Amber stood at the door looking at Dexter. She tried not to let her tears show, but it was a hopeless cause.
Sniffling, she said, "It's hard to believe the week is over."
"I know," Dexter said. He was standing two paces away from her shifting uneasily from one leg to the other.
"I'm going to miss you," Amber said.
Dexter said, "Me, too. It's going to be awful quiet around here, without you."
"I think you'll manage all right now," Amber said.
"I hope so," Dexter said.
"Do you need me to stay another week?" Amber asked.
"No. You've got a life to go to and ... well ... I'm just ... I'll be fine," Dexter said somewhat at a loss for words.
Amber asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"You've got my number?" Amber asked, although she knew he did. She had programmed it into his cell phone, herself.
"Yes," Dexter said.
"You'll give me a call if you have a problem?" Amber asked.
"I will," Dexter said.
"I guess I better go," Amber said.
Dexter said, "Okay."
For a moment, she stood there looking at him. Then she turned and beat a hasty retreat from the apartment. The door slammed shut behind her. Dexter stood there staring at the door, and then down at the floor. He was going to miss her. He went to the study, to work, hoping that would take his mind off of her absence. He found that he couldn't concentrate.
In the one week Amber had spent with him, she had become an integral part of his life. She had cooked, cleaned, run errands, chauffeured, and generally taken care of him. She had shared his bed at night. She had talked to him when things were quiet. She had rubbed his shoulders when he had worked too long at the computer. She nagged him to take his pills, and reminded him of things that he had to do. Except for never having had sex with him, she had been a perfect wife. She had even left him well provided for, for the next few weeks. There was a ton of frozen leftovers in the freezer, packaged in individual servings.
She had taken him to the airport to pick up a rental car, so he wasn't stuck without transportation.
All of his clothes had been cleaned.
Living with her had been easy. She hadn't batted an eye when he walked around the apartment without clothes. She didn't intrude or disturb his concentration when he was working on an article. She quietly listened to music using earphones, so that he didn't have to listen to her music. She hadn't even filled his bathroom with feminine products.
The alarm on his cell phone went off. He picked it up and read the message. It was the alarm letting him know it was time to head over to the gym. That was another thing she had done. She had programmed a number of different alarms on his cell phone, to remind him to take his pills, eat, and go to the gym.
Dexter changed into his gym outfit. He grabbed the keys to the rental car, and headed out to the parking lot. He ran into Calvin who was kneeling down by his bike fiddling with something.
"Hey, Dexter. How's it goin'?"
"I'm feeling much better," Dexter answered.
Calvin said, "I noticed Amber leaving."
"Today was her last day," Dexter said.
"Bummer. You're going to miss her," Calvin said.
"I know, but like I said ... I'm feeling better," Dexter said.
"If you talk to her, let her know I'm still interested," Calvin said.
Dexter said, "I'll tell her."
Calvin said, "You're wearing gym clothes. Going to work out?"
"Yes," Dexter said.
"Where do you go?" Calvin asked.
Dexter answered, "I go to Sam's Fitness Center."
"Is it nice?" Calvin asked.
"Samantha, the woman who owns the place, is amazing. She's got a degree in physical therapy, with a double minor in coaching and nutrition," Dexter answered.
"I didn't know you could minor in coaching," Calvin said.
"Apparently you can," Dexter said.
"I might check it out," Calvin said, grunting while loosening a nut.
Dexter said, "You seem to be in pretty good shape, already."
"I was reading your article about taking care of yourself. It got me to thinking that I've been getting a lot less active, lately. I might not be getting fat, but I've gained about fifteen pounds since I left college. It just kind of crept up on me," Calvin said.
"It does that," Dexter said.
Calvin said, "Don't let me hold you up. I'll talk to you later, I'm sure."
"Take it easy," Dexter said.
"I always do."
Dexter got into his car and drove over to the gym. He pulled into the parking lot thinking it would be kind of strange to work out without having Amber to look at, on her stationary bike. He headed into the gym.
"Hello, Dexter."
"Hello, Samantha."
"You can call me 'Sam'."
"I like 'Samantha', better. It's perky, like you," Dexter said.
Samantha laughed. She noticed that he was there without Amber.
