Page 4 of Seduced at Stevens Street
My eyes scrutinized the space. It was small, only about eight-hundred square feet in the two-room space. The bathroom was rough, but it had a sink, toilet, and a small shower. It would do. My bedroom set would fit in the small back room. There was no closet, but I could buy a freestanding unit. And this main room was big enough for my couch, kitchen table, and a few small appliances, which I could buy used through Facebook Marketplace and estate sales with the security deposit money I’d get back. I didn’t even need a stove and oven right away. I could get a hotplate with two burners, use my microwave, air fryer,and George Forman grill for all my cooking. There was a rough sink in the space, but I would probably have to get a plumber to redo it and make it into more of a kitchen sink.
Claudine wasn’t due back from her daughter’s in Minnesota for another week. That would be a little tight with my move-out date looming. I still couldn’t believe that she had stayed the entire month at her daughter’s. She had decreased the number of classes offered by the studio early in the spring to a level that Heidi and I could easily manage without Claudine teaching any.
I was quite surprised when Claudine called me later that morning, telling me that she was back in town and would be in shortly. I was also relieved that I could ask her about moving in, which would give me some time to clean it up and make the move more slowly. This had to be meant to be, the way it was falling into place!
I was so happy to see Claudine. She had called daily while she was out of town, so she knew what had been going on with her business. After I greeted her with a long hug, I made my pitch, asking if I could move in above the yoga studio.
“Gia, honey, I’m sorry. I was going to wait until Heidi got here later to tell you both together, but I’ll tell you now.” She was obviously upset. I had no idea what it could be. “You can’t move in upstairs because I’m closing the studio and moving to Minnesota near my daughter.”
“What?” I questioned, shocked. “Closing the studio? Why Claudine?”
Tears filled Claudine’s eyes, and I saw her tremble. “Amy’s sick. She needs me there. The kids need me there.” Amy was Claudine’s only child. She was thirty-two years old and the single mother of three kids ages ten down to four. Her husband had died in a car accident three years earlier. Claudine had spent two months with Amy after his death and made at least six two-week long trips up north every year since.
“Oh, my God, Claudine. I’m so sorry. May I ask what it is ?”
“Cancer, and the prognosis isn’t good,” she said.
I cried and embraced her. And I thought I had problems? Boy, that really helped to put things into perspective. Those poor children to first lose their father and now their mother was sick. “Do you have to close the studio? Heidi and I can run it. You could make an income from it while you’re up north.”
“Gia, sweetie, you haven’t seen the financials. We barely make enough for us all to live on, and the landlord notified me before I left for Minnesota that the rent was going to be raised the first of next month by five-hundred dollars. I think it’s time for me to cut my losses. Sell the equipment I can and be done with it. If I expected to return anytime soon, that would be a different story, but I don’t.”
I hugged Claudine again, and we both cried. I did feel bad for her and her daughter, but I also felt bad for myself. I felt a horrible loss, a crushing sadness. I had fifteen minutes until the next class. I stepped out the back door and called my best friend Sara. It looked like I was going to need to take her up on her offer to stay at her place after all.
“I can’t move above the studio, Sara. Claudine got back from her daughter’s today and just now told me she’s closing the studio!”
“Oh, my God! Gia, I’m sorry,” her voice said through my phone.
“Could my life go any further to hell than it is now? I have two weeks to find a place to live and get out of my apartment, nowhere to go, and now I’ll have no job.”
“My offer for you to stay with me is still open, you know.”
“I know, and thanks.” She was such a good friend. “I didn’t want to inconvenience you.”
“No inconvenience, really. Are you regretting?” She stopped herself.
“No, I’m not regretting ending my relationship with Gary; it was overdue.”
“Shaking your life up is not necessarily a bad thing.”
“I know, Sara, it is an opportunity. I can go anywhere I want, get a job anywhere I want, but I want to stay here in the downtown area. I love it here. I wish I could afford to buy her out of the studio, keep the name and good reputation we’ve built. I just can’t afford it, though. If it weren’t for the return of the security deposit on my current place, I wouldn’t have anything to put down wherever I’ll be moving. The complete brake job on my car last month cleaned out my savings account.”
“You have a place to stay, and you have time. Please don’t be so down,” she begged.
I ended my call, knowing that I was due to teach a class in five minutes. I wiped my tears as I turned around. Two of the studio members stood behind me, Kenzie and Ashley. They both had sympathetic smiles on their faces. Evidently, they had heard enough of my conversation.
“Are you okay, Gia?” Kenzie asked. “I’m sorry, we couldn’t help but overhear.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry you heard that, and I’ll be fine, thank you. Life is meant to be an adventure, right?”
“I just bought a new class punch card. I’ll never take enough classes to use the card up before you close,” Ashley said.
“Claudine is going to have to figure that out, refund unused punches.”
“Do me a favor,” Kenzie said. “Don’t tell any of the members yet about the studio closing and don’t let Claudine get rid of any of the equipment or refund unused class punches. I just may be able to help you. Give me twenty-four hours.”
“What? How?” I asked, feeling hopeful.
I didn’t know much about Kenzie. She had only been coming to the studio for five or six months. I knew she had recently gotten married, and her baby bump told me she was expecting.I was pretty sure that she lived or worked somewhere in the area because she and Ashley always walked to class. I didn’t think they worked at Cheshire. They didn’t seem to be a part of that group. I didn’t know what she did for a living, or if she even worked. She and Ashley came to classes at different times throughout the day and week, nothing set, unlike most people who had a full-time job.
