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With Lyric slumped over him, still breathing hard, he continued to hold her, tracing his fingers along her back while he looked up at the diamond-studded sky. Another shooting star streaked above them. Then another and another.
“I think all the stars are shooting now,” he murmured.
Lyric shifted her position, nestling in against him while she lay on her side. “That’s because this night is magic.”
Yes. Right now, the magic had sealed them into their own world—just the two of them and the stars. So he held her against him, breathing her in, not knowing if this was reality or a fantasy.
Not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
That was the only problem with magic. Eventually, it ran out.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Wow!” Lyric applauded Skye, Cheyenne, Tallie, and Elina. “I’m so proud of you all! You’re actually holding tree pose!” She snapped a photo on her phone right before Cheyenne lost her balance and stumbled, nearly collapsing to the mat in a fit of giggles.
“I can’t believe we did tree pose either.” Skye slapped a high five with Tallie. “We’ve come a long way in a month.”
“Yes, you have.” Lyric lowered herself to a seated position on her mat at the front of the class. “And now you’ve earned yourselves a few gentle stretches before we finish up for the night.”
The girls all started to chat. Normally, Lyric ended her sessions with silent focus time, but these ladies had actually managed to pay attention and concentrate for most of the hour, so she’d reward them with a little socializing.
Currently, they were laughing and discussing something that happened at school earlier that day while she walked them through a series of side bend stretches.
Everyone except for Elina was engrossed in the conversation. Lyric couldn’t help but notice the girl hadn’t said a word since she’d slunk in through the door and set up her mat in the back row like she wanted to hide. It had been a week since they’d confronted Franco, and Elina hadn’t shown up for work since. Lyric had been careful not to look at the girl too much or act any differently than she would’ve during any other class, but Elina had stayed quiet and distant the whole time. She likely knew Franco had confessed about the safe, and Lyric still wasn’t sure how to handle the situation without embarrassing her.
“Hey, who’re those flowers from?” Tallie pointed to the colorful wildflowers sitting in the vase on the shelf behind Lyric.
“Duh,” Cheyenne teased. “They have to be from Thatch. Who else?”
“Wow.” Skye hopped up, seemingly done with stretching, and inspected the bouquet. “Those are better than boring old roses.”
“They’re way better,” Lyric agreed. She’d thanked him properly for them last night. After not seeing him for most of the week since they’d been back—due to him finishing up work at the rec center and her managing a full list of appointments—they’d finally managed to sync their schedules. Thatch had surprised her with the flowers, sweet man that he was. Then he’d gone home with her and spent the night. But she didn’t need to share that part.
Skye plopped back down on her mat. “Are you two gonna get married or what?”
“Oh. Well. No.” Lyric abandoned her stretching too. “I mean, we’re only dating right now.” For real. At least she assumed. But they hadn’t officially definedtheir relationship. She wasn’t ready to define anything yet. And she couldn’t even think about getting married again. Talk like that made her chest tight. “Okay, everyone. Let’s focus here.” Before they asked any more questions about her future with Thatch. Lyric was simply trying to live in the moment right now. “How about we finish with corpse pose?” Maybe that would keep them quiet for a while.
Lyric lay down on her mat, legs out and arms angled at her sides, and stared up at the ceiling.
The distraction only worked for three minutes.
“I can’t believe we only have one more class left.” Cheyenne almost sounded disappointed.
Lyric sat back up. Had she done it? Had she actually encouraged them to enjoy yoga? “If anyone would like to continue, I’m happy to offer a free class for you girls throughout the summer.” That way she could stay connected with them, and they could continue a journey toward a healthy lifestyle.
“I’m interested.” Skye got to her knees and started to roll up her mat. “Yoga is actually fun. And I can touch my toes now.”
“I’d probably come too,” Cheyenne said.
“I’m in,” Tallie added.
Nothing from Elina, but Lyric would ask her to stay back after class so they could talk. Based on her withdrawal, the girl was likely afraid she would get in trouble for asking Franco to borrow the money, but all Lyric wanted to do was offer the support she clearly needed.
“Perfect. We can even do movie nights sometimes too.” Lyric tried to tame her smile. She had to play it cool, so they didn’t roll their eyes like they did when they talkedabout their moms. “You let me know what day works best, and I’ll get it on the schedule.”
Everyone started to clean up—stashing their mats and blocks on the shelf. Elina especially seemed to be in a big hurry, but before she could sneak out the door, Lyric snagged her arm. “Hey, can you hang out for a few minutes? I’d like to talk to you.”
Elina stared at her with a wide-eyed look of fear. “Uh. I guess.”
