Chapter 21 - Gwen - Bumping into You
Chapter 21
Gwen
The girls ended up beating the guys and Tammy barely, but a win is a win. So, of course, we have bragging rights. Tammy, Bradley, and Vivian head off on their own, thank goodness, and after an early dinner at the Duke’s Diner, we all change into our swimsuits and head to the pool for a movie.
Many families are drawn to the pool deck for movie night. Everyone is laughing and having a good time either going down the slides, swimming, or just lounging and watching the movie.
After sitting on my lounge chair, I pull out my phone to check the itinerary for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Everything looks to be in order, so I message Becca.
Gwen
Hey Becca, how’d the Paterson and Co. company retreat go?
She’s quick to reply.
Becca
Everything went to plan and Larry Paterson has already booked us for next summer’s retreat, he’s thinking of having it over at the marina. I planned to chat with you and Trent about it once you are back from your cruise.
Gwen
Excellent news, I’ll be sure to set that meeting up when I’m back in town.
“Auntie Gwen, Auntie Gwen,” calls Maggie, skipping over to me dripping wet.
“Look at my swim vest!” Maggie exclaims, hopping up and down.
“It’s so pretty Maggie,” I say, trying to block my phone from the water she’s throwing everywhere.
“I know, I picked it out all by myself.” She twirls around like a little ballerina in her tutu swimsuit and bright pink swim vest.
“Did you see me jump in the pool?” she asks, giving me a big hug.
“No, sweetie, I missed it. I’m sorry. Can you show me again?” I say.
“Fine, but this time watch me swim to the other side once I jump in, okay?”
“Of course. I can’t wait to see!” I exclaim. My phone beeps, and I glance down to see another text from Becca.
“Auntie Gwen, watch this,” says Maggie on the side of the pool.
I give her a wave, while I respond to Becca. “I’m watching.”
“Are you sure you’re watching?” she asks again.
I give her a thumbs up, but my phone beeps again, and I can’t help but read another of Becca’s texts. I’m looking down too long, because when I look up, Maggie is marching back over to me with her little hands on her waist.
Uh oh.
“You missed it, Auntie Gwen,” says Maggie, stopping right in front of me. “I showed you, and I was super fast, and you weren’t looking like you promised.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I was taking care of something for work. Maybe you can show me again?”
“No, I don’t want to. You’re always on your phone.” Her lip trembles, and tears slip down her face as she stomps off to her chair to watch the movie. My heart aches that I was so wrapped up in my phone I missed spending time with my niece.
The moment I became an aunt was one of the best moments of my life. Holding little Maggie the day she was born, so small, so innocent, was the moment I knew that one day I’d want kids of my own.
The thought jolts me back to the loneliness I felt before the cruise. Is the path I’ve been on taking me toward that goal? Or have I been putting so much time into Whimsy and Wonder Events by Gwen that I’m distancing myself from the possibility of having a family of my own?
I know my current life has been all about growing my event-planning business. The business has been my own baby for the past however many years, but I know that I need to slow down a bit so I can spend time with the people I care about. I need to make them a priority. I turn my phone on silent and slip it into my bag. No more distractions.
I get up and head over to my niece. “Hey, Maggie, I’m so sorry I missed your jump.” She wraps her arms around me and smiles, and I quickly embrace her, not even caring that I’m getting soaked. “How about we go swim together, and you can show me that jump?”
“Yay, let’s go!” says Maggie excitedly.
After I’m in the water, Maggie jumps off the side right toward me.
“Wow, Maggie, you jumped in all by yourself! You’re such a big girl. I’m so proud of you.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m pretty amazing. Oh hey, let’s race to the other side of the pool, okay?”
“Let’s do it!” I say.
We laugh and do a few more laps before we sit on the side of the pool and kick our feet while we watch the movie on the screen.
“Look, Maggie,” I say, pointing to a waiter near us, “he’s dancing with a glass on his head.” Not only is he balancing a full tray of drinks, but he has one atop his head as he shimmies and dances to the music.
Maggie giggles then runs up to her parents, making sure they don’t miss out on the cool trick. They’re giving her their full attention, and a wave of shame washes over me. I need to be better about balancing my work life and my personal life. Maybe I have been letting some relationships slide while trying to build my business.
