Chapter 2

SHE STOOD THERE GAPING, not noticing the older couple trying to get past her through the door. She must have looked freaked because they started panicking for her.

“Dear, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” the woman said, putting her hand across her husband’s chest to keep him from walking past her.

Coming out of her stupor, she realized someone was talking to her.

“Oh yes, thank you. I’m okay. Just had a long shift. Have a nice night!” She started walking quickly to her car as she clicked on the recent contacts to see who must be having an emergency.

The calls were all from Gage so she immediately called back and was about to ask if everything was okay when she was met with shouting so loud she had to pull the phone away from her ear.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you all day!”

“Babe, I was working. What’s wrong, are you hurt? What’s going on?” she couldn’t hide the panic in her voice as she prayed no one was dead, because why else would he have blown up her phone?

“Yeah, my problem is that you aren’t answering your phone!”

“I … what? Are you okay?”

“No, I’m pissed. I’ve been trying to reach you and I expect you to return my calls after two hours.”

“Babe, I was working. It was too busy to answer my phone and Mike has been on our asses about being on our phones while we’re working; I’ve told you that. What do you need? You’re freaking me out with all these calls!”

“I called to talk to you. I wanted to talk to you about what restaurant to go to tomorrow night for our anniversary, but you were too busy, I guess.”

She stood there in the parking lot with her hand on the door handle, seemingly stuck in place from disbelief.

“You called me fifty-two times to ask me about dinner tomorrow night? Geez, when I saw all the missed calls I thought someone was dead.”

“Well if you would have told me you were working today we wouldn’t have had this problem.”

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. Her work schedule was the same every week and he should know it by now. She was confused at this turn of events that turned out to be not so eventful. She hated fighting so she conceded.

“I’m sorry, Gage. Andrew had an emergency and I had to stay a little late to clean both our sections. I didn’t get the chance to look at my phone until just now.”

“Who the fuck is Andrew?”

“Uh, someone I work with. Another server.” She knew where this was going and dropped into her car before putting her phone on speaker so she could get to work at the gym. Luckily, the gym wasn’t too far from Cherrywood, the town she grew up in that she just couldn’t bear to leave.

“What, did he flirt with you to get you to stay? Is that what happened? I see the way those guys at the restaurant look at you. I don’t like you working there.”

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Everything was fine.

“No, he had a family emergency and had to run out so I covered his tables for the rest of his shift. I was covering two sections and I was running around like crazy.”

“You should leave that job. I really don’t understand why you work there.”

“Well, ya know I have rent and bills that would be really bad to ignore so there’s that.”

“You should get a real job. I still don’t understand why you quit the newspaper.”

“I had to leave that place. It wasn’t good for me anymore. Once I get my book published I won’t need to work here anymore either.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it will be a best seller and we’ll never have to work again. In the meantime, you’re too busy working and I never get to see you.”

Hailey took another deep breath. He was constantly on her ass about work even though she made this change for her mental health. Working at a dying newspaper was just sending her toward a downward spiral and she had to get out. She still couldn’t understand why he didn”t take it seriously. She cursed under her breath at his mocking tone about a future bestseller. Wasn’t Gage supposed to be her biggest supporter? Isn’t that what a relationship was?

“Gage, you know I’m trying to take care of myself and think about my future. I’m working at the gym tonight so I can afford to buy you an anniversary present. I’m doing my best.”

“It doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t know why you bother with the therapy. That’s another night we could be together.”

“The therapy is literally keeping me sane, Gage.”

“Well, it’s not working. You’re still sad all the time.”

This wasn’t the first time he’d been so nonchalant about her depression. Despite her sending him articles and research about what she was going through, he still didn’t understand. She wondered if he even read any of it.

“You should just work out more. Exercise is good for your health and you could stand to get in better shape.”

Yup. No idea how depression worked. She started blinking hard to stop the tears that were building up in her eyes.

