Dead Fit - 15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

When I got to the gym on Wednesday morning, Ana half-heartedly greeted me, her typical pep noticeably absent.

“What's the matter, Ana?”

“I taught an aerobics class yesterday afternoon after you went home sick. It didn’t go so well.”

“Who did you teach with?”

“No one, I taught the class by myself.”

“By yourself? Really,” I asked.

“Yea, I taught the class by myself,” Ana said. “It was a disaster. The class hated me. I didn’t know what I was doing. I just cranked up the music really loud and did some moves that I remembered seeing other instructors do. I started off with 20 people in my class. One person right after another left in the middle of class. By the end, there were only seven people remaining. And the seven people who stayed were all horny old men who were more interested in watching my boobies bounce than in exercising. As my luck would have it, Gary stopped by at the end of class to see how I was doing. I had to explain to him how I lost 13 people. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy with me.”

“He already had you teach a class? But you’ve never even been trained.”

“I guess he somehow got it in his head that I was ready to start teaching. When I asked him about possibly teaching a class, I didn’t mean that I was ready right now, just that I wanted a chance in the future.”

“Why didn’t you tell him that you weren’t ready?”

“I was too chicken. Here’s the boss giving me a chance to prove myself. I was afraid if I said no, he wouldn’t give me another chance. Besides, when Gary asked you to fill in for Xavier, great things happened to you because of it.”

I thought back to the conversation Gary had with me in his office Monday night. I remembered telling Gary that I thought Ana was ready to teach a class. Did he really think I meant without being trained?

“Ana, please don’t be mad at me, but I think Gary may have misinterpreted something I said. On Monday, after you had already left, Gary pulled me into his office and asked me what I thought about you teaching group instruction classes. I told him I thought you were ready. But what I meant was that you were ready to take on new responsibilities with proper training; not that you were ready to teach a class on your own right away.”

Ana sighed, “It doesn’t matter. It’s not your fault. Gary’s mad, but he’ll get over it. It was just a stupid idea on my part to think I could be something more than a receptionist.”

I felt horrible. Ana was worse off than before. Not only was she frustrated with her dead-end job, but now she lacked the confidence to find something new. And because I was careless with my words, I was partly to blame.

I trudged through the rest of the morning, my heart not into my work. I was still troubled from my conversation with Derek. On top of that, I felt guilty for what happened to Ana. She didn’t hold it against me and by mid-morning mustered up her peppy face again. But still, I couldn’t help feeling responsible.

The one situation I was prepared to fix was getting Trevor back on track with his weight loss goal. I pulled out his client file, including a copy of the diet and exercise plan I created for him. Then I called him up at work.

After I identified myself, Trevor asked, “Did I get you in trouble with your boss?”

“Not at all, Trevor,” I said. “But we do need to come up with a new game plan and get you back on track for your wedding. Do you have time now to talk?”

“Yea, of course. I have a little down time between sales calls,” Trevor said. “Where do we begin?”

I started by going through Trevor's typical meals he listed for me. This time, instead of switching meals with healthier alternatives based on what I thought were the easiest fixes, I asked him to identify what he was willing to change. The process took a lot longer than before and there was quite a bit of negotiating going back and forth between us.

When we finished, I read back to Trevor the newly revised diet plan we created for him. It included a little more junk food than in the previous plan, but was still enough of a change to cut out a few hundred calories a day. We agreed to keep his exercise regiment untouched. We also agreed to not weigh him until our last session before his wedding day. For now, we were going to focus on the process of losing weight and not just the end result.

“Do you think I can still hit my goal in just a little over a week,” he asked.

“I don't know, Trevor, but we’re sure going to try.”

I got off the phone, faxed Trevor a copy of his new plan, and updated his file. I tucked the file back into my cabinet, sat back, and enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment, as small as it was, for a few seconds. The situation with Trevor was heading in the right direction again. I just hoped we were stepping on the accelerator hard enough to get to our destination in time. Now I just needed to figure out how to fix the problems with my love life and Ana’s career.

A little before noon, my phone vibrated. It was Brian.

“You didn’t return my call last night,” he said.

“Yea, I fell asleep early. Sorry about that.”

“Are you okay, baby? You don’t sound like yourself.”

Baby? This was a new endearment. I wondered if I was expected to come up with a cute term of affection for Brian, too. Pumpkin? Smoochers? Stallion?

“Oh, yesterday I kinda made a mistake at work and the boss let me have it. And today, one of my coworkers is having a not-so-good day, and unfortunately, I think I had something to do with it.”

“Is there anything I can do to help,” Brian asked.

