“You’re right,” Jake said. “She’d eviscerate you.”
“Exactly. I can’t believe you’re not letting Naya know.”
Jake’s laugh filled the space between us. “She’s out of town. Otherwise I would. I’m just as whipped as you.” He clicked the key fob and his trunk opened. They must have driven together, because Aaron threw his stuff in the back as well and motioned to the bar a couple blocks in the distance. “You up for a beer? You’re the lucky untethered one.”
I’d actually never seen two guys more enamored with or happy to be tethered to their partners. They were lucky. “Sure, why not?” Funny thing was, I’d had a moment where I considered texting Britta to let her know I wouldn’t be able to chat until later. It wasn’t a date or even anything planned, but we talked most nights. I’d ask her how her evening workout had gone, and we’d slowly fall into some random topic. I looked forward to it.
The sports bar wasn’t crowded, and we took a high-top table near the back where we could see the baseball game on TV. Jake poured beer from the pitcher we’d ordered. “How’s that program you’re working on together?”
“This guy came through,” Aaron said, handing me a glass. “The kids are going to love it.”
I shrugged. “It’s been cool.” I’d hired a student of Naya’s to help develop the curriculum in concert with the school. We weren’t even working with the kids yet and I loved it. It was like the feeling of coaching someone new when things clicked for them that first time. Between working on it and spending time with Britta, I almost felt like a new person compared to a few months earlier. Even dealing with my mom was—not easier, but I could manage it better. I still worried about Libby, but the panic I’d gotten used to felt more manageable, too. “Did I ever tell you I used to want to be a teacher?”
Jake leaned forward. “What made you change your mind?”
“The teaching program was hard to balance with football, and I needed the scholarship.” My exercise science degree had served me well so far, but working with this program, designing things for kids, it made me wonder if I’d made the right choice all those years before.
“Too bad,” Aaron said. “You would have been good at it.”
Britta had said the same thing before diving into her TILF description. Just then my phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to check the screen.
Britta: Did you win?
I unlocked my phone, but Jake spoke before I could decide on an emoji response.
“Aaron, are we sure Wes is untethered?”
I looked up, and the two of them were smirking, enjoying their bit as fake commentators.
“Jake, from the look on his face when he got that text, I’d say the signs point to tethered.”
I shoved the phone back in my pocket and waved them off. “She’s a client.”
“Funny. None of my clients make me smile like that,” Jake joked. “Well, I guess Naya did.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Naya was a client?”
He took a drink from his glass before continuing. “Kind of. When Nay and I met, I was consulting for her university. The whole time, when we were first together, my company was making recommendations about her department being cut. That would have been a little before you started hanging out with us.”
“What happened?”
Jake shrugged. “We got through it, but it kind of sucked.”
Aaron groaned. “That was a mess.”
“How’d you get past it?”
Jake laughed. “We all have ethical codes, but between doing something professionally dicey and taking the risk to be with her?” He took a sip from his glass. “No contest.”
* * *
WE FINISHED MOST of our pitcher and talked for a while before heading home. Aaron’s comment that I would have been a good teacher stuck with me, and I decided not to check the growing number of FitMi emails in my inbox. Jake’s story about how he met Naya and about risk . . . that stuck with me, too.
I had a message waiting from Britta, and I made myself wait to respond. In the park the weekend before, I’d wanted to kiss her. My body and mind were there, and I was seconds away from lowering my mouth to hers. She’d tipped her face up, and I’d sworn it was a perfect moment.
But then that cyclist passed by and I’d realized where we were, and who we were, and that stopped me. Add to that Kelsey running into us, and there was too much risk involved. So, I’d waited to respond, not giving in to the urge to look as soon as I picked up my phone. Now, fresh from the shower and sitting on my bed, I unlocked the device.