“Magic,” I said.
“No, just Photoshop,” she said, smiling as the kettle whistled. “You know, if you ever need some cool graphics or anything, I would be happy to do some stuff for you.”
She’d offered several times before, but I’d always turned her down. I had outsourced before but having someone do something for free felt gross.
“Would you take a free guided meditation in exchange?” I asked. She had so far refused to take any money for services, which was why I hadn’t asked her.
Hollis poured the water into two mugs and added honey to both. I leaned on the counter with her, waiting for the tea to cool enough to drink.
“Deal,” Hollis said. “I could definitely use a little more mindfulness in my life. So, what do you need?”
I told her that my website could use a little spruce, and I wanted to tweak my logo a bit. I sent her the files I had, and she started working right then and there.
“This font you’re using is nice, but if you change it to this, I think it has more impact,” Hollis said, showing me the difference.
“Oh, wow, I do like that,” I said.
“If you want to do an entire overhaul, I’m happy to do it. You could do a campaign, offer a discount. Kind of like we do with authors that do new covers for their books. You can ask Sasha about what her authors do.” Sasha had also offered to help me, since marketing was a massive part of her job as an author assistant.
“Yeah, I’ll have to plan that out.” It hadn’t been on my radar, but I guessed I could change things up.
“It would be best to pair it with a holiday or a new class drop or something,” I said.
“And merch. You need more merch.”
I only had one shirt and sweatshirt currently, mostly since it seemed a little obnoxious to have my own merch. Who was I? Why would someone pay for a shirt with my logo on it? Sure, people had asked, but would they actually buy it when the stuff came out? I didn’t want to pay for someone to design something, take the time to make an item, and then not have it be worth it. I was a one-woman show, and I had to prioritize. I couldn’t do everything.
“Do it. Plan a brand refresh.” Hollis said it like it was so easy. “We’ll all help you.”
I sipped my tea now that it was finally at the perfect temperature.
“I’ll consider it,” I said. This wasn’t what I’d come over here for, but maybe this project was the perfect thing to keep my mind off Piper. Maybe it had fallen into my lap right now for a reason.
“I’m here for you when you’re ready. You’re Julia’s sister. You’re basically family.”
She squeezed my shoulder and sat back down at her desk.
I took my tea to the couch and opened my laptop, my mind buzzing with the excitement of doing new things. Hollis was right. I needed a refresh. Not that I’d been stagnating or anything, but I wanted to shake things up a little bit. Not too much, because I didn’t want to throw off my members, but I did want to satisfy them, and bring in some new people. The eternal struggle of every business owner.
I’d had the idea of doing a longer challenge. It would be focusing on one topic, with a new video for each of the thirty days. I’d done challenges by the week, but never one for a full month. I’d been scared of a commitment that huge, and the planning and work required. If River were here right now, she’d tell me that I was underestimating myself and she’d be right. I was.
I made sure to finish what I was doing and then look at my calendar and make a list of what I needed to do for this challenge. Beyond filming the videos, there was so much other back-end work that would keep me busy. Fueled by green tea and the excitement of a new idea, my fingers flew across the laptop keys and by the time Lucky jumped in my lap to try and distract me, I had everything laid out. A 30-Day Challenge to start this fall. I was calling it Back to School, and it was the perfect class for beginners, but also people who wanted to build on their existing practice. There would be a class every day on fundamentals, including a short yoga flow. This would be in conjunction with the updated website. I’d offer it for free for existing members, and at a discount for anyone new.
I looked up and found Hollis stretching her arms.
“How’s the cover?” I asked, and she jumped.
“Sorry, I forgot you were here. Come and see.”
I went over and the cover looked basically done.
“Wow. I’d read that book,” I said.
“I know, right? I just need to add some more background stuff.” She showed me some more of the stock images she’d put in the background so the lovely lady in the dress had a beautiful house in the background, along with some pretty flowers. The title font and author name would come last.
I told Hollis what I was working on and then a timer went off on her phone. I realized that it was the end of the “workday.” Hollis had gotten into the habit of finishing work at five, just so she didn’t spend all of her time working. I wasn’t as strict with my time, but maybe I should be.
I was still so fired up about my new idea and wanted to get moving on it right away.
“I see that fever in your eyes, and you can work on it. But you have to eat something first,” Hollis said, coming to sit with me on the couch. “Dinner time is family time.” She cringed at herself. “Dear god, I sounded exactly like my mother. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” I said, patting her shoulder. “Every day I do at least one thing that makes me think of my mom or one of my sisters.”
Speaking of sisters, Julia walked in and came over to greet Hollis. I shut my laptop and made my exit, saying I would see them at dinner.
I was pretty proud of myself for not thinking too much about Piper for the past few hours. To reward myself, I decided to go ahead and think about Piper for the next few hours.
Her hair, the way she’d cradled my face as we kissed, the way she smiled, the fine lines around her eyes when she smiled. Definitely the way her mouth felt. Her tongue. The sounds she’d made.
“MK?” a voice said.
“What?” I said, blinking and remembering I was in the farmhouse kitchen helping with dinner.
“Where did you go?” Julia asked.
“Just thinking about my new yoga challenge,” I said.
“Well, don’t think too hard or you’re going to cut your fingers off,” she said. I looked down at my hands, which were supposed to be chopping eggplant for ratatouille. Definitely needed to focus on that. I pushed Piper and the kiss aside to concentrate on not losing an appendage.
“You’ve been very distracted lately,” Amanda said.
“Lots to think about,” I said, and I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. It was like being back with my parents and siblings. You couldn’t sneeze without someone noticing and pointing it out.
Ellie spoke up, shifting attention, and I wanted to hug her.
“So, KJ wants to come over and hang out soon,” she said.
Amanda forgot about me and focused her complete attention on her daughter.
“You’re positive? He’s really coming?” she asked, and I could feel her shaking with excitement. She’d gotten one daughter paired off, now it was time for another. I mean, the whole reason Julia and Hollis were even together was due to her insistence that they should be together.