“That’s what my soccer league is for. I get plenty of exercise from that.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me. Do you really have to play co-ed? I’m tired of all those guys copping a feel when they’re fighting you for the ball.”

“It’s an alumni team. We’ve been playing together for years.”

The soccer team was one of her few bright spots during the week. One to two nights a week, she headed to the indoor sports complex and played a game with a group of alumni from her high school. Being on that turf was the one time during the week when she truly felt at peace, despite the fact there was nothing peaceful about co-ed indoor soccer. But, she could be totally herself, get out all that pent-up energy that Gage couldn’t stand. God forbid she ever got hyper or had too much fun. Soccer was her solace, her time to shine.

“Whatever you say. Now where do you want to go for dinner tomorrow night?”

“I dunno, Gage, I thought you would have planned something for us.”

“I wanted to get your opinion since you’re so damn picky about food.”

“Not liking vegetables doesn’t make me picky about food. Just don’t take me to a vegan place and we’re good.”

“So what non-vegan place do you want to go to?”

Was he truly incapable of planning something, anything, for her?

“How about that Italian place that just opened up on Highland Ave.?”

“Nah, I’ve read some bad reviews on it.”

“Okay, how about sushi? There’s that fancy place in Collingswood? Not too far.”

“I’m not feeling sushi. Pick something else.”

And he called her picky. Was he serious?

“Oh, how about Mexican? We can go to Don Pablo’s! I love their ice cream tacos!”

“I always leave there smelling like a taco. Why don’t we just go to our favorite place, the steakhouse on Third Ave.?”

“We go there all the time. Don’t you want to go somewhere special for our one-year anniversary?”

“I’d rather go to a place I know is good instead of taking a chance on some shit food.”

“Okay, the steakhouse works. Hey, Gage, I’m pulling into the gym parking lot now. Want me to call you on my way home?”

“Nah, I’ll be out with the boys tonight at Miller’s, probably won’t hear my phone.”

Sure, he can be inaccessible all night but God forbid she didn’t take his calls because of work. She didn’t even care anymore. Cool, now she was lying to herself.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Okay, love y—”

The line cut out before she could say a proper goodbye. His finger must have slipped, right?

She pulled into a pretty decent spot for this time of night. The lot was usually full by then. Was there anything better than finding a great parking spot? The joys of life.

“At least something went right today,” she said aloud to herself as she got out of her car to make her way inside.

The gym was one of the most popular rock climbing gyms in the area and she was lucky to get a job here thanks to her best friend, Bridget, being engaged to the general manager. Because you know what comes with a job at a gym? A free membership. And apparently she needed to work out more, according to her super attentive and loving boyfriend. He probably just cared about her health because of her mental health issues.

People crossed paths in front of her as she made her way to the front desk, saying hi to her desk buddies, Bridget and Chase. The other benefit of a rock climbing gym? The people were actually really cool. She thought about how she’d never felt uncomfortable in this place. This was the real judgment-free zone.

“Hey guys, looks like we got the regular crowd?” she asked.

“Yup! Is it ever not crowded here?” Bridget responded.

“Sure, there’s that ten-minute window every morning when we first open that we’re empty.”

“Not sure that counts,” added Chase. “I wish it was a little more quiet so I could finish this book.”

He held it up so Hailey could see, “Climbing for the Top by F.A. Ray? I haven’t heard of that one. What’s it about?”

“It’s the greatest thing ever. It’s about gay rock climbers that fall in love and climb rocks and are awesome! Can you believe there’s a whole romance series about gay rock climbers?” Chase was ecstatic. Hailey would have to check out this series for herself. “But now that you’re here, I get to go! Big date tonight, wish me luck!”

“Good luck!” Bridget and her said at the same time before she added, “Hope he actually looks like his picture in real life!”

“Ugh, he better!”

Chase ran out the front doors with such enthusiasm. Is that how people acted when they were excited about a date? She must have felt that way at some point. She shook off the thought and turned to Bridget who was rocking some loud rainbow tights and a crop top with the gym’s logo on it.

