“I guess we could give it a shot, but what do you want to bet he’s got our numbers blocked?” Nessa asked.
“If he does, then we’ll just have to hunt the little bastard down, won’t we?”
“Jo?” The door to the weight room opened. It was Heather, who’d been promoted to manager just that morning. “You asked me to remind you about the young women’s self-defense class?”
Jo had posted an invite on social media the day before. Nervous that turnout wouldn’t be enough to impress her benefactors, she’d done her best to put it out of her mind.
“Is it five already?” Jo asked, glancing down at her smartwatch, which told her they were still fifteen minutes short of the hour.
“No,” Heather said, “but I thought you might want to come out a bit early. Your friend Claude just arrived, and we’ve got quite a few people out front.”
“Really?” Jo felt a jolt of excitement. She set her barbells aside and jogged out of the weight room, with Nessa right behind her. From the stairs to the first floor, she could see a crowd of girls and their mothers crammed into the gym’s reception area. A line to get inside stretched into the parking lot.
“Oh wow,” Nessa gasped. “You’ve really started something.”
Claude was practically bouncing with glee when she greeted the two of them at the bottom of the stairs. “Oh my God, Jo, I think every mother in Mattauk is here with her daughters!”
“I had no idea it would be so popular,” Jo said. “Heather, would you mind calling Art and asking him to bring Lucy over?”
For the first time, Jo could envision a day when Lucy would walk to the gym on her own. The fear that had been Jo’s constant companion since her daughter was born no longer felt like an invincible foe. For years, it had lurked inside her, springing out the moment Jo lost sight of Lucy in the grocery store—or Lucy took too long walking home from a friend’s. Within seconds, the fear could grow into something monstrous. Jo scanned the crowd of mothers who’d come to Furious Fitness with their daughters. Jo could tell they all knew that same terror. Like her, they’d battled it daily. Now it was starting to feel like their war might have an end.
“I knew.” Claude reached out a hand to Nessa. “Hi, I’m Claude.”
“Shit, sorry,” Jo said. “This is my best friend Nessa James. Nessa, this is Claude.”
“What a wonderful thing you guys are doing for these girls,” Nessa told Claude. “I’m so proud of Jo. I think she’s really found her calling.”
“Maybe, but I don’t know if I’m prepared to deal with this many girls on a regular basis,” Jo admitted, her confidence a bit shaken. “There have to be two hundred girls here, and it’s not even five.”
“Leave the logistics to me,” Claude said. “I’m used to handling Leonard’s charity events.”
“What kind of stuff does Leonard’s charity do?” Nessa asked.
“Right now, we’re focused on building schools in developing nations. Earlier this year, we were in the Caribbean. Before that, we spent a month in Nepal. We had four hundred kids show up for opening day there. So I have a lot of experience with crowds this big.”
“Great. So where should we take these girls?” Jo asked. “There are too many to fit inside the gym. I guess the park’s a few blocks away. Why don’t I lead them all over there, and we can have one giant class?”
“See? You’re already getting the hang of it!” Claude cheered her on. “While you’re teaching them how to kick butt, I’ll go around and group the girls by age and assign them to classes. I’m thinking six classes in total, and each girl comes once a week.”