"Where's Amber?"
"Today was her last day," Dexter answered.
"We kind of got off on a bad foot, but I really liked her," Samantha said.
"She liked you, too," Dexter said. "She said that she might join the gym."
"That would be great. I can always use the customers," Samantha said.
"One of the guys from my apartment might come by," Dexter said. "He looks a little rough, but he's really nice guy. He works with computers."
"The more the merrier," Samantha said. She looked puzzled for a second. "Amber never told me what service she was with."
"It's a small one," Dexter said.
There was no way that Dexter was going to tell Samantha that he had turned to an escort service to hire someone to take care of him for a week. It wasn't exactly the kind of thing one told others.
"What's the name of it?" Samantha said.
Dexter said, "I don't recall off the top of my head."
"Let me know what it is when you remember it. I can maybe steer a little business their way," Samantha said.
"I'll do that," Dexter said. "I probably ought to start working out now."
Samantha said, "Okay. I've got the third treadmill ready for you. I upped the resistance so it will be a little harder going. Just keep to thirty minutes at a comfortable pace."
"Will do," Dexter said.
Dexter went over to the third treadmill and climbed on. He started walking and immediately felt the increased resistance. It was like walking up a slight incline, but it wasn't too bad. He kept glancing over at the empty stationary bike, expecting to see Amber riding on it.
About twenty minutes into the walk, he was beginning to really feel the increased resistance. He slowed his pace a little. The problem was that with nothing to distract him from his walking, he was aware of every step he took. He kept glancing down at the timer thinking that he should have been finished, but only a minute had passed since the last time he had looked.
After the longest thirty minutes of his life, Dexter completed his walk. He stepped off the treadmill knowing that he had exercised. His legs had a slight burning sensation.
Samantha came over and examined the statistics which included the total time walked, the speed, and the distance covered. She frowned upon seeing the numbers. "You didn't do as well as I expected."
"It just wasn't all that great, today. I don't know why," Dexter said shrugging his shoulders.
Samantha smirked and added, "Next time, I'll try to find someone for you to watch while you're walking."
"What?" Dexter said.
"You usually watched Amber riding the stationary bike. She wasn't here today, and you didn't have fun exercising. I think there's a correlation there," Samantha said.
Dexter sagged. "You're saying I'm a dirty old man."
Samantha sniffed. "Well, you do smell a little ripe after the exercise, but you aren't really dirty. You're not quite old. I guess that makes you a man."
"You're too kind," Dexter said.
Samantha said, "On a more serious note, a lot of people listen to music while exercising. They find that it takes their mind off the exercise while giving them a tempo to their movements."
"Kind of like marching to a band," Dexter said.
"Exactly," Samantha said.
Dexter said, "I guess I can stop by an electronics store."
Samantha said, "Just don't overdo the shopping."
"I'll buy something at the first store I find," Dexter said with a sigh.
"What do you mean?" Samantha asked.
The only time she didn't buy something at the first store she tried was if they didn't have what she wanted. She could see no reason to go from store to store unless it was to compare prices and she could do that online.
"I tend to look around for stores that have the kind of service I want, before I buy something. It is kind of a personal crusade," Dexter said.
"That's interesting," Samantha said.
Dexter said, "It is kind of like how I came to be here. You were the only one who listened when I said that I had heart surgery. One guy wanted me to become a bodybuilder and didn't care at all that I had a heart attack. At the other gym it was all about weight-loss. If people don't listen to me, then I end up getting what I don't want or need. I've gotten tired of it."
"You aren't the only one," Samantha said. "Do you know what gets me?"
"What?"
Samantha said, "When they try to steer you away from what you want to what they want you to buy."
"That's because they're not listening to you."
"Not always. Sometimes, at the grocery store, I find that I can locate all of the salt-free and dietary versions of a product easily. I don't like the taste of that stuff. However, getting the original version of the product, requires me to get down on the floor to search the bottom shelf," Samantha said.
Dexter nodded his head in understanding. "I feel like I'm being manipulated."
"That's it, exactly," Samantha.
"I'm tired of it."
"Same here."
Dexter sighed.
"I'm going to miss Amber."
Edited By TeNderLoin