Spencer turned to meet the soft blue eyes of a woman much shorterand plumper than she was.
“Hi. I’m Lucy.” The woman held out her hand.
“Spencer. Nice to meet you.” They shook, and by unspokenagreement, walked to the storage area to grab mats.
“I don’t know about you, but that woman on the website totallyfreaked me out.” Lucy handed Spencer a rolled-up mat, then grabbed one forherself.
“Oh, God, me too!” Spencer said in hushed tones. “I had anightmare.”
Lucy’s laugh was big and brash and Spencer liked it immediately,but they had no more time for discussion as they sat, because the woman stoodin front of them and commanded their attention without saying a thing.
She was stunning. It was an assessment Spencer came to instantly.She wasn’t tall—maybe five-five—but she seemed it. And she wasn’t a walkingmuscle like the Fitness Nazi had seemed to be. She was just…fit. Lean andstrong-looking, but still feminine and soft. She wore form-fitting blackworkout pants and black-and-purple Nikes. Her T-shirt also clung to her body, butnot in a look-how-tight-my-shirt-is kind of way. More like athis-shirt-was-made-for-this-body kind of way, and Spencer appreciated it. Thewoman’s hair was dark and barely skimmed her shoulders, and she kept both sidestucked behind her ears. And her eyes…God, when Spencer saw the blue of them,the way they stood out, she couldn’t look away. She was mesmerized, and herbrain suddenly threw her images of the very naughty things she’d like to dowith this woman. Spencer felt herself blush, felt the instant rush of heat toher face, wondered if anybody else noticed. She hoped not. She was in a bridesclass, for God’s sake.
“Okay,” their gorgeous instructor said, as she stood before them.“Welcome to the Be Your Best Bride class. As you can see, I am not KaraLaughlin. Unfortunately, she’s ill and I’ll be running the class. I hope thatisn’t a problem for anybody.” She paused, gave them time to protest beforecontinuing. “I’ll tell you a little about myself, and then you’ll introduceyourselves. We’re going to be together three times a week for the next twelveweeks, so we should get to know each other a bit.” She smiled and Spencer felta little flutter in her belly.Oh,yeah. Serious crush vibes happening here.“My name is Rebecca McCalland I’ve been a fitness instructor for almost ten years now. I’ve been atBodyFit for about five.” She took a few steps one way, then turned and did thesame in the other direction. Slowly, meandering, as if the words she was sayingwere scrawled on the floor and she was finding them as she went. “I don’tbelieve in whipping you into shape.” Rebecca stopped then and made eye contactwith each of the five women. She held Spencer’s as she said, “I believe incontrolled, planned workouts that shape the entire body, that make your heartstrong and your body strong.”
The woman from the locker room, the one in the orange top, shother hand into the air and asked, “What if I want to focus on a certain bodypart? Like, I want my hips to be smaller before my wedding day.”
Spencer watched as Rebecca McCall seemed to stare for a beatbefore responding. “Okay, so there’s no such thing as spot-toning. You can’twork on one thing without working on others. What we do will tone all of you.”
“But we’ll lose weight, right?” Yellow Shirt asked, jumping in,obviously not satisfied with Rebecca’s response.
“You might. You might not.” Rebecca held up a hand as Orange Shirtopened her mouth. “Muscle weighs more than fat. So, while you will be in bettershape at the end of our twelve weeks, you may not weigh any less. You won’tmind, though. I promise you. Weight is only a number. I want you to throw yourscales away. Or at least stay off them. Fitness is about how youfeel.” Orange Shirtlooked skeptical, but that seemed to pacify her, at least for the time being,and Rebecca went on. “How about we go around, introduce ourselves, and tell alittle bit about why we’re here and what we hope to achieve?”
Orange Shirt, of course, shot her hand up and started speaking,her dark ponytail bouncing as she turned her head from side to side to look ateach of them. “Hi, I’m Brittany Hughes. I’m getting married on Novemberthirteenth to my awesome fiancé, Brian.”
Brian andBrittany.Well,that’s ridiculously cute.
“My best friend, Ally, took this class, but with the otherteacher, and she said it kicked her ass until she was able to fit into a dresstwo sizes smaller than she originally thought.”
