Page 53 of Fools in Love

“I’ll be there in five,” Nick said and hung up.

“I am not going home,” Kate said when he returned to their table. The waitress had dropped off a couple of to-go containers for their meals.

Tom knew that it would be impossible for him to eat anything more that evening. Still, he dumped the rest of his burger and fries into the container, then tossed Kate’s chicken salad in the other.

“Nick’s going to be here to get you. I’ll drop your things off tomorrow at your studio.” He took her arm and walked towards the door.

“Tom.” She yanked her arm away, and he hated seeing the tears in her eyes. “I…”

“Please.” He handed her the food containers and then took her shoulders in his hands. “Do this for me.” He brushed his lips across hers. “It would kill me if anything happened to you. Just… I need to know that you’re safe.” He rested his forehead against hers. “Please.” The last came out as a groan.

Kate sighed heavily and then nodded once. “But the moment he’s in custody, we’re going to talk about our living arrangements.”

He looked into her eyes and nodded. “Deal.”

Chapter Eighteen

The following morning, Kate’s parents showed up at her place and dropped her off at the studio. She’d hated spending the night alone in her apartment. She’d worried about Tom the entire time and had spent more than two hours on the phone with him after Nick had dropped her off at home.

Sometime over the past few months, she’d gotten used to sleeping in his bed. After this was all over, she wanted to go right back to doing so. Full time.

She’d never lived with a man before, but deep down in her heart, she knew that it was the next move she wanted to make. She’d never felt this way about anyone before. Tom was all she could think of, day and night.

Even now, as she prepared to open her doors for the first time, she was worried that she hadn’t heard from him yet that morning. Since she wasn’t sure what the day would hold, she changed into a pair of soft pink leggings and leotards with a pink skirt, knitted shoulder wrap, and matching leg warmers. She took some time pinning her hair up in a tight bun and realized that she hadn’t done so since leaving New York.

Looking at herself in the mirror in the changing room, she tried not to focus on the extra pounds she could easily see on herself.

She’d wrapped her leg with athletic support tape and even put on a knee brace over her leggings and under her leg warmers. Slipping on her pink dance shoes, she took several deep breaths.

Thankfully, all of her payments would be digital. Most everyone who had signed up for a class had already paid on the online portal Josh had set up for her. For the rest, she could easily take other digital forms of payment. One thing she didn’t want to do was deal with cash payments.

When she stepped out of the changing room, she was surprised to see a few people waiting outside the glass doors. Smiling, she walked over and opened the doors to her aunt, her cousin, and both Lilly and Riley.

“Good morning.” She smiled and motioned for them to come in. All of them had stopped in to look around while the work had still been underway, so she just waved them towards the back. “If you need to change…”

She was given several hugs before the four of them disappeared into the back.

In the next five minutes, a dozen more women including most of the Jordan women, came in and all disappeared into the back.

She switched on soothing music and started stretching as people made their way out of the changing rooms with their mats.

She rolled out her yoga mat and talked everyone through her very first yoga class.

An hour later, she finished up the class and reminded everyone to hydrate. Riley and Lilly walked over to her with smiles on their faces.

“We’ve been talking,” Riley said. She nudged Lilly.

“You should order some water bottles. You know, the refillable type with your logo on it.”

Kate instantly thought it was a great idea.

“And T-shirts and yoga mats and bumper stickers,” Riley added.

Kate laughed. “Okay, how about I start with the water bottles. I can tell they’re needed.” She motioned around to the group of women rolling up their mats.

“We know a guy. If you want, I’ll email you the website and you can pick out the bottles and how to order them,” Lilly added.

“Thanks, that would be helpful.” She heard the door open and when she saw Tom walk in, her heart did a little flip in her chest. Her brother followed him inside and started talking to their aunt.