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“You modified,” he whispered. “I assumed a woman who walks for exercise would do yoga.”
“Wrong again.” She frowned at him. “Why do your legs bend like pretzels?”
Kelcie kneeled down between them. “Because he’s a runner and he stretches.”
Vivi’s slender brows went up. “When do you have time to run?”
“Now. When people don’t need a ride to sunrise yoga.”
Kelcie tried to help Vivi into a pigeon pose, but the object of Coop’s affection had a body that didn’t move that way. Finally, Kelcie gave up and moved on. “Let’s shift to downward dog. Extend that left leg in the air... And move into pigeon pose on the other side.”
“Woof. Coo-coo,” Dotty repeated the bird call.
Vivi gave up and curled up on the mat in what might have generously been a modified child’s pose.
By the end of class, she was softly snoring.
So much for the espresso.
*
“Tally, you need to work on your lead changes today.” Coop saddled up the white mare.
“And her continuous lope, Chuckaroo,” Rafi called from the front of the barn. “Stubborn horses always want to trot when they should be loping.”
“Tally’s not stubborn. She’s opinionated. Aren’t you, girl?” Coop patted her broad neck.
The mare nudged his chest with her nose. She was a good-natured horse, serving as a reminder that Coop shouldn’t take his situation seriously every moment of the day.
He let her rub her forehead on his chest. “How goes the quest for a bank loan, Rafi?”
“Turned down again this week.” He tossed a broken hinge he was removing on the ground. It clattered on the wood floor. “I’m going to be stuck here forever, Chuck-Chuck.” He fit a new hinge on the stall door. “Not that it’s a bad thing, I suppose. I’ve got another appointment with a different bank this afternoon.”
“You’ll get this one. And when you do, I’m going to replace you,” Coop teased, although he had no plans to do so. “Is the apartment above the barn a two bedroom?”
“No. It’s a studio.”
There went Coop’s hopes of renting a room from Rafi.
“Off we go to the arena, girl.” Coop tightened Tally’s girth strap before heading to the near barn door.
“Hey, no more Liberty training, Chucker,” Rafi called after him. “I know Tally’s a smart horse, but I don’t want to have to tell Mrs. Finnegan that she escaped again.”
“Right. No playing hooky today, darlin’.”
“And no long, romantic beach rides either,” Rafi added. “Mrs. Finnegan got wind of that, too. Let’s stick to the arenas from now on. We both need these jobs.”
“Right.” Coop frowned. He’d hoped to ride a horse over to Vivi’s place and check on her progress on the Shakespeare project. And maybe steal a kiss.
Steal wasn’t the proper word. When he got close enough to Vivi, she tended to launch those sweet lips of hers in the direction of his face.
And I will not complain.
But Coop’s frown didn’t go away.
When they’d finished yoga this morning, Dotty had told Coop he owed her a ride. He’d given her his word. Coop didn’t like to break a promise.
*
