And his breath still didn’t feel even.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered.
This was supposed to be making him feel calm, still. And now he felt even more anxious.
Focus on her words, King.
Phew. Now she was talking about not controlling the breath, letting it normalise. But he couldn’t quite forget about it.
The silence dragged on. So much so, he began to think about how good the shower was going to feel. And that perhaps he should have a snack before he went to get his mum. Perhaps he should see if she wanted to stop off at Tesco’s on the way home. He could do with a shop.
“Now we’ll scan down your body, part by part. Limb by limb,” the voice said, jerking him out of his stream of consciousness.
He tried to pay attention. When she told him to relax his face and jaw, he did as she said, amazed at just how tense both had been. Perhaps it was the trip to B&Q that had made him tense. Or the chat with Iz. Or seeing the empty—
“Now breathe into your shoulders. If they feel tight, allow them to relax.”
His shoulders always felt tight. Especially after being on tour so much. Jesus, why did he keep drifting off?
He tried to catch up. Relaxing his shoulders, arms, and fingers.
With intention, he focused on the narrator’s voice, on his breath, on the part of his body she was talking about. It wasn’t easy, remaining focused. But as soon as he noticed he’d drifted off, he tried to come back to what she was saying, even if he had no clue what she meant.
Like, what did, “Breathe into your feet and ankles” even mean?
But once it was done, she asked that he take a moment and see how he felt.
Ruffled.
That was probably the best word.
His body was more relaxed, but his mind was full of questions and thoughts.
Chaya would probably encourage him to keep trying.
Even meditation couldn’t keep thoughts about her away for long.
Chaya dashed back to her apartment just as the sun was about to go down. Slashes of orange and purple graced the sky as she drove past the wine bar where she was supposed to be five minutes ago to meet with Asher's parents. Asher would already be there with them.
Waiting.
But she really needed to change her outfit. Rachel was always so immaculately dressed, and the leggings and hoodie she currently wore would not pass muster with his family.
She’d been up since five that morning, leaving Asher in her bed. Breakfast, followed by half an hour of planning for the day before heading to the six-thirty a.m. CrossFit class. And hadn’t it been one of her least favourites. One with tons of presses, followed by a workout of the day including wall balls and running and box jumps, but Jane, her coach, had kept her motivated.
She’d limped home at seven-thirty with just enough time to grab a quick shower and eat some scrambled eggs and toast that Asher had cooked before driving to work. They’d left her home at the same time, although Asher didn’t need to be at his private hospital until ten and was headed to the gym and then to his apartment to shower.
A full day had seen a record number of patients through the clinic. And in-between the patients, she’d spoken to the caterer and set up an appointment for her bridesmaids to go dress picking and fitting. Which was something else she’d capitulated on. Asher had insisted they keep it to just their female siblings, not Iz, Willow, Cerys, and Zoe like she’d hoped.
They’d lost a patient an hour before she’d left. Only her second. And while she wasn’t the doctor in charge, she still felt a sense of responsibility that she hadn’t been able to deliver a solution that worked.
Now she had to get changed and head out for drinks she didn’t want, to discuss the wedding, which shereallydidn’t want, because she had literally zero energy left in her emotional tank.
What she wanted to do was—
The sound of metal hitting metal reverberated through the car as she snapped forward, was caught by the seatbelt, and then flung back into her seat.
“Shit, shit, shit.” She switched off the engine, unbuckled her seatbelt, and stepped out of the car, hurrying to the car in front that she’d just hit as the driver climbed out.