Jo saw an opportunity, and for the first time in her life, she leaped on it before anyone else could snatch it away.
She called her gym Furious Fitness. It took up two stories of an old five-and-dime on Mattauk’s main street and accepted only women as members. Jo hired the two hottest male trainers from the meat market gym to offer private sessions, but her other employees were all female. Even though Art wasn’t allowed in the building during business hours, he had been supportive of the enterprise from the very beginning. She waited until the gym was a success to confess that she’d liquidated her 401（k）。 Fortunately, it didn’t take long to get the business up and running. Jo knew how to give her clients exactly what they were after—and it wasn’t exercise. Almost all of them wanted things to punch, pound, and kick. Even in the dead of winter, her air-conditioning bill was often higher than the rent. The energy released in that one little building could have powered most of Mattauk—or, as Jo sometimes fantasized, burned the whole fucking town down.
Jo was at the front desk when the latest newcomer walked in. She could spot the newbies a mile away. They were almost always in their mid-to late forties, and they all arrived looking lost. No wonder, Jo thought. For decades, they’d been dutifully following the map the world laid out for them. School led to work. Dating led to marriage and then to motherhood. But now those milestones were behind them, and they’d entered uncharted territory. Somewhere in the distance lay the final destination, but that was decades away, and a featureless wasteland seemed to stretch in between. These women, who’d done everything that had ever been asked of them, now felt forsaken. Just when they were reaching the height of their powers, they felt like life had led them astray.
The newcomer approached the counter, where Jo was helping another client. She was wholesome-looking and pretty, with shoulder-length black curls and a large, lovely butt. She wore leggings and a silky pink shirt that would never survive in the wash.
“I’ll be with you in just a minute,” Jo told her, assuming the woman was there for a membership. She usually took newbies under her wing for their first visit. “Have a look around if you like. If I take too long, just go ahead and hop on a machine and knock yourself out.”
“Okay.” The woman smiled shyly, revealing a sweet set of dimples just before she backed away.
Jo kept watch out of the corner of her eye as the woman made her way around the ground floor. She saw her pause at the base of the stairs, glance anxiously toward the second floor, and then retreat to a treadmill near the entrance. She climbed on and stood with a finger hovering a few inches from the screen.
“Just start walking and the machine will guide you through setup,” Jo called out.
Thank you, the woman mouthed gratefully, as though she’d been spared from great embarrassment. Jo watched until she was walking at a steady clip, then turned her attention back to her other client. By the time she made it over to the newbie, the woman was walking with a limp.
“What happened?” Jo reached over to the control panel and brought the treadmill to a halt. “Did you get hurt? Can I help?”
“Oh no, it’s nothing.” The woman smiled through her agony. “Just a cramp in my calf. Not much you can do.”
Jo knew who she was dealing with. The sweet-tempered stoic was a common type. They’d pass out from pain before they dared complain. “Mind if I try?” Jo asked. “I’ve been told I have magic hands.”
The woman stared at Jo with such intensity that Jo wondered if she was attempting to read her mind. “Okay,” she finally said, and sat down at the end of the machine.
Jo gripped the woman’s calf between her hands and let her palms grow hot.
The woman’s eyes widened. “You weren’t joking. How do you do that?”
Jo winked at her. “I channel my hot flashes. Dunno about you, but when I get one, I swear I could poach an egg in my fist.”