neither. Anyhow, we’ll have you over some weekend, and you girls can see if you mesh. It’s in Lynn. Do you drive?”
“No. I sold my car when I knew I’d be moving to Boston.”
“You could catch a lift with me, when we’re on the same shifts. Plus there’s the bus and the train.”
“Sounds doable.” Steph wasn’t opposed to a roommate—she’d shared a million tiny motel rooms with perfect strangers. And she wasn’t really opposed to living in the same building as Rich. Brash or not, he made her laugh, and most of the conversations they’d had on the road over low-sodium, fat-free training meals had been dominated by his laments about missing his Colombian mother’s cooking. She wouldn’t pass up an invite to an Estrada family dinner.
“I’ll fix something up,” he said. “Maybe next weekend.”
When he stood, Steph took his lead and they headed back into the gym.
There was a mid-afternoon lull—no structured sessions, everyone doing their own thing. Steph wandered around, introducing herself, stepping in to hold targets or spot the guys working out with weights. Mercer arrived at four, freeing Rich to head home.
Steph smiled and shook Mercer’s hand. “Hey, boss.”
“Hey yourself, new girl.” He gave her nose only the briefest double-take. “I guess you didn’t find your right mind and back out, after all.” Mercer was a good guy. A few years older than her and Rich, with a stern, no-nonsense face, scarred up from his years as a boxer.
“I like a challenge,” she said.
“Clearly. The next class starts up at five. You need a break? Grab a snack or a drink or anything?”
“Wouldn’t hurt.” Also wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and ask what she hadn’t been able to, with Rich. “Your fiancée owns the matchmaking business upstairs, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
She felt herself blushing, which given her complexion meant she was already red as a brick. “Is it only for business-type people, or...?”
Mercer’s less-scarred eyebrow rose. “You want to join Spark?”
She bit her lip. “Maybe.”
“Good for you. I’m not sure what the exact criteria are, but you can go up and ask Jenna yourself. I know her last appointment’s already done for the day.”
“What? Right now?”
“We’re going out of town for a few days on Friday, so no time like the present.”
“But looking like this?” She waved to indicate her bra and shorts, the hair at her temples and nape curled with sweat. Lord knew what her tender nose might be looking like by now.
“Ah. Maybe throw on some warm-ups. But she knows what a mess we are, on the clock. Don’t worry about that.”
Maybe not, but after Steph changed into yoga pants and a zip-up, she splashed her face with water and wrapped her hair in a bandanna. On the way out she made eye contact with the electrician, who was installing some device by the exit.
“Looks better,” Patrick offered brightly, gesturing at his own nose.
Damn it, he was good-looking. Had this been five years ago, Steph would’ve already succumbed to a terminal crush on him, dolt or not.
He’s been sent to test you, with his big arms and blue eyes and stubble, and his tool belt all slung around his hips. Ooh, his hips. But she’d dated this man before—over and over and over—and it never worked out. It’d be the dating definition of insanity to fall again, expecting different results. The time had come to start picking with her brain, instead of...other parts.
She glanced at his project.
“New security system,” he explained proudly. “State-of-the-art. No more keys, same as in the foyer.”
“Great.”
“It’s so fancy I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing.”
“That’s very reassuring.”
“Not really my specialty, but hey—any work’s good work in this economy, right?”
“Right.” She made for the doors, sidestepping the tools and plaster chunks cluttering the floor.
“Hang on, let me—”
He tugged at a tangle of thick orange extension cord, just in time to catch Steph’s ankle and send her stumbling to her knees and elbows, the meat of her hand slamming into the claw-end of a hammer.
She swore as the pain bolted through her wrist and arm, jerking away as Patrick tried to help her up. “Don’t.”
He hovered awkwardly as she made it to her feet. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m getting really tired of hearing you say that.”
“Sorry,” he repeated, oblivious as ever.
Steph studied the damage, blood beading along a nasty scrape on her palm.
“Oh shit,” Patrick said. “Lemme find you something to—”
“I’m fine.”
But Patrick fished in his pockets and found a crumpled, if clean, Dunkin’ Donuts napkin, offering it to her.
You are... You are just so exactly who you are, aren’t you?
Good ol’ Pat from Boston or Brockton or Woburn, with his electrician’s license and steel toes and his daily stop at the Dunkin’ drive-through. She took the napkin, wrapping it around her cut and skirting the mess. She didn’t dare stay in this man’s orbit another second. He’d probably manage to set her hair on fire.
He called, “Sorry, Stacy.”
“It’s Steph,” she shot back.
“Sorry.”
She jogged up the steps, imagining running into her dream man as he left Spark. Tall, with dark hair, crisply pressed shirt, warm smile, smelling of oak.
And her with a swollen nose, bleeding hand, dressed for a jog and stinking of the effort. Please let there be no men around.
She was in luck. Through the tall windows that faced the stylish foyer, she spied only a woman at a desk, typing on a laptop. She’d caught sight of Rich’s girlfriend on a previous visit to Boston—she had dark blond hair, so this brunette must be Jenna.
Steph approached the open door, more anxious than she’d ever felt stepping into the ring. She knocked timidly on the frame.
Jenna glanced up. “Hello!” She stood and rounded her desk, dressed in a smart skirt and tall boots, all shiny bangs and pink cheeks and white teeth. “Welcome to Spark. How can I help you?” If
