MY BRIGHT RED TOENAILS WIGGLE in front of me. “This close, Joy. This. Close.” I bring my hands to my feet and stretch on the purple yoga mat under me.

“You were this close to half of the dreams I’ve had in my life,” she laughs from her Downward Facing Dog. “I used to practice writing ‘Joy Landry’ in my notebooks. I wasn’t even sure which one I wanted. Come to think of it, I don’t think I really cared.”

I struggle to keep the smile off my face, but when I look at Joy and our eyes meet, we both start giggling. “Graham, Joy. Oh. My. God.”

“What are you going to do about it?” she asks. “You work for him. It’s not like you met him at some charity ball or something.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” I say, touching my toes. “I’m just going to go with the flow. See what happens. I mean, let’s be real. Nothing is really going to happen. It’s Graham Landry and me.”

“Shut up. Don’t talk about yourself like that.”

I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean. He can have whomever he wants. Even if I get lucky and somehow get lucky,” I grin, “that’s all it will be.”

“Will you be okay with that?” she asks skeptically.

“I hope . . .” I say, grimacing as the muscles in my legs start to burn, “I’m more than okay with it.” Standing, I look at her. “I’m taking risks, remember? I’ve never been able to just flirt and be spontaneous and have fun. If Graham plays back with me, then he does. I’m more than happy to be on the receiving end of that. If he stops or gets weird about it, I’ll stop. It’s pretty simple.”

She smiles and goes back to her stretching. I go back to my endless thoughts.

I’m not sure it is as simple as I just made it out to be. I explained it like it’s a purely physical attraction, and it is, for the most part. But I can’t deny I enjoyed talking to him yesterday. Our banter was fun, easy, and having him interested in what I had to say, even if he was humoring me, was the most fun I’ve had with a man in a long time. Maybe ever. That’s sad, but it’s also true.

The bells chime on the door of the yoga studio where I work part-time in the evenings. It’s closed, the last class wrapping just a few minutes ago. Sienna introduced me to yoga in high school when it was the trendy thing to do. She does it off and on, but I was hooked immediately and haven’t stopped. I love the way it centers me. Without it, my body and my mind would be even more chaotic than they are now.

“Hey, girls,” Camilla says, dropping her pink bag to the floor and removing her shoes.

“Hi,” Sienna says, padding across the mat. They roll out their mats and take seats next to Joy and I, forming a haphazard circle. “What are you two talking about? You looked all chatty until we walked in.”

Joy looks at me out of the corner of her eye with a smirk. “Do you two really want to know?”

“Maybe not,” Camilla says, her brows pulling together. She looks at me with a puzzled look. “Do I, Mal?”

“I do,” Sienna retorts. “Spill it.”

“I want to do dirty, dirty things to Graham,” I grin. Camilla flops back on the mat, her hands covering her face.

“I think I just puked a little in my mouth,” Sienna says, looking at me. “Did you really just say that?”

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” I wink. “It’s your fault. You’re the one that got me the job working in such a confined area with him. What did you think would happen, Sienna? Have you even looked at him lately?”

“Yeah,” she says, wincing. “All the time. And I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.”

Joy sighs as she stands. “You’re lucky you didn’t hear her story from today.”

Sienna’s face twists in disgust as I stand, laughing. We all stretch quietly, each of us mulling over our own thoughts. Joy’s obviously mirror mine because every time I make eye contact with her, I have to look away so I don’t start giggling again.

“Are you ready to date again?” Sienna asks.

“I don’t know. If I found the right guy, I’m sure I would,” I admit. “But I don’t even know what I’m looking for at this point. It’s been so long since I thought about it.”

“Have you talked to Eric?” Camilla asks. The sweeter of the two sisters, her voice is soft and comforting. She reminds me of their mother—prim and proper and nurturing. Sienna, on the other hand, is more lively. She’s the one you could call at midnight and ask to sneak out and go for a drive. Camilla would’ve died before breaking the rules.

I hold my Warrior pose as long as I can, weighing my words before answering her. “I haven’t talked to him. I doubt I’ll ever hear from him again, to be honest.” I release the pose and breathe. “I’m okay with that. It’s the way I want it, actually. If he called, it would just set me back. I need to be focused on what I want and what I’m able to get.”

“You can get anything you want,” Camilla says. “You can go to school. Teach yoga. Change jobs or—”

“Move to LA with me,” Sienna chimes in. “Cam is right. You can do whatever you want.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“If you’re thinking about dating, I know a guy,” Camilla offers, ignoring her sister’s glare, “that I think you might like.”

“I’m sure you do,” Sienna says.

“Don’t start,” Camilla fires back. “I don’t say a word about your little friends-with-benefits thing with what’s-his-name and I know him. I don’t know why you feel the need to put down a guy you don’t even know.”

“Because I don’t know him!” Sienna jumps to her feet, the purple ends of her hair swishing behind her. “You won’t let me meet him. You made me promise not to even bring him up to Linc or Graham or Barrett. That says something, Cam.”

“It says I don’t want them to run him off before I decide if I like him or not! I need some room this time,” Camilla says, taking a step towards her twin. “Once you all come into play, you either plant thoughts in my head or you scare him off.”

“Only when we need to,” Sienna says.

“I don’t do that to you!”

“Because I don’t need it,” Sienna says, holding her ground. “You’re the fragile one, Cam. You’re the one we all have to watch out for.”

“Hey,” I say, a little louder than necessary. “Settle down, you guys.”

Their faces fall, Camilla’s eyes finding the mat and Sienna, the fierier of the two, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, Sienna. Just give me some space, okay?”

Sienna holds her hand out and Camilla squeezes it. Their bond makes me smile.

“Anyway, you were saying something about a guy you know?” I ask gently. I don’t really care, but I don’t want this silence to last for too long.

“He’s nice,” Camilla says. “He just moved back to town too. Well, I guess he’s always lived here, but he was gone for a while. Keenan Marks. Do you remember him?”

I shake my head. “Maybe vaguely. Short black hair?”

“Yup. I think you should let him take you out. He remembers you,” she smiles softly. “I think y’all met before you went to Columbia.”

My first inclination is to say no. But when I look at Cam’s hopeful face and Joy’s raised brow, asking me without asking me what I’m going to do about Graham, I realize I might be able to kill a couple of birds with one stone.

“Give him my number,” I say, getting back into Warrior position. “We’ll see how it goes.”