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“At the diner?”
She deepened her stretch, and a tiny noise in the back of her throat was her only response.
“Honestly? It feels great. This is the first time we’ve both been able to have a day off at the same time since I started. I was beginning to think it would never happen.”
“This past year has been strange.” She sat up and stretched, arm over her head as she leaned to the side. “We always go in spurts, but this last stretch, since you started, was the worst.”
A chuckle rumbled through me. “You trying to blame me?”
Callie laughed too. “I mean, if the shoe fits.”
“Oh, please.”
“No, we had troubles finding waitstaff before you showed up. You were a blessing.”
Channeling Trenton, I gave her a wide grin.
She pointed a finger at my face. “Don’t let that go to your head.”
“Never.”
After our warm-up, Miller guided us and fifteen other people through a number of moves. He walked around the class as he did, adjusting people’s stances, offering suggestions on alternative poses for those unable to do what he set for the class. He stopped by my side often as he walked among us, and though he rarely adjusted my stance or even looked my way, every time I glanced at him, his offer was on my mind.
With relaxing music playing and the lights turned down low, we ended the class in corpse pose. And while I laid there in the dim light, eyes closed and body trying to relax, my mind went from Miller to that strange feeling I’d woke up with. Like something wasn’t right, like someone was watching me and ready to strike.
I’d felt this way in the past, of course. It was almost second nature after growing up in the environment I did. I was too alert to be calm, and I found my heart racing as my mind struggled to keep up. I opened my eyes, shifted my gaze to the window that looked out into the lobby of the gym. And it was just in time to catch the blinds falling back into place.
“You okay?”
I whipped my head toward my friend, where she sat with a furrowed brow and her arms wrapped around her knees. I sat up, glancing once more at the closed blinds across the room.
“I’m fine,” I told her, forcing a fake smile. “Just tired.”
Callie was quiet a beat, watching me while those around us stood and started for the door. “Do you want to cancel today? I understand if you’d rather go home and rest.”
Sucking my lip between my teeth, I lowered my gaze. “If that’s okay with you?”
“Psh, of course.” She stood, then held her hand out to help me up. “I remember what it was like when Calvin and I first got together. All those late nights, mind a million miles away.”
My cheeks heated, but at the same time, I was flooded with guilt as I caught sight of Miller looking over his shoulder at me before he left the room. I returned my attention to her. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“Girl, you owe me.” Callie’s grin had my own lips curling up. “I expect details, and cookies. Don’t forget the cookies.”
“I’ve got you covered.”
She wrinkled her nose, then pulled me into a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Get some rest.”
“Thanks, Callie.”
After she was gone, I rolled up my mat and stuffed it in my bag. Then I went back to the front desk and the bulletin board hanging on the wall. I hadn’t found what I had hoped to see on the lists earlier, and I needed to have another look. But I was so wrapped up in my search, I didn’t realize someone had come up behind me until an arm wrapped around my shoulders and a hand brushed against my flesh.
Without a thought, I grabbed the arm with my right hand and yanked down, away from my throat. At the same time, I lifted my left arm and smashed my elbow backward until it collided with a face. It wasn’t until I’d spun, until I heard a grunt and thud against the floor, that my muddled mind cleared enough to realize what I’d done.
“Miller? Oh my God!” I dropped to my knees on the floor beside my friend, trying to see what kind of damage I’d inflicted as he cradled his face in his hands. “Are you okay?”
He peered out from behind his fingers as blood trickled down his chin. He sat back on his heels, eyes weary, as if he were trying to get away from me. When he spoke, he sounded like his nose was plugged. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m so sorry.” I leaped from the floor and reached over the counter for the box of tissues beside the computer monitor. Then I was back to kneeling beside him, offering him the box along with my thoughts. “I’m so sorry. You caught me off guard. I didn’t hear you behind me and I just reacted on instinct.”
