Rose’s mouth popped open. “I don’t have weak arms. They’re strong enough to carry the weight of my sparkling personality, and also four frappuccinos from Starbucks atonce.”
“Yeah! And I can open almost any jar in the house,” Lillian added.
Lucy wasn’t having any of it. She downed her drink, squinted briefly at the brain freeze, then picked up her keys. “Drink! We need to go. You are both going to havefunwhether you like it or not.”
Rose and Lillian exchanged glances before finishing their smoothies. It was going to be a long morning.
Lucy herded them into her car and drove them to the gym. The entire time, she talked about the instructor for the class – how she was only visiting for a few weeks before going back to the mainland, how gifted she was, and how very lucky they all were to get into such an exclusive event.
Lillian was more interested in how Rose was doing at her new job. It seemed like she was completely engrossed in her role and rarely even had time to answer texts until the end of the day.
At one point, while raving about the flexibility and strength they’d build on the silks, Lucy developed a cough and had to take a drink of water.
Lillian jumped at the chance to change the subject. “How was work this week, Rose?”
“Good!” Rose said, a smile spreading across her face. “I set up a date for my scary Lucy client.”
“She sounds so cool,” Lucy said wistfully. “Maybe she’d agree to be my mentor and then I could be a millionaire, too.”
“No,” Rose said firmly. “You don’t want to be a millionaire.”
“Says who?” Lucy shot a glance over her shoulder, eyes narrowed. “I’d be a great millionaire.”
“You’d make us go to a lot more of these classes,” Lillian said with a yawn. “I don’t think I can get behind it.”
Lucy laughed as she parked the car. “Yeah. I would.”
They got out of the car and walked into the gym. There were four colorful silks hanging from the twenty-foot ceiling, with a lithe instructor already woven into and spinning around on one ten feet above the ground.
“Welcome,” she called out, striking a pose with her leg sticking out. “Please pick a silk. Two of you will have to share.”
“We’ll share,” Rose called out, then dropped her voice. “It’ll be less work, hopefully.”
“And I can catch you when you fall off,” Lillian muttered.
Lucy chose a silk at the front of the class and immediately dropped onto the floor to stretch.
“Should we stretch, too?” Lillian asked.
Rose shrugged. “Can’t hurt?”
They sat, legs extended, on the spongy floor and half-heartedly reached for their toes.
“I can’t believe you told your new client she was scary,” Lillian said. “Whoareyou?”
Rose leaned in, grinning. “I know! It’s so unlike me. I don’t know what’s happening.” She sighed, then sat back and looked at the ceiling. “It might be the fake PhD. It makes me feel invincible.”
“I think your old job was holding you back.”
“That could be it.” She looked back down and clasped her hands in front of her. “Craig is anamazingboss. Everyone loves him and the other employees are so happy. It’s so relaxed.I feel like he’s always encouraging me, and he thinks everything I do is great.”
It almost sounded like he liked her. Alot. It was so like Rose to be blind to it, too. Lillian was going to comment on this, but the instructor clapped her hands and shouted, “Everyone, let’s get started. I’m going to guide you on a journey through the silks today.”
Without realizing it, Lillian let out a groan.
Lucy turned around and glared at her.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
