“Ready, Holly Berry?” I asked, laughing when she huffed at me. She hated all of my nicknames, but eventually, I’d land on one she liked.
I helped her out and we waved at the man standing by the reception desk. He was waiting for us and the smile on his face was most definitely reflected back on mine. I hadn’t seen him since Wednesday night, but I also hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, or all the things he said to me. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to be wrapped in his arms, the feel of him on top of me, or the way he made me feel in general. All of that was tempered by the knowledge of what he lives with every day and how he must have a lot more to worry about than the average twenty-six-year-old guy. As he walked toward us, I said a silent prayer that I didn’t embarrass myself too much this afternoon. This was my first attempt at yoga and no one would ever call me flexible. Well, unless I’d had a few drinks, then I was all about flexible.
He held the door open and waved at Holly. “Hey guys, I’m so glad you could make it tonight. Are you ready for yoga?”
Holly glanced around the empty studio and turned back to us just as he kissed me on the cheek. “Why is there no one else here?”
“I thought we’d do a private lesson just for you. That way you can learn what you want to learn instead of what I would be teaching the whole class.”
She tapped her chin. “You mean like when I want to learn multiplication but Mrs. Hanson has to teach everyone addition first?”
He nodded and winked. “Exactly like that. Since it’s only you and Addie, you get to decide what we learn.”
She hopped up and down once and clapped her hands. “I looked some stuff up on my iPad and there are so many positions,” she said enthusiastically. “How do you remember them all?”
“You’re right,” he agreed, helping us hang our coats on the hooks and stow our boots under them. He moved us toward three mats that he had put down on the floor. “There are over one thousand poses to remember. Did you know we only need about ten of them to feel good about ourselves after we work through them?” He sat on the mat in the center, so we followed suit. “To start though, you know what we have to do, right?” he asked her, one brow down as he waited.
“Stretch!” she exclaimed.
“Uh, isn’t all of yoga stretching?” I asked completely perplexed.
He glanced at Holly and shook his head at her. “Boy, she’s got a lot to learn, doesn’t she?”
Holly returned the head shake. “That’s for sure. We better get started.”
Boy, I did have a lot to learn about yoga, but I learned it and I could tell it was going to be a physical activity I could enjoy, and not just because of the hot man teaching it. I hadn’t been this relaxed in a long time. It helped that there was a text waiting from Ivy saying that everything was fine. Then she sent a picture of the baby, and even though it was just a white blob on a black screen, my heart fell in love.
“After the day I’ve had, I didn’t realize how tense I was,” I said after we took a table at Pip’s Pizza. Holly’s face had fallen when I suggested the diner for supper, so I decided it was wise to keep her out of there. She asked for pizza, so pizza it was.
“Did you have a bad day?” Ellis asked while he poured glasses of pop from the pitcher and handed out plates. I took a sip of the pop and shrugged. “It was tense. I’ll tell you later,” I said, my eyes darting to Holly who was concentrating on not spilling her pop.
He nodded his agreement and patted Holly on the back. “What did you think of the lesson, Holly?”
She looked up, obviously having been lost in her own world. “I loved it. Thank you very much, Ellis. I like yoga. It helps me focus on something other than—”
She ended her sentence abruptly, sticking the straw back in her mouth. Ellis was about to ask her to finish the sentence when I gave him a head shake. He gave me a furrowed brow back, but I smiled and changed the subject to the wedding.
“I hear someone is getting married at the gazebo exactly one week from right now!” I said enthusiastically, tickling her side. “I bet you’re excited to watch the wedding with the lights of the tree shining brightly.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, setting the glass back down on the table. “It’s better than the courthouse. At least the tree will be there.”
“And your mom, Mason, and friends,” I added, waiting for her to elaborate, but she didn’t.
The pizza arrived at that moment and we all dug in, the cheese stringy, the pepperoni greasy, and the laughter infectious. Holly was pizza sauce from ear to ear and I helped her clean up once we had finished.
“I heard you were having a special sleepover at Ivy’s next week. You better order some of this pizza for late-night snacking.”
“I’m not going to Ivy’s house,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “They can’t make me.”
Ellis stood and pointed to the front to say he was going to pay. I nodded and focused my attention back on Holly.
“I don’t think it’s about making you go, Holly. See, when grownups get married, they do this thing called a honeymoon. That’s where they go celebrate alone as a couple after the rest of the party is over,” I explained. “You’ll only stay one night with Ivy. You get to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with me and then your mom and dad will pick you up on Sunday.”
She looked up at me with fire in her eyes. “Mason is not my dad and they won’t come back. No one ever comes back for me!”
I put a hand on her chest and back. She was shaking and I was worried she’d fall off the tall stool. “Holly, is that what’s bothering you? Are you worried that your mom and Mason are going to disappear, too?” Her chin trembled and I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. “Is that why you don’t want Mason to adopt you?”
She shrugged, but she lost her battle with the tears and sniffled. “It would be easier if he didn’t adopt me.”