The woman laughed. “I was spared the hot flashes. I got the weight gain instead. Believe it or not, I used to be an itty-bitty thing.”
“Didn’t we all,” Jo said. “Don’t know about you, but I like taking up more space. I’m Jo Levison, by the way.”
“Nessa James,” the woman replied, grimacing as Jo honed in on the source of her pain.
“You get cramps like this often, Nessa?”
“I’ve never worked out before,” Nessa confessed.
Jo never laughed at anything her clients told her. She knew that for many of them, Furious Fitness was one of the few places where they were always taken seriously. “Well, that explains it. Why’d you decide to start today?”
“I didn’t. I mean, not really. I get these impulses sometimes, and today I ended up here.” Nessa threw up her hands as if to suggest she was quirky, not crazy. “I’m glad I did, though. Last time I saw the doctor, he told me I needed to get more exercise because he said I’m—” She cleared her throat to make room for the word that came next. “Overweight.”
Jo often wondered if some of the doctors around Mattauk had chosen the profession so they’d have an excuse to humiliate women. She counseled her clients not to go through menopause with a male doctor, who was more likely to see it as a condition to be treated than an evolution to be embraced. “Yeah, well, that’s his opinion,” she said. “You ever gotten any complaints?”
Nessa giggled like a girl. “Nope.”
“Then fuck that asshole.” The words slipped out, and Jo glanced up nervously. “Sorry about the language.”
“Why?” Nessa asked. “I look like some kind of prude to you?”
“No,” Jo said. “But you do strike me as the upstanding, churchgoing type.”
Nessa had never gotten so much as a speeding ticket, and she could be found sitting in the third pew of the town’s Baptist church every Sunday. “I’ve read the Bible a few times,” Nessa admitted. “I wouldn’t say I’m an expert when it comes to scripture, but as far as I know, Jesus never had a problem with the word fuck.”
This time, Jo had to laugh. “Was that the first time you’ve said it out loud?” she asked on a hunch.
Nessa grinned. “Not exactly.” But it wasn’t something she said on a regular basis.
Jo leaned toward her conspiratorially. “Felt good to get it out, didn’t it?” she stage-whispered, then sat back on her haunches. “What do you say you and I add some good old-fashioned cussing to our workout routine?”
“You’re a trainer?” Nessa asked. “I thought you owned this place.”
“I do, but training gives me an excuse to work out. I wouldn’t have started a gym if I didn’t need one more than anyone else.” That may have been true, but Jo hadn’t accepted a client in over a year. And Nessa was a newbie. Even a less experienced trainer would have a great deal to teach her. But there was something about Nessa’s presence that soothed Jo. For the five minutes they’d been chatting, she’d felt remarkably calm. There was no one in sight that she wanted to kill.
She stopped kneading Nessa’s calf. “That better now?”
Nessa looked down at her calf as if she’d almost forgotten it was there. “It is. You’re amazing.”
“Take it easy for the rest of the day.” Jo stood up and offered Nessa a hand. “Then how about you and I get started tomorrow at five?”
“That sounds good.” Nessa seemed surprised that the conversation was over. “But before you go, I gotta be honest with you. I didn’t come here for the exercise. I think I’m here to see you.”