Page 81 of Body Check

“We used to meet only once a month, but we found too many people had scheduling conflicts, so we opened it up to twice a month. BYOB—bring your own booze, not boyfriend.” Sadie snickers. “We had an issue with that once.”

“I don’t know how often I’ll make it. Between home games and road trips…”

“You’ll come when you can,” she says, patting my arm. “Van doesn’t make it to every meetup, either. We know the score. Work comes first. It has to.”

“So, we all read one book every two weeks?” I can do that, easy peasy.

Sadie shakes her head. “We don’t have assigned reading. It’s more of a social club where we talk about romance books and what we like and dislike. We hang out, we drink a little, snack a little, and at the end of the night, you hopefully leave with your well recharged.”

I blink at her. “My well?”

“Social battery, people meter, whatever metaphor you use. You can’t draw from an empty well; you have to refill it from time to time with the things that make you feel relaxed and at peace with yourself. That’s our goal, to make you take a moment to pause and appreciate all the things you enjoy about your life.”

“I like that,” I admit. “I’ve been… well, it’s been a rough few days.”

She clucks sympathetically. “It’ll get better.”

Shrugging, I admit, “Yeah, but it’ll take longer than I’d like.”

“Anything I can do to help? Or anyone else?”

I shake my head. “Some things just take time.”

Sadie pats my arm again. “Well, there’s nothing a good book can’t cure. Now tell me, how do you feel about grumpy-sunshine?”

My thoughts drift to my scowling hockey player. He’s extra scowly these days, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it; this is natural after an injury.

“Sign me the fuck up. I want all the books.”

I let her lead me through the store, and before long, I’ve picked up four new paperbacks, plus a list of others to add to my Kindle. She also extracted a promise that I’d join the book club at their meetup next Thursday, since it happens to be my night off.

It’s time to put down roots. I’m staying in Boston; it’s time to start acting like it.