Chapter 20 – Liam
20
LIAM
I work for Danny for the rest of the week and agree to work next week too. It helps me to go somewhere every day instead of putzing around my workshop and visiting with Ellie. It also helps me to stay away from Sophie. Every time I see her, I am struck by her beauty. She has been ready and waiting for me each day at 7 a.m., and each day I wish I didn’t have to leave for work so I could spend a little more time with her.
The problem is, seeing her hold and bond with Lucy is tugging at my heart in an unfamiliar way. It’s funny how much time I spent keeping Melanie away from Lucy, but when I see her in Sophie’s arms, everything feels right. Then I start to imagine us as a little family, playing on the beach, walking around the town, eating ice cream. It’s a very dangerous game I am playing with myself.
Somehow my attraction to her grows each time I see her. Sophie takes great care with her appearance, but even if she didn’t, she’d still take my breath away. The spring sunshine is starting to give her a pink glow to her cheeks, with freckles dotting her nose. She looks much happier and healthier than she did just a few weeks ago when she arrived. Cape May agrees with her. And whatever lip balm she has on every day makes me unable to look directly at her because if I do, I’ll only be looking at her lush lips.
So, I am in a jam. I don’t trust myself to get involved with her. I also think she has her own shit going on and she doesn’t need me wrangling up her headspace. The best thing I can do is keep my distance.
Friday evening, I pick up Lucy and take her home for dinner. I have plans to check out a yoga class at a new place downtown tonight for my therapy homework, and I asked Ellie if she would watch Lucy over here for me so she could put her to bed. Ellie arrives at 6:30 p.m. leaving me thirty minutes to get there.
I don’t know what I was expecting with this yoga studio, but it’s essentially one room with big glass windows and enough space for about thirty people to practice yoga. I wasn’t aware that anyone could walk by and see me in the window looking like an inflexible fool, and I am already embarrassed. I try to keep Doc’s message in mind about cooling my stress levels and getting out of fight-or-flight. I decide the safest option is to pick a spot up near the front of the room where I am least likely to be spotted from the street.
I open the front door and a young blonde receptionist, no older than seventeen, smiles at me. “Hi! Did you pre-register for the 7 p.m. class?” She reminds me so much of Cara that I think if it were twenty years ago, it could’ve been her.
My jaw opens and then closes. “Shit. I mean…shoot. No, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I had to.”
“Of course you didn’t.” I hear a voice behind me, and I turn around to see Sophie grinning at me, her pink yoga mat tucked under her arm. “I bet you don’t have your own mat either,” she teases.
My cheeks heat up and all I can think about is how ill-prepared I am for this class. I duck my chin and scratch my beard, suddenly feeling shy.
The teen behind the counter says, “Hold on! You’re in luck. I just had one cancellation. If you want to take the class, it’s a $17 drop-in rate.”
I was already nervous about yoga and knowing there were no spots left was enough for me to consider abandoning the mission. But Sophie is here, and she smells like cinnamon and vanilla, and she is giving me those doe eyes. I imagine she fully expects me to bail. Without a word I slap my credit card on the counter, not taking my gaze off Sophie, calling her unspoken bluff.
“Great! And you can borrow a mat. We have extras in the front left corner.” She hands me back my card.
I turn to Sophie and smile. “Want to be my yoga partner?” I wink and walk toward the mats.
“In your dreams, Harper.” She laughs but she follows me to the front of the room where I can remain incognito. “So how did you know I’d be here?” She casts a sideways glance at me, putting her mat on the floor. I can’t help but think how presumptuous that sounds. Like Sophie believes I would stalk her out on a Friday night. I mean I definitely wondered what she was up to, but this here is serendipity.
I chuckle. “What are you talking about? I am here because Doc says I need to eliminate stress. But I’ve never taken a yoga class.” I put my mat down next to hers.
She gives me a curious look with a playful smirk like she doesn’t believe a word I say, “Okay, Liam.” She gets down on her mat and starts to stretch. “This is called child’s pose. Try it.”
