Page 55 of No Such Thing as Serendipity
Emma laughed. “You had me going, but then you oversold it.”
“Damn. I guess I need to work on it.” I put my arm over Emma’s shoulder. “Seriously, Em, I’ve had some good moments.”
“Not quite ready to admit it’s been an enjoyable experience?” Emma teased.
“After our barracks workout, I’m not there yet.”
“Yeah, she’s no Robyn. Still, we’ve got two more classes this afternoon.”
“You never told me what they are.”
Emma smirked. “And I don’t plan on it.”
I figured out why Emma kept our afternoon agenda secret since our first class after lunch was trust games. Early in my career, when corporate bonding was the rage, I’d experienced trust falls, which I hated, but this was different. We’d taken turns leading each other around the woods, blindfolded.
Now we were headed to the lodge for our last class of the day.
“We should have taken the truck,” I whined. “My legs are tired after all those jumping jacks.”
Emma bounced on her toes as she walked. “Come on. Walking in this fresh air is one step from heaven.”
I shot her a side eye. “Whatever you say.”
“Besides, I figured it’d be good for you to walk off a little energy.”
“Does that translate to wanting to wear me down so I don’t escape?”
Emma chuckled. “You know me so well.”
When we entered the lobby, Vera greeted us. “Hello, are you here for emotion charades?”
What?I glanced at Emma, who stared at Vera, ignoring me.
“Yep,” Emma said.
“It’s in the great room,” Vera said.
“I thought it was in the pine room,” Emma responded.
“It was, but a local women’s group called this morning to confirm the time.” Vera shook her head. “Apparently, there was a mix-up. The president thought the secretary made reservations and vice versa. I didn’t have the heart to turn them away.”
“How many people are here?” I tried to keep the horror from my voice. Emotion charades didn’t sound like something I wanted to do with an audience. Hell, it didn’t sound like something I wanted to do—period.
Vera consulted her paper. “Um, there’s nine from the retreat and another fifteen between the women’s group and those staying at the lodge. So I guess that makes twenty-four.”
As soon as we walked away from Vera, I glowered at Emma. “Twenty-four people playing feelings charades, really?”
“Emotion. Get it right.”
Emma had a huge smile on her face as we approached the great room. We’d not attended a class here, so I was surprised when we entered. It mirrored our villa’s common area but with ten times the space.
“Wow, this is gorgeous,” Emma said. “Look at those windows.”
“They’re just like ours at the villa,” I answered. Although, I couldn’t help noting that the wood around the windows appeared to be cracked in places. I hoped a stiff wind didn’t come up, or they might fall in on us.
“Except there are a million more windows.”
“Right, a million.” I wouldn’t admit to being impressed. The sun streamed in, casting a warm glow over the entire room.