After Maggie and I are both worn out from swimming, Maggie returns to her parents to get some food, and I settle back in my lounge chair.
I notice Niall looking at me from a few chairs down. My stomach flutters at the realization that he’s been watching me, but also at the expression on his face. It’s different, not flirty or smug, but soft and kind of sweet. So completely opposite of the heated look he gave me in the laser tag arena. Just the thought of that kiss causes my cheeks to warm.
What is happening to me? I’m never like this over a man. I don’t have time for a real boyfriend, and this is all for show. But if it is all for show, why did it feel so right? And why did just looking at him make me want to kiss him again?
Shaking the thought from my mind, I turn and focus on the movie as Maggie comes back to sit with me. I wrap her in my arms as Niall approaches us. He looks amazing in his swim trunks, unfairly so.
“Mind if I join you for a moment?” he asks.
“Okay,” says Maggie, answering for me.
“Thanks, Maggie,” says Niall. “I just have a quick question for your Auntie Gwen.”
“Okay,” Maggie repeats, turning her attention back to the movie.
Niall turns to me. “I’d like to take you to an exercise class tomorrow morning,” he says.
“That’s not a question,” I say.
Niall chuckles, his eyes crinkling at my response. “How about this? Can you be ready by ten o’clock?”
“That’s better,” I say. “And why should I go to an exercise class with you?”
“It’s another one of the rules,” Niall says. “Spending time together.”
“What rules?” asks Maggie.
“Nothing,” Niall and I say in unison, more loudly than we should have.
Gillian turns toward us. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine,” I say. Not wanting to draw any more attention to us by arguing about going or not going to the exercise class, I tell Niall, “I can make ten o’clock work.”
“Grand,” he says. “I’ll pick you up then.”
The next morning, a knock sounds on the shared door. I startle and drop the water bottle I’d been drinking from, spilling water all over my exercise shorts.
I open the door to a too-cheerful-in-the-morning McHottie. “You couldn’t warn a girl first?” I say, gesturing to my soaked shorts.
Niall whistles at the sight of me, then he picks up my water bottle. “Drop this?” he asks, in a chipper tone.
“You think?” I reply stoically. “You made me spill it all over myself at your unannounced knock.” Grabbing a towel, I pat my legs dry.
“So, what you’re saying is I make you all wet?”
My head snaps up at him, and I give him my best unamused scowl, eyebrow raised at his implication. Though, my scowls are becoming less serious the more time I spend with him. I still try to portray how maddening he can be.
“Plus,” he continues as he fills up my water bottle, “I wouldn’t say it was unannounced. Technically, a knock is an announcement in and of itself, right?” Tilting his head to the side, he watches me dry off, grinning the whole time.
“Knock it off,” I say, flushed.
“At least you didn’t answer the door completely naked save for a towel,” he grins.
True.
My face heats at the memory.
I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths before standing to look at him and setting the towel down on the counter.
“So,” I ask, wanting desperately to change the subject, “what exercise are we doing? Running track again?”
“It’s a surprise,” he says, opening the door to the hallway. “C’mon, Rose, we’ve got to go.”
I down the last few sips of my coffee, grab my now-filled water bottle, and head out after him.
As we walk into the fitness center, I notice they are holding a group class.
Niall gestures grandly. “You mentioned you couldn’t do it the other day because you didn’t have a partner, so I thought I’d come with you so you could do couples yoga today.”
I freeze mid-step.
Did he just say couples yoga?
Niall is beaming. How can he possibly think this is a great idea?
Couples yoga is all about trust, and some poses can be very . . . err, intimate. I barely know him. Okay, that’s a lie, I know him at least a little now. But is Niall even any good at yoga? Ugh, he’s going to make me hate my favorite form of exercise with this awful idea.
“Rose? Gwendolyn!”
The use of my full first name snaps me out of my head, and I blink at him.
“You said you love yoga, so I thought this would be fun,” he says. His sincerity and enthusiasm make my fears ebb just a bit.
“Do you even know how to do yoga?” I ask, skeptically.
“A bit,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.
“Well, then this should be interesting,” I grumble.
“That’s the spirit!” he says, leading me to a spot on the floor.
I freeze again, and Niall almost bumps into my back at my sudden stop. There, waving to us from a spot on the floor is Greg and Holly.
