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With Grady’s permission, she posted one picture of them doing a selfie together and one picture of just Grady. It was a profile shot of him reading a dedication plaque in the park. He looked focused, his square jaw tensed just a little. Reese didn’t stick around for the comments. She was always too afraid of seeing some of the nasty ones, but Daria confirmed later that most of them had been positive.
Reese showed Grady the next day when he came over for yoga and meditation. He smiled when he saw the picture of himself.
“I look good,” he remarked.
“If you say so yourself,” she said with a smile.
They did a full session of yoga and completed a short fifteen-minute session of guided meditation. Reese had an app she liked to use, and they both stretched out on their yoga mats and followed the soothing voice of the instructor. When Reese sat up, she realized that Grady was so relaxed, he’d fallen asleep.
She quietly made her way into the kitchen and put a kettle on for tea. She liked to have tea when she finished mediation, and this was a relaxing blend of chamomile and citrus she’d gotten from a tea shop a few blocks away. She let the tea steep and peeked into the living room to see Grady still stretched out on the floor, peacefully asleep. Part of her wanted to curl up next to him, but she shook the thought from her head.
She grabbed the two steaming mugs and headed for the living room. She set them down gently and pulled out her phone. After a quick check of her social media pages, she wondered if she should cover him with a blanket, but just as she was reaching for the quilt on her sofa, his blue eyes shot open.
“Did I fall asleep?” he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“That happens. Meditation can be very relaxing. A lot of people use it for insomnia.”
“I feel really good right now. Totally calm.”
“That’s the idea,” Reese said with a wide smile. “I made some tea. It’s a blend for relaxation.”
Grady took his mug and sniffed it. “Smells good. And I’m going to need the name of the app we just used. I think it could help me wind down after games. Sometimes I’m so hyped up I can’t sleep.”
“It will definitely help. I’ll text you the link.”
Grady sipped the tea and smiled. “It tastes good. I’m going to need the name of that too.”
“I’ll give you some to take home.”
He was about to say something when their phones both lit up with a text message from Daria.
“I dread this,” Reese said, grabbing her phone. She did a quick read. “Looks like she wants us to orchestrate another cute photo. Any ideas?”
“Yeah. Why don’t you come out to my parents’ place this weekend? Dad is stuck at the hospital and my mom will only be there on Saturday. We could hang out, take some really great shots of nature, and meditate.”
“Our own version of Netflix and chill.”
What did I just say?
He cleared his throat and hid a smile. “Yeah, kind of. You up for it?”
“I’d love to.”
“Then make sure to bring your hiking gear. We are going to have a jam-packed weekend. And one of the guys has a place nearby and he’s having the mixer I was telling you about. We could check that out.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“I think we’ll have a great weekend.”
Reese was nervous about it, but she wasn’t about to back out.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Reese made blueberry muffins and brought along some gourmet coffee beans as a hostess gift for Julia. She hated showing up empty-handed.
When they arrived at the cottage, Julia was weeding her two flowerpots on either side of the front steps, seeming to love every second of it. Reese had a passing thought of her mother’s vast hoard of flowerpots that were more important to her than anything else during the summer months. She waved when she saw them drive up.
