Silas came over, bringing his intoxicating smell with him. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Miriam snuck a glance in his direction as they walked up to the double doors together. Her heart skipped a beat as she took him in. Just like before, his shirt looked like it might be one size too small with the way it hugged his chest and arms. Silas looked better than was fair, and here Miriam looked terrible.
She was embarrassed to be caught this way but tried for easy conversation anyway. It was necessary if they were going to keep seeing each other. “Are you stalking me?”
Silas avoided her gaze. “No. I, uh, actually have a session with a personal trainer.”
Miriam stumbled slightly over her steps, which caused her face to burn. She hoped Silas didn’t notice. Of course he’s not stalking you. He’s at the gym to get in peak performance for his one true love—soccer. He’d even hired someone to help him with it. She hurried inside to the welcome blast of A/C.
She tried to compose herself, but soon, it was even clearer why Silas was willing to go above and beyond the basic membership that the gym had given him for free.
A gorgeous and toned-everywhere woman walked over and hugged him. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back after last time.”
Of course he came back. You’re like his perfect match. Sporty, hot, and devoted to him. No matter how often he reassured her that he only had eyes for her, Miriam had always felt insecure next to the women who flocked to him after games. She certainly felt insecure next to his new trainer.
But they weren’t dating anymore. Silas was free to enjoy the company of whomever he wanted—including model-esque trainers.
Miriam didn’t say anything before she sulked over to the cardio room. She hopped on an elliptical and started a punishing, fat-burning workout. She set the duration to an hour—even though she knew full well she’d probably only make it thirty minutes—and tapped the small screen attached to the machine to pull up Netflix.
She scrolled through romantic comedies and dramas until her eyes crossed. Miriam didn’t want to watch any of those programs. They would only make her think of Silas. She gave up and played music over her headphones as her legs moved in quick rotations, and her gaze went to Silas in the weight room.
Miriam couldn’t see him the entire time, but when his trainer moved them to the battle ropes, he was on full display. His muscles flexed as he moved the ropes up and down in a rapid motion. He looked better than ever. Of course, looks had never been the problem. Miriam had always been attracted to Silas. Even now, her hand itched to trace its fingers over his arms one last time. Her lips tingled to kiss him again.
No, the issue had been that Silas Jenkins only cared about one thing—soccer. It was more than just a hobby or even a job. His professional career was more important than anything else, including spending even a minute to discuss a cross-country move with his girlfriend.
He got the offer, he was going, they were breaking up. He hadn’t cared about what she wanted. There was no asking Miriam what she thought about signing with the Wolves—she would have said it was a terrible idea. And after he signed, he didn’t even bother asking if she wanted to come with—the answer would have been yes, even though it would have meant uprooting her entire life.
Back then, she would have followed him anywhere.
She pulled her eyes from him and started looking through her emails on her phone hoping to see replies from any of the people she reached out to about meet and greets. Normally, it wasn’t this hard, and she wondered if her lack of enthusiasm was self-destructive.
“Hey.”
Miriam jumped at the sound of Silas’ voice over the sound of the music softly playing over her headphones. She pulled one free and looked at him expectantly.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You startled me. There’s a difference.”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “Then I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She looked up at the clock on the wall. They’d only been at Big Results for half an hour. “Done with your workout already?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and I was hoping to catch you for a few minutes. Mind if I work out next to you for a minute?”
Miriam was already breathless from exercising and having Silas so close wasn’t helping. “I was actually just finishing up,” she said, trying to keep it short and sweet so he couldn’t hear how winded she was.
Silas pointed to the workout tracker on her screen. “It says you still have thirty minutes left.”
She knew it was a mistake to set the time to an hour. “Right. What’s up?”
Silas hopped up and started pedaling on the neighboring elliptical. “I was thinking about player meet and greets.”
Great. Apparently making a few goals meant he could tell Miriam how to do her job. She kept her face trained forward and focused on her every movement. It was meant to make her feel more in control of the situation, but the more effort she put into looking casual, the jerkier her movements became. “What about them?”
“I like going out into the community. It’s a lot of fun.” His tone said there was more.
“But?”
“I was thinking, what if we did something a little different than hanging out at our sponsors’ businesses?”
That thought had crossed Miriam’s mind before, too, but finding places to have events wasn’t easy. If they didn’t use the brick and mortar stores of their sponsors, it eliminated a lot of options. Every place worth having an event at had an astronomical fee attached, and that just wasn’t feasible right now.
She turned her head to face him. “Like what?”
Silas smiled bright, making his dimple stand out. “Like schools.”
Her foot slipped off the pedal, and she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She stopped pedaling and got
