“Bernadette!”
I jerked up.
“What?” My eyes darted around the room.
“You fell asleep again.” Iris nudged me with her big toe. “And you were snoring so loud.”
“This class is killing me.” I curled my legs up under me and let the blanket fall off of me. “Why didn’t you just let me sleep? I swear I feel more rested now than I have all day.”
“Ladies.” Lucy Drake slinked over, the water bottle strap dangling from the crook of her finger. “Isn’t this a fabulous class?” She bent over at her waist and touched her toes. “I’ve gotten so limber, and my muscles are hugging all my bones.”
I hugged the blanket to me, trying to cover up the baggy sweatpants and old Sugar Creek Gap High School Grizzly Bear’s sweatshirt that was Grady’s when he was in high school.
“Off I go. My people have all their ears on what I’ve got to say in Coffee Chat. Hope you join.” She wiggled her fingers and her fanny as she walked on by.
“I would ask what on earth Mac sees in her, but I won’t. I can see it myself.” Iris bent down and grabbed my yoga mat for me while I hobbled out of the big open room. “Did you hear me?”
“Of course, I heard you.” I turned around and looked at the high wooden beamed ceiling and hardwood floors that created the echoing Zen den. “But so can everyone else.”
I pointed my finger in the air when my voice echoed.
It was really a cool concept Peaches had when she’d bought the old building. It was a two-story mercantile store from when Sugar Creek Gap, Kentucky was a big mill town. We still had the very first working mill wheel at the very heart of downtown.
Like most towns, settlers had gone from land to land and built little communities along the way. Sugar Creek Gap had been built on generations of families. We were a small community, but through the years, the owners of big farms had sold off various acres and built several subdivisions along with big box stores on the outskirts of town.
But I worked, lived, and mainly stayed in downtown Sugar Creek Gap, leading me back to Tranquility Spa. Peaches wasn’t going to be able to salvage the second floor of the building on the inside. She ended up gutting the entire inside where she had large wooden beams installed to create a very tall one-story shop. She was able to divide the large space into thirds. The larger room was her studio, another room had three separate massage beds along with appointments for her Reiki technique. Peaches had tried to get me in there.
No way, no how. When I Googled it, the information popped up that having such a massage performed on me might make my soul open up and I’d cry. I’d done enough crying for three lifetimes; I certainly didn’t want to be a willing participant in anything that would make me cry.
The third section Peaches had built was the front reception where she conducted business transactions and had open wooden storage shelves for clients, along with some clothing racks where she sold yoga apparel.
“How much is this?” I asked Peaches when she walked past me.
“I don’t know.” China Gordon, Peaches best friend, smiled when she realized that I’d mistaken her for Peaches. “Peaches, price?” She lifted the Tranquility Spa water bottle up to her lips and took a drink, motioning me with the other hand to lift the pants in the air.
I held them up in the air and wondered if I needed to buy one of those bottles and just drink water all day long. Then maybe I’d look like them, as I recalled the one next to Lucy and always seeing Peaches with one.
“That’s a wonderful fabric,” Peaches called from the counter where she was sipping on some sort of green liquid. “You can always try it, and if you don’t like it, you can get your money back.”
Iris laughed.
“Are you seriously thinking about buying that?” she asked me as I held the very small pants. The entire thing was smaller than my one leg.
“Mmm.” I shrugged. “Maybe.” I gulped when I took a look at the price tag. “Do you think this is sixty dollars’ worth of material?” I joked under my breath.
“I bet we can get Loetta Goldey to make us something for one-fourth of the price.” Iris was serious.
“She knits.” I let out a long sigh and looked at the yoga pants again.
“Or you can wait a few days and try the new line I’m representing,” China said. “Right, Peaches?”
“We do need to have that meeting.” Peaches flipped open the calendar on her desk, and China put her head down as they pointed to various dates.
China Gordon was a clothing representative for athletic wear. From all the times she’d stopped her mail, I knew she traveled a lot for work. No doubt she had to since Tranquility Spa would be the only place in Sugar Creek Gap she’d be able to get her athletic line to sell.
“I’d love to see the products you represent.” I made the decision to buy the yoga pants and placed them on the counter.
“Oh no, Bernie. China has finally decided to take my advice and come up with her own line to sell.” Peaches had so much pride on her face for her best friend. She rang up my pants and took my debit card from me. “Since she is almost finished getting her 300 hours of yoga training, so she can teach some classes, she knows the right fabrics that’ll help your body move and stretch to its fullest potential.”
“Congratulations, China. That’s wonderful news.” I loved to see young people go for their dreams. “I’ll be the first customer.”
“And that’s why we need to get our little meeting on the books,” China told Peaches.
“We will.” Peaches held a finger up in the air to answer the ringing phone.
“I’ll see you Wednesday,” I mouthed and took the bag from Peaches so she didn’t have to stop her phone conversation.
“No. I’m the owner. I do not have to let her take yoga classes.” Peaches didn’t sound so happy with the person on the other end of the line. I couldn’t help but listen in while I waited on Iris to get her shoes on. “If she comes in here, she’ll regret it. And for that matter, don’t you ever step foot in here either.”
Iris couldn’t stop herself from lingering. Her big ears and eyes were taking it all in, and Peaches knew it. Peaches slowly turned around and covered the phone with her hand as she continued to whisper with a very angry tone.
I tugged on Iris’s sweatshirt and nodded toward the door.
“Wonder what that was about?” Iris asked once we made it outside where the sun was still out before dusk, which made me so happy. I could take little Clara outside when I went to visit them tonight. “Or who it was about?”
“Who knows. Somebody always has a beef with someone around here.” I sighed, knowing Peaches Partin was one of the gentlest of souls. When you were around her, she radiated calm, and I swear there was a light that came right out of her soul and spread across the world through her eyes. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
Since I lived a street behind Main Street on Little Creek Road, I practically walked everywhere. According to Doctor Hunter, walking just wasn’t enough for a middle-aged woman like myself. When did I become middle-aged? I still thought of my mother as middle-aged, not me.
Iris stopped dead in her tracks while I was deep in thought, knocking right into her.