I follow her lead and attempt to get in the same position. “Oh my god ,” I say, as my lower back muscles fire. I catch the ladies on either side of me giving me a side-eye, and I realize I’m probably speaking too loudly.
“Welcome to hot yoga, everyone. My name is Rachel and I’ll be your guide for the next sixty minutes.” She smiles in my direction when I audibly gasp.
Sophie looks at me with a “What is wrong with you?” expression and I mouth “ Hot yoga?” at her. I thought this was just a regular yoga class. I am in no way prepared for the amount of sweat that is going to pour out of me in the next hour.
“Remember, no matter what level you are, this is your practice, so do what feels right for you. You can modify or increase the intensity if you need to.” Then Rachel is at my side, placing a hand on my shoulder. “If you are a beginner, I will be paying close attention to you to help you in any way I can.”
Feeling the attention on me, I raise my arm. “That’s me, beginner,” and people around me chuckle. I am in way over my head.
An hour later, I survive yoga class, but as I expected, I was so not prepared for how inflexible I am—or how much sweat I would be leaving in my place. No one recognized me, though, so that’s a plus. “Gross, Liam,” Sophie looks at my mat when I stand up. “You need this more than I do.” She chucks her gym towel at me.
I give her an embarrassed laugh. “Thanks, I really wasn’t prepared for a hot yoga class,” I say, wiping down my face and shoulders. I wipe off the mat as best I can and put it back on the rack. Then I head toward the front door with Sophie once most people have started clearing out.
When we get outside I beeline for the bench in front of the building. Sophie follows and plops down next to me, a class schedule in her hands. “So, what did you think of hot yoga?” She asks teasingly, a glimmer in her pretty green eyes.
“I wanted to take a yoga class to relieve some stress, but I’ll be honest, that was pretty stressful for me,” I admit with a growl.
“I think you need to try a yoga flow. Sunday nights they have an evening flow class you might like. It’s much easier.” Sophie pats my knee and it sends a jolt right between my legs. She doesn’t move her hand away and our eyes lock as if she’s daring me to pull away.
“I don’t know…” I hesitate but I don’t move.
“Come on,” she urges. “We’ll do it together. It’ll be fun.” She doesn’t take her eyes off me when she says this. I am feeling that familiar buzz behind my neck that Sophie seems to invoke any time she shows me one of her genuine smiles. I tear my eyes away from her and force myself to stand up before I have a full-blown erection. Cool it, bud. You’re not in a good place right now to be this into someone. I give myself a pep talk. But I am into her. I’m so into her and I want to spend every free second I have getting to know her. I haven’t felt like this in almost too long to remember.
“It’s a date then,” I say. I look down at her and offer her my hand to pull her off the bench. As much as I want to keep holding hands, I let go and start walking.
“It’s not a date. It’s a yoga class.” She rolls her eyes but she’s smiling as she falls in step beside me.
“Hey, you know I had to try.” I grin, playfully bumping into her.
Sophie eyes me carefully, she looks like she wants to say something but holds back, biting her lip instead. “Let’s start with yoga,” she murmurs but she lets her knuckles graze mine as we walk.
I bite back a grin. “Did you drive here?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I walked. It’s such a nice night.”
“Walk home with me?” I raise my eyebrows, feeling hopeful.
“I think I already am.” She grins.
Then we’re walking side by side on the main street in comfortable silence. It’s growing darker out but stores and restaurants are still open. A decent amount of people are milling around, and everyone seems to be feeling the excitement of the first May weekend. Sophie looks wistful as she walks and watches people.
Then we’re in front of a new smoothie bar called Sunset Smoothie. We both stop and look up at the sign. The store still has its Grand Opening banner hanging in the window from a few weeks back.
Sophie’s closeness makes me nervous. She is flushed from the heat and her lips have a pink tint to them. I can’t stop staring at her. She catches me and covers her face. “What? Do I have something on my face?”
I cough. “No. No, not at all.” I want to tell her she is gorgeous in this golden hour light, but it’s been years since I’ve flirted with a girl I’m interested in and I can’t work up the nerve. Instead, I say, “I was just wondering if you wanted to get a smoothie for our walk back?”
She smiles. “I would love to.”