Page 85 of Known By You
When we pulled onto the Escape Spa property, I wished I could beam myself back into town. I didn’t want to lie on a table with some stranger’s hands running over me.
The only hands I wanted touching me were Kenny’s. My heart clutched at the thought, but I breathed through it as we exited the car.
Even at this time of year, when most plants had died, the property was gorgeous. It looked like an inn, but I’d seen a few outbuildings as we’d turned up the long drive.
“I know you’re thinking I’m crazy, but please trust me,” Jo said, her hand hugging me to her and releasing all in a flash.
“Okay,” I said, no pith or pushback left.
A strikingly pretty woman welcomed us from behind a long reception desk when we entered the cozy lobby. A fire roared in the fireplace and a wall of what I guessed were live plants grew at the far end of the space.
“Welcome. I’ve got everything set up, so go on back and they’ll get you ready.” The woman smiled at each of us.
“Thanks, Gen. Really appreciate it,” Jo said, tapping the countertop as we walked by.
Jo’s life here was so full. She had a network of friends,small business owner colleagues, and of course, Adam. Then there was the Saint family, whom she’d gained by our dad marrying Jane Saint.
I should’ve been happy with these truths, and some other time I would be, but right now all I felt was jealousy and longing and a pathetic self-pity that asked, “Why can she have that and I can’t?”
Big picture difference, Liz. Macro level. International bad guys.
Sometimes I wanted to slap myself in the face for those internal chants, but right now, I also needed them.
In the changing room, we were each given a stack of clothes. The material felt odd for a robe…
“Please leave everything on and place the suit over your clothing. Please change into the boots before you exit. We’ll have your protective eyewear just across the way.” The pretty blonde who’d materialized out of nowhere smiled brightly, then handed each of the other women neat bundles of clothes, though not all our instructions were the same.
I tried to catch Jo’s eye, but she was listening intently to her own instructions. Place the suitovermy clothing? What kind of massage or mud mask was this?
A few minutes later, Elise and Dove emerged in plush robes and Jo and I stepped out in coveralls.
“Do I get to know what we’re doing?” I asked my sister, who looked as utterly ridiculous in the full-body bright white outfit.
She grinned. “Why you certainly do. Follow me.” She wiggled her brows, and Dove and Elise told us good luck.
Good luck?
Jo followed a hallway to what felt like a back door, then we crossed an outdoor space on smooth paver stones set intothe earth, and she knocked on the door of one of the buildings I’d seen when we drove up.
“Welcome. Please leave these on while you’re in the house. Whenever you’re done, we’ll be here to assist your exit. Volume adjusts by the remote on the left.”
Jo thanked her, and I accepted the plastic eye protection glasses, then stepped inside after Jo.
She shut the door, and I looked around. It appeared to be a normal kitchen, though smaller than what you might find in an average single family home, and there were rooms branching through two different doorways.
“This is a smash house. I know you’ve got a lot going on in that head and lying on a table for a massage would probably have driven you crazy, so we’re going to dance and smash stuff, and then if you want, we can go relax, or we can just call it. Whatever you need.”
I blinked at her. “Smash house?”
Her mouth slid into a wide grin and she reached for a plate sitting on top of a pile I hadn’t noticed, then slammed it down on the linoleum floor. I jolted when the dish shattered, the small bits of ceramic sliding across the floor and bouncing off her steel-toed boot.
“Yes, Lizzy. Smash house.” She handed me a stack of plates.
I took them, a sense of excitement and another little wisp of heartbreak mingling, before I threw the first plate at the wall.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Kenny
