Hex on the Ex by Rochelle Staab

late afternoon heat and watched Stan back his truck out of my driveway. Though I had spent the day on the phone in my air-conditioned home, I felt sticky, grimy, and tired of T-shirts and jeans. I had an urge to dress up.
    A shower and a sundress. There was an idea. Freshen up for my meeting with Carla and an evening with Nick. If I went to the gym for a quick shower, I might run into Kyle. Not a bad idea at all. I went inside, dashed upstairs, and came down carrying my backpack with a black-and-red-flowered sundress, lacy lingerie, and a pair of sandals inside. Erzulie gave me her abandoned kitty look.
    “I’ll be gone for less than an hour,” I said. “You won’t miss dinner. In fact, if you take a quick nap, you won’t even know I’m gone. Or watch the birds in the backyard. You love watching the birds.”
    Yes, I reasoned with a kitten. Yes, she listened. Erzulie could be very understanding.

    W hen I got to the gym, I eyed the scattering of people in the cardio room and working out on machines, looking for but not seeing Kyle though his Jeep was parked outside. I found Earl alone with a client in the weight room.
    “Is Kyle here?”
    “Somewhere,” Earl said. “Did you look in the office?”
    “I will, thanks.”
    I backtracked through the weight room past a TV with a cable sports station broadcasting the replay of Eagleton’s press conference, and Jarret’s picture posted in the lower corner of the screen. I passed the door to the ladies’ locker room and rounded a corner to the west end of the gym along the wall of power racks and heavy weights facing the windows to the lot.
    Muffled voices came from behind the closed door to Kyle’s office at the far end of the building. I knocked lightly, turned the knob, and peeked inside the small room. Kyle sat behind the desk against the wall, talking to a twentyish, short and stocky kid with stringy hair and an acne-riddled face.
    Kyle spun around, startled, and quickly dropped a brown bag into the bottom drawer. He shut the drawer with his knee, locked it, and dropped the key into the top drawer. The kid hid something behind his back and backed into a corner of the office, staring at the floor.
    “Liz, you’re a morning person. What are you doing here so late?” Kyle folded his hands on the blotter, clenching his fingers.
    “My bathroom is still a war zone. I wanted to cool off with a shower before I go out tonight,” I said, watching his knuckles turn white. “I apologize for interrupting your meeting. I heard about Laycee and wanted to see how you’re doing. Will you be here for a while?”
    “Yeah, we should talk,” Kyle said. “I’m here until seven. Stop by and see me up front before you leave.”
    I retreated to the weight room, shutting the door behind me. What could be so private to make Kyle take a meeting inside a closed office in an almost empty gym?
    With two clean towels from a stack near the desk, I took my gear into the ladies’ locker room for a hot shower. I finished with a cooling rinse, then toweled off and smoothed moisturizer from my face to my toes. After I ran a comb through my wet hair, I got dressed.
    When I came out to the weight room clean, scented, and feeling fresh in sandals and sundress, Earl wolf whistled from the side of the leg press machine. “You clean up good, Liz.”
    I grinned. Hell, I wasn’t even wearing makeup.
    Kyle sat behind the front desk, reading the paper. He glanced up at me then away, thumbing toward the office. “The kid wanted to talk to me about joining the gym. He’s training to be a football player and—”
    “You don’t have to explain,” I said though his unsolicited excuse, fast talk, and lack of eye contact suggested a lie. I was more interested in what had happened the night before than about whatever Kyle was trying to hide. “I’m sorry I barged in on you. Did you hear from Jarret?”
    “Yeah.” He lowered his voice and thumbed toward the front door. “Let’s go outside.