“If you ever wanna talk about things, I’m here.”
Lauren and June disappeared through the entrance to the lake trail. “I appreciate it, but I’m good.”
“All right. No pressure.”
Easy enough for him to say. I’d felt the pressure on double load during chapel services and morning devotions. As soon as the songs started, I was out.
“Hey, what’s hanging, Carter?” someone asked.
The gym guy, Lani, was back at the window and all smiles. “I’m heading home tomorrow, but I wanted to check in with you before I go. Got a minute?”
“Sure.”
Lani and I sat at one of the tables by the snack shop. He pulled his phone out, swiping a finger across the screen. “Check this out, brah.”
He showed me a pic of the inside of his gym—excellent gear and a mural of a surfer in the middle of a funnel wave on the wall behind them.
“State of the art equipment. Experienced trainers. Over three hundred members. It’s a dream, dude. But I’ve been thinking a lot about what we’re missing, and I think you could fill that gap, if you’re interested in coming to work for me.”
I swiped through images of a bootcamp class, a guy benching at least three hundred, a sauna, an indoor pool, a hot tub.
“I hate turning recovering amputees away,” Lani continued. “It’s the worst feeling. I’d love to be able to have someone with actual experience they could relate to in there, you know, digging it out with ’em.”
It was tempting. I could get on board with the idea of helping people like me.
“I’ve spent so much time in a gym since my accident, I feel like I could probably run one myself. But, I’m from a small town about six hours north of the valley. It’d have to pay pretty decent for me to move.”
I handed the phone back and Lani nodded, scratching his cheek. “Look. I’ve seen you out here, man. I’ve seen you on your runs, and I’ve watched you hit your workouts, and it seems like you have the drive it takes. Most of my trainers make twenty-five an hour.”
Twenty-five an hour . . .
It beat the thirteen an hour I was making up here by a long shot. It’d be something I could live on, and I needed something stable if I was ever gonna get out of my parents’ house.
“I’m not certified.”
“I pay half of all my trainers’ certification programs, and I’d help put you through whatever extra courses you need for your specialty. We have a few physical therapists on-site. You could shadow them while you’re getting licensed, but I think the biggest thing for clients would be having a guy there who’s done it before, you know? There’s nothing like seeing a live model for inspiration.”
I studied the edge of the wooden table, the way the grain shifted with the start of each new layer. Maybe this could be the start of a new layer in my life. “I’m committed here through the end of the month. When do you need an answer?”
“End of the month works for me. You could start mid-September, get to know a few of our clients while you get your certs, and we’ll have you rolling by the new year.”
It sounded so good, and if things took off with Lauren, it could be exactly what I’d need . . .
Could this be another sign from God? Was He seriously dropping a career in my lap? As much as I’d been wanting to get out of my parents’ house, the thought of actually moving out and having to support myself was daunting before. What kind of job could I expect with a bum leg? But, this was solid. And then, there was Lauren.
Just thinking her name sparked a new level of intrigue inside me. A new hope for the future. A hope I’d been curbing, because there was no way a future was possible before. But now that an opportunity was calling, now that it was actually possible to move forward, I wanted to set it free.
Lani stuck out a hand. “Call when you decide, all right?”
I grinned and shook his hand, more than ready to get this day over with so I could get out on the lake with that crazy girl.
Sixteen
-LAUREN-
Dressed in a pair of tie-front, camo cargo pants and a black faux-leather tank, I wrapped the final section of hair around my curling iron wand. I’d never felt so nervous about a fishing trip before in my life. I ran my fingers through my curls, taming them until they framed my face in loose waves and checked my makeup.
More natural than I usually went for, but I wasn’t so worried about my imperfections right now. Not with Carter. He’d already seen me makeup-less, and ugly-crying, and for whatever reason, he was still interested. It was nice not feeling like I had to try so hard for once. There was a certain level of safety in just being myself around Carter. The way he looked at me the same—no matter which way I came at him—gave me a boost of confidence I didn’t know I’d been missing.
Dang, I was totally starting to fall for him, wasn’t I?
Turning to the side, I lifted the bottom of my tank up and studied the new curvy shape of my stomach. Anyone else might think I was just perpetually bloated, but I knew the reality of what was causing that swell. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on God and what he would want.
Going on the prayer walk this morning reminded me of how close everyone else thought He was.
Close enough to care.
Close enough to listen to whatever you wanted to tell Him.
Close enough to ask for His goodness and grace.
I wanted to think of Him that way too. I’d tried Lauren’s Way and that hadn’t worked out so great in the end. I needed God’s Way this time, and there was something supernatural in how Carter just showed up in
