Page 104 of The Yoga Teacher

“I called in a favor,” he said simply. “They were short drivers, so I organized some people to pick it up.”

Hannah’s mouth opened, then closed.

She hadn’t asked him to do that.

She hadn’t even told him the food was missing.

Daniel just—did it.

The tension in her shoulders eased against her will. And she hated that. Hated that it was him who gave her that moment of breath.

She folded her arms, hating how unsteady she suddenly felt. “And the guest speaker?”

A shadow of something—guilt, regret—passed over his face. “Working on it.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Daniel—”

“Just let me help.”

His voice was quiet. Not pleading. Not pushing. Just… there.

Hannah stared at him, her pulse loud in her ears.

She wanted to tell him to leave. To remind him that this wasn’t his place. To say that he couldn’t just step in and act like things were fine between them.

But the words wouldn’t come.

Because the truth was—shedidneed help.

And Daniel?

Daniel had already done more in the last five minutes than some of her volunteers had done all day.

She exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through her hair. “Fine.”

Something flickered in his expression, but he didn’t let it settle. He just nodded once and turned, already moving to the next problem.

Hannah watched him go, her throat tight.

He wasn’t hovering. He wasn’t trying to talk to her, or corner her, or make her acknowledge anything she wasn’t ready to face.

He was just… helping.

And with him beside her, Hannah didn’t feel like she was drowning.

She hated that it washimwho made it feel that way.

But she didn’t stop him.

Not this time.

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After the event had wrapped, after the last chair had been folded and the last table wiped down, Hannah sat alone in James and Mia’s home.

She had been trying to unwind, to let the exhaustion settle into her bones the way it usually did after these events. The way it was supposed to.

But instead, she was thinking about him.

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