Page 41 of No Such Thing as Serendipity
Emma laughed. I noted her laugh was a little heartier than my comment warranted. I doubted she’d tell me the source of her amusement, so I snatched my yoga mat from the table and let her lead me toward the door.
When we arrived at the well-manicured area in front of Gratitude Grotto, most of the twenty-six women occupying the four villas were there and had marked out their territory with their mats.
Annie waved from across the way, motioning to the two spots she’d saved for us.
As I walked past Noelle, she bent in front of me and stuck out her ass. She gave me a flirtatious smile and said, “Oh, I didn’t see you there.”
Before I could make an equally flirtatious comeback, Emma said, “We couldn’t miss you with all that greeting us.” Emma circled her hand in a wide arc toward Noelle’s backside.
Noelle’s eyes sparkled. “Honey, that greeting was only meant for one of you.”
Emma grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I looked over my shoulder and mouthed,sorry.She winked and bit her lower lip. I didn’t have time to respond as Emma dragged me away, almost causing me to trip over a half-unrolled yoga mat.
“Uh, sorry,” I said to the woman, who I almost stepped on. “Geez, Em, someone’s gonna get hurt if you aren’t careful.”
“The answer is no. It’s no now, and it will be for the next four weeks.” Emma narrowed her eyes. “You have awful taste in women.”
Just as she said it, we passed Dana, who was making a grand display of unfurling her mat. I wasn’t positive she’d heard Emma’s comment, but she raised her eyebrows in greeting as we approached.
I muttered good morning and moved to the spot Annie had staked out for us.
“The answer is an emphatic no to Dana, too,” Emma said under her breath.
“What?” Innocence seemed the best way to play this. “I was just greeting one of our villa mates. Do you want me to be unfriendly?”
“In her case, yes!”
We’d set up our space and had only been talking for a few minutes when Vera appeared. She glanced at the group and appeared to be counting. Her gaze darted to a pair of stragglers who’d just wandered out of Harmony House.
Vera waved her arm toward them. “Ladies, if you could join us—quickly. We can get started this morning. It’s 8:01, and we like to begin promptly here at Blissful Breeze.”
I glanced around. There was no sign of Robyn. If she was supposed to be leading the class, surely Vera wouldn’t be happy with her late arrival, but Vera seemed unruffled by it.
“Okay then,” Vera said. “Once again, I want to give you all a warm welcome. I hope in the next two weeks, your experience here exceeds your expectations, and you find whatever it is you’re searching for.”
Several women clapped, and a few cheered at the announcement.
“I love your enthusiasm,” Vera said. “Before we get started, I want to share the evolution of our opening yoga session. Several years ago, we tried something a little different. Laughter yoga.”
What the hell was laughter yoga?I shot a glance at Emma, trying to determine if she knew. She kept her eyes straight ahead, but something told me she felt my gaze on her.
Vera raised her arm. “But we’ve progressed from there.”
Thank god.
“Then we tried goat yoga.” Vera shook her head. “We didn’t think it through.” She pointed to the beautiful gardens flanking the square. “That’s the year our flower gardens weren’t so flowery.”
The group laughed, and chatter broke out between some.
“No need to worry, though. We’ve got something better.”
I leaned toward Emma. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”
“Me?” Emma shrugged and smirked before she looked away.
Vera pointed to a woman standing by what appeared to be a sound system. “Cue the music.”
My eyes widened. This wasn’t what I’d expected. No classical music or meditative sounds.Nope.The square filled with barking asWho Let the Dogs Out?blared from the speakers.
