Page 52 of Hitting the Gap

“I suppose.” If it hadn’t been for Brad getting a transfer, she probably never would have even considered moving. She’d been happy at her job. She’d been on the tenure track, getting recognized in her field. But Brad needed to move for his job and she’d agreed that following him would be the best thing for their relationship.

“What do you mean you suppose?” Rayne pressed.

“Umm.” How much did she really want to get into with this woman? She was here for some kind of fancy massage, not therapy.

The other woman smiled kindly. “This is a safe space, Bailey. You don’t have to go into anything you don’t feel comfortable talking about. Why don’t I tell you a bit about what to expect and we can go from there?”

“Okay.”

“As you know, I’m a licensed massage therapist, but I also combine massage with various other modalities of body and energy work.”

“Okay? What does that mean?”

“If means depending on what your body tells me, I may go in a slightly different direction with a treatment than what we have originally discussed.”

“What my body tells you?” Bailey couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her tone.

The corner of Rayne’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “Energy gets stored in the body for various reasons, and sometimes it gets stuck. It might feel like a heaviness in your chest, sometimes it’s a little pinch of a muscle in a certain area. We’ll start with some chakra work and then move into moving some energy, then dig deeper into the muscles as needed.”

“Moving some energy with my chakras, got it.” Wow, who knew Gonzo was friends with someone so new-agey? She couldn’t picture him talking about chakras and energy.

“I take it this is a bit different for you.”

“You could say that, yes. Honestly, I’ve only had a couple of massages in my life, period.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really love strangers touching my body.”

“That’s helpful for me to know. Are there any areas that you would like me to work on or anywhere that you aren’t comfortable with me touching?”

“Umm, my neck is always tight, but whose isn’t, right?” She chuckled.

“Anywhere you’re uncomfortable with since you said you don’t really like being touched by strangers?”

Pretty much everywhere, she thought. She settled for saying, “My stomach, I guess.”

“Okay, is that a hard and fast don’t touch or is it something you’re willing to explore?”

Bailey shifted in her seat. “Umm I don’t know.” The muscles in her stomach didn’t hurt. The scar from her surgery had healed perfectly. She couldn’t imagine energy, or whatever, would guide Rayne to need to touch there.

“The reason I ask is that your stomach is a pretty central part of your body. It stores a lot of energy and it can get pretty blocked and tight.”

The idea of someone as physically perfect as Rayne touching her stomach was mortifying. “I’m sure it does, but…it’s…it’s just my stomach.” She puffed out a breath. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why wouldn’t I understand?”

Bailey snorted. “Look at you.”

“I’m sorry. How does the way I look have anything to do with my ability to be compassionate and sensitive to what’s needed?”

“It’s not that I don’t think you could be compassionate, I just don’t think you could ever understand.”

If Bailey hadn’t been watching, she wouldn’t have seen the way Rayne’s jaw clenched slightly before she rubbed her lips together on a breath. “Bailey, please don’t do to me, what you hate having done to you.”

Yikes, was that what she was doing? She sure hoped not. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Isn’t it?” Rayne asked.

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