OMG, what a disaster. Couples yoga with Niall, plus Holly and Greg are here. What will they think of us spending this intimate time together? This can’t end well.
Niall leans in to whisper in my ear. “Look, I can tell you’re not so sure about this, but you need to take some time for yourself. Greg mentioned he and Holly were going to be doing the class, and I thought it would be something you would enjoy, something to help you take time for yourself and relax. And you love yoga, so I thought, ‘Win-win.’”
I look over at him and his expression conveys such earnestness that I have no fight left in me.
“Alright,” I say, walking a few places past Greg to an empty space.
“Hi, Gwennie,” says Greg. “I’m glad you could join us. It’s not too early in the morning for you, is it?”
“Hush up, you,” Holly smacks him in the arm lightly. “You know perfectly well that Gwen regularly gets up around ten.”
“Gee thanks, Hols, that makes it sound better.” I huff out a laugh.
As Niall and I find a spot a little to the side of Greg and Holly, I groan as Bradley and Tammy walk in. This just got even better.
Tammy looks like she could teach the class in her yoga attire, but similar to karaoke, Bradley looks completely out of place. It dawns on me how much Bradley cares for Tammy if he is willing to put himself in these types of situations—ones he’s not comfortable with but does anyway because she likes to do them. It’s actually really sweet of him.
I think back on our relationship. When did I go out of my way to do something for him? How often did we really spend time together? True one-on-one time when I wasn’t checking in with Becca or answering emails?
The instructor starts with some basic breathing techniques, moving into a sun salutation. We repeat the sequence for a few minutes, all the while focusing on our breathing.
I try to focus on the warmup but my mind keeps returning to my relationship with Bradley. I’ve done yoga for years, and would consider myself advanced, but I’ve never done couples yoga before. I need to focus. Couples yoga is a whole different world. Couples yoga poses not only test your balance and flexibility, but also your strength and communication as a partnership. There’s a lot of trust, not to mention the amount of physical contact involved. I try to steady my breathing. You can do this, Gwen.
Once we’re warmed up, we start with some simple moves. A couple’s chair pose has us back-to-back. Niall is warm and strong against my back. We are the picture-perfect pose, holding longer than any other couple in the class. I’m surprised by his flexibility and how in sync we’ve been with our poses. I think he’s done more than “a bit” of yoga.
The next pose, temple pose, has us face-to-face and forearms-to-forearms. Niall stares into my eyes.
“Stop that,” I whisper to him.
“What?” he asks in feigned innocence.
“You know what. Your face, you’re being distracting.”
“My face distracts you?” he asks, lifting a brow.
“No,” I huff, “The faces you are making. It’s distracting. We need to concentrate and focus on our breathing, and I can’t do that with you doing . . . well, that.”
“Got it, no faces because I make you breathless,” he says, eyes twinkling.
I roll my eyes as the instructor calls for us to raise back up. I’m glad that we are a couple people away from Greg and Holly. This is already too close to Niall for my liking, and even though it’s a class, I don’t want Greg or Holly getting any funny ideas about us.
These poses have caused me to be extremely aware of Niall’s body, and I already know he deserves the nickname McHottie, with his perfect abs and perfect arms. The constant touching has me so turned on that I’m ready to bolt from this class. Especially when the instructor calls for one final pose before we start our cooldown poses.
Not a difficult pose by any means, but the couples camel pose has Niall and I facing each other while kneeling on the ground, knees touching and lower body touching up to our hips. Being fairly tall myself, Niall and I are close in height, and this pose has us leaning into each other in some intimate places. Our pelvises push into each other as we both lean backward, letting our heads fall as we hold onto each other’s arms to steady ourselves.
I feel every breath, every movement of him against me. A sensation of being flooded with warmth passes through me, and I have a strong awareness of my heartbeat. It thumps erratically, and even though I’m supposed to be controlling my breath, it comes out in a quick rising and falling of my chest.
I’m not the only one feeling something. I can tell in the way Niall is breathing that this pose is affecting him as well.
When we are called to release the pose and ease back up, our eyes meet, and there is a fire burning in his. The blue eyes which normally hold so much humor and light are now like ocean waves during a storm. Wild and untamable.
Without a thought, we are once again close to each other, our faces mere breaths apart.
