She dimmed the lights of the activity room at Larkvale Senior Living, so that the last five minutes could be spent in a womb-like shroud. It was the best way to have the students center themselves after yoga practice.
“Try to empty your mind of all that worries you. Let it all slip away.”
Except your life force. Please hold on to that.
If only letting her own worries dissolve were that easy. Kennedy needed to find somewhere to live. She’d had a nice, rent-free deal for the last few months but all good things had to crash and burn. She just hadn’t expected it to end with no notice, changed locks, and a banker’s box of memories in the trunk of her car.
Now would be the moment to call it quits and head back out on her travels, yet she wasn’t quite ready to move on, not when she’d only arrived a few months ago to be nearer to the person who was currently not doing what she was told.
“Edie, you’re supposed to close your eyes and assume corpse,” she said to the woman looking up at her like a cheeky cherub. “This is the time to relax.”
“I’ll relax when I’m dead. In real corpse pose!”
Oh God. When Kennedy had volunteered to give this class to the seniors at Edie’s residential home—had to put that yoga certification to some use—she hadn’t expected that the most troublesome student would be the woman who was the closest thing she had to family.
Edie Dobson had moved into the senior’s home about six months ago, though to hear her say it, she was pushed headfirst by her son, who lived in LA and never came to visit. Kennedy had been in Malaysia when she heard about Edie’s health troubles, so by the time she returned to Chicago, it was a done deal. Not that she could have changed the situation but she would’ve preferred to be here to put Edie at ease and help her settle.
Thrilled to have Kennedy back on US soil, Edie had offered her use of the house on Primrose Avenue until it was sold. Now it was and squatter’s rights weren’t a thing. Neither was Kennedy sure she could tolerate another night sleeping in her car.
Almost five minutes had passed and the inmates were getting restless, so Kennedy raised the lights. “Okay, everyone, great session! I’ll be back on Friday but in the meantime, try to remember to stretch when you get out of bed in the morning. It really helps to keep those bones limber.”
“Watch you don’t fracture something in the meantime,” Edie offered.
“No one will fracture anything if you’re mindful of your body and its limits,” Kennedy called out. “Just don’t push it into anything that feels painful.” To Edie, she hissed, “I could do without the colorful commentary. You’re scaring people.”
Edie held out a hand for a boost upright. “Let’s hit the juice bar.”
A few minutes later, they were in the sunroom with the Jamba Juice smoothies Kennedy had brought and refrigerated in the community kitchen during the class. Larkvale didn’t have a juice bar, of course, but Edie liked to refer to their post-yoga meet-ups over smoothies as such. Adorable.
Seated at the big window overlooking the blandly perfect garden, they took a few quiet moments to drink their smoothies and settle in.
“Did you drive by the house on the way over?”
“I did. They’ve already painted the front door a teal color.”
“The red is gone?” Edie’s lip curled in disdain. “I hope it chips.”
Kennedy chuckled. “My kind of petty.”
Edie’s son, Louis had closed on his mom’s house a week ago and put the money in trust for her remaining days. Which was fine—Kennedy wasn’t here to claim a cut of the woman’s cash. She just wanted to be close to someone who cared. She could have taken a different route to avoid passing the house where she’d lived for three years until she was eighteen, then the last three months while she tried to get her shit together, but she had been parked on a side street two blocks over and it was the shortest way from point A to B. Also, she liked to think there was something therapeutic about driving by. Each change the new owners made took her a little further away from that time, the most heartbreaking period of her life.
After her parents died when she was fifteen, she had moved in with Edie, her grandfather’s second wife. Papa John (yep, that’s what he went by) had passed a couple of years before, but Edie had stepped up and given her shelter. Took her into her home and her heart.
Kennedy could never truly repay her, but since Edie’s strokes (they call them mini strokes, so not serious at all, Kennedy!), she could be here to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.
“So how’s the new roommate?”
“Great! But the landlord’s the worst.” Edie would freak if she knew that Kennedy was living out of her car. “Still hasn’t fixed the shower. Do you mind if I take a quick one in your room before I leave?”
Edie waved her assent. “I’m glad you were able to find a place so quickly.”
Kennedy kept her smile pinned on. She had an appointment with a guy she’d found online this afternoon. The place she’d looked at yesterday had a meth lab vibe. Today’s option couldn’t be worse.
“Yeah, me, too. Pity you’re so entrenched here. We could get our own place together.” She was only half-joking. She knew that with Edie’s health concerns this was the best place for her, but what she wouldn’t give to have somewhere to cushion her fall.
This wasn’t Edie’s problem, however. She had been on hand when Kennedy needed a place to land ten years ago, and Kennedy had no doubt she’d dip into her savings to find a place for the girl she treated like her granddaughter. But when it came down to it, Edie didn’t owe her a thing. She’d already given her use of her Ford Focus—now her castle—and Kennedy wouldn’t take another cent from her.
Edie raised an eyebrow. “Us as roommates? And what happens when your feet get itchy? Off to Taiwan or Thailand or wherever your mood takes you? No, I was resistant at first but I like being Queen Bee here. It didn’t take long to ascend the throne and boot that Ginny van Patten off it!”
Ginny van Patten was the head inmate at Larkvale, or had been until Edie arrived and usurped her. A fierce rivalry was born.
“Just an idea. You’re right. I’ll want to travel again soon.” She especially didn’t want to be here during any Snowpocalypse when the wind off Lake Michigan would cut through her bones.
“I’ve had another idea,” Edie said after a healthy pull on her straw. “For the bucket list.”
“Oh, yeah? Spill.”
Edie took out the notebook she carried with her everywhere. Since finishing up her rehab stint and taking up residence at Larkvale, she had been adding to her bucket list. She pointed at the last addition: See a male stripper.
“Surely you’ve already done that.”
“No, I have not. I was a married woman.”
“Never stopped anyone.” Grinning, she took the list from her and gave it another eyeball.
Go ice skating.
Get a tattoo.
Learn yoga.
Do Karaoke.
Go on a scavenger hunt.
Solve a mystery.
“I’d like to say you could cross off the yoga one but you’re one of my worst students.” She also suspected Edie added it to give Kennedy something to do while she remained Stateside. “Some of these are dangerous. Ice skating? You could break a hip.”