Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“Here,” my little sister, Gabriella, or Gabby as I call her, says as she thrusts a plate of chocolate cake in my hand. “I can’t believe my big sister is finally thirty.”
“Me either,” I reply, shoveling a bite of the rich chocolaty cake into my mouth before I say too much.
“Stop being so damn gloomy, Gwen. It’s a celebration,” she argues, firmly planting her hands on her hips.
“You look like Mom when you have that face,” I inform her, my mouth full of dessert.
She gasps. “Do not!”
I can’t help but laugh. “Do too. You’re gonna be just like her,” I tease.
“Not me,” Gabby says. “You’re just like her.”
The thought stops my fork and causes my heart to stutter. I used to think just that; that I was just like her. Married at twenty-two to the love of her life. Maybe a baby on the way not too long after. Of course, my dream turned out much different than my mom’s. My dream was a cute little dark-haired, dark-eyed son or daughter running around who was the spitting image of his or her father. Actually, that was both our dreams. Though, he’d argue the baby would look just like me.
Twenty-five.
That’s when we thought it would happen.
But life stepped in.
Harrison became the most sought-after trainer at the gym. Even though, as the boss, he had control of his hours, he was busy, his schedule packed. Then the owner approached with the offer: Buy the gym and keep it local. A large corporation wanted it, but the man who built it from his blood, sweat, and tears didn’t want that to happen. Together, we made the decision that forever altered our lives. All Fit became his—ours, technically. Even though my name is on the business, I’ve never had anything to do with it. Even now, after the divorce, he insisted I stay on as co-owner. A silent partner, if you will, that could receive a small check of the profits each year.
With that one life-altering change, everything else became modified as well. Our dream of becoming parents at twenty-five was pushed to twenty-seven. Then twenty-eight. He started working six and seven days a week, more hours than any one person should. It was for the business, I know. The gym took off, and in a way, so did my husband. That one single gym will branch into two, and eventually three. In the last few years, All Fit has become a household name, including fitness videos, vitamin supplements, and other tools to improve the mind, as well as the body. The business is growing in leaps and bounds, and by the end of the year, there should be two additional All Fit locations joining the flagship location.
I’ve always been proud of him and probably always will be. His dream wasn’t to own a gym and watch it grow like weeds in a flowerbed, but it did. His life changed with that one decision and forever changed the course of our path together. We hit the fork in the road. He went one way, and I went the other.
Sadness sweeps in and my stomach rolls. The once-delicious cake now tastes like sawdust in my mouth. “Stop it,” Gabby chastises.
“Stop what?” I ask, though I know exactly what she’s talking about.
“You know what. Push him out of your mind, Gwen,” she says, and my eyes inadvertently sweep to the front door one more time. He’s not coming tonight, I know, but I can’t stop looking for him. It’s like he’s embedded in my brain somehow. “He probably would have missed tonight anyway,” she adds with annoyance.
Gabby loved Harrison. Being two years younger than me, she was that bratty little sister who followed me everywhere. When I met Harrison in college, her senior year of high school, Gabby instantly took a liking to him, and he her. In a way, he became the older brother neither of us ever had and often treated her as such. He was overprotective and overbearing where she was concerned, but that never bothered her. She thrived off it.
Now, after the divorce, she’s not exactly his biggest fan. Even though I’ve told her many times that he wasn’t the only factor in the demise of our marriage, she refuses to see him as anything but the sole reason for our separation. She’s angry at him because he left her too, and my heart breaks a little every time I see the devastation reflecting in her eyes. Divorce has a way of taking a toll on everyone, not just the husband and wife.
“He wouldn’t have,” I quickly defend. Harrison wasn’t always there when I needed him, but I know in my heart, this was an event he wouldn’t have missed for anything.
Gabby rolls her eyes and stares at the door. “He would have insisted on more decorations,” she says softly, the hint of a smile playing on her lips.