AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry about Anja,” Aria said as a passing car honked its horn to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” “I recently had my heart broken, too.”
“Really?” Hallbjorn raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”
Aria told him some of the details about Ezra, leaving out that he’d been her teacher. “It really hurt when he left. I thought I’d never get over him. But he’s probably with a new girl by now.”
“Yes, that’s how I feel about Anja,” Hallbjorn said miserably. “She changed my life. Pushed me to do things I wouldn’t have dreamed of. And now . . . poof.” He cupped his palm under his chin and blew, miming a dandelion seed scattering in the wind. “Now she’s with a guy who, when not saving whales, chains himself to trees in the rainforest that are about to be bulldozed.”
Aria snickered. “He’s probably not that great. I bet he wets his sleeping bag every night.”
“Or perhaps he secretly eats endangered rainforest monkeys,” Hallbjorn said, playing along.
“Or he doesn’t recycle!”
“What can your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s flaw be?” Hallbjorn tapped his chin. “That she’s actually a man?”
Aria burst out laughing. “Maybe she doesn’t know how to read. Or maybe she’s incredibly hairy, even her butt!”
“Seriously, though,” Hallbjorn said, staring deep into her eyes. “We never had any of those problems. Everything with us was just so . . . easy.”
“I know,” Aria said, suddenly feeling shy. “We were such a good fit.”
Suddenly Hallbjorn froze on the sidewalk. His already pale skin turned even whiter, and he darted around a corner and dove into a small alleyway.
“Hallbjorn?” Aria followed him into the alcove. It smelled like rotting garbage and cigarette butts. A bunch of bicycle tires were propped up against the building. “What’s the matter?”
“Shh.” Hallbjorn pressed a hand over Aria’s mouth. His eyes shifted back and forth from the street corner to the traffic lights. A police car slowly rolled across the intersection. A woman walking a Great Dane passed by on the other side of the street.
Finally, Hallbjorn tiptoed out of the alley and looked around. The color had come back to his face, and he was breathing easier now.
“What was that all about?” Aria asked as she followed him.
“I thought I saw someone I knew.”
“Someone . . . Icelandic? Or one of your family members from New York?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Hallbjorn took a few more steps down South Street, but then froze again. Aria gazed around to find what could possibly be spooking him. The two old people out for a stroll? The squirrel lurking by the pathetic little tree at the curb?
He ducked into an open door. Aria followed. It was dark and chilly inside the building, and the scent of essential oils made Aria dizzy. A waterfall burbled, and wind chimes clanged together in the window. DOUBLE MOON YOGA STUDIO, said a sign on the far wall. There were posters of lithe people in various poses all over the walls. Several pairs of shoes rested in square cubbies off to the left, and a few people calmly waited for a class to begin in a large, airy room to the right.
A girl wearing a Santa hat beamed at them from behind the front desk. “Namaste,” she said in a Zen-like voice. “Happy holidays. Are you here for the couples class?”
“Uh, yes,” Hallbjorn said. He glanced at Aria. “Is that okay?”
Aria stared at him crazily. They hadn’t discussed doing yoga. She pivoted and peered out the window again. What did he think he saw outside?
Then she realized Santa Hat had said couples class. Meaning sexy stretching . . . with Hallbjorn. “It’s totally okay,” she answered, plunging her hand into her wallet and plunking twenty dollars on the counter.
After changing into some clean sweats from the studio’s clothes exchange bin, Aria and Hallbjorn emerged from their respective dressing rooms. Hallbjorn looked much calmer, but Aria touched his arm anyway. “Are you okay? You were acting strange back there.”
“I’m fine,” Hallbjorn answered. “I was just a little stressed. Yoga always makes me feel better.”
They grabbed mats and walked into the practice room. The Santa hat–wearing girl who’d manned the front desk stood against the mirror in the front. A tall guy with a Jesus beard, droopy eyes, and wearing spandex leggings without a shirt joined her and turned to face Aria, Hallbjorn, and the two other couples in the room. “I’m glad you could all be with us today. This is a very special couples class, being that it’s on Christmas Day,” he said. “Lie down on the floor. Breathe in and out in the same rhythm. Feel as one.”
Hallbjorn dropped to his mat. Aria lay in corpse pose too, trying to ignore the fact that the mat kind of smelled like feet. She peeked at Hallbjorn next to her. His chest was rising up and down in an even cadence.
“This practice is all about being bound together in acceptance, unity, and love,” Santa Hat explained after they’d breathed for a few more minutes. “It will lead to being more open and productive as a couple. First, we’re going to do something called the double tree.”
She told the three couples in the room to stand hip-to-hip and wrap their arms around each other’s waists. Aria did so, shooting Hallbjorn a nervous smile. His arm felt strong and secure around her back.
“Now raise your opposite legs into tree pose,” Jesus Beard said, demonstrating with Santa Hat. “Touch the palm of your free hand to your partner’s. See? It binds you together.”