Yellow Shirt gave a happy little gasp as the third woman in a blueshirt clapped with her fingers only.
“So, as I already said, I’d like to slim down theseballooninghips andleave Brian speechless when I walk down the aisle.”
“Oh, my God,” Yellow Shirt scoffed. “Your hips are so notballooning.” She waved a dismissive hand at Brittany. “Hi. I’m Bella Templeton.I am also getting married in November to my wonderful fiancé, Dylan. We’ve beentogether for five years now, so it’s about time we had a wedding.” Spencerwatched as Bella rolled her eyes good-naturedly, then toyed with a chunk of herblond bob. “I’ve been feeling pretty out of shape lately, so, like Brittanyhere…” She laid a hand on Brittany’s shoulder as if they were old friends. “I’dlike to fit into my dress without having to fast for three days first, and I’dlike to make Dylan’s eyes bug out of his head.” Bella then dissolved into a fitof girlish giggles.
Spencer was pretty sure she noticed Rebecca trying not to roll hereyes.
On Spencer’s left, Lucy spoke next. “I’m LucySchubert-soon-to-be-Schwartz. From one German name to another.” She laughedthat big sound again and Spencer smiled next to her. “I’ve always been a littlechubby, and while I don’t really expect that to change, I’d like to make aneffort to get myself a little healthier. For my wedding, yes, but for life,too.” A sheepish expression suddenly settled on her face and she glanced downat her folded hands in her lap.
“I guess I’m next,” Spencer said. “My name is Spencer Thompson. Wedon’t have an exact date because it’s just going to be a courthouse thing. Butwe’ve talked about January, so a bit later than you guys.” She tossed a glancetoward Brittany and Bella. “My fiancée signed me up for a gym membership andthis class and surprised me. I guess she thinks I need to get into better shapebefore we get married, so…here I am.” Any other words she might have hadevaporated in her head when she looked up at Rebecca and saw a flash of—whatwas it? Disbelief? Disappointment? Sympathy?—cross her features.
“I’m Willow Becker,” said the last woman in the room, and Spencerwas grateful to escape the focus. Willow was a brunette, her long hair in abraid down her back. “I’m getting married in early December, and my fiancé hasno idea I’m here.” She gave Spencer a friendly bump with her shoulder. “Justwanted to do something good for myself.”
Rebecca seemed very pleased with Willow’s words, and for a quickfew seconds, Spencer found herself to be inexplicably jealous.
“Thank you, and I’m really glad you’re all here.” Rebecca startedup the slow pacing again. “Here’s the plan. We’re going to use a combination ofcardio, weights, and other exercises to give you an entire body workout. You’llbe here three days a week for the next twelve weeks, so that gives us plenty oftime. Now.” She held up a finger. “You may not all be doing the same things.We’ll start out together, but as we progress, I’ll be watching each of you anddeciding what works best for your individual needs. For example, some of youmay need more core work while others may need to build muscle. You’ll all gainstrength, though, regardless. And you’ll all be making your heart stronger,which is the most important aspect of exercise.” Rebecca tapped her own chestwith a finger. “Keeping that ticker in good shape so you have a long life withthe person you’re about to marry.” A half grin tugged at one corner of hermouth and then she clapped once. “Okay. Let’s see what you’ve got. Follow me.”
Not quite two hours later, Spencer stood in her own shower athome, letting the scalding water pound on her shoulders. She was exhausted andalready a little bit sore. Her muscles were likely to be screaming tomorrow.Rebecca McCall had put them through the wringer, testing each of her fiveclients to see where their strengths and weaknesses lay. After an hour with theBe Your Best Bride class, Spencer was pretty sure she had zero strengths. Not asingle one. Only weaknesses.
She had just finished drying herself off when her phone rang andthe screen said it was a call from Jennifer Kowalski, Spencer’s coworker andfriend for the past few years. Pretty sure she was still sweating, Spencer fellbackward onto her bed naked and spread her arms and legs out in an attempt tocool off. She hit the answer button on her phone.
“Hey.”
“And?” Jennifer asked, getting right to it. “How’d it go?”
Spencer groaned.
“That good, huh?”
