“Why not? I think you’d look great with hot-pink lacquered nails.”
“Huh. It might look great,” Taryn directed her glance below Cassie’s stomach, “but I don’t thinkshe’dappreciate any kind of long nails.”
“You wouldn’t have to have false nails.” It was ridiculous how much she enjoyed watching Taryn squirm. “We could just paint your little stubby ones.”
Taryn put her hands on her hips and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Still a hard pass. I know I rock long hair, but that’s for my stage persona. Hot-pink or any other color nails are not for the real me.”
Taryn’s unusual seriousness made Cassie think she might’ve overstepped the banter line. She put her hand on Taryn’s arm. “I promise not to force you to have your nails painted as ‘payback for the boat.’ But I am going to make you come work out with me.” She hooked her arm over Taryn’s elbow and tugged her toward her gym. When she stopped them outside the gym door, she unhooked herself and pulled Taryn close. “I’m quite fond of therealyou, by the way. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
A flash of something crossed Taryn’s eyes, and Cassie was struck with the notion oflearningTaryn. Her eyes, so unusually colorful and beautiful, were also so incredibly expressive.
“That’s actually nice to hear,” Taryn whispered. “Outside the stunt team, I haven’t spent this much time with someone since med school. Not a lot of people get to meet the real me.”
They stayed that way, staring deep into each other’s eyes until the door swung open. “Come on, Cassius Clay. You know how they get if you’re late to class.”
Cassie pulled Taryn through the door. “Sorry, Nellie the Elephant. Can you dump our bags in the locker room so we can head straight up?”
“Sure.”
Taryn handed over their bags, then she followed Cassie upstairs to a small dimly lit room filled with yoga mats and lots of people. Great. Lying down and doing lots of stretching while breathing in and out.
“Cassius Clay and Nellie the Elephant?” Taryn whispered. “What’s that all about?”
“Nell doesn’t call anyone by their actual name.” Cassie guided them toward a couple of empty mats at the front of the room. “It’s a strange habit, but I kind of like it. It’s rare she calls me the same thing twice.” She shrugged. “But Nellie the Elephant is the best I can come up with. She doesn’t seem to mind my lack of imagination.”
“What would she do with my name?”
“Good question, but you’re only going to find out if you keep coming.” Cassie gently bumped Taryn’s shoulder.
She chuckled. “Then I’ll probably never know. This kind of… I was going to say, activity, but I don’t think yoga counts as anything like active.”
Cassie shook her head. “First, this is BodyBalance, not yoga. Second, I bet you’ve never tried yoga so you shouldn’t judge. And third, I think at the end of this hour, you will have changed your close-minded opinion.” She sat down on the edge of her mat and gestured for Taryn to join her.
Taryn flopped to the floor, acting like the testy teenager she currently felt like. “We’ll see about that.”
Cassie arched her eyebrow. “I did something with you that made me uncomfortable, but you can go and wait in the car or go home if you really don’t want to try it.”
Taryn rolled her eyes. There was no way she wanted to leave Cassie but lolling around on the ground to soothing music was going to be quite the challenge. “I’m sorry. I’ll shut up and give it a try.” But she didn’t have high hopes for any level of enjoyment.
Cassie gave a small smile and shook her head. “If you can open your mind as well as your body, you might just benefit from slowing down a little. Your obsession with time isn’t all that healthy.”
Taryn held up her hands. “Whoa there, doc. Will I have to pay for this therapy session?”
Cassie punched Taryn’s bicep. “You couldn’t afford therapy with me. Seriously though, we’ll see how you feel at the end of the class.”
Taryn mock-saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”
The coach, or whatever they were supposed to be called, got everyone’s attention, and an instant hush fell over the room. Immediately, Taryn felt like a naughty kid who wanted to laugh and pass notes during class, and she wished there’d been some empty mats in the back of the room. That’s what she got for being late. She doubted she’d ever accompany Cassie here again, but if she did, they’d have to get there earlier so they weren’t close enough to smell the coach’s cologne.
The next fifty minutes were absolute torture and not for the reasons of boredom and lack of movement Taryn had expected. The coach had her twisting and stretching her body into all kinds of positions that it really didn’t want to, all kinds of positions that made her muscles scream. She’d thought she was strong, but when Cassie was making a pyramidy-lungey-twisty-prayer thing look simple, Taryn’s quads and glutes were shaking like Jell-O, and she had to keep taking a knee for a break.
“Push out your sit bones and let’s do a forward fold,” the coach said in their husky ASMR-type whisper. “Reach down toward your toes and press your chest to your thighs like a pancake.”
Taryn looked at the coach to see them folded over like a piece of paper, their face between their knees. Was the human body supposed to be able todothat?
“And it doesn’t matter what kind of pancake you are. Whether it’s an American one, or a French crêpe, just try to get your chest as close to your thighs as possible.”
Taryn let out an anguished groan even though her face was at least six inches away from her knees. “I feel more like a Yorkshire pudding than a pancake,” she whispered to Cassie, who was also impressively folded over like a perfectly pressed Gap shirt.
