“You too,” Gabe replied.
“Beautiful flowers, by the way.”
Recalling the last time Dorothy had come face to face with Gabe, Hannah was surprised the woman could string a sentence together.
“I hope you’ll stay for a cuppa after you’re done,” Dorothy said, her tone mischievous.
Narrowing her eyes, Hannah knew there’d be a motive behind Dorothy’s invitation, and Hannah hazarded a guess it related to their team conversation about her love life, or lack of, the other evening. However, Dorothy, Mel and Liv were in for a surprise if they thought they could matchmake. Since Beth and Archie had left for France, Hannah’s life felt emotionally complicated enough. “He can’t,” Hannah said.
“Why not?” Dorothy asked, bemused.
“Because Gabe and I now have a professional relationship. Tea would create a conflict of interest or a confidentiality issue.” She turned to him. “Isn’t that right?”
Gabe let out a laugh. “I’d agree if I was a doctor or a priest. But I’m not here to take your temperatureorhear your confession.” He looked to Dorothy. “Thank you. That would be lovely.”
While Hannah stood there trying to come up with another excuse, Gabe rubbed his hands together.
“Now we’ve got that cleared up,” he said. “Shall we get started?”
CHAPTER24
Telling Aunt Dorothy she’d see her soon, Hannah stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She felt self-conscious standing next to Gabe. He wasn’t only handsome, he was fitness personified. In comparison, with all her lumps and bumps, she looked like a sack of potatoes.
“It’s best practice to start with a few stretches,” Gabe said.
Getting straight into their session, Hannah had thought he’d ease her in with a bit of chit-chat. Gabe had to know she was nervous, and a bit of conversation, however insignificant the subject, might have helped put Hannah at ease.
“It’s important to warm up the muscles to prevent unnecessary injuries.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, surprised to find she’d learned something already. Thinking back, the stitch she’d experienced during her last attempt at running had clearly been caused by a lack of due diligence on the preparation front.
Gabe raised his arms above his head, pulling first on one elbow and then on the other. Hannah couldn’t help but admire his physique. Even his muscles appeared to have muscles. Watching him, she felt hot and bothered, something she couldn’t blame on exercise because she hadn’t started yet.
“This is a triceps stretch,” he said, indicating Hannah follow his lead.
Glancing round at the neighbouring houses to make sure the curtain twitchers weren’t nosing, Hannah tugged on the bottom of her T-shirt before doing as she was told. Hoping she didn’t look too stupid, she told herself it was needs must.
After a few moments, Gabe dropped his arms ready to move on to the next part of their workout. Clasping his hands together, he bent his right knee for balance, while throwing his left leg out to the side. “We call this a side lunge.”
Again, Hannah copied his actions, albeit with less poise.
Gabe talked her through a couple more exercises, before insisting they shake themselves out to loosen up. Thanking goodness she was wearing a sports bra, humiliation threatened to overwhelm Hannah as she jiggled her body from head to toe.
At last, it seemed they were good to go.
Already sweating, Hannah steeled herself. Embarrassing warm-ups were one thing. Jogging next to a Greek god was something else.
“Don’t worry,” Gabe said, as if reading her mind. “We won’t be doing any running today.”
“Really?” Hannah immediately relaxed, relieved to hear it.
“One, I need to make sure your ankle’s okay after last week’s fall. I know you’ve been testing it out, but it would be good for me to see it for myself.”
“Fair enough.”
“And two, walking enables me to assess your overall fitness so I can come up with an effective training regime.”
Listening to him, Gabe sounded quite the professional. Something Hannah had to admit she thought sexy. “Sounds good to me,” she said. Strolling along with a handsome man at her side, what was there not to like.
