Page 29 of Stay this Christmas
“But I should come up with something here soon.” Wasn’t sure if I’d laid on my confidence so thick for her or for me. I’d been looking longer than I liked already, and I doubted the holidays would be the ideal time to find a career match. But if I wanted to stay—and I did—I needed to find work.
“You’ve had a lot of different jobs. Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“I’m not too picky.” Using my skills or certifications would be ideal, but as long as a job didn’t require following mundane routines or anything to do with databases, I’d be just fine. Pretty sure a desk job would drive me insane within days.
“Okay.”
She sounded like I was batting a thousand, but I couldn’t imagine going into detail about my lackluster career plans would impress her any more than my vague answers had done.
“How did you get into yoga?”
I shrugged. “I worked at a lot of resorts, and yoga was always on offer. It seemed like a good way to pick up extra hours here and there. I took the teacher training about four years ago, and I’ve been doing it part-time ever since.”
“Yoga seems pretty low-key for you. You’re a lot more…” She studied me, searching for the right word. “High-energy.”
“I choose to take that as a compliment.” Not that she was wrong. Settling down for yoga always required a mental and physical shift. “A friend of mine first suggested yoga as a meditative practice. A way to find a little peace from my rapid-fire thoughts.”
“Does it work?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be cured of my high-energy ways, but I like practicing it. Having the chance to teach others is an added bonus.”
“Well, you’re good at it.”
My grin must have made me look especially stupid. “Yeah?”
“The residents would have eaten you alive if you weren’t.”
“Bonnie and Vivian give me a rough time, if it’s any consolation.”
“Criticizing is their greatest skill.”
We both laughed over that. I liked those two, but man, did they believe in brutal honesty. Everything from my pose choices in any given session to the way I looked in my workout clothes was up for grabs with them. So far, no one had literally grabbed me, but I wouldn’t put it past them.
“What’s been your favorite job so far?” she asked after another minute.
“No question: working as an adventure guide in Colorado.”
Her eyebrows ticked up. “That was fast. I’d expected you to debate a little more than that.”
“Nope. I’ve liked most of my jobs, but that one stands out as the best.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Tell me.”
Those years at Vaughn Mountain Views were never far from my thoughts, the good and the bad.
“I think it was one part place, one part people. Every day, I found new things to love about those mountains, rivers, and lakes we explored. Views to take your breath away around every corner. And I’ve never worked with a better, more giving group of people.”
“So why did you leave?”
My excitement in recalling those days dimmed as another memory roared back in stark contrast. Seeing Ian Vaughn in that rehabilitation center after his accident, broken and alone. The realization it could just as easily have been me, with no one by my side. The crystal-clear understanding I needed something more in my life, something lasting. For the first time in eleven years, the urge to have a true home again had overpowered me.
Not the conversation for this faux-date, though. It would spoil the dinner I’d salvaged, and I still wasn’t quite sure how to put all my feelings over that experience into words. How to explain the gut-punch of having a mirror held up to your life and seeing abject misery? I wanted to share it with her, but not right now.
Instead, I flashed what I thought of as my most charming smile. “I always dreamed of one day teaching yoga to the elderly.”
She laughed at my silliness. “A noble dream.”
“Not as noble as being a doctor.”
