Tell Me You Love Me (8 page)

Aw, shit. Not that. And she even said it with a straight face.

If this was a test, he knew he’d just failed. He cared about Tyanna, yes. But love?

There were many days when Sheldon had lain in bed, wondering just what love was. He knew he felt strongly for Tyanna. But the word
love
got stuck in his throat the few times he even thought of saying it to her.

And he knew it was a bone of contention with her.

His old man had used the word all the time, threw it around so often it became meaningless. Maybe he wouldn’t have felt that way if his father hadn’t beat the crap out of his mother all the time.
How could he hurt her so often, reduce her to tears, yet turn around and say “I love you,” like that made everything all right?

“Our relationship wasn’t as superficial as you make it out to be,” Sheldon finally said.

Tyanna hesitated just a moment, and that moment said everything. She didn’t think he loved her. And maybe he didn’t, if he couldn’t say the words.

But to say the words now—that would be like applying a Band-Aid—exactly what his father had done time and time again.

“Regardless, it’s over. Look, I’m sorry about what you went through. But I’m glad you’re okay. I’m glad that Dino got what he deserved, considering everything.”

“But can we be friends?” Sheldon asked, cutting her off before she could deal the final blow. “No matter what you think, I’ll always care about you. I never lied when I told you that. I want to be able to call you from time to time, see if you’re okay. Maybe even hang out now and again.’’

He had long ago realized that it didn’t matter what he felt for her, because her family would never approve of him. Therefore, they could never have a future. So he’d been content to live in the moment until things came to an end. But there was a part of him that knew he would always care about her, always want to know she was happy, and always want her in his life on some level.

“I think…I think we can work toward that,” Tyanna told him. “That’s the best I can offer you.’’

“All right.’’

“Thanks for coming by. I appreciate it.’’

So she was kicking him out. “No problem.’’

She walked to the door, and he followed her. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?’’

Sheldon nodded as she opened the door. He stepped over the threshold into the hallway. “Call me whenever you feel like it,” he said.

She smiled at him, but Sheldon wasn’t sure it was sincere. “Sure.’’

Then she closed the door, leaving him standing there wondering if he would ever hear from her again.

Not the phone
, Tyanna thought when it rang the next day around noon. She was still lying in bed, preoccupied with her thoughts, and didn’t feel like talking to anyone now.

But when it stopped ringing and then promptly began ringing again, she grabbed the receiver from her night table.

“What?” she practically shouted into it.

“Whoa. What the hell kind of greeting is that?’’

A slow breath oozed out of Tyanna. “I’m sorry, Wendy. I’ve got a lot on my mind.’’

“Anything you want to talk about?’’

“Not really.” She didn’t want to tell Wendy about Sheldon’s visit, and how she hadn’t been able to get him out of her mind since the previous evening. How she was hot and bothered and didn’t know when she’d stop feeling this way. “But,” she added, “I’m sure you’ll keep asking me questions until I tell you.” She smiled, hoping the lightheartedness came through.

“Hey, where would you be without me?” Wendy chuckled.

Tyanna sat up, suddenly ready to talk. Wendy was the one person she felt comfortable sharing everything with.

“It’s Sheldon. I never got to tell you, but I went to my old gym and talked to a woman who worked there when I did. And you’ll never believe this. Sheldon was telling the truth when he said that Dino was dead.” Tyanna filled Wendy in on all the details. “After that, I figured I should let him tell me the whole story. So I called him and he came by last night.’’

“Hold up. He was in your apartment.”

“Yes, and nothing happened.”

“Wow. That’s some kind of miracle.’’

Tyanna guffawed. “Wendy, it would hardly be appropriate.” But the truth was, she was still wondering how she had had the ability to push Sheldon away, considering how much her body had wanted him. “We’re no longer a couple.’’

“Mmm hmm,” Wendy replied in that I-hear-you-but-I-don’t-believe-you tone. “You’re telling me nothing happened?”

“I—well, not exactly.’’

Wendy squealed her delight. “I knew it!’’

“He kissed me,” Tyanna went on. For some reason, it felt good to get this off her chest. She’d needed to share it with someone. “We kissed each other. But I pulled away.’’

“I can understand that,” Wendy said, surpris
ing Tyanna. “You’re in a tough situation. It’s not like you can realistically pick up where you left off.’’

“Exactly. Besides, I’m not sure if he even wants to pick anything up. Or if I want to. The problem is, when it comes to sex, we’ve always been on the same page. But I don’t want to go there just for the sake of my body’s desires.’’

“So what’s gonna happen? You two gonna be friends?’’

Tyanna twirled the phone cord in her hand. That was something she had thought about all last night. “I really don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m not against talking to him from time to time, knowing that he is okay. But at this point in my life, my career is my number-one priority.”

“I hear you. Anything you do, you’ll have to take it slow.’’

“Exactly.”

“But you know, I hope it works out. Sheldon was always a sweetie.’’

