“Release,” she said, stepping back and rejoining him in the pose on her own mat. “Release the tension.”
He let out a long exhale. And with that loss of breath, he released.
And he got harder.
And he was pretty sure his running shorts hid nothing.
But she wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. Closed eyes, perfect posture, she still recited directions so he could follow along.
“Yoga at the park,” she said, coming down to a plank and then lowering herself to the ground.
“Sorry?” he asked, following her lead.
She didn’t continue to press into downward dog as he’d expected.
Instead, she moved to sit in a butterfly stretch.
“We could do yoga at the park.” She started talking with her hands. Animated yet serene. “For that fundraiser thing you were talking about. I could scale up after this week to yoga in the park.”
“I’m listening.” He moved to sit in the same stretch, thankful as all hell that the situation below his waistband had resolved itself when she moved back to her mat.
“I used to go to the park all the time with the girls. We’d sit around on the yoga mats and gab, but we didn’t really ever practice. I wish I could set up something so everyone could take a minute and just…”
“Breathe,” he finished for her.
She nodded. “Exactly. Sometimes I could convince the girls to do some practice with me. But mostly we just breathed together. Showed up for one another. But maybe I could provide that opportunity for yoga practice and donate proceeds to something that matters.”
“Or charge a bag of groceries.”
“Exactly.”
He wanted to clap his hands and cheer her on, but it would have totally wrecked the mood, so he just listened. This was what they needed. This was the soul-deep thing he needed her to tap into.
“Yoga in the park,” he said. “With The Calm Mom.”
Face lifted to the sky, she smiled.
“What if you could make it so moms everywhere could participate?” he asked cautiously.
She kept her face lifted, the smile not faltering as she said, “I see the fairy-dust magic you’re throwing around, and I am not sure I’m ready for it.”
“Hear me out.” He moved so he faced her more fully. “You do the fundraiser, and we stream the practice so moms everywhere can participate. Yoga in the park. Yoga on the go.”
Her expression shuttered a smidgen. Not a total shutdown, but she was clearly still leery of anything streamed. But she only needed to get some confidence back, and she’d be good as gold.
“Trust me on this, April,” he said.
She gave him a small affirmative.
“You grow your base. You give back. You get some more practice with livestreaming. The confidence will come.” He went with calm and careful with his explanation when he really wanted to give her a high five and tell her this was so going to work.
“I’m willing to try this your way.” A slight autumn breeze teased the tendrils of hair that had escaped the knot she’d tied.
“I have another client. You may have heard of him, Ethan Greene?”
Her eyelids cracked open at that. “Chef Ethan Greene?”
“One and the same.” A few years ago, Ethan had been at the top of the celebrity food pyramid. He’d had to take a break to refocus priorities, and by the time he’d returned, the pyramid had restacked itself.
