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“I can always hope for your friendship blossoming into more,” she said with a twinkle in her blue eyes.
“He’ll find the right woman,” Reese said, hoping not to disappoint Julia too much.
“I hope so too. And it’s nice that’s he’s closer to home now, but I worry about the pressure.”
“Pressure?”
“It’s a hard town to play hockey in. It’s like the smallest fishbowl, and sometimes he lets all that pressure mount until he can’t cope. I’m not saying he has a nervous breakdown, but he starts to lose his focus and get very anxious, and his play suffers. And now that he’ll be the hometown boy, I can’t imagine what that will be like. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about pressure,” she said, sipping her coffee and sighing.
This insight into Grady’s life made Reese pause. She hadn’t known Julia all that long, and here she was confiding in Reese. Her body flushed in warmth that Julia liked her, respected her, and most of all, trusted her.
“I do know all about that. I do yoga and Pilates and a lot of breathing exercises. And it’s good to talk to people,” Reese said. “Sometimes Cam and I talk for hours, just to process, you know?”
“Grady has a ton of friends, but I don’t think he has someone to bounce problems off of. But I know I can’t interfere. I need to mind my own business, but that doesn’t mean I can’t worry.”
The patio doors slid open and Jodi stepped out, yawning as she came toward her mother and Reese.
“I wondered where you were,” Jodi said to her mother.
“We were enjoying this beautiful morning.”
Jodi didn’t seem to think much of that. “Yeah, I guess it’s nice out.”
“It’s so nice having Reese here,” Julia said, patting Reese on the arm.
“I’m glad Reese is here too, but I’d like to leave in the next hour to start filming. We don’t want to be doing it in high heat.”
“Right. I’ll go get ready,” Reese said. “Thank you for the coffee, Julia.”
“What about breakfast?” Julia asked.
“We can’t eat a huge breakfast before a workout, but we’ll be back in a few hours,” Jodi said over her shoulder as she headed back inside. To Reese, she added, “I’ll go wake up my brother. Meet me out front in forty-five? And I don’t think I need to tell you how to play to the cameras.”
“I’ve got that part figured out,” she said with a laugh. “Meet you here in forty-five.”
They went their separate ways, and Reese took a long shower and dried her hair. She gave it some curls and tied it back in a neat ponytail. The curls in her ponytail would give her effortless bounce. She then put on her stage makeup. Despite the heat of the day, she would need to look good, but natural onscreen. She kept it simple and fresh and then put on her workout gear. Since she’d retired from competition, she’d kept up a strict exercise regime, mostly out of habit, although she loved the sweat and burn. It had also been a way to forget about the world at those times.
She made her way to the front entrance and found Jodi waiting with Grady. They appeared to be in a deep discussion that abruptly ended when Reese appeared. She hadn’t heard any of it, but she could only assume it was about her.
“We’re ready to go,” Jodi said. “And I have just the place.”
They walked to the end of the property and along the quiet road to the opening of a trail. Jodi led the way, with Grady and Reese following closely behind.
“There’s a great spot here. A little lookout point that’s rarely used. There are some benches there, just like you’d asked for,” Jodi said to Reese. “We’ll film a bunch of scenes and then I can put them together. The point is to make it as casual as possible. And if you flub something, that’s okay. People love that. It makes you look like a normal human being.”
“I’m thinking we do a fifteen-minute video?” Reese asked. “Short and simple, but a great workout that doesn’t require any equipment.”
“Sounds perfect,” Grady said with a smile. Before filming, Reese outlined the workout and showed Grady all the exercises. He knew most of them, but they did a little practicing. Reese understood now why Jodi wanted to get an early start. The sun had risen high in the sky and the temperature was steadily rising with it. They needed to get started.
They started with their warm-up exercises, and Reese put on her friendliest smile to explain why they needed to warm up and what could possibly happen if they didn’t do one. She didn’t want to sound preachy, and it was nice when Grady jumped in to agree with her. They were off to a good start even if they had to do a few takes.
They moved on to some flexibility exercises. Reese started off easy at first, but when she did the splits, Grady let out a loud whistle.
“Sorry, not that flexible,” Grady said. “But damn, you are!”
“Flexibility comes with time,” Reese said. “The more you stretch and work on your flexibility, the quicker your body responds. But it’s also important to listen to your body and never go beyond its limits.”
She then moved on to core exercises and showed her invisible audience how effective a workout could be without any equipment.
