Page 38 of Tangled Up In You

"I haven't gotten that far."

Brodie gave him a thoughtful look. "What is this guy looking for?"

"Molly believes it might be something in the boxes Caroline Montgomery sent to Phoebe, because nothing else in the store seems to have tremendous value. I'm inclined to agree."

"I remember the boxes. Phoebe was surrounded by them when she died. I'll keep an eye on the store while I'm out today." Brodie paused. "By the way, Chelsea said she ran into you yesterday when she went to pick up some herbs. You got on her case about taking them."

"I just reminded her they aren't regulated."

"I told her the same thing, but she checked with her doctor. They're apparently fine. And she had some of the tea last night while she took a bath with an aromatherapy candle, and she slept better than she has in weeks, and that was without taking the herb tinctures, so maybe she just needed to relax."

"Molly said something about the mind-body connection," he muttered.

"Well, if Chelsea can talk herself into feeling better, I'm all for it. It's been difficult to watch her suffer, but she's tough."

"And stubborn."

"That seems to run in your family," Brodie said with a laugh. "So, are you going to answer my question now?"

"I thought I already did."

"Are you into Molly?"

"I'm concerned about her safety."

"Bullshit. You couldn't even look at her Saturday night. And I know what that means."

"I looked at her. I gave her a ride home."

"And…"

"Go to work, Brodie. Tell Chelsea to mind her own business. Then tell yourself that."

Brodie got up. "We just want to see you happy, Adam."

"I'm happy. Now get out of here."

As Brodie left, he let out a sigh. His friends had only his best interests at heart, but since everyone had coupled up, they had love on the brain, and he didn't do love. He might like Molly. He might be attracted to her. He might even have sex with her. But he was not going to fall in love. He didn’t make the same mistake twice.

Molly blew out a breath of relief as Drew took the last of Caroline's boxes up to the apartment late Monday afternoon. She needed to go through them, but she also needed to get the store ready to open by Friday, so the boxes would have to be her nighttime project. It would be easier to go through them upstairs. Now she had room to breathe and she could see how she wanted to set up the store.

A sharp rap at the front door drew her attention to the window. A trio of women stood on the sidewalk. They appeared to be in their sixties or seventies and didn't look at all dangerous, so she opened the door and stepped outside.

"Hello, you must be Molly," the woman in front said. She had silver hair, bright-blue eyes, and a bright smile. "I'm Delores." She waved her hand at the other two women, one with brown hair, the other a platinum blonde. "This is Bea and Grace. We're friends of Phoebe, and we're in your Wednesday morning yoga class."

"Oh." She paused, surprised by Delores's words. "What do you mean, you're in my class?"

"You're going to keep the yoga classes going, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, at some point, but I don't have an instructor."

"Can't you teach the class? We're finally getting more limber, and we hate to lose the progress we've made. We already missed last week," Delores said.

"It's just an old lady's class," Bea put in. "I mean, Phoebe used to teach the class, so it's not like you have to do headstands or anything. She just talked us through the poses, especially the last few months when she wasn't feeling as strong."

"My husband says I'm so much nicer since I've been doing yoga, and if I keep it up, he'll take me on a cruise this Christmas," Grace said. "I really need the class and the cruise."

She looked at their pleading smiles and gave them the only answer she could. "All right. I'm a little rusty as a teacher, but I have taught yoga, so Wednesday it is. What time were you coming in?"

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