“Bridge, have you heard this one? A priest, a minister and a rabbit walk into a bar. The rabbit says, ‘I must be a typo.’”

Hailey started cracking up before Bridget could even respond. Bridget gave her a blank stare.

“Because it’s usually a rabbi. Rabbi, rabbit, typo?”

“Oh! Okay, now I get it! Ha! That’s a good one. Where’d you find it?”

“Reddit. They have a whole sub for silly jokes.”

“Well if there’s anything you are, it’s silly. We work too much now, I miss your antics when we go out. I can’t wait for the bachelorette party!”

“Oh my gosh, same. I can’t wait to relax with just the girls and break free a little.”

She noticed the knowing look Bridget sent her way.

As she sat there the rest of the night checking people in and renting out shoes and chalk bags, she thought hard about Gage and their conversation today.

“Hey Bridge, can I ask you a serious question?”

She loved getting advice from Bridget because she never sugar coated anything and she always dropped truth bombs all over the place. Bridget had her long box braids styled differently this week and she got distracted staring at them against her flawless, dark skin. She could never get over how she had the coolest designs in braids. Somehow her hair had a star braided into it. A star! And she could barely make a proper ponytail.

“Of course, hit me with it!”

“Has a guy ever told you that you could stand to get in better shape?”

“During middle school a doctor did. Fuck that guy. Luckily, puberty helped me lose a lot of weight. Why? Wait. Who the fuck is telling you you need to lose weight?”

There she went, seeing right through her.

She said, “Gage,” with a deeper sigh than she intended.

“Dude, when are you going to get rid of that asshole? I’m praying it’s before my wedding. Think you can dump him by then?”

“I’m not going to get rid of him, he’s just stressed right now.”

“He’s stressed? With what? All the beers he drinks every night with the guys, hardly ever giving you alone time?”

“Well, we’ll be alone tomorrow night! It’s our one-year anniversary.”

“Jesus Homo Erectus Christ, have you really been with him that long?”

“I … Homo Erectus? Why?”

“Just go with it.”

“Yeah, I’ve really been with him that long.”

“Mm-hmm, and when did your depression start?”

“Damn, coming right for my throat tonight.”

“Just trying to look out for you. C’mon, when?”

“Um…” she took a deep breath and with another big sigh she said, “It started getting bad maybe eight-ish months ago but I’ve had it for years.”

“Are you sure it was the newspaper that was bringing you down?”

“Oh my gosh yes, my boss made me uncomfortable almost every day. Plus, he smelled.”

“Mm-hmm. And how long were you working there?”

“Uh, like two years?”

“So let me get this straight. Your first year went by fine? No depression yet?”

“Well, it was always festering a bit, but—”

“No buts, I’m telling you: your depression getting worse is not from your job. It’s from that asshole that doesn’t treat you right and makes you feel bad about yourself.”

“Sure, he treats me right! He’s the first guy I’ve ever dated that doesn’t live at home with his parents, he has a stable job, he gets me little gifts all the time, the sex is … intense.”

“That’s what you’re rolling with? Okay, what was the last gift he got you? Go ahead, tell me.”

She sighed again. She was doing that a lot today.

“Last week he bought me a blender bottle so I could start drinking protein shakes.”

“Wow, what an incredibly unthoughtful gift that probably made you feel like you weren’t good enough the way you are,” she deadpanned. “And what the fuck is he doing saying you need to get in shape? Girl, you’re fucking hot. Anyone can see that. Here, I’ll show you.”

What? “No, please don’t.”

A man in his mid-twenties approached the desk to rent some shoes and as Bridget was checking him in, she decided to do what she does best: make her point in an incredibly embarrassing way.

“Hey sweetie, I got a question for you. And answer honestly.”

“Uh … okay?” This guy looked at her with curiosity and a little bit of fear, as he should have.

“Do you think this woman right here needs to lose weight?”

