Page 23 of Welcome Home, Cowboy
“Really?” Lawson was surprised. Micah and his father had never gotten along. And after his father had ordered him to one last deployment upon learning he was getting out of the Corps last year, Lawson would’ve bet money that Micah never spoke to the commanding officer of Camp Leon again. But Micah was one noble, forgiving guy. More forgiving than Lawson would’ve been. Nope, Lawson would never forgive his old man for walking out on his mother the way he had.
“Life is too short for grudges.” Micah was still watching him. “You haven’t come to dinner lately. Just because I’m married doesn’t mean you have to keep your distance.”
“Just giving you and Kat some honeymoon time. Maybe I’ll stop by next week.”
“Monday night?” Micah asked.
Lawson shook his head. “Can’t do Monday. Or Wednesday.”
“Hot date?” Micah lifted his voice hopefully.
“Afraid not. I have, uh, yoga class.” Just saying the words made Lawson’s skin crawl.
“Yoga class? Since when do you do yoga?”
Since he was a coward dressed in a brave man’s clothing. Lawson ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Apparently I need to go to this class to help with my…stress.”
“I see.” Micah had been deployed at the same time, but he hadn’t been on the same mission—the one that had cost their squadron one good man. The accident could’ve been far worse. Lawson knew that. None of them could’ve come home. In that respect, they were lucky. “You could always talk to me about it,” he continued.
Talk. Everyone wanted him to talk. He’d rather put on skintight leotards and twist himself into a pretzel. “Thanks,” he said. “Maybe later next week I’ll come by for dinner.”
“Ben would love that. He’s been asking about you.”
Lawson had missed Micah’s son, Ben, lately, too. Ben was a fourth grader this year, but had the intelligence of a high school freshman. “I’ll try. But listen, I have to go. Got a class to teach this afternoon.”
Micah laughed. “Have fun with that.”
Lawson pressed his lips together and gave his head a hard shake. “You remember how much we loved sitting through that BS?”
“It was necessary, though.” Micah patted Lawson’s back. “Someone’s got to do the boring work.”
But that someone had never been Lawson.
“Hope we see you next week,” Micah called, veering off in another direction. “Have fun in yoga,” he said, with a teasing tone.
Lawson waved an affectionate middle finger in the air at his friend. His heart had slowed since seeing the helicopter in the air. That was good. But if he could barely handle watching one from the ground, how the hell was he ever going to get back in the pilot’s seat? All he knew was he had to. His niece had already had her father walk out on her. Having her uncle stripped away, too, would be devastating.
—
Julie unrolled her purple yoga mat and sat in a basic Baddha Konasana position, resting the bottoms of her feet together in front of her and interlacing her fingers to wrap around her toes. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air and telling herself that this second yoga class was going to go better than the first.
On an exhale, she released her worry that it wouldn’t. Lawson had already told her he was coming back tonight. And even though he’d apologized for his behavior last time, he’d only apologized for hurting her feelings. Not for putting down the exercise she loved. He still thought it was a waste of time and energy, and if that was true, tonight might very well go the same way.
She inhaled again.
And then there was the attraction she felt toward him. Undeniable. Intense. She didn’t want to be attracted to him. Yeah, it’d been a while since she’d been with her ex, but she was undoing three years of being chipped away at.
Heavy footsteps entered the room. Julie turned to look at her first student of the night. None other than Lawson Phillips. Her eyes traveled down his long, lean body. He was wearing a cowboy hat, of course. He also had on a loose-fitted T-shirt and athletic shorts. The only thing about his yoga attire that he had right was that he was barefoot, holding his sneakers and balled-up socks in his hands.
“Hey.” His gaze landed on her and stayed, unwavering, which unnerved her.
“Hi.” She swallowed thickly. “Thanks for returning my car to me. And for fixing it.”
He shrugged. “It was the least I could do.”
He was talking about when he’d ruined her class on Monday night. She was about to say something about that when two other students entered the room. In comparison to him, they were dressed in fitted clothing that wouldn’t drape into their faces when they inverted their bodies. They were taking what she was trying to do seriously. They’d also brought their own mats.
“Hi,” Julie said, focusing on them and doing her best to ignore Lawson as he headed to the back corner of the room. As the minute hand ticked toward the hour more people filed in. Julie smiled and welcomed each one. “Okay.” She stood. “Are we ready to begin?” she asked.
