Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Shake it off, Amy.
You trained with her for one hour.
Think about the big picture, Amy.
The gym felt lonely and sounded hollow without Hannah chatting to me, so I plugged into my favorite playlist and spun hard. Kayleigh’s warm-up routine fared no better because, for no reason other than my competitive nature, I’d blasted ahead of the peloton and had nobody to talk to.
It’s no use.
I need coffee and someone to talk to.
I leaped off the bike, leaving class ten minutes early. I had enough of a sweat on to record my training session as a success, but I needed company.
Pushing away someone who wanted to befriend me was a new experience for me. I usually gave people a chance and let them in, at least until discovering whether we were compatible.
This time, I pushed Hannah away, and it felt hurtful. My rationale was sound, but the method used might have been a little too robust.
I pushed open the door to Victor’s industrial kitchen, surprised by its scale and how well-equipped the place was. Three chefs continued food preparation in a double squash court-sized pristine catering emporium. At the same time, I stood near the pass, looking back into the decorative house kitchen, keeping the door between both open with my foot outstretched.
The two kitchens couldn’t be more contrasted. One served pre-cooked food from the other, appointed with brand new, never-been-used ovens and hob. That kitchen had beautiful blue ceramic tiled splash guards and walls, with granite and highly polished wood surfaces. The other kitchen was a plastic, half-walled, stainless steel hard-core catering hub capable of feeding hundreds.
A disapproving cough behind drew my attention, and I saw the man whose domain I was neither entirely in nor out. He smiled, nodding at my offending leg.