Page 73 of Mother Pucker

My friends exchangelooks as I heave myself out to the back patio. I’m never late to our morning stretches, given I’m the one who insists on everyone being here bright and early so we can kick-start the day, but today has been the opposite. The day has already kicked my ass, and it’s not even seven AM.

“Did you not sleep again? Was it that leaky pipe over your bed again?” Liv asks, probably seeing the runs of my mascara under my eyes and over my cheeks.

I didn’t even have the energy to take off my makeup last night. The only thing I managed to do was to keep myself together in front of Kai for the few minutes I cuddled him, but as soon as he went to bed, I ran into my room and cried myself to sleep.

I roll my yoga mat on the ground, letting the cold breeze prick my skin. After the night I’ve had, it feels like a reprieve. My chest still hurts from the memories of a wonderful night with Rowan that went sideways.

One moment I was nestled against him, wondering about the next time I’d see him, and the next, I was walking into his elevator with barely held back sobs.

I don’t blame him for any of it. None of this was any more his fault than mine. I went to the restaurant with him, knowing the risks, and I enjoyed every moment of it. And while I have no regrets about going and meeting his sister, I just wish I was more prepared for the consequences of being captured on camera.

I wish they didn’t matter; that I could just be with him without having to worry about who photographed us together. I wish I could go to his games, don his jersey, and cheer for him, regardless of who was watching.

But how can I do that and still manage a reputable business?

Even if we were to terminate our professional relationship today, what would happen if the gossip channels discredited me based on our past, as doctor and patient? Could I handle the blowback from that?

“Yeah, I don’t even think our daily gratitude chants to the universe are going to help today,” Dylan adds with a frown. “Your usual pink and purple aura is more like a drab gray. Do we need another bonfire night to release all our troubles into?”

I sigh, lowering myself onto the mat, keeping my legs stretched out in front of me, knowing the others will follow my lead. “I left Rowan’s place last night with our relationship in a strange place.”

Liv and Dylan gasp. “Why?!”

“I knew her mood had to do with him,” Delia claims tightly, flames rising in her irises. “What did he do? Tell me if I need to go over there and chop his balls off. You know I will.”

“No, it’s nothing he did–” I start.

“I will take those ice skates of his and shove them up his ass!”

“Delia–” Liv tries.

“Does the fucker think he can just get away with whatever he wants because he’s rich and famous?” Delia jabs a finger into the air. “Well, I’ve got news for him!”

“Delia–” I attempt again.

“I don’t care what he did; I will bring the wrath of a mountain of lawsuits down upon him! I will–”

“Mom? Our computer is smoking, and we think it might catch on fire.”

Delia’s head snaps toward the house at the sound of one of her daughters, and she jumps to her feet, rushing in to check it out.

Liv, Dylan, and I all watch her leave before Dylan’s face morphs into a smile as big as the Cheshire Cat’s. The lightbulbs flick on in mine and Liv’s heads, and our mouths drop to the ground.

We all start giggling guiltily, knowing Dylan threw her voice to sound like Phoebe or Collette, effectively snapping Delia out of her man-hating tirade.

“You know, I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out when you’re doing that, but I feel like you keep getting better,” Liv says to Dylan, wiping the moisture from under her eyes. “God, I’d love to see her face when she realizes it was you.”

I laugh, already feeling lighter than I have all night. “I don’t know if I want to be here by the time she gets back.”

“Now,” Dylan says, bending at the waist and reaching for her toes, the same as me. “What happened last night?”

I groan. “Someone took a picture of Rowan and me holding hands and looking at each other in a flirty way when we were in California and put it online. I saw the picture on my way home last night, and unless you knew who I was, it’s hard to tell it’s me since I’m mostly behind this moving van, but there were some rumors calling me out by name.”

My friends mutter curses under their breaths, knowing how important this stipulation was for me–that my reputation as a physical therapist was never compromised.

Liv straightens up, putting her hands on her thighs. A couple of strands of her hair have come loose from her messy bun andfly in the breeze. “You know the Langfield PR team will be on this. Dealing with situations like this is literally what they do.”

“Yeah, but I’m not going to lie, I’m freaking out. I mean, what if there are more pictures than the ones they’ve caught online, or what if they pop up again? What if Kai finds out because he’s watching some sports channel, and they bring this up? This isn’t the way I would ever want him finding out, you know?”

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