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Chapter Four
#SeparateTheSheepFromTheGoats
Chloe
I’m in love.Intense dark eyes. Soft scruff. Lips that can’t get enough of me. I could get used to this kind of attention. I can’t stop smiling and kissing him back. Billy is freaking adorable. He also makes me laugh out loud. My stomach muscles are getting a serious workout from the nonstop giggling. Not to mention my cheeks hurt from grinning so hard. That he’s kissed at least four other women in this room is no matter.
“If you have a goat on your back, stay in tabletop.”
Billy the goat (I know, right?) freezes, his ears perk up like he understands the yoga instructor, and then he pivots and hops onto Jillian’s back before she changes pose.
I laugh. Again.
Goat yoga is the bomb.
When Jillian’s sister said she wanted to throw Jilly’s bachelorette party here, I thought,That’s a weird idea for celebrating the bride-to-be.But this is the perfect place for my lifelong friend. Jillian loves animals. And yoga. We arrived last night, had a delicious farm-to-table dinner, stayed up late talking and laughing, slept in this morning, went horseback riding and apple picking, and now this.
“I think I may need a pet goat,” Jillian says from beside me.
We’re in a picture-perfect red barn on a piece of beautiful property about an hour outside of Los Angeles. There’s sawdust on the floor, haystacks around the perimeter, and a happy hour set up near the barn door for when we’re done with the wholebaa-mah-staything. That’s goat talk for “namaste.” I inwardly chuckle even though I’m not sure that’s exactly the sound a goat makes. Sheepbaa. Goats more like bleat, but it’s close enough to crack me up.
We continue to stretch and move through different body postures while Billy and two other baby goats roam around the small barn. The cute distractions make it difficult to relax, but that’s what the wine is for afterward.
“Let’s move to a belly-down backbend next,” our teacher instructs.
I watch our group out of the corner of my eye so I can copy their pose. This is only my second time doing yoga. Jillian dragged me to a class once and not only did I lose my balance a hundred times, I was so sore the next day I could barely move. Hiking is more my speed. Running. Basically, I like to stay vertical.
Instead of stretching like everyone else when I lie on my stomach, I cross my arms and put my head down atop them. For one, I need a breather. And two, no amount of baby goat cuteness is enough to take my mind off Finn. Memories of him are exhausting.
It was bad enough I couldn’t stop thinking about him after the car accident. I spent my entire weekend daydreaming and fantasizing about rounding the bases with him. And I don’t mean the ones on the baseball diamond. Which granted, helped with the crushing blow Leo had delivered. Finn’s decency and sense of humor were exactly what my bruised ego had needed, so in a weird way the fender-bender had been a stroke of luck.
But then to find out we’d be working together on the biggest assignment of my career, with only twenty-four hours to wrap my head around it, turned my life upside down all over again. The last thing I’d wanted was to see him a second time, much less spend three months together.
It doesn’t matter that I’d mentally crossed him off my favorites list. Finn, up close and personal, is dangerous. I can deny all I want that I’m not intrigued by him, but the truth is Ilikehim. A secret part of me liked him even when he had badmouthed my dad. Standing up for something you believe in is hot.
Loving on a puppy is damn near explosive.
He’s just a work assignment. He’s not to be trusted, flirted with, or admired.
Tiny hooves press into my shoulder blades, a nose tickles the back of my neck. I close my eyes, grateful for the intrusion on my thoughts, as the instructor says, “And lastly, let’s move to meditation pose.”
I would, but a baby goat is doing a tap dance on my back. It’s soothing and funny at the same time.
“Go ahead and gently move into position regardless of the goats.”
I’m pretty sure the prompt is directed at me so I press up until my cute friend hops down. Then I follow suit, sitting and crossing my legs. There is no place for Finn or Leo in this barn. Today is about friendship and love.
We finish the class with Billy in my lap. My wild berry shampoo is obviously a goat magnet.
“That was so fun,” Jillian says, jumping to her feet and then picking up her mat. Her energy level is one of the things I love about her. “Now who’s ready for a glass of wine?”
Mats in hands, the eight of us make our way to a linen-covered banquet table while our instructor gathers up the baby goats and escorts them somewhere else for their own reward, I’m guessing. A server is ready to pour us glasses of wine after we each fill a plate of fancy finger foods. Stepping outside the barn, a large round table under an umbrella is set with napkins, silverware, and goblets of water. The sun is mid-surrender behind the mountains. The air is cool. The closest neighbor is at least a mile away. It’s pretty wonderful, and Jillian’s grin tells me she thinks so, too.
Talk immediately turns to weddings. Here’s the thing, out of the eight of us, I’m the only single girl. Four are already married and three will be in the next few months.
“I love that you’re going to walk down the aisle to an Alabama Shakes song,” Jillian says to Naomi. “Your wedding should be uniquely you. You’ll never regret a decision you make from the heart.”
“Right?” Naomi says.
