hazel says, her voice hushed like we’re supposed to know who Mr. Miller is. Clearing her throat, she resumes the tour. “This is the basketball court.” She opens the double doors onto the full-sized court. I’m sure if I were a basketball fan, I’d be impressed. Given I’m not, I try to seem impressed. “There’s a viewing gallery above that you can access from the hallway adjacent to the gym. You may well get food requests up there, although we expect most to be fulfilled by Eat Well.”

I stare up at the viewing gallery, wondering if Mr. Miller is still running. It’s impossible to make out any of the equipment from where we’re standing.

“Next is the racquetball courts.”

Eden rolls her eyes at me. “Will there be maps?” she asks.

“It’s a good question,” Hazel says, her tone returned to normal. “It’s something we’re working on.”

We’re waiting for an elevator by the entrance to the gym after finishing our tour of the facilities on this level, when the glass door of the gym opens. We all look around to see the shirtless guy with gray shorts coming toward us, a towel around his neck, his chiseled torso shimmering with sweat.

When my gaze finally lands on his face, I find myself looking straight at Byron.

Our eyes catch for a second, and then he looks to Hazel, nods, and takes the stairs by the side of the elevators.

“I’m pregnant,” Eden says. “Like, all-the-way pregnant.”

Hazel glares at her.

“When you said that was Mr. Miller,” I say, as the elevator doors open, “should we know who that is?”

Hazel looks at me as if she can’t believe I’m asking the question. She guides us all into the elevator, and when the doors close, she says, “Byron Miller. The owner of the Colorado Club, of course.”

My knees weaken and I step back, hitting the wall of the elevator car.

Byron? The guy in the cable-knit sweater with a hilarious aversion to cats? The hot chocolate lover in the cabin next door? He can’t be the owner of the Colorado Club. But Byron was definitely the guy running on the treadmill, shirtless, sweaty, and completely breathtaking.

“Told you he was hot,” Akira says, but I can’t answer her. I can’t form words, I’m in such shock.

Why didn’t he tell me? It makes no sense. Okay, so we barely know each other, but he knew I got a job here. I try to recall whether he told me why he was in Star Falls. Was he deliberately vague? And if he’s the owner, why the hell is he staying in the log cabin next to mine? Surely there’s a mansion somewhere on this mountain, ready for him to move in?

I have a thousand questions churning in my mind. I want to ditch this tour, run after Byron, and demand answers.

But I have no right to answers.

At least I didn’t kiss him. Or he didn’t kiss me. Something inside nudges at me. Maybe that’s why he hesitated last night.

Hazel has moved on and we’re led into a conference room. It’s time to role-play some customer service scenarios.

I need some air. I need some time and space to think.

I almost kissed the boss last night. Of all the things on my to-do list at the moment—and it’s a long list—almost kissing my boss is definitely not on there. In fact, it’s on my list of things not to do.

Frank was the boss. I kissed him, and then he kinda became the boss of my personal life as well as my professional life. Kissing him—or rather, when Mom found out I kissed him—was the beginning of the end of me being in charge of my life. He was my boss at work, and if I had married him, probably my boss at home too. He was the one with money and power and status. I became an adjunct to him, someone who didn’t warrant her own opinions about anything that came with a bill. Where we ate, what movies we saw, what hand soap we bought for the kitchen sink—none of it was up to me.

And it all started with a kiss.

I don’t want to get involved with another man who has all the power. Frank owned a car dealership. How much worse will the dynamic be if the person I’m kissing owns a resort for billionaires? My lack of control would just be amplified being with a man like Byron.

The excitement I felt this morning about seeing Byron tonight and maybe actually kissing the man I almost kissed last night fades into a pool at my feet. I can’t let things between Byron and me go any further. I can’t go on repeating my mistakes. I have to create a life for myself, rather than living in the shadow of someone else’s.