Page 73 of Rebel Hawke

It’s strange how easily we’ve all fallen back into the friendships we shared as children and how quickly a new one has formed with Jack.

Almost as if I never left.

But after a rather laid-back evening of playing Scrabble and messing around with the kids before they crashed, then some amazing takeout, the sudden shift in the mood has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

Astrid motions me over. “Come around.”

“Okay…”

All eyes stay on me as I slowly round the table to her chair and stand behind her.

While it’s been nice to have all the girls around, now that they’re all staring at me like they know something, some bigsecret I’ve not been let in on, I’m starting to feel like the odd woman out again.

Astrid clicks on a few icons on her desktop, and a website pops up in her browser. “Check it out.”

I lean over her shoulder, trying to get a better view, and all the air rushes from my lungs.

Early Bird Pilates…

The stunningly beautiful welcome screen stares back at me, but my brain can’t seem to process what I’m seeing.

“What is this?”

She peeks over at me and grins, then shares a look with the rest of the girls conspiratorially. “We all decided you needed an incredible website.”

“So, youmadeone?”

Astrid nods enthusiastically, her blond hair floating around her face in her excitement. “We all helped, but Kennedy and I did most of it since we’ve worked on sites before.”

Kennedy flicks her golden locks over her shoulder. “Did a pretty good job, too, if I do say so.”

A pretty good job.

Talk about an understatement.

It’s absolutely stunning.

Bright and vibrant, with soft pastels and elegant script that would make anyone want to spend more time scrolling, reading, and hopefully clicking to find out more.

“Oh, my God…” I struggle to find words as I examine the screen, trying to take it all in. “You guys didn’t have to do this.”

Astrid reaches up and rests her hand on mine. “We wanted to. Really.”

A serious tone settles over the table, and Bishop nods.

“I know you’ve only been back a couple of weeks, and right off the bat, you ran into our Satriano bullshit.”

I snort. “Yeah. More like he just appeared.”

Blue eyes that match Atlas’ meet mine, full of sympathy, and Astrid gives me a knowing smile. “Well, I know it changed things for you fast, and you haven’t had the time you thought you would to really work on anything like a website. We just wanted your opening to go well…”

Tears blur my vision, and I swipe them away as emotion tightens my throat. “Thank you. This is incredible.”

Astrid starts scrolling down the site. “They can book classes straight through here, and it also has a whole section on one-on-ones and arranging those. The calendar can be easily synced on your phone, so you’ll have access to it at all times to see how many people are signed up for each class and to manage last-minute cancellations and openings.”

“I-I can’t believe you did all this.”

Even staring at it and seeing it, I’m having a hard time imagining that this didn’t exist a week ago.

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