Chapter 1
I blow out a harsh breath and slam my head against the headrest of the seat in my car. Sometimes it feels like I’m wasting my time walking into the doctor office just for him to say “well, losing a little bit of weight would help quite a bit.” To only hear it from a middle aged doctor with a dunlap disease himself. Looks like he’s hit the drive thru a few too many times by the look of his belly hanging over his belt and the way he's breathing heavily like he's uncomfortable sitting on that small stool. It’s like losing weight is a cure all to the one thing they can’t figure out is going on. So instead of saying, “well, we still aren’t quite sure what’s going on” Let’s just say your overweight and that’s the cause.
I swear I have spent way too much money on doctors and bought way too many of their houses or extravagant vacations for them just to tell me I’m overweight. You don’t have to keep shoving it in my face that I could stand to lose a few pounds. I look at myself in the mirror every day. It’s just for some people, it’s easier said than done.
I finally get back to my apartment and my best friend who lives across the hall, knocks on my door.
“Hey Ara! I been waiting for you to get back. What did the doctor say?”
“I’m fat.”
“Arabella! Seriously?”
“No, seriously. He still has no clue why I’m having lung problems and blames it on a few extra pounds.”
“Did you tell him he could lose a few to fifty pounds himself?”
I chuckle. The last time Danika went with me to the doctor and he asked if I been exercising. She asked him where he went to the gym. He never said anything about me exercising or my weight after that.
“You need another opinion.”
Flaring my arms in the air I say,
“You mean a fourth? Cause this is the fourth doctor I’ve been to. All my bloodwork is off but they can’t seem to find out why. I give up.”
“Did you tell him you actually eat relatively healthy?”
“What’s the sense? They wouldn’t believe me. Besides pasta is my vice. Not that healthy Danika.”
“Well we all have vices. Mine is chocolate cake.”
I shrug my shoulders.
“But you’re still thin, I’m curvy. Always have been but this breathing thing is new. I’ve never had a problem walking or exercising. Now, I feel like an eighty-year-old woman who needs an oxygen machine rolling behind her."
“What did your labs look like this time?”
“Hold on, I have a copy. Pretty much the same, elevated markers. There’s not enough oxygen going through my blood stream for some reason. The last echo looked normal so my heart isn’t the cause. My thyroid levels are within normal range with my medication. Blood pressure is normal but my RBC’s are up a little more. Oh, and chest x-ray didn’t show anything.”
“RBC’s…. Dehydrated?”
“Probably. I haven’t been able to intake much lately, food or liquid. Makes me nauseous sometimes. Plus, I really just don’t have much of an appetite anymore. Hell, if the doctors wait a while I’ll just starve to death. Can’t complain about being fat at least.”
Danika gets up and walks to my fridge. She walks back with a sports drink in her hand.
“Drink up.”
“Seriously?”
“You need more liquids of nothing else Ara.”
“You may be a nurse, but you’re not my boss Danika.”
“Drink up.”
“Damn you.”
“Look Ara, how about this… instead of walking around the track every day at the park like you usually do, how about you try the gym I go to? They have person training there and they are good. They work with what you need, not with what they think you should do and they go at your pace, not theirs. They sit down and talk with you and see what it is that you need, make a plan and go from there.”
“Ohhh no, and have everybody stare at the curvy girl trying to lose weight and can’t breathe? No thanks. Plus, isn’t that the place Jace Remington owns?”
“Yep.”
“Yeah, no thanks.”
“What? The man is sinfully hot.”
“I know, everyone knows. The man also came from a butt load of family money and instead of using his college degree he opens up a gym. I’ll never understand it.”
“Come on. You rarely see him around. He only comes in every so often. Plus, I’ve never heard of him hitting on or dating anyone that went to his gym. Bad for business ya know?”
“Still don’t stop all the girls from coming and eye fucking him.”
She laughs.
“True, but as you see he has mostly men employees and the women are his cousins. He’s very polite when he’s there. All those women can do is eye fuck him because it isn’t going to happen. I even seen one time when a woman got too handsy and he handed her off to one of his female cousins. Told her to have a nice day.”
I just shook my head.
“Come on Ara, please. Just give it a try. I’ll go with you.”
“Fine. If it gets you to shut up.”
I sit down and grab my laptop. I pull up the gym website and request an appointment for a personal trainer before I change my mind. It’s a good thing I pretty much work from home and can go just about any time. I’m a forensic accountant. Numbers is what I do and I make a butt load of money doing it. Actually, I get the accounts from large businesses and find the money that they can't. It is usually being laundered out from under their nose. I find it and follow it until I find just who it is that’s responsible. I rarely go to the office unless I have to show what my findings are. I’ve actually made a pretty good name for myself. I have a waitlist for my services six months in advance.
“You know; I do wonder who the woman is that he will settle down with one day. I mean come on… he is getting a little older. I heard one of the guys the other day say he was forty-two.”
I look at my best friend like she done grew another head. Pointing between the two of us I say,
“Danika! We are a little older! Have you forgotten that?”
“My mind still thinks I’m in my twenties, thank you.”
“Trust me, your forty. If you forget, I can remind you.”
“Shut up. No need to be reminded that I’m old and single.”
“He is one hot forty-two-year-old.”
“Amen to that. So, you’re going to go with me to gym right?”
“Yes, I’m not happy about it but I’ve made an appointment for a personal trainer before I changed my mind.”
“Yes! Now what’s for dinner?”
“Pasta.”
