He gazed around at all the prying eyes and nodded. “You’re right. It’s not.” He glanced back at his brother and groaned. “It’s fine. In fact, we’ll all work out together. I could use a good sweat right about now.”

Preslee released a breath. Thank goodness things hadn’t escalated. There was obviously no love lost between the brothers, and whatever the issue was between them probably wasn’t going to be resolved tonight. Sad, since Preslee would have given her right arm to have had a sibling to grow up with and share things with.

Like DNA.

Preslee let out a disheartened sigh. She’d spent her entire childhood alone. Sure, she’d had both of her adoptive parents. At least until her mom died when she was six and left her to be raised by her father. Since he’d never remarried, it had always been just the two of them. But that wasn’t the same as having a sibling to confide in or even fight with.

The closest thing she’d had to that kind of relationship was the best friend she’d had when she was nine. But Jenny’s family had moved away the following year and they’d lost touch. After that, the only close relationship she’d had was with a small brown mutt that she’d found wandering near a dumpster behind the grocery store. But even he hadn’t stuck around.

Story of my life.

With Michael on their heels, she followed Adam to a section of the gym that wasn’t occupied. They stopped in front of several vacant treadmills, and Adam pointed at them. “We’ll start here to get the heart rate up before moving on to strength training.”

“All right,” Preslee said, doing some arm stretches.

Adam had taught her that stretching her muscles would help reduce the buildup of lactic acid and therefore help her to feel less sore and stiff after her workout.

“How are those shoulders doing?”

“A little stiff and sore,” Preslee admitted as she continued to stretch. “Especially in my shoulder blade area. But it’s not too bad.”

Concerned filled Michael’s eyes. “Should I take a look?”

Preslee squinted at him. “Why would you want to do that?”

Adam smiled. “He’s a doctor.”

“Oh.” Well, that made sense then.

But Adam shook his head at Michael. “No need to check her over. She just has some tight postural muscles.” His voice lowered, and his tone grew bitter. “And I didn’t even need a degree to determine that.”

Wow. Adam was right. He could probably stand to work off some of the frustration or resentment he’d apparently been holding on to when it came to his brother. Because she’d never seen this side of him before.

Michael nodded at Adam but gazed curiously at her. “Are there isolated areas of contraction that refer pain to elsewhere in your body?”