Dancing to the Truth (The Brent Trilogy 3)

Chapter 17

The following weekends, Isabelle and Justin told me all about Eddie and the gifts he got them, but Isabelle tried to convince me that she still loved me more than him. Apparently, he was hanging out with Whitney, but even Justin had to admit that he didn't absolutely hate him, and that Eddie was pretty cool for getting him the PlayStation, but only after Whitney said that it was okay.

I don't know if it was the conversation that we had the night before, or because he was simply being back at the old house, but Justin went back to being his old self and I couldn't be happier. We had the best weekend. Went to Six Flags, which was our favorite spot to go to, FaceTimed Whitney and I even agreed to buy Justin a virtual reality headset that he wanted. I knew that I was going to have to deal with Whitney, but I couldn't help myself. Partly it was because he didn't want anything for his birthday a few months ago, but partly it was because VR was cooler nowadays than PlayStation, but I told Justin that he had to share it with his sister. I also got Isabelle this box-set of books that she was really into lately, and I was more than happy to realize that she was actually one of those kids that genuinely loved to read.

On Sunday, Andrew informed me that the seller had accepted my offer, and we went to see my new condo. I explained to Justin and Isabelle that I was going to be moving there soon, but since I had three bedrooms, I let them choose their respective new bedrooms at my place, and they were both thrilled because the condo was unfurnished so they thought that the rooms are much bigger than their old ones.

Whitney returned on Monday, and took the kids back with her. She explained that her dad was fine, he just had to eat healthier and exercise a bit more, which he was not happy with. She explained to me who Eddie was, and she said that the only reason she introduced him to the kids was because she really liked him and she thought he was a good man. I told her I was happy for her, and she smiled and gave me a hug, which I didn't expect, but it felt nice.

On Wednesday I had movers come in to empty out the house. The new owners were signing their closing paperwork the following day, and I was signing my own closing papers the following Monday, so I only had to keep my stuff in storage for a few days.

I went back to the same motel where I met George, but it looked like Elizabeth had taken him back, because I didn't run into him again.

On Friday, after I finished working at the office, I decided to go and work out because I hadn't in a long time, and I felt like I was neglecting a very important part of my life, and something I had cultivated over a long period of time—my body. I don't want to sound vain, but I loved my body. I loved everything about it, and I wanted to keep it that way.

The gym was relatively busy because a lot of people came to work out on Friday after work, but this new gym was better equipped than my old one, so I didn't have to wait too long to get to the equipment that I needed to use for my particular exercises. After an hour and a half of a long, sweaty session, I was ready to call it quits and go eat a nice protein-rich meal.

I took a shower at the facility, dried myself off, put on fresh clothes, and I was on my way out when I bumped into someone who was coming around the corner as I was leaving the locker room.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized, making sure that the other guy was okay.

"Brent!"

I finally looked up and saw that the guy I literally ran into was no one else other than Lance. I had completely spaced out that he works at my new gym.

"Lance. I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking..."

"It's fine. I didn't see you come in."

"Yeah, I'm sorry again. I better be on my way..."