Linc approached from the other end of the hallway, then, as if they’d somehow summoned him. Their eyes met, and Zoey’s stomach flipped, and suddenly she was back on the bus in close proximity. Noting the way his shirt sleeve cut into his bicep as he braced one arm on the back of the seat. Feeling the weight of his stare at he suggested maybe he wouldn’t change things after all.
He stopped in front of the landscape portrait, gave it a once-over, and then scowled. “Why are museum paintings so boring?”
Amelia snorted. Zoey covered her mouth with her hand. Nudged her. “See?”
“See what?” Linc frowned.
Amelia pursed her lips, and then they both burst out laughing.
“Women.” Linc shook his head. “I better get back to the boys.”
Zoey watched him walk away, then shared another secret smile with Amelia. Her heart warmed, and she even risked slinging her arm around Amelia’s shoulder as they headed to join the rest of the class.
If she could break through and connect with Amelia, surely Linc would be next. Zoey swallowed, heart thumping. And then maybe…maybe…he would be in a place to want the same things Zoey wanted.
fifteen
Ah, finally. Linc closed his eyes and drew a deep breath of metal, sweat, and chalk.Home. His workout routine had been off, to say the least, since the sudden arrival of two women in his house.
He had a lot of reps to catch up on.
Thunder rumbled overhead. While today’s storm was frustrating in that it canceled one of the tours he desperately needed, it also provided a chance to kill a few birds with one stone—or rather, kettlebell.
He shot a glance at Amelia, whose tangled mane was pulled up in a ponytail. She planted her hands on her skinny, shorts-clad hips as she cast a dubious look around the gym, surprisingly vacant for a Saturday afternoon. At least there wouldn’t be a lot of witnesses for this potential train wreck. Of course, that all depended on how Amelia and Zoey worked out.
“Why are we here, again?” Amelia asked.
Because his mental health was tanking under all this recent stress? Because if he didn’t lift something heavy, he might actually lose his mind? Because Zoey had told him about her and Amelia’s museum talk yesterday, and challenged Linc to initiate doing things with Amelia? Pick a reason.
Not that he could say most of those without throwing Zoey under the bus.
“Because I’m going to show both of you a healthy way of taking out frustration.” Linc pointed at Amelia. “And it’s not by running away or slamming your door every time you don’t get your way.” He then swiveled to point at Zoey. “And it’s not by pretending that you’re not frustrated in the first place.”
“The door thing works fine for me,” Amelia whispered to Zoey, who grinned as she dropped a backpack on the bench by the door. The two of them had been all giggly since yesterday’s field trip, a fact that made him happy and also incredibly jealous. Why did she trust Zoey so much more?
“Don’t mind him. He just wants to show off.” Zoey, wearing a tank top and running shorts, stage-whispered back, making sure Linc heard.
He tried to scowl again as he headed onto the matted floor, but she wasn’t far off from the truth. Okay, maybe she was completely on target. Still, what he said was true too. It’d been five days since Amelia had started school, and she still grumbled that she didn’t have any real friends. That the homework was harder than in Lafayette. That she didn’t know her way around town.
None of which seemed true, as she yammered on about some kid named Sarah regularly, could easily get to Chug a Mug and Magnolia Blossom, and had A’s so far in her classes.
He was starting to think teenagers just enjoyed complaining.
“What do those do?” Amelia poked at the J-cups mounted on the tall steel rig.
“They let you adjust the height of your bar on the rack.” He pointed across the gym, to the barbells resting in their stands. “You won’t be doing any of that today. Not on day one.”
Though the idea did sound fun. Get his kid interested in fitness, share the hobby. Teach her how to power clean, squat snatch. There was something so empowering about throwing around a few hundred pounds when life felt out of control.
He figured they could all use a bit of that power lately. “Remember when we talked about endorphins?” he asked.
Amelia scrunched her face. “Is this about to be a science lesson? Because it’s Saturday.”
He ignored that. “Endorphins are proteins in your brain. They make you happy.”
“And exercising gives you those?” Amelia looked doubtful.
“They really do.” Zoey began bunching her hair into a ponytail. “I promise.”
