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Alice gaped at her. “Because they aren’t supposed to?”
“Who made that rule?” She heard the strident pitch of her voice, aware that the man and woman sitting closest to them glanced over.
To heck with that. This wasn’t strident—this was passion. When had passion become a bad thing? Lottie was right—when had she decided to stopdoing? She reached down and shoved off her uncomfortable pumps.
“Um, Rachel—”
She pivoted on her rear and dunked her feet in.
The moment the cool water enveloped her feet, a sense of relief encompassed her. The achiness of her sore feet dissipated and she only felt soothed. She sighed, keeping her eyes open and wiggling her toes.
“Oh heck.” Alice leaned over and began unbuckling the strap on her Mary Janes.
“What are you doing?” Rachel asked as Alice hiked up her skirt.
“Joining the insanity.” She eased her legs over, a modest hand keeping her skirt down. “Friends don’t let friends get naked alone publicly. If you’re getting arrested, I’m going with you.”
“I’m not naked.”
“I bet that’s not what everyone staring at us thinks.”
She looked around. Sure enough, all the other people gaped at them like they’d just stripped down to their underwear and were frolicking in the water.
She snorted. Then she frowned. “You think we might get arrested?”
“If we do,” Alice said, “it’ll be a great excuse to miss work for the rest of the afternoon.”
No one arrested them, unfortunately. They blotted their feet with their jackets, and as they put their shoes on, Alice stopped her with a hand on Rachel’s arm. “Look. You inspired him.”
She looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, there was a man who’d taken off his shoes and was soaking his feet in the fountain too.
“You changed the world,” Alice said, bumping her with her shoulder.
She blinked in surprise. “You think so?”
“Look at him.”
She did. He looked determined but pleased with himself. She tried to think if any of her clients had ever looked that way after she’d landed a big media coup for them. Helping someone expand like this felt much more satisfying.
They went back to work. Alice hugged her right before the elevator opened to Rachel’s floor. “Thank you for encouraging me to do something different. I can still feel the freedom on my feet.”
Touched, surprised by Alice’s poetry as much as she was by the hug, she didn’t say anything beyond a murmured, “You’re welcome.” She went back to her cubicle in a reflective mood.
Plopping onto the office chair in her cubicle, she looked around at the khaki-gray padded walls. “And so everything is back to normal.”
For some reason, anger rose up in her chest followed quickly by panic that if she didn’t make a move, she’d find herself here in twenty years, still flogging herself to get recognition, still bending over backwards for people who didn’t care, still wearing shoes that pinched her heels. Still getting paid crappy wages and not being happy.
She looked up and saw the last word she’d pulled from her pile of words pinned to the cubicle wall.
BEGIN.
Then she heard Lottie’s voice:Isn’t it time, sweetheart?
Heart pounding, she grabbed her cell phone and opened her texts.
Rachel
You still going to the game tomorrow?