“Niall?” Greg asks. And our spell is broken. We quickly jump back from each other. Greg is looking at us with concern, but Holly seems pleasantly surprised.
“I, um . . .” says, Niall.
“We were . . .” I start, but we’re saved from answering by a sudden commotion.
Bradley and Tammy have managed to fall over into a tangle of limbs on their mat. I breathe a sigh of relief, glad for the distraction. I’d forgotten they were even in the class. Niall seems to keep having that effect on me.
If I can have this much fun and feel this good with someone I practically just met, even if he’s just pretending to date me, was I ever truly happy with Bradley? It’s something I’m starting to question.
The shock of that hits me, causing me to sway slightly.
“Whoa, you okay?” Niall asks, worry creasing his forehead, as he holds my arm.
“Yeah, no, I mean, yes, I’m alright,” I say, shaking my head a bit. The warmth of his touch brings back a desire to be physically close to him again. I shouldn’t be wanting that. We’re just fake dating, Gwen, get ahold of yourself.
“How about we go get a bite to eat?” Niall suggests, glancing at his watch.
“I could eat,” I say. “This session wore me out.”
“What are you two up to?” asks Greg, with some concern in his voice, as he and Holly approach us.
Did we go too far? Does Greg think there is something going on between Niall and me? I hope not. I can’t even wrap my head around how I feel about Niall. How am I going to discuss this with my brother?
“I was going to get something to eat,” I say.
At the same time, Niall says, “We were going to get lunch.” Niall and I exchange looks.
“Maybe we’ll join you,” says Greg, eyeing us both.
“No, we won’t,” says Holly, giving me and Niall a hopeful look. “We’re going to go get cleaned up and rest before we head out on our excursion for the day.”
“Don’t you want to grab some food?” Greg asks Holly.
“I think we should do room service,” says Holly.
“But, what about—” Greg starts.
“Room service,” Holly repeats, giving Greg a flirtatious look.
“Room service it is,” says Greg. “See you two soon.” He grabs Holly’s hand, and they head out of the fitness center. Holly throws me a wink before they’re out the door.
“Did she just wink at us?” asks Niall.
“Nope,” I say. “Definitely not.”
Niall and I snag a table at Imperial Café that looks out over the ocean. The sight is beautiful. Blue skies and blue ocean as far as the eye can see.
After ordering and getting our food, Niall asks, “So, all of you grew up in Chessie Valley?”
“Yeah, except Holly, Margot, and their family. They moved in when Holly and I were in the sixth grade, but we’ve been inseparable ever since. Well, except during the time Holly lived away with her ex. Thank goodness that’s all over!”
“You didn’t like the guy?”
“No, I hated him. Holly was too good for him.” I take a bite of my frilled pineapple. “She’s too good for my brother too, but sometimes love works in mysterious ways.”
“I’d always thought it peculiar that Greg never found someone, with how many lassies were interested in him over the years. It was nice to finally find out the reason why,” Niall says, biting into his sandwich.
“He kept that secret for so long,” I say. “Even from me. I was floored at first, but seeing them together . . . it all made sense.”
Niall nods, then sips his orange juice.
“I bet you were the same way growing up,” I say, taking a sip of my coffee. “Lots of girls showing interest in you.”
“Oh you do, do you?” he asks, eyebrows raised at my statement.
I nod, keeping my face blank.
“Well, you’d lose that bet. You’re looking at a kid who was gangly and dorky growing up,” he says.
“I have a hard time believing that.”
“It’s true. Mix that with being an only child, and that spelled a recipe for disaster.You know, I used to envy those kids with big families, as it was just my mam and me, but thankfully, my mam was like a second mam to all the kids in the neighborhood, so we always had someone over at the house.”
“Do you like living in Boston?”
“Love it. I mean, my mam was there, and I still have a handful of friends that live around there. But we’re not too close like you guys are. You know, it wasn’t until I met Greg and Trent that I felt like I’d found true friends. We were inseparable in college, like brothers,” he says. “But after my mam’s passing,” his eyes glaze over with a sadness, “I mainly spend time with my brothers and sisters from the firehouse.”
The grief on Niall’s face doesn’t sit right with me. I want to reach over and pull him into a hug.
“Mind if we join you?” asks a familiar voice.