“Oh,” his brother said innocently. “So you didn’t have dinner last night?”
“It wasn’t a date. The kids were there.”
“A nice, quiet family dinner,” Jax quoted.
“I wish you were here so I could punch you in the face,” Beckett muttered. He crossed the street to cut through the square.
Was it his imagination or was everyone looking at him? he wondered.
His brother’s laugh told Beckett that his threat wasn’t being taken seriously.
“So if nothing’s going on, what were you doing making out with her on Main Street?” Jax asked.
“She was thanking me for dropping off her keys.”
“That’s a really friendly thank you. I’m starting to feel shorted. Fitz didn’t thank me like that when I picked up the twenty he dropped at Karma Kustard yesterday. How did you end up with her keys?”
“She left them at my place when she stopped to get her shoes,” Beckett snapped.
“She left her shoes at your place?” Jax’s gleeful tone grated Beckett’s last nerve like lemon juice in an open wound.
“Ask him if they’re going steady!” Beckett heard Carter yell in the background.
“Don’t you assholes have farm things to do?”
“We’re multitasking,” Jax snickered.
“Yeah, well, why don’t you multitask someone else? I’m busy.”
“Busy making out in front of a crowd.”
“Nothing is going on!”
“Uh-huh. So you haven’t kissed her?”
“How did you —”
Jax whooped on the other end of the line.
“I hate you both,” Beckett snarled and hung up.
13
Blissfully unaware that nearly every conversation in town was about her, Gia led the class through another slow sun salutation. She padded between the rows of students, adjusting shoulders here, tweaking foot position there.
“Inhaling and lifting into up dog,” she instructed and breathed with her class. “Keep those glutes tight, Joey.”
She didn’t bother hiding her smile as Joey shot her a glare. Gia loved reluctant yogis.
“With an exhale, roll back on the toes and push those hips back, back, back for down dog. Let’s take a few deep breaths here and settle into the pose.”
She had a dozen students today. Not bad at all for the lunch hour class. Attendance had been better than she’d hoped right off the bat. A benefit of purchasing an existing studio.
She would grow it. She already had ideas. New classes and time slots, private lessons and parties. Blue Moon would be her home and her students would be her neighbors and friends.
She thought of Beckett. Tall, smoldering, with a dry wit and wicked eyes. Where would he fall? Neighbor or friend? As exciting as it would be to explore that attraction, it was a line neither should cross. She had Aurora and Evan to focus on. And Beckett’s distrust of her father added another layer of confusion to the mix.
Maybe someday she would find the partner she always desired. And maybe she would find him here.
“Let’s come into tree pose,” Gia told the class. “In tree we root down so we can lift up.” She returned to her mat and joined the students in the balance pose.
While some proudly stretched their arms overhead, others — including Joey —wobbled and toppled.
“Don’t worry if you’re shaky.” Gia told them. “Wobbling and even falling is part of the process. If you never fall, you aren’t going far enough.”
She spotted Summer sinking down to her mat to sit.
Gia had everyone else switch the pose to the other side before approaching her. “Everything okay?” she asked Summer quietly.
“I was seeing spots,” she said grimly. She brushed an imaginary speck of dirt from her lavender tank top.
Gia handed her a water bottle. “Do you want me to call Carter for you?”
Summer shook her head. “No. It’s nothing. I’m just feeling a little off today.”
“Sometimes our bodies have uncomfortable ways of telling us to take a break,” Gia said. “Make sure you’re listening.”
“Loud and clear. I think I’ll just sit here for the rest of class,” Summer decided.
“Good call,” Gia nodded. “We’re almost finished.”
She moved everyone to the floor for a few deep stretches and ended class the way she always did, with everyone resting in corpse pose. A morbid name, but it was the best way to send everyone back into the world — fully relaxed and aware of their own mortality.
She chatted with her students as they exited, making sure to spend a moment with each one to catch up on their lives and to thank them for coming. By the time the studio cleared out, Joey had scooted over to Summer’s mat and the two were deep in conversation.
“Are you feeling any better?” Gia asked, joining them.
“I am.” Summer’s blond ponytail bounced emphatically.
“We can always take a rain check on lunch if you want to go home and rest.”
“Actually, lunch sounds really good,” Summer countered. “Joey, can you still spare some time for food?”