Hopeless Romantics

Chapter One

Wednesday morning and I'm on my way to my gym for my weekly visit with my trainer. Now, I have a trainer for a gym and have had one for two months. Four months ago, I had a car wreck. I broke my wrist, three ribs and shattered ankles. After the surgery, I was on bed rest for 3 weeks and now I'm working on building up the strength in my whole body. I haven't driven my car since the accident so I've been taking the train.

When I arrive at the train station, James is waiting for me because he knows how I feel about strange and public transportation. "Morning." he greets me. I nod slowly. He takes my gym bag and we walk to his car. James is my friend. Has been since middle school. In fact, I was the one he told first about coming out of the closet. If he wasn't so close, I'd feel weird about having a male trainer. I'm not exactly sure why I would. Thanks to him, I never have to experience it.

He knows I don't like to talk a lot since the accident so he just puts on the radio for the 40 minute drive to the gym. When we arrive, he grabs my bag, puts his arm around me, pulls me to his side and kisses my head. "We're going to work a tiny bit harder today, okay?" I nod.

He gives me a few minutes to change when we get inside. In locker room, I change in front of a mirror. Slipping on my sports bra, I stare at the scar on my upper stomach. It's healed but it has a lot of scar tissue. I sigh, shake the thoughts out of my head and pull on my Pink gym shorts along with my Nike socks and my shoes that I bought from Brooks. I slip on my racerback tank top and head out to meet James.

I start out with a five minute jog on the treadmill. After that, I do five sets of 10 lb weights to strengthen my right arm. Then off to do pull ups. After that, James decided to treat me to an apple and a water. He hands them to me. "Thanks." "When working out, you have to stay hydrated." I take a drink of water and wipe the sweat off of my face, "Not just this. For everything. For taking care of me and helping me." He lightly touches my chin with his fist, "Don't get sappy on me now. You know I love taking care of you." I shrug and take a bite of my apple. He looks across the room, "Oooh. Look at that cutie." I look in his direction and see a tall, well toned man with light brown curls lifting weights. "James, you're married." He crosses his arms in front of his chest, "Doesn't mean I can't still look. Plus, I was thinking about you." I look over at the man's direction again and shrug, "Eh. He's alright."

James helps me up, "Take off your shirt." I almost choke on my water, "Excuse me?" He snaps, "Just do it. It's getting wet from sweat. Plus, I want to see how your abs are?" I roll my eyes and hand him my water then take off my shirt as casually as possible so I don't get stares. Now I'm just left in my shorts and sports bra. "Cute bra. New?" I nod, "Now what?" "Pull ups." I shift to put my weight on my right leg, "I literally just did them." "So do more." I chuck my apple at his stomach, "Better be glad I love you or I'd fire you." I walk over to the pull up bar. "So then fire me. Try it." I squint and grab the bar, "You're fired." "Bullshit. You love me too much. Plus, you'll never find someone better than me." I start doing pull ups, "Now you sound like my ex boyfriend." He puts on boxing gloves, "Yea but I'm soooo much cuter." I raise my eyebrow at the gloves and hang from the bar, "What are you doing with those." He tightens them, "Just do pull ups. Don't stop until I tell you." I roll my eyes and continue. Every time I go down, he lightly punches my stomach. It stings a little but it's bearable.

After a while, I notice a tiny crowd around us. Including the guy. We do a few more and then he tells me to stop. He helps me down since I can't really jump from high places. I look at the crowd then grab my shirt and put it on. I look at James, "Are we done for today?" "Yea." I nod, "Good."

James drives me home and as soon as we pull into the driveway, the school bus pulls up and steps out Katie. She sees me and immediately hugs me. I put my arm around her, "Hi, sweetie. How was school?" "Good. We got to fingerprint." She holds up he hands. "I see that!" I smile. Just then, a little boy comes up to Katie. "Hi, Katie!" She turns around and I rest my hands on her shoulders. "Hi, Charles!" "I had fun with you today!" "Me too!" she smiles and they high five. "Charles, come on buddy." a voice calls. I look across the street and see the man from the gym. Charles waves goodbye to Katie and looks both ways before crossing the street. "Do you think we could have a play date soon?" she looks at me. I pick her up and she wraps her legs around my hip, "Maybe but for right now, let's go have a after school snack!"

After our afternoon snack, I turn on SpongeBob SquarePants on for her while I take the trash out. Outside, I see the man and Charles playing outside. Charles sees me, looks both ways before running over to me. The man running after him, "Charles, you can't just run across the street without asking." Charles looks at me, "Can Katie come out, please?" I smile "It's a bit late but if you want, you can come inside and play." He looks at the man, "Can we please?" The man looks at me, "You sure it's no problem?" "Absolutely." I open the door and let them in. Charles runs up to Katie and sits by her on the couch. The man holds out his hand, "I'm Tom." I shake his hand, "Meghan. Nice to meet you. Your son looks just like you." He laughs, "He's not my son. He's my nephew. I'm watching him for a few weeks." "Oh! Okay!" I sit at the bar and offer him a seat. "Katie seems really sweet. Charles really seems to like her." I look over and smile, "She's a great kid." "She yours?" I snap back to him, "Hm? Oh yeah. I adopted her a few months ago. Before that, I fosted her. It took a while for me to get her. I had to pretend I was married." I hear laughter and we both turn our gaze to the kids who are playing with dominos.

After a while, Tom and Charles leave and Tom gives me his number in case I need him to look after Katie or schedule another play date. I turn back to Katie, "Did you have fun?" She nods, "Mhm. Charles is my best friend." I pretend to be offended, "I'M not your best friend?" She hugs me, "Of course you are Mommy. You're my adult best friend. He is my kid best friend." "Ah. I see." I tape Tom's number to the counter under my emergency contact list. "Alright. Bath time then bedtime." "Can I have a bubble bath?!" I laugh slightly, "Yes you may." She runs down the hall to the main bathroom and gets into the bathtub.

After giving her a bath, I get her ready for bed then tuck her in. In my room, I crawl into bed after setting an alarm for the early morning.