“I know it is. We will not fail,” Carina said, grabbing Whitney’s hands. “We’ve got this, and we have data showing that month over month growth.”
When she and Carina came onboard, the firm only had one attorney allocated to divorce and even that wasn’t a dedicated resource. It was a rotating assignment that the attorneys considered worse than punishment. Some years, they didn’t even do one divorce. The firm’s focus was on commercial and business clients, and that’s really what Dad wanted them to practice. She knew he was biding his time for her to give in, but she and Carina would surprise him.
Carina turned her laptop to face Whitney. “I updated all the statistics.”
Whitney ran down the list. Even the average length of marriages in the cases they’d completed divorce filings for was updated. “I see that from your data I’ll be able to set my expectations on my future marriage to what, ten years?”
“I believe it was 10.2 years, and only if you stay in Richmond. Can’t promise similar results in another microcosm.” Carina cocked her head as she picked up her yoga mat and tote bag. “Don’t worry. When you get married, you’ll be married forever. You are going to marry the man who will still look at you like he wants to dip you when you dance, and kiss you and never make you cry, even in your sixties, just like your mom and dad.”
“I sure hope so.” Whitney couldn’t imagine it, though. “It would be wonderful to have that in my life.”
“I grabbed a couple of bottles of water for us,” Carina said. “Let’s go, or we’ll be late.”
Whitney caughtthree green lights in a row and lucked into a parking spot right in front of the yoga center door. “Will you look at that? Looks like things are going our way today.”
They gathered their mats and went inside. This class had always been popular, but it was much more crowded today. “We’re going to have to be up front.”
“You mean our luck just ran out?” Carina dragged her feet all the way to the front of the class. “You know I hate to be in front.”
“Sorry. Saturdays are always the worst. We should’ve known better. Do you want to skip it?”
“No. We are doing this. Come on.” Carina slung her mat out, the ends curling up like a magic carpet from way too many months rolled up in the closet. She stomped it flat, then finally turned it over and sat on it.
“Look.” Carina’s brow raised. With a nod toward the back row, she said, “I spy with my little eye.”
She was ogling a group of men in the class. Five men, to be exact, and they were all rather nice looking.
One of them smiled at Whitney. She smiled and turned back to Carina. “Stop.”
Carina grunted under her breath. “You stop.”
The instructor walked in, and Carina and Whitney shared an appreciative glance. It was their favorite instructor from when they used to come. Dreama breezed by with all the grace of a dancer, pressed the button on the music system, and took her spot up front.
“We’ll get started in a few more minutes. Let’s all get on our mats and use this time to center.” She smiled, looking across theroom, and when she got to them, she beamed. “I am so glad to see you two. How long has it been?” Dreama asked.
Carina said, “My daughter is almost two.”
“You haven’t done any yoga in all that time? Neither one of you?”
Whitney wondered if yoga instructors were like hairdressers. “I’d never cheat on you,” she said in her defense. “You’re the best.”
Dreama accepted the compliment graciously. “Welcome back, but you two better take it easy today. I know you know all the moves, but give yourself some grace or you won’t be able to move tomorrow.”
“Got it,” Whitney said, glad to have the go-easy card in her back pocket.
“Hey!” someone whispered from behind them.
Whitney and Carina spun toward the whispered greeting to see Olivia quick-stepping through the land of colored mats.
“Olivia! You made it.”
“Can I squeeze between you?”
“Absolutely.” The girls scooched, and Olivia spread her purple mat next to Whitney’s.
“Awesome. Thanks.”
“What happened to your date?” Carina said.
