Page 11 of Very Special Forces

"It wassupposed to be on the weekend. We originally wanted Lily's Bar butwe couldn't get the right date so my fiancé and I settled forJewel's downtown but their kitchen had a fire and now they'vecanceled all bookings."

Lilystraightened. "You wanted Lily's?"

"Yes, myfiancé loves it there. He says it's the best bar in all ofMontgomery. Just our vibe."

"Thenyou're talking to the right person," said Lily. "I'm the owner,Lily, and I happen to know there's a cancellation on Saturdaynight. The room is still available and you won't have to spend allweekend scouting new venues. Why don't we talk after theclass?"

"Oh mygosh! Really?" Julia's face lit up. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely!"

"I thinkyou might have saved my life," gushed Julia. "Bryce will bethrilled! Isn't this great news, Jas?"

Next toher, Jas smiled. "Fabulous," she agreed. "Why don't we all meet upin the bar after and get to know each other?" she added with apointed look to me.

I gotthe message. This was the perfect opportunity to get to know herfriend better without alerting her that Jas had asked me to lookinto Julia's relationship. I still wasn't sure if I would take thecase but this could help me work that out faster than poring overthe client file later.

"Okay,ladies," yelled the instructor as a thumping bassline started up."Let's warm up, then grab those poles!"

ChapterFour

Islumped into the chair in the gym's smoothie bar and winced. Thehour-long class had been every bit as terrifying as I anticipatedwhen I walked in, along with the side bonus of being absolutelyexhausting as well. My abs screamed. My upper arms felt hot andsore and my thighs were ready to collapse. Even my hair couldn'tsummon any enthusiasm to look cute.

The wayI saw it, I had three choices. I could keep going with anoverly-enthusiastic Lily to this class for the next two weeks andpotentially die, or I could keep going, suck it up and potentiallylook amazing on my wedding day with some extra moves that wouldprobably break Solomon on our honeymoon. Or I could excuse myselffrom all classes and do some half-hearted exercise that would leaveme looking and feeling reasonable, combined with the unfailingability to walk down the aisle without my legs begging to buckle.Clearly, I had a hard decision to make.

"Drinkthis," said Lily. She pushed a large plastic cup filled with darkgreen liquid towards me.

"No morepunishment," I said as I rejected it with my forefinger, the onlybit of me that didn't currently hurt.

"Youcan't be in that much pain."

"I am. Iam broken."

"Waituntil you feel it tomorrow," snorted Lily. "Don't drop anythingtomorrow. You'll need those mechanical grabbers elderly people useto pick things up since you'll be too sore all over to reach foranything."

"Yay," Ispluttered weakly. I forgot about the post-exercise days when I hadto wobble up and down stairs on unsteady legs, and when evenpressing the gas pedal down seemed like torture.

Lilypushed the vile liquid towards me. "This will help your body repairitself with a great combination of protein powder andnutrients."

I leanedin and sniffed. "Why does it smell like feet and death?"

"Whycan't you smell normal things like normal people?"

I thought that was rich, coming from Lily, who didn't do verymuch that people would consider normal but I was saved fromsummoning up a sarcastic answer when Jas and Julia joined ourtable. Their smoothies looked like they had just been milked fromunicorns; all delightful shades of pink, lemon and dairy-freecream; and the aroma was delicious. "I want that smoothie," Iwhimpered, barely refraining from addingit's not fair.

"I wishI had your commitment to healthy consumption," said Julia as shelooked at the green smoothie. She dropped her gym bag at her feetand slid into the chair next to me, pulling off her headband. Herhair swung around her chin in an impossibly chic way. Jas took thelast chair between Julia and Lily, completing our foursome. "Brycehas really helped me commit to my fitness goals but there are somethings I just can't do," she added, giving my green smoothie apointed look.

"Totallyunderstandable," I agreed, taking a surreptitious sniff of thesmoothie. Definitely feet and death.

"Lexi isgetting married soon and I am making sure she looks amazing on herwedding day, no matter what it takes," said Lily.

"She'sstarving me into my dress," I said and Jas and Julia laughed.Except I wasn't joking. I would rather have starved than drink thesmoothie.

"You'reengaged too? We should talk weddings," tattled Julia happily."Isn't wedding planning so much fun? I never thought Bryce would beinto it, but he insists on getting involved in every aspect. He hassuch an eye for detail. He's made all kinds of suggestions for theflowers and the church and the reception venue. I know it will beperfect. And now we have the perfect venue for our engagementparty, I can only see that as an auspicious start to the rest ofour plans!"

"Lexihad her engagement party at my bar too," Lily told her. "It wasmagical. I have some photos on my website of it, and other partieswe've hosted. If you like any of the looks, we can recreate them,but if you'd rather have something personal, you can decorate theprivate room yourself or we can work with yourdecorator."

"I wouldlove to see that..." Lily and Jas swapped places and Lily pulledout her phone to show off some of the event photos she used toentice new clients.

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