Chapter 9

During the next weeks, membership increased at the gym, mostly men from neighboring towns. For the most part, it was obvious as to why they joined this gym and not one near their homes: Annabella Reed.

She liked the attention. In fact, Derek thought she was getting a total kick out of flirting with them. Derek had joked, telling her to be kind, that they were likely to get hurt when she winked at them, but she didn’t listen. Nothing inappropriate to her mind, far from it. Even so, her teasing made his blood boil.

Annabella didn’t faint or show any signs of weakness again. As a matter of fact, she was a hard and very responsible worker. She was the first to arrive and the last to leave the gym. She was always encouraging the clients, and she knew how to handle them if something was wrong or they crossed a line.

Derek and Bella never had lunch together again. Instead, she started to bring her own lunch from home, and she ate it at the office. She ate mainly salads.

Every day, Derek would bring a new smoothie that he shared with her before opening the gym.

Since she loved all fruits and vegetables, he would blend strange combinations and have her guess them. One day, it was green grapes, green apples, cucumbers and spinach. Another day, it was carrots, fresh ginger, apples and pomegranate juice.

“You must spend a ton of money on this,” she said as she tasted his latest invention; a grapefruit, radish and pineapple smoothie.

Derek shrugged. It cost a lot, but he enjoyed creating something that tasted good enough to make her eyes roll up into her head. It was his big quest.

Gradually, Annabella won Derek’s trust. Their relationship was cordial and warm. Derek never found much of a reason to laugh. But with Bella, he actually did. She was funny without even trying. Their relationship slowly progressed to friendship. They became good friends. They talked a lot about everything, except feelings and the past.