Free I Was Here All Along by Penny Blake Page A

other people!”
     
    And good advertising for the gym at the expense of my dignity.   “I don’t want people looking at my fat picture and thinking about how shitty I used to look.  And what if I gain the weight back and look shitty again—that would be even more embarrassing.”
     
    “Then don’t gain the weight back,” Rio says.
     
    “You know what I mean,” I say.
     
    Rio shrugs.  “I have my picture on the site.  What’s the harm?”
     
    “What if someone I know sees it?”
     
    “So?” Rio says.  “They’ll think, ‘Wow, there’s December Snowe looking hot as hell.’ What’s wrong with that?”
     
    “I just don’t like to be the center of attention, so I’d rather not have a picture of me made so public.  Sorry.”
     
    “It’s not like you’ll be on the home page,” says the manager. “It’s on a little side tab with a hundred other before and after shots.”
     
    “And my name will be listed next to your picture,” Rio chimes in.  “So anyone who sees it will know I’m your trainer and can contact me. You’re an example of my best work.”
     
    “Come on Ember,” says the manager.  “Help Rio here make a living.  The guy has bills to pay.”
     
    “Ugh, fine!  But I want a month free at the gym so I get something out of this.  I have bills to pay too, you know.”
     
    “Deal,” says the manager.  “Rio, make sure you get a before picture of her soon before she changes her mind.”
     

Chapter 18
     
    Photo Op
     
    I’ve had many fantasies about bringing Rio back to my place.  But in none of them did he come over to retrieve one of my old fat pictures so he could post it on a website to get business. 
     
    “Come on,” I sigh as I lead Rio into my apartment, making no attempt to hide my annoyance.  “I’m not even sure I have a good fat picture.  I was always careful to take pictures at flattering angles.  If I looked fat in a picture, I’d destroy it immediately.”
     
    “I’m sure you can find something,” Rio says as he sits down on my couch and rests his ankle on his knee.  Looking at his large body taking up half my couch cheers me up a little, and I pull out my laptop and sit beside him. I scroll through some poorly organized files of pictures, tilting the laptop so he can see the screen.
     
    I click on a folder, and of course the first picture that pops up is Brian and I at our high school prom. 
 
    “Who’s that joker?” Rio asks, and I laugh in spite of myself.
     
    “That’s my ex-husband,” I say.  And taking a page from him, I don’t elaborate.
 
    More prom pictures come up.  There’s a whole series of Brian and I at an after-party sitting on a ratty couch in someone’s basement drinking beer out of red Solo cups.
     
    “So this guy was your prom date?”
     
    “Yeah, and my ex-husband—I wasn’t kidding about that.  See?”  I pull up another folder entitled “Engagement party” and bring up a picture of Brian and I standing under a banner that declares, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT!
     
    “You were married? How do I not know about this?  You’ve been holding out on me, December.  Here I thought you were this sweet innocent girl, and you’re…a jaded divorcee?”
     
    “Actually the marriage never went though so technically, I didn’t get divorced.  We got married and changed our minds before the paperwork was filed.  But I have been married before, so it counts in a way.”
     
    “I think you need to explain how this happened,” Rio says, taking over the computer and flipping through my photos. 
 
    I tell him the whole sordid tale of Brian dumping me at the altar while Rio clicks through countless photos with rapt attention.  I even include the part about April upstaging me with her tiffany blue dress, and how my goal to be a size four is so that I can fit into it.
     
    “It’s a good thing you didn’t marry this twerp, December.  You’re a late bloomer.  Now that you’ve