Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
Brandy Noel
“DEEP brEATH AND HOLD… two, three, four… and exhale,” I coached.
“Once more, deep breath, hold it… exhale. Good job ladies. Remember to center your breathing, get full, expansive, to-the-root, core deep. It’ll help alleviate that stress and tension in your shoulders and back of your neck.
Yes… good job, Stella. Now, roll your shoulders forward, not too fast…
Marsha, girl.” I giggled. “Now roll them back slowly. Good job.”
I was back in Dallas and it felt good to be home. My class was surprised when they saw me stroll in. I hadn’t led a class in over a month with preparations for the new location and my little getaway. I was thrilled to see their smiling faces.
I was impressed by the praise they gave my substitute, Mary, and knew leaving the place under her care was a great decision. I just hated that I was about to offer her the position to fully take over this location just like I did back in South Carolina.
I knew eventually I was going to move on but with my new location here and my next one in Colton, it was time to speed up the process.
I only hoped Mary would be okay with taking on the responsibility.
If not, I’d be planning interviews and taking more time than I wanted to be here to get things situated.
I was grateful for Armond. Grateful my retreat led me to him. My love for yoga helped me meet the man who would free me from my daily troubles. I couldn’t ask for anything more, but that undying love I got in the process was icing on my cake.
I fought the urge to be with him, got in my head, almost lost him, but he stuck around. He let me know he wasn’t going anywhere and I was grateful to have that sense of security in my life. Having that brought me back to this moment and I felt myself getting worked up. I had to keep it together.
“Alright y’all, I usually don’t do this but clap it up for yourselves!” I said.
I pulled off my headset then centered myself in the room. I had a big crowd today and wanted everyone to hear me without the mic. I watched as they clapped, all smiles and sweaty. I pulled my girls Marsha and Stella into a group hug and said, “I’m pregnant with twins.”
They screeched and I couldn’t help but laugh. They had us jumping around in a circle and close to making me nauseous.
“Chill, chill,” I said.
“My bad, my bad,” Marsha said as she quickly pulled away. Stella giggled and I turned to face everyone.
“Mary, can you come up here, please?”
She had been assisting me with everyone today and I needed her to bring her tail back up here since she ended up at the back of the room. She shimmied her way through the group and smiled as soon as she faced me.
“What’s up?” she asked as she wiped her face with a hand towel.
“What’s up is… I would like for you to take over from here on out teaching these lovely ladies and every other class your heart desires, how’s that?”
“Say what? You want me to run the show?” She suddenly grew nervous but she had nothing to be nervous about. She was more than capable and her credentials screamed it.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she mumbled.
“Girl, say yes!” Marsha said. “You’ve been awesome these last couple months and I think you’d rock this shit.”
“I agree,” Stella said.
The group around us nodded and threw in their agreement as well. Mary couldn’t help but smile, and with my extra wide smile, I truly hoped she’d say yes.
“Alright, yes!” she said and everyone around us cheered and bombarded her in celebration.
I giggled and hugged her and gave her a quick thank you in her ear.
She truly didn’t understand how much that answer meant to me.
We had two other instructors here but neither of them had the spark and spunk Mary did.
“Does that mean you’re jumping ship again?” Mary asked once everyone calmed down.
“Well, yes. I’m moving to Colton in the spring and opening a location there as well. I need to be around my family and my mom and her man are heading out there as well. They’re excited and talking about getting a horse.” I laughed.
“Umm we’re going too,” Stella said.
“Huh?” I said as I faced her and Marsha.
“Soooo, we found out from Armond that you wanted to move to Colton like more than just talk. You know I hate it here, so we took a trip out there and honestly fell in love, so we are getting a big ass house and moving out there too, boo!” Stella explained.
“And your man is okay with that?” I asked Marsha.
“Girl, he was beyond ready to jump ship. He’s already had interviews with the law firms out there in Colton. We’re ready,” Marsha explained.
“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed and leaped into Marsha’s arms. “Yesss, now I’m gonna have my besties with me. I can’t wait.”
“And…” Stella added. “Alejandro is coming up too.”
“What? You really bagged our guy?” I asked.
“Yes, he’s been up here twice since you left, girl. He’s all about me,” she replied.
“Oh yes. This is so great. Mary, you gon’ be able to hold down the fort?” I asked.
“Definitely. You make me wanna see what Colton is about too.” She laughed. “But Dallas is home. I got you. Thank you so much for the opportunity as well. You’ve put your trust in me and I was only hoping I did good enough to keep my job let alone get the chance to be able to run it.”
“I never had a doubt,” I assured her. We hugged as a group then I dismissed the class.
Everyone took a moment to congratulate Mary and wished me luck. I loved my little community here and hoped I would be blessed enough to get a great group like this once we opened in Colton. Everyone out there seemed so warm and welcoming. I hoped it wasn’t a facade.
“We need to go out to eat or something,” Marsha said.
“No, we need to start planning this baby shower,” Stella said, rubbing my belly.
“Girl.” I laughed. “We have plenty of time for that. Besides, Stella, we’re going to need your expertise in planning Nay’s wedding!”
“Oh shit!” She exclaimed. “You’re really trying to hire me? Don’t gas me up, boo.”
“I’m serious. She already asked me to talk to you. She’s flying out tomorrow, but I figured I’d jumpstart the process since you’re in my face now.”
She did a little dance and we all fell into a bout of laughter. I loved my girls and would always put them on if they allowed.
“And Marsha, I’d like to hire you as my assistant. I need help with all these studios and would love your help running the new location since you’re coming out there anyway. You down?”
“Am I down? Bish, I’m all yours!”
“I love y’all real bad,” I said.
“We love you too.”
We headed out and I looked at my studio one last time before I got in the car.
My heart was happy and I was damn proud of myself.
Four locations soon to come, babies on the way, an amazing man to call my own, and my sister was about to lock her man down.
I had amazing friends and a family who had my back always.
I never felt safer than I did now and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
END.