Chapter 36
Garrett
“I can’t go.” It was five in the morning, the day he was supposed to take Katie to puppy yoga, and yet when I heard his raspy voice, the hacking cough, I knew why. “Last day of night shift and we had a bloody factory fire.” He broke off, coughing and coughing in a way that had my fingers itching for a stethoscope. Was he wearing PPE? Did he inhale toxic fumes? All good questions, but needless, as I knew the fire service would’ve had him checked out after they put out the fire. “I’m gonna pass out. Didn’t want to just text Katie that I need a rain check. Can you touch base with her at a more reasonable hour?”
I paced back and forth across the kitchen floor. The week felt like it was filled with moments like this. Tentative bookings that ended up getting pushed back due to work, life, everything. I felt like we were already on thin ice, though Katie was always cool about it, probably because Rhys swept in and took over when we couldn’t make something.
Maybe I needed to change my career. I could run a gym too. Be my own boss, make my own hours… I shook my head as I turned the kettle on.
“I’ll go,” I told Rhett. He made a grumpy sound, but I cut in before he could say no. “You went to the brewery in my stead. Makes sense that I should do the same for you.”
“Fine, just… tell her I’ll make it up to her. I’ll buy her a damn puppy if that will help.”
I looked down at Bronson, who was sprawled out on the kitchen floor. He was like a shadow, following me everywhere I went around the house.
“Let’s just look after the one we’ve got, OK? Look, I’m gonna take him out for a run while it's still quiet.” Bronson was getting a lot better about other people and dogs, but he was definitely at his best in the quiet of the early morning. “I’ll make sure Katie knows what’s happening. Hopefully she’ll understand.”
“That’s why we came up with this whole poly dating thing, remember?” Rhett’s voice sounded like gravel under car tyres. “Together we make up one whole boyfriend.”
“Rest,” I ordered. “Drink lots of water and I’ll talk to you in the afternoon.” When he hung up, I turned to Bronson. “Ready, boy?”
He was. I got changed, and he milled around the door the moment I picked up his dog chain, making excited little noises. That changed when we got out. The dog was exquisitely aware of his surroundings and he went perfectly still, eyeing the place next door. The previous tenants had moved out and a strange car alerted us to the fact someone else had probably moved in.
“C’mon, Bronson.” I started out at a slow jog to get both our muscles moving and then took off down the street. We got to the end, went around the park, the sun just starting to rise. Dew stained the grass and my shoes, his feet, as we went. The sound of a dog barking as we passed had Bronson moving faster. No matter what we’d done so far, we hadn’t gotten him used to that yet, and when he started to bolt, I kept pace with him. “You’re alright.” He glanced up at me. Didn’t stop running, but he held eye contact for a few seconds. That and the fact we were now away from the yard that held the other dog seemed to settle him a bit. “That’s probably enough for you today, hey boy?”
We both stretched our legs, running full pelt back home, burning through worries, adrenaline, everything until we ended up back home again.
“Where are you off to?” Rhys asked, stretching and yawning as he emerged from his bedroom hours later.
“Puppy yoga,” I said, shoving a mug of coffee into his hands. He grabbed it gratefully, blowing on the top and then taking a sip.
“What? I thought that was Rhett’s date. Where is he, anyway?”
“Sleeping off the effects of a factory fire,” I told him. “He took Katie to the brewery. I’m taking her to puppy yoga.”
“No fair,” he grumbled like a child. “I wanna go.” The guy actually pouted. “Except I’ve got stupid work at my stupid job.”
“At the gym you own.” I glanced at my watch. “We’ll be there for an hour or two, then we might stop for brunch at that nice cafe a couple streets away.”
“The one that does the Nutella croissants?” He rubbed his stomach. “Grab me one.”
“Have fun in a gym full of smelly men.” I punched him on the arm. “And take Bronson with you. I’ve got a date with a girl and a room full of puppies.”
“Hey!”
I stood in Katie’s doorway and she blinked and then stared up at me, a yoga mat tucked under her arm. Was I supposed to have one of them? I didn’t ask Rhett.
“Hey, I know I’m not Rhett, but he rang me this morning to let me know he’s stuck at work.” I explained the situation, and she nodded in understanding, but… Was that a tiny frown, there and gone again? I was adept at reading tiny micro expressions, but it happened so fast, I couldn’t be sure. My words came tumbling out, as if I talked fast enough, it would make this all OK. “He was up fighting a factory fire all night.”
“Is he OK?”
