Chapter Nine
B ea’s first thought was that the woman had chased her down to apologize. Her second thought was that she’d chased her down to get some sort of revenge. The evil-looking grin spreading over the woman’s face didn’t particularly help matters.
Bea felt her stomach drop as she tried hard to listen to Lex’s introductory speech.
“… completion of the program will earn you an official certificate,” Lex was saying.
It wasn’t like she had the money to pay the woman off right now. Bea shuffled in her seat. It wasn’t like she was going to have that money soon either. And anyway, she reminded herself, she wasn’t at fault.
The woman stood in the doorway and Bea’s insides clenched. Any minute now she was going to say something, do something, and what was Bea going to say or do in return? Her mouth felt dry.
But the woman just stood there. Alli, that was her name. Alli Williams. With her long blonde hair and her porcelain skin and hooded green eyes. Bea looked her over, just a quick glance. She was definitely sporty looking. Again, Bea had the impression that she’d be good at yoga.
That she’d be good at curving that spine and bending over backward. Good at twisting and flexing herself .
The room was suddenly hot and Bea tugged at her collar.
“…the rest of the staff here,” Lex continued. “Please remember that we’re only here to help you. Aggression or anger directed toward staff members won’t be tolerated.”
Bea side-eyed Alli again. No aggression, no anger. She wondered if those rules applied to random strangers that walked into the program, or if they only applied to actual participants in the program.
Except now that she thought about it… why had a random stranger been let in?
“…quick introductions,” said Lex. “But I’m sure staff members will do a more thorough job of introducing themselves once their sessions start. You’ll find the first page in your handout is a list of sessions and your daily schedule.”
Surely they wouldn’t let people just walk in off the street, would they? As Bea watched, Alli looked around and then someone else, a harried, young-ish woman was handing Alli a buff envelope and Alli was taking out paperwork and suddenly blending in with the rest of the people in the room.
Bea’s stomach sank into her boots.
Surely not?
But Alli was reading the papers now and Bea’s hot flush turned into a cold shiver. There was only one explanation. Alli was a participant. Bea had a flash of a memory, the pure anger on Alli’s face at the petrol station. It made sense, didn’t it? The woman obviously needed some help. But why here?
Bea was sweaty now, stomach churning. This wasn’t right. Couldn’t be right. She stood up for herself one time, she lost her temper a little one time, and the results had to follow her? How was that fair?
Clearly, she was being punished by the universe for letting her anger show, this was some kind of divine retribution.
“And this is Bea, our yoga teacher, who you’ll also be seeing in group therapy sessions,” Lex said.
Bea turned at the sound of her name and managed a weak smile as her legs wobbled and she seriously considered fainting. Or perhaps running away. No, that wouldn’t work. Not with legs as wobbly as hers. She’d just fall flat on her face and then what? She’d already be down and she wasn’t entirely sure that Alli wouldn’t take the adage about kicking someone while they were down seriously.
She breathed in sharply, held it, breathed out slowly. She needed to calm down.
There was going to be some explanation for all this, she had to calm herself down. Maybe Alli was here to apologize. Maybe she’d tracked her down, signed up for the course, just to get her foot in the door so she could tell Bea how sorry she was.
An hour ago, Bea had been proud of standing up for herself. Now she was having serious doubts.
If Alli was here to apologize, she’d gone to great lengths to do so. Which made Bea think that probably she was wrong.
“And finally,” Lex said. “We’ll have a quick introduction. Just your name is fine, no need to go into details.” She smiled, and it looked scarily unsure. “You’ll have plenty of time for in-depth glimpses into each other's lives in therapy.” She pointed at the younger woman that had handed Alli her papers. “You first.”
“Um, Isabelle, Izzy.”
“Next,” barked Lex.
Unless, Bea thought, unless this wasn’t the same person at all. Maybe it just looked like her. Or, or maybe the incident hadn’t happened at all and had been a dream and… and what? And she’d suddenly taken a nap whilst driving here? That didn’t exactly make her feel better. But then she was holding her breath as Lex pointed to the next person in line, then the next, until finally she reached the woman by the door.
“Alli,” said Alli, smiling pretty brightly for someone that was enrolled in an anger management program, Bea thought.
So much for the dream theory. Bea did not feel good about this. In fact, now that she thought about it, she didn’t feel good about St. Hilda’s at all. The building was old and decrepit, the staff didn’t seem particularly qualified, and… and she had her past looming up to confront her .