He looked super uncomfortable until he turned to look in Hailey’s direction. And his eyes widened when he saw her. He must have been so grossed out.

“Are you kidding me? Why would she need to lose weight?” His eyes darted back and forth between the two of them and then wandered around the gym like he was looking for hidden cameras. “Is this a trick question? I know like five guys at this gym that cannot stop looking at you when you’re climbing, by the way. I have a girlfriend so I’m not one of them, and please tell my girlfriend that if she asks. Wait, why are you even asking?”

“Her boyfriend told her she could stand to get in better shape and work out more.”

The guy’s jaw dropped as Hailey’s face got redder.

“Geez, Bridget, of course he’s gonna say no, he’s not rude.”

The guy planted his palm on the counter like he was about to declare war, giving her another sweeping gaze. “Where’s this guy live? I’ll kick his ass. Or would you prefer a glitter bomb? Maybe he needs a neurologist because something is wrong with his head if he could possibly think that. But no, you don’t need to lose weight. Seriously. I can get a petition going if you want. My girlfriend will probably want to start a campaign of some sort…”

“Okay! Thank you for your help, you can go climb now.” Her face was really testing the limits of her blushing.

“Thanks so much for your help in proving my point,” Bridget said with a big grin.

“No problem,” he said as another guy joined him at the counter.

The first guy’s eyes lit up. “Ah, Chris! Thank you. You’re single. Do you think this woman needs to get in better shape?”

Chris looked super uncomfortable, “Danny, what the fuck are you talking about? You can’t say things like that.”

The guy who must have been named Danny kept a stone face and said a bit more sternly, “Apparently, her boyfriend told her she needs to lose weight. Do you agree?”

She had her face sandwiched between her hands trying to cover her red face as she whispered “Oh my God” to herself over and over.

Chris turned to her and had the exact same reaction as the first guy. Jaw dropped. On the floor. Needed assistance picking it back up.

He looked doubtful for a second, pointing at her and looking back at his friend. “This woman right here?”

Bridget delivered a loud yup to Chris.

“He didn’t say I need to lose weight, he said I need to get in better shape,” Hailey said to defend Gage for some reason.

Chris just looked at her for a moment before asking, “Is he some crazy athlete with insane stamina you can’t keep up with?”

“Uh, no,” Hailey said reluctantly.

The look in Chris’s eyes changed and he started to smirk at her.

“Okay, so number one: where does this guy live because he needs his ass kicked.” At least it was clear why these two were friends. “And two: once you break up with him I’ll be happy to show you how a real man treats a woman. Don’t you have like hundreds of people following your climbing Instagram?”

“You know who I am?” She looked like she was going to pass out from embarrassment. “750,” she murmured.

Bridget suggested she start a climbing profile to help her promote the gym and track her progression in the sport. She ended up with way more followers than she expected, but she always thought it was because people liked the gym.

Chris gave her a broad smile. “I guarantee you that most of those people are watching because they like how you look and don’t care as much about what you’re climbing, although you are a really good climber as well as being super hot. So, what’s this guy’s address?”

“In case Chris here didn’t make it clear, he might be one of the guys I was talking about,” Danny said.

“Oh my God, okay thank you, you guys. I get it,” she said. “Gonna go find a hole to bury myself in now.”

“Anytime,” Chris said with a wink as he and his friend walked away toward the boulders. Then, Hailey turned on Bridget.

“Damn, Bridget. Could you be any more embarrassing?”

“Don’t test me. You know I can get way more embarrassing. We have a PA system.”

Hailey busied herself with sanitizing rental shoes to hide her face.

“You don’t believe them, do you?” Bridget asked with a look of concern on her face.

“It’s not that, I’m probably just their type.”

“Are you trying to say that you are not your boyfriend’s type? Because that’s what that just sounded like.”

She hung her head and sighed. Bridget had a point. Dammit.

She was so glad she had therapy tomorrow.