The look on Katie’s face almost had me wanting to sign up to become a firie. Saving someone from a drug overdose, resuscitating someone whose heart stopped beating, they were all kinda heroic as well, but just not as glamorous as stopping a fire from tearing through the city.
“Yes. I mean I think so. He sounded kinda hoarse when we spoke early this morning. Rhett didn’t want to text you and cancel, particularly as he’s probably asleep right now. We figured since he took you to the brewery?—”
“Hey!” Mandie popped up in the doorway, then looked down at her sister. “I thought you were going out with the firefighter today.” Her eyes narrowed. “Which one are you?” A hand raised as she stabbed a finger in my direction. “You’re the murse!”
“We are not calling people that!” Katie hissed, and when her sister went to reply, an elbow was jabbed hard into Mandie’s ribs. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s OK.” I waved her apology away. “But you could come to puppy yoga with me by way of an apology.”
“Go,” Mandie croaked, shoving her sister out the door. “Apart from the fact you nearly broke my ribs, puppies. You freaking love puppies.”
So today wouldn’t be a complete disaster. My arm shot out as I offered her my elbow. Katie shook her head and then took it, stepping clear of the apartment.
“Do you know much about this?” she asked as we walked downstairs.
“There’s puppies and yoga?” I replied, shooting her a sheepish smile.
It was chaos.
I’d never done a lot of yoga, but I always assumed it was kinda peaceful and Zen. Instead, there was beautiful, tranquil music playing, lots of people in active wear, mats spread out across the floor, and puppies. Romping, running, yapping, nibbling puppies.
“Oh my god…”
Katie’s hushed tones had me kicking my own butt. Why the hell didn’t I think of a date like this? Didn’t matter, I could take advantage of Rhett’s stroke of genius, because that’s what being in a polyam relationship meant, right?
“Hi.” A very slender woman with an earnest expression appeared in front of us. “Ready for the yoga class today?” I pulled out my phone and showed her the booking Rhett had forwarded onto me. “Come in and be welcome, Katie and Rhett.”
OK, this was never going to work. I borrowed a yoga mat from the studio, and as I tried to roll Katie’s out, then mine, puppies converged. They thought this was a great game, a couple grabbing the end of the mat and tugging at it.
“Hey…!”
People turned around to see what the fuss was about, but Katie came to the rescue. She swept a couple of the puppies up in her arms, laughing as they licked at her face. Right then I forgot about the yoga. Her wild smile, the way she completely gave in to the moment, giggling as she tried to get the pups under control had me forgetting all about the mats and just staring at her. Finally, she gave the dogs a couple of commands, setting them down and getting them to sit obediently before she turned to me.
“Need help?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve got this.”
And so I did, trying to cover my preoccupation with preparing for the class.
I’m fairly sure the dogs were there to challenge old hands at this. We started with a mindfulness exercise, sitting cross legged and bringing our awareness back to the room. My breath going in and out of my lungs?—
Did I follow up on those blood tests the doctor asked for?
Feeling the way my head was stacked on my neck, the length of my spine, the way my hips were grounded on the mat.
The new nursing student seriously needed some lessons on putting in IV lines. She bruised the hell out of a couple of patients, destroying both her confidence and the patients’.
Taking a big breath in and?—
Lick! My eyes opened to find a mischievous pup had jumped up and licked the side of my face and was about to go back for more.
“Sit…!” I hissed, trying not to disturb the tranquillity of the studio, even as I noticed plenty of other people were dealing with similar distractions.
“Alright,” the instructor said, “we’re going to try some standing poses now. Let's start with the mountain pose. Let's stand tall, lengthen our spines and ground ourselves through our heels…”
A little giggle dragged my attention away from the instructor. I looked across to find two puppies were back and gnawing at Katie’s toes. She wrinkled them up, while still trying to ground herself through the heels, I’m sure. Her eyes were on the instructor, but her focus? Entirely on the puppies, then when she noticed I was staring, her eyes met mine and I caught it.
I’d thank Rhett ten times over for suggesting this, because right now Katie looked completely and utterly happy.
We moved through a few different poses as the pups fought hard to get our attention, when the instructor said the words I hoped she wouldn’t say.
“Now, grab yourself a partner, because we’re going to move into adho mukha svanasana or downward dog.” She held up an adjustable belt. “We’ll be using these because when we first start practicing these poses, it’s difficult to get our hips back far enough. You’ll be feeding the belt around your partner’s hips and then standing behind them and gently pulling backwards, helping them to lengthen their spine.”
Fuck my life. I was about to stare down at Katie’s perfectly proportioned arse and try really bloody hard not to pop a boner.