Honestly, stand up for yourself one time and look what happened. She’d have to make sure to tell Liz about this. And to ignore all future advice from Liz about not being walked over. Being walked over sounded a lot better than being chased down by someone she’d stood up against.
“And I’ll let you go,” Lex smiled. “You’ll see from your schedules that dinner will be served in half an hour. So spend a little time getting to know your fellow participants.”
The other staff members stood up and made a bee-line for the door. The group participants milled around for a few moments, but also drifted toward the door.
Until Bea was left standing by the small stage. And Alli was left leaning against the wall by the door.
Alli lifted an eyebrow and Bea’s heart skipped a beat.
???
Things could not, in Alli’s view, have worked out better. Well, obviously they could have. She could be at her desk right now and not standing in some dump in the middle of nowhere and smelling of cabbage. But on the whole, the fates had turned in her favor and she couldn’t help but smile just a little.
“So,” she drawled. “We meet again.” It sounded appropriately dramatic and Alli gave a satisfied sigh. How had she ever doubted that things would turn out her way?
“What are you doing here?”
“Bea, wasn’t it?” Alli said, sounding calm and almost cheerful. She smiled at the dark-haired woman.
“Yes,” said Bea uncertainly. “But—”
Alli sighed. “Let’s get to the point here. Long story short, I’m an inmate and I obviously shouldn’t be here.”
“I think participant might be a better word,” began Bea.
“Details,” Alli brushed her off.
“And why shouldn’t you be here?” Bea asked. Her eyes were dark, her eyebrows marked, cheekbones high, lips plump and pink.
Alli tore her eyes away from Bea’s mouth. “Well, just look at me,” she snapped. “Do I look like the kind of person that should be here?”
Bea opened her mouth. “Well…”
Alli growled at her. “Enough. I’m here, you’re here, and this is a bit of a happy coincidence, isn’t it? Because I think we can really help each other out here.” Of course they could. She’d known the second she’d seen Bea’s face that everything was going to turn out alright.
“Can we?” Bea frowned.
Alli looked over both shoulders, checking that the room was empty. “You can get me certified out of here,” she said. “I can be back at my desk tomorrow.”
Bea took a step back. “I can’t do that.”
“Really?” said Alli, stepping forward to match Bea’s step back. “What was it again? Oh yes, ‘piss off you stuck-up, snotty little excuse for a woman.’”
“What?”
“Wasn’t that what you said?” Alli said sweetly. “And I have to say, I was shocked. Shocked that someone as calm as a yoga teacher, as controlled as a group therapist, could say something like that.”
Bea audibly swallowed. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about going to your boss and telling him that one of the teachers in his anger management program has an anger management problem,” Alli said, still smiling sweetly as all the pieces fell into place.
Bea shook her head. “I can’t,” she started.
Alli rolled her eyes. “Then you’ll get fired—”
“No, you don’t understand,” Bea said quickly. “I can’t get you certified out of here, I’ve no idea how that works. I literally just started here. I have zero authority.”
“Fuck.” Alli collapsed down onto a chair. “You sure?”
“Dead sure.”
Alli sucked on her teeth for a second. This could still work. Kind of. She might not be escaping tomorrow, but there were definitely possibilities here. “Alright, then you can get me my cell phone back.” She crossed her legs. “And an upgraded room while you’re at it.”
“But—”
With a sigh, Alli crossed her legs. “I’m not entirely sure that you understand how blackmail works,” she said. “See, I can get you fired. I assume you don’t want to be fired?” Who would? She herself certainly didn’t want to be.
“No, no, of course not.” Bea was paler now and Alli almost felt sorry for her.
“Right, so if you don’t want me going to your boss and telling him what happened earlier today, then you have to do something for me. You know I could get my hands on the surveillance tapes from the petrol station…” Probably. She really couldn’t be bothered to try, though.
“Fine,” Bea said hurriedly. “Fine. Better room, get your cell phone, got it.”
Alli grinned and jumped to her feet. This really was the first good thing that had happened all day. She held out her hand. “Deal then.”
There was a long second when nothing happened. Then Bea held out a warm, long-fingered hand and Alli grasped it, a flood of heat surging up her arm so that she immediately broke contact.
“Good,” she croaked, then cleared her throat. “Good.” She grinned at Bea. “This is going to be fun.”