Breathe In (Just Breathe, #1)(36)

They all follow me into the kitchen, watching me closely, wondering if anything should be said and trying to find out if I might share. I start my morning process by feeding Sadie and then drinking my glass of clay. Nathan has a glass as well while Maggie and Jared make tea.

“What time are we meeting Romeo?” I tease Maggie with a smile.

“Ha ha,” she shoots back with a grin, lighting up at my playfulness. “I told them to meet us at the courts for eight-thirty.”

“Cool. We have plenty of time to get ready,” I continue with a bounce in my voice.

Jared watches me cautiously as Maggie and Nathan start chatting about their excitement for the day. As I finish my drink, I rinse out the cup and walk over to Jared to give him a reassuring hug and kiss.

With a tentative tone, he whispers, “Glad to have my Kitten back.”

My grin widens seeing him ease. “Me too.”

“You rebounding this morning?” Nathan directs at me.

“Just to loosen up. I want to be on my A-game for kicking some butt in volleyball,” I reply.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Nathan shares. His smile widens, “I figured you haven’t lost your competitive side.”

Nathan has had a rebounder since Christmas. It was a gift from me when he had vocalized several times that he wanted to start improving his overall health.

“Nope,” I confirm.

“Be nice today, Emma,” Maggie comments, as if I’m never nice.

“I’m alway nice,” I mock.

Jared and Nathan giggle.

“You know what I mean,” she counters, waving her finger at me.

Laughing, Jared taunts, “She’s serious, Emma. She’s even using Nǎinai’s finger wave. You better watch out.”

I shake my head at all the fun while deciding on if I want to add to their morning entertainment.

“Why don’t you start jumping while I take Sadie out,” I suggest to Nathan.

Jared joins Sadie and me for a walk on the beach, obviously concerned about this morning. “You okay, Kitten?”

“Yeah . . . yeah . . . I’m fine,” I uncomfortably agree.

Jared and I both know that I’m lying.

“Want to talk about it?” Jared gently pushes.

He knows I hate talking about the dream and he always treads lightly when we do.

“Not really . . . but, I know you do.”

“It’s been a while since you’ve had them . . . and then you had one a few weeks ago before our meeting, and then this morning,” he reminds.

“I know . . . and this one was different,” I accidentally blurt, crossing my arms in front of me.

“Different?” he quickly questions.

“Umm . . . shit,” I comment.

“Different, how?” he confronts.

Jared’s demeanor changes as he gets into protective mode.

Taking a deep breathe, I admit what I saw. “Everything was exactly the same . . . except . . . .” A shiver slides down my spine.

“Except . . . ?” Jared pries.

“I saw the truck driver . . .his . . . her . . . face . . .” I hesitantly reveal.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah . . .” I confirm. “ . . . but, not how you think.”

“What do you mean?” Jared stops us, placing his hands on my upper arms.

“It was . . . Maggie,” I begrudgingly confess, not wanting to look him in the eye.


“Maggie?” Jared repeats, confused and bewildered.

“Yeah . . .” I unwillingly verify. “Please, don’t tell her.”

Jared doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to. He just pulls me into his body, hugging me, reassuring me. We stay embraced for a little while until Sadie insists on one of us throwing her ball again.

When we resume walking back towards Nathan’s, Jared breeches the subject again. “So, why Maggie’s face?”

“Don’t know . . . and, I don’t really want to know,” I confess.

Jared nods his understanding and during the rest of our walk, we stay connected by holding hands.

By the time Jared, Sadie and I return from our walk, Jared jumps on the rebounder first. “I really need to start using this more,” he announces as he jumps off. “I can feel the difference with just ten minutes.” He sits down on the floor to stretch. “And, look at Nathan . . . he’s gotten sexier just using it these past few months.”

“And, you wonder why you have a challenge when we go trampolining,” Nathan adds playfully.

I laugh because it’s true. We go to some of the local trampoline places between Santa Monica and Pasadena. They have large trampolines in rows across the floor that allow you to jump from one to the other. We go when they have their free jump times and Jared gets tired after about thirty minutes into our hour long paid session.

“Emma’s like the freakin’ Energizer Bunny,” Maggie comments as I hop on for my turn.

It’s true, I jump every morning on my rebounder for at least thirty minutes, usually more, and that doesn’t count when I do the same thing in the evenings. At least two days a week I head over to the trampoline facility in Glendale to take their morning hour long rebound classes on the large trampolines.

Today, I’m inclined to keep jumping, but I have to control my tendency to continue after having the dream. I'll need to relieve the rest of my tension when we play volleyball.