As he had the first time she’d headed off, Jason followed Leesa with his eyes. She didn’t go back into the kitchen but began to stop at some of the tables and chat.
“I told you she doesn’t hold a grudge long,” Kate said. “She’s only been with us a few months, but already, she’s a part of Lusty.”
Jason didn’t know if that was a warning or simple conversation. The only thing he did know was he’d been offered an olive branch, of sorts.
A smart man would accept that, no questions asked.
I guess I need to think about how smart of a man I really am.
Chapter Two
Sweat drenched Leesa as she finished her allotted time on the rowing machine. Head bowed, she took a minute to try and even her breathing. She’d set her towel down beside her. Now, scooping it up, she used it to blot her face then draped it over her shoulders.
She hated exercising but liked how she felt afterwards. A quick look at the clock that hung above the workout room door confirmed what her body told her. She’d put in a solid hour and was ready for a nice hot shower. She took the time to wipe down and disinfect this final piece of equipment she’d used. Then she grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and sat on one of the benches along the wall.
Staying fit hadn’t been on her radar before she enlisted—with the permission of her parents—at aged seventeen. But it had become a fact of life for the fifteen years she’d worn the uniform of a soldier in the United States Army.
The only skills she’d brought to the table had been a love of cooking and an interest in nutrition. So, she’d become a member of food services and had been assigned to bases here at home and overseas.
A final tour in Afghanistan had netted her a gunshot wound and a purple heart and the realization that perhaps the more than fifteen years she’d served was enough.
The door opened, and Rachel Gillespie entered. Like Leesa, she was dressed to exercise.
“Hey, girlfriend. How was the party last night?”
Leesa couldn’t not grin in response to her friend’s smile. Rachel had that effect on her. Never had she met a woman more prone to having a positive outlook or one who was quicker with a smile or an encouraging word.
Usually Rachel, one of the servers at Lusty Appetites, would have been at work last night and attended the party herself. But Brandon, a lieutenant in the Marine Corps and assigned as an instructor at Goodfellow Air Force Base had arrived home after three weeks away for special training at the Pentagon.
Rather than ask her best friend how their private party last night had gone, Leesa focused on her question, instead.
“You mean you don’t know? The news feed in this town must be having an off day.”
Rachel laughed. She grabbed a towel from the shelf and took it over to what she referred to as her torture device of choice—one of the elliptical trainers. She draped it on the handlebar then came and sat beside Leesa.
“All right, then. Complete transparency. I heard that Jason Benedict and his best friend and cousin, Phillip, arrived unexpectedly and that after Jason shot his mouth off to his sister, you told him he was full of shit.”
Leesa burst out laughing.
“I also heard that he followed you everywhere with his needy, puppy-dog eyes and even had his tongue hanging out of his mouth some. Reports are mixed as to whether or not he was drooling. And that Phillip, once you gave him a cream puff, was no better.”
“Oh, puleese!” Leesa shook her head then uncapped her water. She took a long pull, hoping the cold liquid sliding down her throat could give her a moment to strategize.
Rachel met her gaze, her head tilted, and waited.
“Okay. So maybe I did notice the two of them looking at me. And maybe I kind of looked at them, too. But that does not mean that we’re attracted to each other. You know how I feel about knockin’ boots with one let alone two Y-chromosome carriers.”
“Oh, you’re attracted, all right,” Rachel said. “You just think you don’t want to do anything about it.”
“Girlfriend, my brain’s a pretty good one. And I learn my lessons in life really well.”
“Not all men are assholes, Leesa. I can say that, and know it for truth, all things considered. But it can be awfully scary to take a chance after you’ve been burned, and I know that from my own recent experience, too. My advice is to just let it alone for now. Let your mind rest on it. As Grandma Kate likes to say, things generally turn out the way they’re meant to be.”
The door opened, and Brandon Gillespie and Trace Langley—Rachel’s husbands—came in. That was Leesa’s cue to leave. Not that she didn’t like the men her friend had married—she absolutely did.
But she knew they were all three involved in a personal fitness challenge of some sort and that early Saturday morning was their usual time at the gym, all three of them. It was best to just leave them to it. Besides, she and Rachel worked out a couple times a week, and they saw each other at work practically every day.
This facility the town had built was top-notch. Large and sprawling, it featured this well-equipped workout room, as well as a slightly larger gym that was designed for running training as well as basketball. There were rooms used as dojos that had been intended for smaller groups, too. Construction was about to begin within the next few days to install an indoor pool—an Olympic-sized one. The building that would be adjoined to this main one would include a couple of smaller pools and a few hot tubs. For the complimentary use of the families,
