Page 24 of (Not So) Mad About You

“And you’re all free to go,” she said to the class. “Unless you’d like to stay and drink in the atmosphere for a little longer.”

No chance of that, it was lunch time now. The room was empty inside of thirty seconds. Well, empty except for Alli, who was raising that eyebrow again. Bea’s stomach turned over.

“It’s no good,” Bea said.

“What?”

“There are no better rooms. We’re all in the same position,” said Bea. “As for your phone, it’s in a locked trunk.”

“That I have the code to,” Alli said. “Well, most of the code.”

“And the trunk is in a locked room,” added Bea.

Alli huffed in irritation. “Honestly, you’re completely hopeless at this.”

“I am not!” Bea said, stung.

“Yes, you are. You’re weak, it’s obvious in the way you speak to people. Spineless.”

“Spineless enough to call you stuck-up and snotty,” Bea said. She regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. What was she doing?

She’d come over here all intent on helping Alli like she’d helped everyone else, because maybe Alli was supposed to be here, in which case she needed help. And now she was rising tothe bait and calling the woman names again.

“Just get the job done,” Alli said, scowling at her.

“How exactly?”

“I don’t know, think of something,” said Alli. “Otherwise, I go and talk to Luke.”

There was silence for a long second as Alli stared her down. Bea looked into her green eyes for as long as she could, but she started to feel oddly hot and had to look away. “I’ll try and come up with something.” Maybe she could borrow the keys off Luke. Maybe Josh would know how to get them.

“Good,” Alli said, pushing back off the wall. “Thanks for the class, teach.”

“You should have participated,” Bea said.

Alli snorted. “Right.”

“No, I just meant…” Bea took a breath. “I just meant that you’d be good, is all.”

Alli stopped and turned back to look at her. “You think?”

Bea nodded. “Yes, I really do. You’ve got the body type for yoga. You could be really good. It’s not just for relaxation, you know. It improves muscle tone and strength, it’s an excellent way to keep fit and slow down the aging process.”

Alli squinted at her and then perhaps decided that she was being honest, so she nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. Maybe next time.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Bea said without thinking about what she was saying.

“If there is a next time,” Alli said as she walked out of the room.

Bea’s heart rate was far too high for someone who’d just spent an hour doing yoga. Must be all the caffeine. She vowed to cut down to just one cup of coffee in the mornings.

Chapter Eleven

“So, Joachim was screaming and then Janelle jumps right out of the airing cupboard and scares the bejeezus out of him so badly that he just stops, mouth wide open,” Izzy said.

Alli wondered just what it was that other people did with their lives. Her every waking minute was so full of work, thinking about it, doing it, preparing for it, that suddenly her life seemed very, very empty.

Which was completely ridiculous because obviously she had a lot to fill her life with. Just… just here time seemed to be standing somewhat still.

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