The kiss made me dizzy, and I had to come to my senses when it ended.
“What are we going to do about Natalie?” I asked.
“I’ll talk to her,” she said. “Don’t worry about it.”
I was a tiny bit worried, but Natalie was a sweetheart. I didn’t think she’d tell anyone else. Except maybe Em. I guess I was okay with Em knowing, but everyone else? Not so much.
“Okay,” I said, letting Piper handle it.
“And I’ll let you know about the dinner reservation. You can meet me here and I’ll drive.” That kind of take-charge attitude was extremely sexy to me. All I had to do was show up and look cute. That was hard enough.
“Perfect,” I said, kissing her again.
I dreamily drove back to the farmhouse and floated into the house.
“You’re positively glowing today,” Amanda said as she dusted in the dining room.
“Thanks,” I said, my face going red. No one could look at me and know that I’d been making out with Piper Patrick. That was impossible.
“The weekend is almost here, do you have any fun plans?” she asked.
“Don’t know,” I lied. “I just go with the flow.”
I was going to have to come up with some excuse for the dinner with Piper, but I’d cross that bridge when I got there. It wasn’t as if I owed Amanda or the rest of the Carr family, or even Julia, an explanation for going out. I was an adult and I could go out if I wanted to.
I downed a juice shot and then went to plan a class. I filmed outside in the garden, because the sun was gorgeous, and the sound of the birds and buzzing of bees was absolutely perfect. I just hoped I didn’t get stung by anything, but I managed to get through the flow without any major mishaps.
I checked the video and it really was lovely. My subscribers were going to really enjoy this one.
I also needed to film some classes at the beach, but that was trickier due to having random people walking by, or kids bumping into me, or other disasters. I didn’t want to waste hours of filming for something I couldn’t use.
One other thing I did want to do before I moved on was film a class in the rain. My mat would get slippery, but I think it would look cool. I laid back on my mat and closed my eyes, listening to the sounds of nature. I was inches away from falling asleep, and I needed to get a bunch more work done.
I rolled up my mat and went back inside and set up on the couch to edit the video and answer emails.
Every few seconds, my mind drifted back to Piper. Was she sitting at her computer thinking about me? Was she remembering the way I’d touched her? The feel of my lips?
I closed my eyes and sighed.
“Happy?” A voice said, making me almost scream in shock.
“Oh, um, yes. I’m just really excited about my yoga challenge,” I said, my hand on my heart.
“It sounds exciting,” Amanda said, but she was still doing that mom thing where she studied me so intently that I thought that she could see every single secret.
I looked back at my computer as quickly as I could. Now my heart was racing for another reason.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” she said. “I’m going to run to the store. Do you need anything?”
“Nope,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll be back.” She left and I exhaled a shaky breath.
Keeping everything with Piper a secret was going to be a challenge. A huge challenge.
I got my first text message that didn’t involve yoga from Piper that night. It was the time of our reservation for Friday night dinner. I also went ahead and scanned the menu and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head at the prices. Would it be gauche to order just a side salad and drink water?
I guess I could see it as treating myself, something I didn’t do that often. Living with the Carrs was helping me save tons of money, so I could afford this splurge. The only other obstacle was what I should wear, but since I’d gone shopping with Julia, I had options.
After a few minutes of laying everything out, I selected a pretty shirt and pants I’d bought on my trip with Julia. No doubt Piper was going to dress flawlessly, but I was going to give her my best.
I mean, it wasn’t technically a date anyway. Just two people having dinner together.
I’d dated women before, but Piper hadn’t. I remembered my first few dates with women and how stressed I’d been about what people were thinking about seeing the two of us together. I’d gotten over that, but it took time to not be completely on edge.
Still, I was excited about this dinner, even if it wasn’t a date. Just being with Piper where we could talk about anything and everything and have a few hours for ourselves without worrying about someone barging in was a gift.
I wasn’t going to waste a second with her.
Chapter Fifteen
Friday morning yoga was packed, and I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t upset about it. The day started off nice and kept getting better. An influencer I didn’t even know was a subscriber shared that she loved my classes and I got a bunch of new views on my free classes and several new sign ups.
And that was all before noon.
“I’m going out tonight,” I announced at breakfast.
Everyone went completely silent.
“Tonight? Why?” Julia asked, looking at me as if I’d announced I was going to teach yoga on Mars.
“I just decided I wanted to treat myself to a nice dinner.” I’d decided to go with a lie of omission. I would say I was going out and eating dinner, but not that I was going with someone.
“Alone?” Julia asked. “I’ll go with you.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I don’t mind doing things on my own. I’ll dress up and it’ll be fun.”
Julia looked at me and then shrugged. “I guess I can understand that. Sort of like a date with yourself.”
“Exactly,” I said, almost choking on my blueberry lemon poppyseed muffin.
“That is a fun idea,” Hollis said.
“I do that kind of thing all the time,” Ellie said. “I like my own company.”
“Well, I think it’s a great idea. I’ve been taking myself on dates for decades,” Amanda said, adding another muffin to my plate.
“You should wear those black pants and that lace top that we got when we went shopping,” Julia said.
“I’m already on it.”
I breathed a sigh of relief that they bought my story and went about the rest of my day. Or, I tried to. I couldn’t stop wondering what Piper was going to wear, if she was nervous, what she was going to say when I arrived at her house. Would she like what I was wearing? Would she kiss me?
The day dragged on and I was dressed and ready at least an hour before I needed to be, so I ended up pacing my room before going downstairs to find everyone in the living room.
Julia clapped as I walked in. “You look amazing.”
I’d put on a little natural mascara and powder, and I’d let my hair go curly and gelled it so I looked beachy and cool.
“Thanks,” I said.
Everyone else said I looked great, and I felt good about it.
“Okay, I’m off. I’ll be back later.”