Tyanna shook her head, a small smile lifting her lips. Wendy, Miss Romantic. “What about you, Wendy? Anything new and exciting in your life?’’

“I saw Phil last night.” Wendy debated telling Tyanna about how she’d gotten all spiffed up in an attempt to get Phil’s attention, but decided against it. There was nothing to tell. Besides, she was merely on a break at the gym, and going into her feelings for Phil would probably take a while.

“Great,” Tyanna said. “What did he say about using the video equipment?”

“He’s such a sweetheart. Totally willing to help us. You think we can pull this off two weeks from now?’’

“Omigosh! Two weeks!” Butterflies tickled Tyanna’s stomach. “Uh, I guess so, but that means we have a ton of work to do.’’

“I know. We have to start the planning right now. I was trying to figure out some of the routine this morning. One of my clients didn’t show.’’

“Any luck?’’

“A little. I know we can pull this off. Besides, failure is not an option.’’

“That’s right,” Tyanna said, psyching herself up. “We have to do this. And the sooner the better.’’

“I know it sounds cheesy,” Wendy went on, “but I was thinking we could do the video on the beach. With the ocean as the backdrop. It would be a lot nicer than some closed-in studio.’’

“No, I don’t think that’s cheesy. It sounds like a good idea. When are we going to get together?” Though they worked at the same gym, they worked different hours. When Wendy was leaving work, Tyanna was just getting there.

“I’ve got two days off this week. Tuesday and Sunday. If you want, we can meet around noon at the gym on Tuesday and see about using a room to practice our routine. I’d rather we get together before Sunday.’’

“Yeah, of course. That sounds like a plan.’’

“All right, hon. I have to get off the phone. My next client should be here any minute.’’

“Okay, sweetie. If I don’t talk to you before then, I’ll see you tomorrow at the gym.’’

“Later.”

Tyanna disconnected and dragged herself out of bed. She opened the blinds, letting the sunlight spill into her room.

The view of the ocean took her breath away. It always did. She would never tire of its beauty.

And that was the jolt she needed to get up and stop moping over Sheldon. It was too beautiful a day, and she was wasting it.

She would head to the beach for a swim, then shower before she went to work.

“One…two…nice and easy…three. Slow it down so you can really feel your muscles working…four…that’s it…five…six…seven.” Tyanna finished off the count to ten as Mandy continued to push down on the Nautilus machine for abs. With her last repetition, Mandy came up a little too quickly, and the weights slammed against each other.

Mandy flashed her a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that.’’

“No, that’s fine. You were excellent, Mandy,” Tyanna told her with enthusiasm. “You did real well today.” She’d been working with Mandy for a couple months, and in that time she had greatly
increased her weight levels on the various machines.

“It doesn’t always feel that way.” Mandy released a long breath as she stood.

“A good workout is always tough. But at least you’re seeing results.’’

“Yes,” Mandy replied, smiling widely. “Twenty-one pounds. And I finally have hope that my belly will truly disappear. Little Ashley was worth it, but man, it’s about time I get my body back.’’

Tyanna smiled. This was the rewarding thing about her job. Seeing how happy people were once they began to achieve the results they wanted. “You should be proud of yourself, Mandy.” Tyanna gently patted her shoulder in support. “See you Wednesday, same time, for your lower body workout.’’

“Ugh,” Mandy said, but the happy expression on her face belied her tone.

“Am I that bad?” Tyanna asked, her tone playful.

“No, you’re great.’’

“All right. I’ll see you Wednesday.”

“See you then.’’

While Mandy went to the water fountain to hydrate herself, Tyanna headed toward her office. She stopped abruptly when she saw Wendy standing approximately five feet in front of her.

Wendy wiggled her fingers at her. “Hey, Tyanna.’’

“What are you doing here? I thought you worked this morning.’’

“I did. But while I was here, I checked the aerobics schedule and it looks like they’ve started another step-aerobics class for the time we wanted to use the room tomorrow.”

“Oh, no.’’

“Mmm hmm. You know how they’re always changing things here. Can’t make any plans. Anyway, I was wondering if you had any free time this afternoon. We could maybe go over the basic routine, figure some things out on paper.’’

“Yeah, sure.’’

“Then tomorrow, we’ll have to find somewhere else to do some actual practicing. I was thinking even the beach—if you don’t mind the looks we’re gonna get.’’

There were enough freaks in South Florida that Tyanna didn’t think they’d garner any more attention than the average person out there. “It doesn’t sound like we have much choice. Unless we get Max to allow us to use the club after hours. Which we probably could, but you work so early…”

“We’ll play it by ear.’’

“All right.” Tyanna started walking, and Wendy fell into step beside her. “For now, let’s talk in my office. I’ve got fifteen minutes before my next appointment.”

Jaguar Fitness had a great reputation and was one of the area’s busiest fitness facilities. For that
reason, both Wendy and Tyanna were pretty much completely booked during their respective shifts. Sometimes their clients didn’t show, but they couldn’t plan a practice schedule around that.