I wanted to say, yea, get away from Todd before he takes you down with his sinking ship. But instead I said, “No, I just need to work through all of this. Can I call you later, Brian? I’m getting ready to work with a client.”

“Okay baby, but one quick question before I get you off the phone. You know the box of stuff I gave you for your mom's volunteer project? Was there a cell phone in it, by chance? It was one of those smartphones. You know, with a keyboard and all.”

“Yea, I remember seeing a cell phone,” I said. Of course I remembered seeing it. I tried to snoop through it for any of Brian’s old contacts.

“Do you still have it?”

What a bizarre question for him to ask me, especially when I needed to get off the phone to work with a client. “Why?”

“Oh, that phone actually belongs to Todd. He didn't think he needed it anymore, so he donated it. But he called me because he needs it back. I guess he left some important information on the phone.”

Why would Todd want an old smartphone back, especially when the phone didn’t work? Could the information he have on the phone be related to the criminal investigation Derek told me about?

I made a snap decision that the phone might be worth a closer examination, so I lied to Brian. “I gave the box of stuff to my mom and she already donated it to St. Theresa's Thrift Shop. I'm sorry.”

I didn't feel good about lying to Brian, but if it resulted in helping me understand the investigation on Todd, I justified to myself that stretching the truth was worthwhile. Besides, it wasn’t a total lie. I did give the box to mom and she did donate it to St. Theresa’s. It just happened that the phone was sitting in my room and not in the box.

“No big deal. I'll just let Todd know his phone was donated to a good cause. It'll make him feel better,” Brian said.

While we were on the subject, I wanted to see if I could squeeze any information from Brian. “Do you know what was on the phone? Because if it’s really important, maybe I can call St. Theresa’s and try to get it back.”

“No, he didn't say what he needed. But I really don’t think that’s necessary, baby. Let me get off the phone so you can work with your client. Am I going to see you on Friday?”

“Sure, I’ll just come over after work.”

If I hadn’t already used the excuse that I felt sick to go home early the day before, I would have used it right then. It was clear to me there was some information on that smartphone Todd needed back. And I had no intention of returning it until I saw what it was.

The day dragged on and to top it off, it was my late night at the gym. When it was finally eight o'clock, I wasted no time clocking out and rushing home. I went straight to my bedroom and pulled the smartphone from the dresser drawer. I hit the power button, hoping for better results than before. It still refused to turn on, probably because the battery was dead. The obvious solution was to buy a replacement battery. I looked at my alarm clock on the nightstand. 8:40 pm. Twenty minutes before Best Buy would close for the night. I grabbed the smartphone and headed to the Marina Shopping Center.

I parked my car and ran inside. A salesperson helped me locate a suitable replacement battery and I forked over fifty hard-earned dollars and some change for the purchase. In no time, I was back in my room, playing the role of personal trainer-turned-detective.

My heartbeat elevated, anticipating what I was going to discover on the smartphone. I popped in the new battery and replaced the back cover. I crossed my fingers for good luck, then turned the phone over and pushed the power button.

Nothing happened, not even a flicker of the screen. Just for good measure, I pulled out the battery, reinserted it, and tried the power button again. Still nothing. The phone was completely dead.

Why would Todd be so concerned about retrieving a smartphone that wouldn’t even turn on? Now, not only was I no closer to an answer, but I was also out fifty clams.

The smartphone wasn’t going to give me the clues I needed to figure out what alleged crimes Todd was committing. I was annoyed. Here I was, dating for the first time in my life, and Derek tells me I should end my relationship with Brian because of Todd's criminal investigation. I had waited this long to find someone as great as Brian and I certainly wasn't going to let Todd ruin it for me.

I had always wanted to be more driven, willing to fight for something worthwhile. Maybe my relationship with Brian was the first thing I really deemed worth fighting for.

I mean, hey, why not? Trevor was fighting to lose weight for his wedding. Ana was fighting to find a meaningful career. This seemed like as good of a time as ever for me to fight for something, too.

Tomorrow, I decided, I was going to launch my own investigation into Todd's activities. I didn't need Derek telling me what to do. If I could figure out what Todd was doing that was illegal, I could make my own decision whether or not a continued relationship with Brian was truly detrimental to my career. Maybe if my skills were really good, I could help the police with their investigation and get the ball rolling on putting Todd behind bars. With him out of the picture, Brian and I could move on with our relationship. The thought brought a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak day.

I slept horribly that night. At one point, I woke up from disturbing dream. In my dream, I had managed to revive the phone. But instead of finding any evidence of criminal activity, I found love text messages exchanged between Todd and Brian.