Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
“No, I don’t. A friend of mine showed me some pictures last night when I mentioned your name. I had no idea who you were.” In my quest to not come across as a creepy stalker, I might have driven my point home a little harder than necessary, so I quickly added, “I’m sure I would have heard of you if I used social media, but I don’t.”
“At all?” He clearly didn’t know what to make of me when I shook my head. After a beat, he changed the subject with, “Right. Well, give me two minutes to finish up here. Then I’ll grab my stuff, and we can go.”
I went into the living room while Ever cleaned up and said, “Good morning, Phil.” The cat was dressed in a red T-shirt with a white heart on it, and he looked as disgusted as ever. He was sitting right next to one of his many cat beds, on top of a long, wooden cabinet which Roger had called a credenza. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the cat was deliberately shunning the bed, to make some kind of point known only to him.
As I scratched his ears, I told him, “By the way, you’re a massive space hog. If we’re going to continue to be bunkmates, you need to pick a side.” Then I realized I was talking to him like he was human. Not even twenty-four hours, and I’d already turned into one of those people. I’d have to be careful, or next thing I knew, I’d be buying us matching outfits.
When Ever came into the room, I had to press my lips together to hold back a laugh. He’d put on a red tank top with a white heart on it. No way was that a coincidence.
He told Phil, “Hang tight, buddy. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” Then he turned to me and said, “He was pretty chill this morning, so I brought up a few more boxes from my SUV and ran a quick errand to grab some groceries. He didn’t destroy anything while I was gone, so that must mean he’s settling in. I’m super stoked about that.”
“You thought he might destroy stuff?”
“I thought there was a possibility. Phil usually lets me know when he’s upset. Obviously if he’d harmed any of Roger’s furniture, I would have paid to fix it.”
While he was talking, he put on a red zippered jacket. “I’m planning to walk to the gym, and it’s probably cold out,” I told him. “You might want a pair of sweatpants.”
“No worries, I’ll warm up as soon as we get moving.”
“Suit yourself.”
I took a backpack from the coat closet and tossed in my water bottle, and he picked up a gym bag on the way out the door. I wondered where he’d been planning to go if I hadn’t let him join me.
As soon as we got downstairs, Ever paused on the sidewalk and took out his phone. “I need to do a quick good morning post. Do you want to be in the photo?”
“Nope.”
I stepped back while he held out the phone and smiled for a selfie. Then, as we started walking, he began typing rapidly with both thumbs. I had to ask. “What are you writing?”
“I’m captioning the photo and adding my tags. Hashtag workout time, hashtag no excuses, hashtag let’s do this, and so on. I’m all about motivating my followers to live an active, healthy lifestyle, and I try to lead by example.”
“You’re going to hate my gym. It’s not very photogenic, and there are very few mirrors.”
He chuckled and said, “You think I’m totally vain, don’t you?”
“No. I just noticed a lot of selfies taken in gym mirrors on your Instagram page.”
“That’s the best way to get a full body shot, unless someone else takes the photo for me. And those shots are important, because my body is my best advertising.”
“I get it.”
“No, you don’t, because you don’t use social media. But this is what made me. Ten years ago, I was working as a bodyguard and a personal trainer and feeling like I was never going to get ahead. Then I met Jeff Judge through one of my clients. You know who he is, right?”
“Yeah, that Australian actor who did all those superhero movies.”
“Exactly. I convinced him to give me a shot as his trainer, and we hit it off. Then he did me a huge favor, which made my career—he posted about me on his social media. Suddenly, it all exploded. I went from eight thousand followers to sixty thousand in a day. By the next month, I hit a million, and the jobs started pouring in. Suddenly, I had more clients than I could handle, so I took a chance and opened a gym. Then I hired the best people I could find to work with me. The rest is history.”