They both sat in Tyanna’s office. Wendy said, “When I talked to Phil yesterday, I didn’t give him any specifics. Of course, I don’t have any. So I’m hoping we can narrow some things down as soon as possible. The better prepared we are the smoother things will go.’’

“Makes sense.’’

“We tossed around the idea of shooting this at the beach, and I really love that. What about you?’’

“Sure. Let’s go with it.’’

“Given that, I think it makes even more sense to rehearse at the beach. But I don’t think the beach is going to be conducive to step aerobics unless we set up some kind of platform.”

“We don’t have to do step aerobics,” Tyanna said. Wendy had a background in that area, so it would be easy for her to design such a program.

“Not necessarily, but I think we’d still have to put up some kind of platform in any case. A few mats on the sand isn’t going to cut it.’’

Tyanna sat back, considering Wendy’s words. “We could, but that’s going to be more work. Lugging it there and back. Not impossible, just tedious.’’

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Hmmm.” Tyanna folded her arms over her
chest. “You know, it’s possible we can use my parents’ house. You should see their backyard. It’s lush. Very pretty. It backs onto a canal. And they’ve got a great pool.’’

Wendy’s eyes lit up. “That’s an idea.’’

“I know the ocean is a great backdrop, but their place still looks very tropical.”

“Well, it is.’’

“And it will come off that way on camera.” Tyanna nodded, mostly to herself. “We won’t have any interruptions. Sound won’t be a problem.’’

“How big is the area around the pool?” Wendy asked. “Big enough for a camera crew and us to be working?’’

“For sure. The backyard is huge. This is my parents’ ‘we moved on up’ house. It’s beautiful. There’s even a hot tub and sauna.’’

“Nice.”

“Not that we’ll incorporate that into the video.” Tyanna smiled. “I’ll give them a call and ask their permission, but I’m sure it will be okay.’’

“Oh, good. That’ll be a major relief to finalize that. Then we have to figure out when….”

“And what we’re going to do.” Tyanna leaned her body across the desk. “Kickboxing is popular, but I think there are too many videos out there like that. I was thinking about something like jazzercise, but again, that’s not an entirely original concept. I don’t want to do anything that will come off as dated, or like we’re wannabes. I think
we need to put together a video that shows we know the business of fitness and are in this for the long haul.’’

Wendy grinned. “I love how you think.’’

“That’s why we get along so well.’’

“All right. So we should think of a way to blend the classic with the contemporary?”

“Yeah. And we could incorporate a few different things. Like making step aerobics, kickboxing and dance part of the routine. Show our versatility. That way, Ronnie Vaughn will know we can branch out.” Tyanna paused to bite her bottom lip. “Gosh, I can’t believe we’re really sitting here talking about this. That we actually have this opportunity.”

“I know. I’m trying not to
think
about it too much. Just get down to business, so I don’t feel overwhelmed.”

Tyanna looked at her watch, then pushed her chair back. “Oh, shoot. I’ve got to go. My next appointment should be here.’’

They stood. “Okay,” Wendy said. “I’ll try to come up with a varied routine. In the meantime, think about music. It’s got to be great.’’

“Ooh. Speaking of which, I wonder if we can use whatever we want in a sample video, or if we’d have to get permission from the artists.’’

“Good point.” Wendy began walking as Tyanna did. “I know Phil says there are generic beats available on the computer. We can probably do something like that to avoid problems. We’ll see.’’

Reaching the open area of the gym, Tyanna gave Wendy a hug. “I’ll talk to you later.’’

“Ciao for now.’’

For the rest of the day, Tyanna’s mind was on Ronnie Vaughn and the routine she and Wendy would perform on the video.

She spent the few moments she had to herself in the aerobics room, watching what those fitness instructors incorporated into their routines. From time to time during the afternoon she even participated, just to get herself back into the swing of things.

It was easy to obsess over the routine, something she didn’t want to do. She would trust Wendy to come up with something appropriate. Besides, she had the feeling that it wasn’t so much the routine they did as how they performed it that would sell Ronnie Vaughn on the project.

Tyanna didn’t want to jump the gun, but she figured she and Wendy had two of three essential qualities. They had the look and the enthusiasm. Now all they needed was to prove that they had the drive to get the job done within a reasonable time frame.

That thought comforted her through the rest of the evening and into the next day, when she and Wendy met at her apartment to go over a preliminary routine.

The routine Wendy had choreographed was in
the rough stages, but still it was impressive. Tyanna hadn’t expected her to accomplish so much in such a short time.

This was going to work. She was sure of it. Wendy would be the primary instructor, the one who gave the verbal instructions to the audience. And Tyanna would follow her lead.

On Friday, Wendy hung around after her shift to see Tyanna, hoping they could practice if she got a free moment. They did, because luckily Tyanna had a cancellation—and they were able to grab some time in the aerobics room between classes.