chair and studied her feet. Too tall to be completely covered with the towel, the top of her feet had fried in the sun. Her face felt swollen, and her lips were starting to crack and blister.
Nina, face pinched and ashen next to Gretchen’s, plopped into a chair and leaned forward. “Is Caroline dead?” she said, shaky, awaiting bad news.
Gretchen slowly looked up and shook her head. Nina clutched her heart. “That’s a relief. When I saw you lying there, that’s the first thing I thought of.”
It was time to confide in Nina.
“Courtney, the intern, called last night. She and Steve are having a thing.”
“A thing?”
“Those were her words.”
Gretchen realized how badly she needed a sympathetic ear as the whole story spilled out of her.
Nina leaned back when she was finished and crossed her legs. “That rat. I always suspected as much.”
“You did not. You’re the one who thought I should give him an ultimatum.” Gretchen lifted an arm and tapped her head with the cast. “Is it my imagination, or is that idea a very bad one?”
“You can still offer him a choice. Death by fire or death by shark. I’ve always thought those would be the two worst possible ways to go, a fitting end for Steve.”
“He was continually working, always preparing for a case or meeting with clients or attending company- sponsored events. How did he find the time?”
“He wasn’t always working,” Nina said. “She turned out to be the special event he was working. I’m sorry it happened.”
“I shouldn’t have left Boston.”
Nina snorted. “You think if you had stayed, it would have ended between them? Right. Sure. Once a cheater always a cheater, I say.”
Gretchen’s new perception of her relationship seemed as clear as fog dissipating over the Boston Harbor. Thick, whirling haze had clouded her vision, but now she could see past the horizon. “I can’t believe he’d risk our relationship for a quick fling with a summer intern. He’s almost twice as old as she is.”
“Midlife crisis,” Nina suggested.
“He’s thirty-two. Too young.”
“The rat,” Nina said again.
Nina forced Gretchen into the bathroom and turned on the shower. “Keep the water cold,” she demanded. “That should snap you out of it. Take your time, and afterwards, I’ll work on your face. What a burn.”
“What’s that?” Gretchen said, noticing a purse hanging from Nina’s shoulder for the first time.
“That,” Nina said, “is today’s purse trainee. He’s sound asleep down on the bottom. You gave me such a scare, I forgot he was there.”
Twenty minutes later, Gretchen felt almost human again. Nina dabbed aloe vera lotion on her niece’s sunburned face and feet, and Gretchen slid into flip-flops.
“Bring a pair of athletic shoes along,” Nina said.
“Why?”
“We’re headed for Curves. I called April to find out what time the Dollers would be working out.” She glanced at her watch. “They’ll show up soon, and we don’t want to miss them.”
“But why are we going to Curves?” Gretchen felt a whine in her voice. “We can see them later. Call a meeting if you miss them so much. I’m really not in the mood to socialize.”
Nina smiled. “We’re going to sign up. We could both use some cardiovascular work. Exercise and research at the same time. Maybe we’ll find out if Rita really saw Bonnie at the Rescue Mission. That can be your job. Find out. And exercise is good for your mind. Let’s leave the dogs in the kitchen.” Nina glanced at the purse on her shoulder. “I’ll put Enrico in the bathroom.”
“Enrico needs his own room?”
“Enrico needs his own world.”
“Give my name when you sign up,” April said. “I’m working on a free T-shirt. Five enrollments, and I get my very own Curves shirt in orange, pink, blue, or black.”
Curves bustled with activity, every station occupied, conversations swelling over workout music. April, Bonnie, and Rita crowded around while Nina and Gretchen signed up for a trial week.
“You should sign up for a whole year,” April said, disappointment in her voice. “That’s the only way it counts toward my shirt.”
“Change stations now,” the recording announced.
Nina laid the pen on the counter. “Gretchen might go back to Boston in a few days. She can’t sign up for a year.”
“She can transfer her membership to Boston. That’s the beauty of Curves. They’re everywhere,” April said, checking Nina out. “You could use a year, too.”
Nina narrowed her eyes while Olivia Newton John belted “Let’s Get Physical” from a boom box on an overhead shelf. She opened her mouth to respond, but she caught Gretchen’s eye and the slight shake of her head. She closed her mouth.
“Stations are opening up,” Bonnie called out, her red flip shellacked stiffly around her face.
Gretchen leaped onto the stepper, jostling for a position next to Bonnie, her prey of the moment. She ignored the pain radiating from within her running shoes.
“You sure did burn your face,” April said. “Fall asleep in the sun?”
“No,” Nina said. “Her boyfriend cheated on her with a coworker, and I found her wallowing in self-pity by the pool.”
Everyone gasped, and Gretchen sent Nina a menacing glance. So much for personal privacy. Wallowing in self- pity? Well, Nina was right. She had too much on her mind right now to worry about Steve and Courtney.
She worked harder, running in place faster, increasing her concentration. Focusing on the workout.
“Men are all alike,” April said, huffing through the shoulder press. “Bad behavior runs in their genes.”
“Not my Matt,” Bonnie said, running in place. “Matty’s wife was the one who cheated on him. He’s going through a nasty divorce right now. Faithful as they come, my Matty.”
Probably married to his job more than to his wife, Gretchen thought. Although the job didn’t stop Steve.
“At least they didn’t have children,” Rita said. “Children complicate divorce.”
“What’s nasty about the divorce?” Nina asked. “Without children and child support or a custody battle, the divorce should be smooth sailing.”
“She stalks him. She wants him back, and she’s not above making scenes,” Bonnie said. “The closer they get to the divorce hearing, the more desperate she becomes. Poor Matty’s hiding in the streets. Lucky for him, he has a mobile job.”
Gretchen, preoccupied earlier with her own problems, wondered what had happened to her shadow. For all she knew, he was outside right this minute, waiting to follow her.
“Radio says more rain later today,” April said. “Just what we need.”
Nina bent over and placed her palms on the floor.
“Show-off,” April said.
“That’s amazing, Aunt Nina,” Gretchen said, skipping the shoulder press. Working out with a broken wrist proved a unique challenge.
“It’s the yoga,” Nina said. “I’m limber as a tree monkey, but my cardiovascular activity is limited to walking back and forth from the car. I guess you can’t have everything.”
“Run in place on the platforms,” April advised. “That’ll get your heart rate up. Mine’s always at the top end of what’s safe.” She pulled a hanky from her pocket and mopped her forehead.
“Gretchen’s cheating boyfriend is a divorce attorney,” Nina said. Gretchen thought about a direct frontal tackle. She could take Aunt Nina down in two moves.
“That makes it worse,” April said. “He should know better.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Rita said.
Get ready for a ten-second count.
Gretchen’s pulse rate went off the chart hanging on the wall. “I don’t know,” she said, after the count, when
