The woman next to her leaned close and said, “I’m really sorry—that sounded incredibly insensitive. I have this problem with my mouth. Too much food goes in and too many words come out.”

Marissa found a smile. “It’s fine. Are you going to sign up?”

“Yeah.” The woman smoothed her already tidy blond curls and Marissa admired the perfect manicure. “She made a lot of sense, especially that one size doesn’t fit all. I don’t want to exercise. I hate it, in fact. But I can’t hide from the fifty pounds on my ass anymore. I went to the theme park this weekend with my kids and there were two rides they wouldn’t let me on because the belts wouldn’t go around me. And I thought, well damn. I like roller coasters more than Egg McMuffins.”

Marissa laughed. “Sounds like you got quite a jolt. I had to climb a cliff or probably drown and I nearly didn’t make it because of the weight and my total lack of fitness. So here I am.”

One beringed hand swept through a mass of black curls. “It’s also true that my ever-lovin’ husband said this was a waste of time. What he meant was he didn’t want to be making his own dinner once a week.”

A tall, broad-shouldered woman who looked as if she could play football turned from the sign-up table. “Oh, you got resistance too? It was my boss who didn’t want me to leave ‘early’ which was actually not quite as late as usual. You’d think a woman would be more understanding.”

Rising, the woman next to Marissa added, “My husband thinks it’s a good idea for me to lose weight. He just doesn’t want it to take any special effort away from him. But the time has to come from somewhere, unfortunately. Just writing a check to the gym isn’t going to work. I have to actually go.”

Marissa sighed. “I get up earlier than I used to. I’m not dating anyone right now so I do have time to myself but otherwise I work long hours. And this isn’t a weekends-only effort. Some of the time has to come from the work day. I guess I need to remind myself I’m lucky I have some control over my work schedule. A lot of women are not so lucky.”

After paying her fee and scheduling a thirty-minute consultation with Helena for the following week, Marissa strolled out of the community center building to her car. Ocky, when Marissa had let her know she had to leave before six, had groused a bit, saying, “You’d think they make classes like that at a convenient time.”

“I work most Saturdays so it’s not like any time is convenient,” Marissa had answered. Now she was wondering why it was that Ocky, her oldest and dearest friend, hadn’t applauded madly when she’d said she was going to try out a weight control consultant recommended by one of their clients. Didn’t Ocky want her to be healthier?