Too Personal Trainer

Nine

 A suitcase, filled with Jax’s clothes, sat in the hallway. His odds and ends, were in a box. All left to pack now, was Natalie’s things. He couldn’t touch them. Didn’t want to touch anything, because it repulsed him.

 “Go make a coffee, or something,” Marlow suggested. “I’ll sort her things out.”

 She grabbed the pink suitcase and opened the wardrobe. Hardly any clothes were hung or folded, simply thrown inside carelessly with shoes on top and hidden underneath.

“Would you like one?” Jax asked her.

“You’re offering me caffeine? Is that allowed?”

His lips hinted at a smile, but the little attempt was empty. He was really struggling. “You could pretty much ask for anything after this.”

“A glass of water is fine.”

Marlow didn’t worry too much about folding Natalie’s clothes, so began to stuff them in any how and hoped that with her sitting on top, it would close. It took several boxes to fit all of Natalie’s shoes in. Marlow never understood that – obsessions with shoes. She didn’t own many heels.

“Don’t pack those.”

Marlow turned to see him stood in the door frame of the bedroom. She held up the red high heels in her hand. “What, these?”

“I bought those for her,” he said, “for a price I don’t even want to repeat.”

“Ah, you’re going to sell them.”

He nodded. “What I get for them, could probably buy you a new car.”

She inhaled a sharp breath that almost sounded painful. “Ouch,” she muttered.

“Yeah."

Marlow continued to stare at the shoes in hope to understand the fascination, the need that Natalie must have had to want a pair of heels so bloody expensive. “Did she ask for them, or were they a present?”

“A bit of both, really.” He shrugged, bent down to grab the other heel. “I only ever saw her wear them once. To a meeting, I think. She always wore her fancy heels to those meetings.” And then he swallowed, hard. “There were so many signs.”

“That doesn’t mean they were easy to spot,” Marlow said.

He caught her eyes.

“Being in love must be a great feeling,” she continued. “And some people might try hold onto that, even if things appear a bit odd and suspicious.”

The word ‘must’ caught his attention. “Have you ever, you know, been in love?”