Page 57 of Your Two Lips
ReeAnn arrived, followed shortly by Angela and Carrie, and we settled into a booth on the other side of the room. I looked at Ree. “I believe Jake was hoping he would see you tonight.”
“Was he now?” Carrie leaned in conspiratorially. “That is interesting. My sources tell me they were seen having coffee at Shakey Grounds Café last Sunday afternoon, laughing, leaning in.”
ReeAnn shook her head, but her smile was big. “Someone told you we were laughing and leaning in?”
“I may have added that part.”
“Your heart energy is so positive, girl.” ReeAnn shook her head.
“What happened to that guy from the base? The naval officer? You said he was an ideal Black man,” Angela added.
“He’s ideal for some other lucky woman. We didn’t click.” He also wasn’t Jake. I’d bet that had something to do with why they didn’t click.
“Sexy friends make great lovers,” Angela said, looking at the stage. “I have a little friends-with-benefits thing going with the bass guitarist.”
“Wow. He’s cute,” I said.
“Um-hm. You should see him without his pants. And those hands, guitarists’ hands are things of myth and legend.” I wouldn’t know, but Angela made a convincing argument.
“Well, Jake doesn’t look at ReeAnn like he wants to be friends, even the kind with benefits.” Carrie brought us back to the original topic.
“The benefit is I agreed to be friends,” ReeAnn added, and we all laughed.
“ReeAnn, that man is in love with you. Maybe that’s why things didn’t work with Mr. tall, dark, and hot navy man,” Carrie said.
“Jake told me the other day he wants to take yoga classes from me. Can you see that man doing yoga?”
A chorus of “Yes,” “Yep,” and “Damn right” rang out. ReeAnn laughed and caught Jake’s eye. “I may be in a little trouble there.”
“I’ve taken your classes, Ree. Jake’s the one in trouble. That shit is hard,” Angela said.
“You think my classes are too hard? You took my all-levels flow class. That’s something for everyone.” ReeAnn’s voice took on the warm and soothing nature of her spa voice.
“Your energy is all positive acceptance, but flamingo pose, crow, those are a hard no.” Angela tilted her head for emphasis. “I don’t care how much energy is moving with my prana. I could sooner take a deep breath and levitate.”
ReeAnn sighed. “My practice has been off lately. It may be impacting my teaching. My upper and lower body energies aren’t aligning. I’ve been working on the heart chakra like Heart melting pose, anahatasana, or fish pose, matsyasana, and even supine twist. I still feel blocked. I may need to get myself in a workshop soon.” She looked again at the sexy man behind the bar.
I didn’t think it was a workshop she needed.
“Speaking of friends getting the benefit of spending more time together, Emily, do you have anything to share with the class about being spotted holding the hand of one Mr. Finn Bakker?”
“Ha, subtle,” Angela teased.
“I’m not trying to be subtle,” Carrie said.
“Finn and I are dating. We spent a lot of time training for the race, and we enjoy hanging out, so we’re doing more of that.”
“Naked?”
“Carrie!” I smacked her hand.
“Okay, too far,” she conceded. “I will say, you both have been smiling more since race day, and I don’t think it was the third-place ribbons.”
“He was a little growly at Tom and Travis on the Saturday ride,” Angela added. “You were bent over the front of your bike checking your tire. Finn shot some daggers their way and rubbed his hand up your back, staking a claim. I swear the mating behaviors of the American male fascinate me.”
“Spoken like a true animal scientist,” Carrie said.
“Animal husbandry is a big part of veterinary care for large animals. What can I say? It’s pretty interesting how similar some things are.”
