“I think he protests too much,” my mom adds with a wiggle of her eyebrows as she takes a sip of wine and encourages Sadie to continue.
“Dad, help me out here.”
“Son, I love you, but I live with them full time. I’m not getting on their bad side tonight,” he says with a serious look on his face, telling me I’m on my own.
“How about we make this interesting?” Sadie adds on.
Taking the bait. “What are you proposing?” I ask, sitting back in my chair knowing she loves a good bet.
“If you fall in love by the end of the summer, you need to buy my plane tickets to New Zealand when I graduate high school.”
“And since that won’t happen, what do I get at the end of the summer?”
“I will come over to clean your house once a week for eight weeks.”
“That confident?”
“The horoscope doesn’t lie, big brother.”
“You have a deal,” I say, extending my hand across the table for her to shake.
Little did I know, she was right; the horoscopes don’t lie. The little shit.
Chapter 6
“So, what’s the first thing you’re gonna try to tackle off your list?” Levi asks me a few days after having added to it with Lacey and Ellie.
“You don’t have to help me, you know,” I answer, grabbing what’s become my favorite mug from the cupboard. Summer sent it to Levi a few years ago from wherever she was working at the time. It’s honestly one of those so-ugly-it’s-cute mugs, but it does hold a lot of coffee.
“I know, but I regularly do yoga with JJ, and we figured we’d invite you girls to join us. We do private lessons in the summer, it keeps us flexible and works on specific muscles.”
“Fancy. If the girls are gonna be there then sure I’ll join. I never said it, but thanks for sending them over last weekend. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun or even had girlfriends really. I really appreciate it. They helped me change my mindset. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
“Stop thanking me,” Levi says as he comes to give me a hug. “I told you not to worry about it. If you feel that bad and really want to thank me, write your book, and thank me in the dedication,”he says as he shoves me away. “Now go get changed, we leave in fifteen minutes.”
Hurrying through my coffee and making myself a chocolate-banana-strawberry smoothie to pour in a to-go cup, I run up the stairs to change into some workout clothes.
Thirty minutes later, Levi is parking the truck beside what he tells me is JJ’s truck, in front of a small strip mall and points to a simple white sign that reads Namaste Yoga, where a tall brown-haired man is holding the door open for Ellie and Lacey. We follow them inside where the smell of sage rapidly engulfs me, making my shoulders lower and relax. It’s either that or the softly playing downtempo music that welcomes us that has me taking a deep breath and feeling my entire body relax as I let it out.
“You must be Hannah,” the green-eyed Adonis of a man says, holding out his hand. “I’m JJ. Pleasure to finally meet you.” Shaking his hand I give Lacey and Ellie a look that hopefully reads ashow in the hell did you forget to tell me that JJ is also a sweaty-coma-inducing-sex-on-legsof a man. Seriously, is this entire hockey team over six feet tall, wider than a bus, and have perfect teeth? If so, why the hell didn’t I take Levi up on his offer to come here two years ago?
Not that any of them would want anything to do with an almost thirty-year-old with no job prospects . . .
“Han? Hannah? You ready?” I hear Levi say as he nudges his elbow against mine. “What’s up? You look lost in thought.”
“Nothing. Just that, lost in my thoughts,” I say, hearing the dejection in my own voice.
“You sure? Do I need to get Summer to call you? She said she could call in case of emergencies,” he urges on.
“It’s nothing. Just stuck in a loop of thoughts.”
“About Lucas?” Levi asks, bending at the knee a bit to look in my eyes.
“Not really,” I say, trying to look away. With a huff I continue, “You’re gonna think I’m nuts, but you asked for it and your sister is too hard to reach for me to say this to.” Looking up, making sure the tears don’t fall. “I was thinking how no man would want to date a twenty-nine-year-old with no job prospects, who . . .”
“Hey, hey, hey. First, you’re not thirty yet, and second, you have a Masters Degree. That in itself is impressive enough, but you picked up your life and moved across the country and said you were going to write a book. Give your book five hours a day until your birthday at the end of August, and I’m sure you’ll be able to say you’re an author before your thirtieth birthday,” he says with a hug. The hug is comforting, but he’s not saying anything I haven’t already told myself. It’s like I’m just sitting in my own self-pity not knowing how to get out; I’m just slowly drowning. How does one get over the fact that the man they married, they took care of, put their own life on hold for, just threw everything you thought you had away? How do you get over the fact that the man you vowed to love forever, even when you didn’t or when it was impossible to, just slept with other women from pretty much the second the ink was dry on your marriage certificate?
“Hey! The instructor is about to start. You guys coming?” Lacey yells from the entrance of the yoga space, shaking me out of my spiralling thoughts.
