Page 104 of Catch and Release

Of course he did.

But still. It meant the world to her.

She took a calming breath in a feeble attempt to get her heart rate to slow. Between the flowers and the whispering in her ear, she was more than a little turned on. But mostly, she was terrified.

It’s Shawn, she’d been telling herself all day. I trust Shawn.

But how could she trust anyone after what she’d been through?

Her therapist told her that sometimes she just had to do it scared. That it sounded like Shawn held space for her to express when she was feeling insecure about their relationship, and that was a step in the right direction. That if she never put herself out there—never tried—she’d never learn to trust herself again.

It took her three tries to apply her eyeliner because her hand was shaking from nerves.

But she did it, and she’d do this, too.

Willa realized she hadn’t been paying much attention to where Shawn was driving as he pulled into the church parking lot where Bingo was held.

Confusion mixed with amusement laced her tone as she said, “Are you taking me to Bingo for date night?”

He grinned at her. “Not quite.”

Shawn got out of the car and jogged to the passenger side, where he opened the door for her. He grabbed her hand, fingers laced with hers, and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“I have a few surprises for you tonight,” he said. “This is one of them.”

Willa felt the nervous anticipation of uncertainty and curiosity, but followed Shawn’s lead through the front doors of the church. He walked through the hallways, past the sanctuary and into the room where Bingo was typically held. He turned on the light, then led her up to the front, onto the small, makeshift stage where Amos typically stood as he emceed for Bingo.

“Ta da,” Shawn said.

“Ta da?” Willa asked, biting back a laugh.

“I talked to Amos about the possibility of you teaching some yoga classes here,” Shawn said. “Not sure if you know this, but he doesn’t just run Bingo. He’s the community outreach manager for the church. Helps put on all sorts of events to engage with the neighborhood, but mostly to keep the seniors around here active. I told him how you teach yoga and how you worked with Grams, to see if he’d be interested in having you teach a few classes a week here at the church. He loved the idea.”

Willa gasped. “You… wait, I—” she spluttered.

“I told him you needed a paying job, so he said you could discuss the particulars of how much you wanted to charge community members. But he said you could keep 100% of the profit from classes. The church has a lot of big donors locally. They just want to reach the community in more ways. And he thinks this’ll be a big hit. Especially since Grams is such a big fan of yours already. He wants to announce it at Bingo every week.”

“I can teach yoga here?”

“Only if you want,” Shawn continued. “I told him you were just exploring your options right now, but he really wants you to do it. He thinks it might help get some young people showing up at the church, too.”

Willa took a deep breath and tried to process what she just heard. Shawn found her a job. A real job. Where she could work with seniors, like she’d always wanted. People like Grams. Where she could make a real difference, and still be only a few minutes away from work.

“You… you found me a job,” Willa said.

Shawn reached his hand behind his neck, his cheeks reddening. “If you want it. If you hate the idea, that’s okay, too.”

“Shawn,” Willa said, her eyes misting. “You found me a yoga job teaching seniors.”

“Are you mad?” he asked, his brows creasing. “I know it was a bit presumptuous?—”

“Mad?” she laughed. “Shawn, how could I be mad? This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

She launched herself into his arms and giggled, her happiness bubbling over. He froze for a moment, then tugged her into his body.

“Thank you,” she said. “I never would’ve thought of this. I can’t thank you enough.”

He beamed.

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