If You Must Know (Potomac Point #1)(6)

My multicolored cocktail-pattern yoga pants had raised more than one eyebrow at Give Me Strength, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. They’re hilarious, though not as funny as my pair covered with Nicolas Cage’s face.

“We don’t need to be up in Rhinebeck until noon.” I shut my locker. “Seven’s the perfect time to go.”

“Unless we hit traffic, need a bathroom break, or anything else crops up. We’ve spent a lot for this weekend, so let’s not miss anything. Tony’s already busting on me for going on this retreat when I’m a yoga teacher.”

He had a point, but her boyfriend didn’t get restless when life got humdrum. I did, hence my justifying the trip I couldn’t afford as a necessity for my future. It could give me an edge if I ever found a way to open my own studio, one of many business ideas—along with expanding my Shakti Suds soap products and dog grooming (once I learned how)—that required money I didn’t have to spare.

“Max won’t be thrilled if I wake Mo up that early.” My boyfriend had never been a morning person. Or much of a dog person, frankly. And once freed from his crate for the day, Mo stuck by someone’s heels at all times.

“When is Max ever thrilled about anything?” Lexi quipped.

I could only shrug. Max hadn’t been excited about writing, art, music, or even interesting food since his regular Sunday brunch solo gig at the East Beach Café got canceled five months ago, and I’d rather not think about the effect his apathy had on me. “Fine, fine. I’ll pick you up at six fifteen.”

“Good.” Lexi shouldered the gym’s heavy glass door open. Like everything else around here, this trendy fitness center looked like something straight out of a magazine. Glass, brick, metal. A.k.a. sterile, unoriginal, and unimaginative.

Silly, really. No one needed upscale finishes to enjoy a rewarding yoga session. Give me a cozy space with soft lighting and some hand-rolled natural incense sticks any day. Better yet, small groups of students who weren’t competing with each other to see who could hold a pose longest or best. Hello, people! Kinda missing the point of yoga!

But a paycheck is a paycheck, so I dragged my butt here several days each week to tone women who didn’t have to work so they could fit into their designer clothes and sip wine at lunch without guilt. Making the emotional-spiritual connection would be up to them.

“See you tomorrow, Lex!” I waved goodbye before trotting across the street to Sugar Momma’s, the only truly awesome new shop on this side of town. I shouldn’t splurge, but Hannah’s chai was the best, and her love for color exceeded my own. If I ever got fired from the gym, maybe I could work here part-time.

“Good morning, Hannah.” I planted my hands on the counter and smiled.

“Woo-hoo, those pants say happy hour to me!” Hannah joked.

“Maybe we should wait until after lunch,” I teased. More people should be like us, laughing at the absurdity of life instead of freaking out like my mom and sister had when I’d recently shorn the left side of my head and cropped the hair on the other side in short, uneven chunks.

“I guess it is still early.” Hannah raised her index finger. “Hey, you just missed your sister. She left about ten minutes ago.”

“Really? That’s too bad.” I forced my facial expression to match those words. Amanda and my mom were already pissed at me for bailing on this afternoon’s baby shower shopping spree. If I’d run into my sister here, I’d be leaving with the chai and a major guilt trip.

Who needed that? I already felt bad about choosing Max’s dad’s birthday lunch instead. But the truth is, Amanda and my mom have similar tastes, and they don’t particularly like mine. At least Charlie laughs at my jokes and likes to play cards. Given the choice between hangin’ with people who want to change me versus those who don’t, why wouldn’t I choose the latter?

I didn’t even need to be with them to know everything they’d pick today would be white and pink, with lots of lace, ribbon, and ruffles. Sure, that stuff’s sweet, but not at all as unique as the little onesie I found on Etsy right after learning about the baby. It had a picture of a gaming remote and read “Player 3 has entered the game.” I’d been all grins until Amanda offered up the same awkward smile she’d worn after she’d unwrapped any birthday or Christmas gift I’d ever given her. There was no doubt in my mind that my niece would never wear that onesie except in case of a dire emergency.

Lyle was even pickier than my sister, and twice as certain. Mr. and Mrs. Do the Right This and Be the Right That, as if anything in life was ever actually wrong. Scratch that. Some things were definitely wrong, like murder and disloyalty. But not hairstyles, career choices, and a little experimentation with whatever the world had to offer. Lyle and I hadn’t liked each other from the start, so for the past three years I’d seen even less of my sister than before.

“Her belly’s getting big now,” Hannah said.

That made me smile. Amanda had always been a pretty woman, but now she glowed. I’d marked my niece’s due date on my calendar with a red heart. Not that Lyle would let me spend much time with her on my own, if any. That guy’s only positive trait was that he gave Amanda a lot of nice things. But if those two ever did let me babysit, I’d be given a list of instructions as long as my arm. Rules, rules, rules. I should’ve bought a sign like that as a housewarming gift. Then again, it’d be at the bottom of some drawer with that onesie, and I’d be that much closer to being homeless. “Only a few more months to go.”