“He’d better not. I didn’t give him any details, but this town is the size of a thumb. It wouldn’t be hard to get the details.”
“It’s just a running club though. It’s not like you said you were joining a biker gang.”
“I know. He’s out of his mind, just like my brothers.” They sat in her acupuncture studio, which was actually just a converted garage attached to her house. Tea and a chat before Indie’s appointment was a long-standing tradition.
“I told Mom, and do you know what she said?” Clara asked.
“I can hazard a guess.”
“She said that it was sweet. That he was just looking out for me.” She loved her mother, but the woman could never say a bad word about any of her family members.
“Well, lucky for you, you have one sane family member,” Indie said as she sipped her tea.
“Who?”
Indie jokingly shoved her shoulder.
Clara chuckled. “You know what I need? A date. Holden takes up far too much of my brain space.”
Indie grinned. “Oh yeah? And who, pray tell, will this date be with?”
“I don’t know. Maybe someone who can fix my problem before I turn thirty next month.”
Indie tilted her head. “Being a virgin is not a problem.”
“It is when you’re my age. But it’s okay, because you know what I realized yesterday?”
“That for all of history, societal structures have been designed to oppress women when really we’re the more intellectual and emotionally intelligent gender, so independence is actually a good thing?”
Anyone else probably would have been shocked by that response. Not Clara. Indie was still recovering from separating from her husband and in her “I hate men” stage of grief.
“No,” Clara said firmly. “But close. I realized I’ve been sleeping on the masculine side of the bed.”
“The what?”
“The masculine side.”
“The masculine side according to who?”
“According to Feng Shui. So last night I slept on the feminine side.”
“Which is the feminine side?”
“The left. And now the masculine side is open and available.”
“You’re crazy.”
“And pretty.” She grinned as she sipped her tea one last time before setting it on the desk. “All right, your turn. How are you doing?”
Indie’s chest rose and fell, any hint of a smile slipping off her face. “Honestly?”
“Always.”
“Lost.”
Clara swallowed hard. “Tell me about it.”
“It’s been almost a year since Colt and I separated, and there are still days where it hits me so hard. I had this life all planned out. Colt and I were going to have kids. I had a thriving photography business. And now everything’s a mess.”
