Page 4 of Friends With Benefits

“Oooh.” She sat up straight. “Who?”

“Never mind. Just wait ’til I check it out with him. Who knows, he could have a girlfriend or something. I’ll get back to you on that.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Attorney. Hey, I heard a new joke today. If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could save only one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?” She giggled.

There was heavy silence, then he said, “Ha ha. Gotta go, funny girl. Later.”

Kerri hung up, still smiling at her joke. She loved pushing his buttons. Although, that one hadn’t got much reaction from him. He was probably so used to her little jabs he didn’t even feel them any more.

Now she was even more impatient, knowing he had someone in mind for her. She leaned back in the chair behind her desk in her new office and took a couple of deep, calming breaths before looking around at the bare, sparsely furnished office. The energy wassonot flowing.

Boxes of papers she’d moved from her old studio sat piled in the corner. Clutter was bad luck and caused stress, but she still needed some new filing cabinets, so the boxes remained unpacked. She frowned at them.

At least the new desk she’d bought was in the right place, facing the door and allowing her to see the entire room from where she sat behind it. That was good. She had yet to move everything from her old space. It would feel better when her plants were there. The green growth would provide some active energy.

She planned to move the rest of her things on the weekend before the spa opened, with the help of some friends. She didn’t have a big budget like Sela for hiring movers and purchasing a lot of new furniture, but really, she didn’t need much. She had her yoga mats and cushions, her sound system, her computer, a few plants and candles and aromatherapy stuff… It would be easy enough to move it all in one weekend.

She went to see what Sela was doing and found her sister directing movers carrying in new chairs for pedicures. It was controlled chaos in the spa area of the building where Sela’s staff were running around unpacking and setting things up while the painters finished touching up the woodwork and the plumbers installed new fixtures. The smell of fresh paint filled the building.

“Hey, Kerri.” Sela didn’t look up from the papers she held. All her plans, no doubt. Sela was extremely detail oriented and was a master of planning and organizing. Every small facet of this move had been carefully laid out.

“How’s it going?” Kerri asked. “Anything I can do?”

Sela shook her head. Her black hair, cut in a short bob with straight, blunt bangs, didn’t even move, as perfect and precise as the rest of her. Kerri could see the strain on her face. She’d been working long hours to make this happen. For Sela, failure was not an option and anything less than perfection was failure.

“Come on, there must be something. My studio is pretty much ready and I can’t really move the rest of the things over until just before we open, because I need them for classes at the old place.”

Sela seemed not to hear her and yelled at one of the movers, “No, no over there! Please.”

Kerri watched for a moment, then meandered down into the entrance of the building. She frowned at the stark, cold foyer. It needed to be warmer and welcoming. It needed a better energy flow.

She wandered around, studying the reception area and the waiting room behind it. She approved of the waiting room being hidden from view of those entering and leaving the spa. Her yoga clients would also be able to use the changing rooms and showers. They could enter the yoga studio from a door off the waiting area, or they could go directly down a short hallway and enter from the reception area as well. Many clients came dressed in their yoga clothes, but a lot of her clients were businesswomen who came after work and needed space to change. This was already a big improvement over her old space.

But it still looked cold. Slate floors and sleek leather furniture appeared modern and stylish, but, like her office, Kerri wanted to add elements that would make the room warmer and more serene. A small water feature would offer quiet, cool energy and soft lamps would balance that with warmth and light. She’d really love to add the hot vibrant energy of fire. When she and Sela were “researching” by visiting different spas, they’d been to a spa with cozy armchairs pulled up around a huge stone fireplace where clients could wait for their manicures or pedicures to dry, while flipping through glossy magazines and sipping herbal tea.

Herbal teas. Sela needed to offer more of a selection of refreshments. Just plain old coffee and tea weren’t enough these days. She needed bottled water, too. And flavored water.

She went back to find Sela. “Hey, can I talk to you about some ideas for the waiting room?”

Sela frowned. “Now is not a good time, Kerri. Besides, I thought it was finished.”

“Well, technically it is, but you know I have some ideas to make it a bit more soothing…to balance the energy flow.”

“I think it looks nice.” Sela flipped a paper over and consulted another list.

Kerri sighed. “It does look nice, but…”

“Maybe later, okay?” Sela shuffled her papers and gave Kerri a big-sister smile. “You just worry about your stuff, okay?”

Kerri nodded and got the message: shut up and butt out.

“One other thing.” Kerri hesitated. “The website needs revamping now.”

Sela frowned. “Why?”

“Well…because it doesn’t say anything about yoga. I thought I could work on it, add a page for my yoga studio, maybe jazz it up a bit…”

Sela sighed. “Do you even know how to do that?”

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