I took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”Holding my phone out from me at arm’s length, I clicked the camera icon and plastered my best fake smile onto my face.“Hi, everyone,” I said, mentally cringing at the sound of my own voice. “My name is Anna Leonard, and this is my first day working out at Stand Up. I’m super excited to get started on some cardio here on the treadmill after I get in some stretching.”I paused, unsure of what to say next. Then I remembered what Barnett had said the night he had given me the V.I.P. card.“Look, I’m going to be honest here. I’m not some supermodel or fitness guru. I’m just an ordinary fat girl looking to get her hot self back after a particularly bad breakup.”Tears welled at the corners of my eyes. I brushed them away with the knuckle of my index finger.“If you’re like me and just want a little inspiration for your own journey back to your best self, I welcome you to like this video, leave a comment, and follow my transformation over the next
I should have seen this coming. Of course one of the hottest—one of the handsomest—internet celebrities would want one of the hottest stylists. Not just by reputation, but physically as well. I wouldn’t have even come here if Lily hadn’t gone through all this trouble to get me an interview. She was my friend, after all. I couldn’t let her effort go to waste. But there had to be a reason why Lily had gone through all that effort. It couldn’t just be because she was my best friend. That certainly wasn’t the reason why she had me style her hair and makeup every time she went to a party. Then it hit me. “You’re friends with Lily, right?” I asked. Arthur rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s why I agreed to this charade in the first place.” “You’ve been to parties with her, then?” “Of course.” “And what do you think of her hair and makeup?” His Cupid’s bow lips quirked into a little smile. “They’re always utter perfect
Arthur was elated to see me the next day. It made me suspicious. “Well, Anna, you really did it,” he said it with a brilliant white grin. “Mona Williams of Good Morning, Mona loved my new look, especially the pompadour.” He ran his fingers through his hair. I wanted to smack him for messing with it, but I was too excited about the news to care. “You’re kidding, right?” I just couldn’t believe that a look I had styled had been mentioned on a nationally syndicated TV show. “No, I’m not. You did wonderfully, little fan girl. And I can’t wait to see what you have in mind for me today.” I couldn’t stop smiling. It was hard to believe that I had wasted eight years running a household for someone like Bob when I could have been using my talents to make something of myself. I sobered a bit. According to the oncologist, I only had about six months remaining to right that wrong. But I would value every moment of my existence that I had lef
We had just finished moving everything important—and dry—out of the apartment. I still wasn’t sure what to do with them, but maybe Barnett knew of a storage unit nearby with an opening.I was about to ask him just that when Barnett opened his mouth.“So, Anna, about the night that Lily…introduced us,” he said.Heat rose into my cheeks. God, I knew what this was about.“You acted like you didn’t know me.”Yup, here it goes, I thought. He’s going to ask if I really didn’t remember that he was my hockey coach.“Did you really not recog—”A pounding at the door startled us both.I looked at the clock. It was nearly 9:30. Who would be visiting at this hour?“Let me just see who that is,” I told Barnett as I squeezed by him. I tried to avoid touching him, but the heat between us nearly undid my composure.When I opened the door, my landlord stood on the other side. A portly man with oversized glasses and a tendency to vape, I hadn’t dealt with Mr. Smith much outside of signing the lease. Th
“I’ll teach you.” I couldn’t find the words to object. Honestly, I didn’t want to, either. “Okay. So, how do I start?” I said instead. He motioned to the padded block at one end of the machine. “Sit here.” I obeyed. “Put your feet here.” I put my feet where he indicated and strapped them in. Barnett bent over me and checked the straps on my feet. My heart fluttered at the smell of his sweat and the feel of his arms as they wrapped around me. This felt just like when Barnett coached me in hockey, except somehow more…intimate. “Good. Nice and tight.” Like the back support belt, I said in my mind. “Now, I want you to grab this.” He leaned over me and handed me what looked like a pole on an elastic string. “And we’re going to turn this on to keep track of your progress.” Again, he leaned over me to press some buttons on the monitor by my feet. I tried to pay attention to
“You mean…you knew?” “You think?” “I…well…” I was a bit distracted. I would never admit that out loud. By your words…your actions… “Did you think I wasn’t observant enough to see the camera set up right there?” I blushed even though Barnett couldn’t see me. His tone during the workout had been its usual forceful one, but something about how he had conducted himself, about what he said, how close he was to me when he said it—it was too much for me even now. “Well?” I shook my head, realizing I had lost myself in my thoughts. “No, I guess…I don’t know what I thought. I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry about it. Just remember that other people might not be as cool about it as I am. Okay?” “Okay.” “And in the future, I don’t mind being in your videos, any time you need me.” “Okay,” I said, a bit surprised. “I am your trainer, after all.”•* * That night, I dreamt of a memory from
I had no idea what was going on, nor did I want to know. I had too many problems of my own at the moment to want to be dragged into anyone else’s, so I decided to leave as quickly as possible. It wasn’t worth the few bucks I’d save on gas to wait for Barnett’s ride.I took a couple steps toward my car, determined to leave Barnett to handle his own marital problems, when I felt his arm wrap around my waist. He pulled me close to him. “Julia, this is my new girlfriend, Anna,” Barnett said, sticking his chin out proudly. My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. I couldn’t even enjoy being so close to Barnett with the shock I was in. Tears welled at the edges of Julia’s eyes. Her cheeks turned bright red, and the color crept up the back of her neck to her ears. “How dare you!” she screamed. “You cannot treat me this way. I planned to give up my modeling career so we could start a family, and you found someone else?” “Oh, no,” I said. “I—”
I checked my social media accounts more often that day than I ever did. I wished I hadn’t. Everything, even my workout vlogs, were swarmed by Julia’s fans. They had nothing but abuse and death threats for me. Who does this b*tch think she is, getting in the middle of a happy couple like that? Just because she couldn’t keep her marriage together, she had to ruin someone else’s? Barnett’ll dump her in a week. A week? I give them a day! How did a fat cow like her manage to catch a 10 like Billionaire Barnett anyway? The comments went on and on. Some went so low as to suggest that I was only in the relationship for Barnett’s money; others went even lower and said that if Barnett were to pay someone to be with him, she’d be a lot hotter than me. Ouch. By the time I got off work, people had made compilations of my workouts with Julia’s runway videos. Titles included “Beauty vs. Beast”, “Fab vs. Fat”, and the eve