Get caught up:
Max was watching JP do squats as he talked. On the one hand, he almost felt ungentlemanly as he watched her move. On the other hand, she HAD asked him to make sure she used good form and offer any critical comments after she completed the exercises. JP wasn’t a big person. Standing only five feet three inches tall and weighing (she said) one hundred and eighteen pounds, given that she might have to fight someone much larger than herself on the street to affect an arrest, JP paid attention to her strength and fitness. Max studied her form very carefully and couldn’t offer anything in the way of critical comments when she’d settled the bar back onto the hooks.
Together they added weight to either end of the bar and then Max stepped under it to shoulder the weight and began doing his squats. He was very aware of JP’s eyes on him as he moved and it made him more careful to use good form as he performed the exercise. It was an accepted fitness maxim that when lifting weights, women would typically use better form than men, their egos not as concerned with showing off their strength. Men often used too much weight and compromised their form, their egos pumped by being able to say they moved heavier numbers. JP wasn’t weak, but she was very form conscious. Max tried to be as careful as he completed the ten squats before settling the bar back onto the hooks.
They were nearing the end of their workout session. Not a lot of talking had been done. A lot of people watching them, who might have mistaken them for a couple, also might not have understood how they could have spent two hours in the gym with so little conversation. But Max and JP understood. Except for the exchange of a few words in between sets while they were resting or while they were changing weights on the bar, not a lot needed to be said. They weren’t at the gym to socialize or “hang out.” They were at the gym to work out.
Truth be told, both of them were concerned with impressing the other. Max wanted JP to see how strong he was but also how disciplined he was about and dedicated to his fitness. JP wanted Max to see the same thing about her – and she really wanted him to see how strong she was. She didn’t consider herself “strong for a girl;” she just considered herself strong. She could out-lift most of the guys on their squad because she and Max were the only two officers on the squad who religiously exercised. Outside the gym discussions revealed that Max probably did more cardio exercise than JP did but that was a side-effect of his time with the MEUSOC unit he’d deployed with.
When their workout was complete and they were cooling down, the conversation was more freely exchanged and it revolved around the new uniforms they were both eager to get.
“When was the last time the agency even got new uniforms?” Max asked as he stretched. JP had been with Oceanside PD a little longer than Max so he thought she might know.
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All of Season 2 of The Oceanside Chronicles, including officer survival notes and an alphabetical list of characters can be purchased as an anthology on Amazon.com via Amazon Prime.
http://amzn.to/2duah34
