Relaxing wasn’t possible for Jess right now. The thought of lying here—naked—and showering—still naked—in Lena’s house sent all the wrong signals to her body. Hormones. Just hormones. A normal reaction to a massage. Okay, that had never happened before, but it was still normal. Just because she felt that way didn’t mean she was going to act on it or anything.
Quick steps announced Heather’s return from the bathroom. “Thank you, Jess.”
She raised her head as far as she could. “You’re welcome. Have fun on your honeymoon.”
As soon as the door closed behind Heather and Lena, Jess climbed from the table.
Dizziness claimed her, and she had to lean against the table for a second until her vision cleared. Then she hastened to the bathroom to dress. Oil stains were the least of her concerns. She wanted to be gone from the house before Lena returned.
Chapter Ten
When Lena left the house at ten to six, Jess was already in the garden. She wore loose sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt. With her back to the garden house, she showed no sign of noticing Lena’s approach.
Last night, Jess had been gone from the house when Lena came back. She had expected her to stay and apologize, to explain her behavior. Sneaking away under the cover of darkness didn’t seem like Jess’s style at all. But a part of Lena—the tired and emotionally wrung out part—had been grateful to avoid the confrontation after a long day.
For Jess to show up this morning was a surprise. It was too soon to tell if it was a good or bad one.
An idea popped up. Should she? Lena usually wasn’t the teasing type, but something in Jess’s demeanor pushed her to provoke as if poking a stick in a hornet’s nest. Not that she would do that to hornets, because she was neither stupid nor cruel to animals.
“What are you doing here?” Lena said, loud enough to startle Jess, who flinched. Good.
She spun around with a frown. The fire Lena had hoped to stoke flared in her eyes. Jess opened her mouth as if to berate her but closed it again as the angry lines transformed into a half smile. “I live here.” There was slight irony in her tone as she acknowledged Lena’s joke.
“What a coincidence.” Lena decided to let her off the hook for now. She hadn’t had her daily dose of tai chi and she wasn’t in the mood for an apology if that was why Jess was here. And she wasn’t up for more discussion. Maybe tai chi would have the same calming influence on Jess as it had on her? It was worth a try.
“Join me?” Lena took a few steps into the middle of the yard and kicked off her shoes. “You can leave them on if it’s too cold for you.” The dew on the short grass woke her up better than Rachel’s coffee. She positioned herself and wriggled her toes to connect to the earth beneath her.
When she sensed Jess had positioned herself next to her, Lena started her ritual, explaining as she performed it. “I’m not a tai chi instructor, but I can share with you what I’ve learned. We start with a warm-up to develop internal focus and strengthen the core. Standing with legs as far apart as your hips, we turn to the east and greet the sun three times.” She opened her arms and lifted them outward and upward in a wide circle, bringing them together over her head. She pressed her palms together with fingers pointing upward, then pushed them down toward her navel, exhaling slowly. “Again. Inhale going upward, exhale coming down. Send the warm breath from your middle through your legs and arms, pushing it to the tips of your toes and fingers.”
She had no idea if Jess was following her instructions, but she could hear breathing that matched her own. “Once more.”
When she had finished the third round, Lena raised her arms again. “Now we stand here, rooted to the earth like trees. Hold your arms as if you’d hug a tree or hold a giant ball. Concentrate on the flow of your breath. There is no right or wrong pace, but just feel it flowing through you.” There was so much more to this exercise, but she didn’t want to overwhelm Jess in the first few minutes.
When Jess’s breathing had settled into a comfortable rhythm, Lena twisted her head to look at her. Jess had closed her eyes, and her expression was calm, but her body was still stiff, her arms already shaking a little, pulled down by gravity.
“May I show you something that can help you hold this position more easily?” Lena asked in a low voice.
Jess opened her eyes, and her arms fell to her sides. She nodded, and her eyes sparkled with interest.
“To let the energy flow and to gain the strength from your connection to the earth, it’s important to stand straight but not ramrod straight. You want to relax your lower back and lengthen the spine, and that’s best achieved by tilting your pelvis forward.” She demonstrated by shifting her pelvis a few times, then turned sideways so Jess could see her profile.
“Like this? It’s…um…awkward.” Jess blushed and angled her pelvis to the front. “Are you making fun of me?”
“No. I promise. It takes a while to feel natural.” Lena demonstrated again. “Look at the rest of my body. If you bend your knees a little, your center of gravity is perfectly aligned to keep you standing upright without effort. And if you pull back your shoulders, your arms automatically rise a bit.” She showed her. “Again, it’s all about finding your center, your middle. It shifted a lot during pregnancy and is probably still not where it was.”
Jess had begun to mimic her, but at
