“I didn’t know you were coming in today,” Anthony said, his eyes remaining steady on Gwen. “Is it your first class?”
“No, I was here a couple of weeks ago,” she replied. “You guys have done an amazing job with this place.”
“Thanks,” Anthony said, smiling in a way that exposed his teeth.
Duncan frowned. The movement looked as unnatural as cracking plaster.
“I’ll have to come in and try one of your classes,” Gwen said.
“Yeah, for sure,” Anthony replied, placing his hands on his hips. “Whenever you want to, let me know. Even if it’s last minute, I’ll put you on the schedule.”
Gwen smiled. “I’ll remember that.”
A silence enveloped all three of them at that moment. Duncan cut through it by saying, “Okay, then, I’ll walk you out.”
The bakery had been closed for more than an hour, and Retta had spent most of that time watching a technician analyze and tinker with her water heater. Her landlord had finally sent someone over, and she was hoping the problem would be fixed with a twist of a bolt and a quick squirt of oil.
“Mhm… Interesting. Okay, I see.”
She perked up, leaning over to see the man’s progress. When professionals were doing their work, Retta preferred to give them space. However, this specific man had arrived and admitted that he didn’t usually work with water heaters.
The technician finally emerged from the small room that held the apparatus and wiped his hands on a rag attached to his waist. “Well, you’re right. There’s a problem with your water heater.”
Retta nodded and looked at him expectantly.
“I don’t know what it is.”
Her shoulders dropped. “So, where do we go from here?”
“I’ll speak with my supervisor about bringing someone else up here to take a look.”
“Okay, how long will that take?”
“A week or two. Maybe more.”
Retta removed her glasses to relieve the pressure around the bridge of her nose. He gave her his card, and she thanked him before showing him out.
She quickly grabbed her bags, a basket of laundry, and locked up, not wanting to be in her store when the clamor started up again.
While she loaded her things into the back of her car, someone in the parking lot laughed. She knew who it belonged to, and a cursory glance over her shoulder confirmed that Duncan was standing there. It kind of disturbed her that she recognized his damn laugh already.
It had been several days since their date. She’d sent him her answers to the questionnaire, and he’d replied back with his and a smiley emoji. But other than that, she’d not interacted with him.
There was no way to gauge if the lack of communication was because they were in a fake relationship and conversations were strictly business, or if he was disengaging because he didn’t know how to “break up” with her and maintain their new parking arrangement.
She needed to know either way.
As she approached the front entrance of the gym to wait, Duncan, by chance, turned and saw her. He stopped talking to the woman in front of him and shouted something that she didn’t quite catch.
“I thought you’d be long gone by now,” Duncan said once she closed the distance between them.
“I had a meeting with a technician for my water heater,” Retta said.
“How did that go?”
She sighed. “It should be cleared up soon.”
It looked like Duncan was going to ask her another question, but he must’ve remembered they weren’t alone. “Retta, this is my sister, Gwen.”
