by Tracy Weber
“Does what?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” She glanced down at Bella and her face brightened. “What’s your dog’s name?”
“Bella. Be careful, she’s not always—”
Before I could finish warning her that Bella wasn’t always friendly with strangers, the teenager had already kneeled down and wrapped her arms around my German shepherd’s neck. She rubbed her nose against Bella’s, a dangerous move likely to result in a nose-ectomy.
“Aren’t you a big, beautiful, sweetheart?” she said.
Bella replied by planting her paws on Rainbow’s shoulders and bathing her face in saliva.
“Wow!” I said. “She loves you!”
“Animals always love me.”
Rainbow rubbed her face back and forth in Bella’s scruff, as if the dog were a furry black bath towel. Each time she pulled away, Bella licked her face wet again. I wasn’t sure whether teen or beast enjoyed the game more, but Bella was clearly winning.
I could have watched the two new friends bond for hours, but my watch told me I had five minutes left on the meter. “Sorry, Rainbow, I’m in a hurry. Did you see a wallet in the conference room? I might have left mine there.”
She ignored my question and reached into her backpack. When her hand reemerged, it held a cell phone. “Bella and I need a selfie.”
Tick, tick, tick. One more minute gone.
She wrapped her right arm around Bella’s neck again, pulled their faces together, and held out her phone. “Say cheese.” An electronic click later, she glanced at the screen. “Perfect.” She turned the device around to show me. Rainbow’s lips were puckered in a sultry kiss. Bella’s long, black-spotted tongue reached for her cheek.
The teen ruffled Bella’s ears, then tossed the phone back inside her pack. “Think we’ll go viral on Instagram, baby?” She turned back toward me. “I wasn’t looking for a wallet, sorry. Bella and I will hang out here while you go look for it.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’d better take her inside with me. I’ll only be a minute.”
She pointed to a small sign on the door: Only Service Animals Allowed. “Chuck’s head will explode if he sees her inside the building.”
I flashed on Chuck’s enraged face when Lonnie invaded the kitchen. Bella trusted most clean-shaven men, but not all of them, and she protected me instinctively. If Chuck saw her and yelled, the result might be a Bella-Chuck face-off. Literally. Still, leaving Bella alone with a relative stranger? That invited a whole different kind of catastrophe.
Rainbow scowled. “I’m not going to steal her or anything.”
“It’s not that. She doesn’t like other dogs, and she’s not reliable with strangers.”
Bella leaned into Rainbow’s thigh, her way of simultaneously demonstrating affection and making me look like a moron.
Rainbow pointed to the opposite end of the block. “I’ll keep her over there away from people.”
Tick, tick, tick. Two minutes left on the meter.
I thrust Bella’s leash into her hand. “Fine. But don’t let anyone—especially another dog—near her. If she gets stressed, have someone come get me. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I was gone fifteen.
I retraced my steps starting with Gabriel, who dug through the lost-and-found box. No wallet there. I searched the recreation area and the conference room. I crawled underneath tables and checked under the pool table. I rummaged through trash cans. I even glanced around upstairs near Rainbow’s mural. Nothing.
I never carried more than fifty dollars in cash, but replacing my driver’s license and credit cards would be—as Aunt Rita used to say—a pain in the patootie. The biggest loss, though, was a snapshot of Dad, Dharma, and me that was taken when I was an infant. That photo was the only evidence I had of us as a family. Why hadn’t I made a copy?
By the time I trudged back to the street, Rainbow was seated on the curb. My hundred-pound monster dog was flopped across her lap, staring at her with pure German shepherd adoration. Neither teen nor beast seemed to have missed me in the slightest.
“Bella says she wants to live with me now,” Rainbow said.
I smiled in spite of my frustration. “Too bad. She’s stuck with me.”
When Bella and I got back to my Honda, a seventy-five-dollar parking ticket was stuck on my windshield. That’s when I realized Rainbow had never asked me if I’d found my wallet.
nine
Another week passed, and with it, seven more days of my waning fertility. Still, I was hopeful. My period was officially overdue. My cycle wasn’t always regular, so being a day or two late didn’t guarantee successful conception, but no bleeding meant no disappointment, at least not yet.
A well-aimed stream of urine on a plastic stick could have given a definitive answer in three minutes or less, but Michael and I agreed that we didn’t want to know. We wanted to hope. If I wasn’t pregnant, my cycle would tell us soon enough. Besides, not knowing would give us the perfect excuse not to bring up our fertility challenges at dinner with Dharma and Dale the next night. Why ruin a fun evening with my mother and her partner when the whole thing might be a non-issue?
I double checked to make sure I had enough cash in my replacement wallet to pay for parking, then I headed back to Teen Path HOME for my second Wednesday afternoon yoga class. Now that Gabriel was planning to bribe—oops, I mean incentivize—the teens to attend, I hoped class would be bigger. I was doing my part to make yoga more attractive to the kids, too. I’d ditched the Deva Premal CD for a Hip Hop meditation MP3 I’d found on the Internet. The music wasn’t as soothing as I was used to, but maybe upbeat energy would entice a few more students to pop their heads in the door.
Meet them where they are, right?
It seemed to work. Two minutes before class time, my circle of twenty chairs was half filled.
Snoozing Guy walked up to Gabriel and held out his palm. “Pay up, man.”
“After class. And only if you stay awake.”
“Ah man, that blows.” He shrugged at me. “At least the music doesn’t suck this time.” He fist-bumped another teen and slid into the chair next to him.
I allowed my new students to settle in and gave them a short spiel. “Gabriel brought a few towels in case some of you want to rest on the floor at the end of class. Yoga is typically done in bare feet—”
Snoozing Guy’s friend interrupted. “Crank’s going to take off his shoes?” He waved his hand across his face. “Rank!”
Snoozing Guy, whose nickname was obviously Crank, slugged him in the arm.
I grinned. “As I was saying, yoga is typically done in bare feet, but you can keep your shoes on if you want.” Everyone did, so I slipped mine back on as well.
As I guided the class to start lengthening their breath, I surveyed my students. Directly across the circle, Gabriel gave me a thumbs-up and a wink. Two empty chairs away, Snoozing Guy and his friend continued to trade barbs.
The rest of the occupied chairs contained, among others, three Latina teens dressed in matching Teen Path HOME T-shirts, an overweight girl with stringy dark hair, and a transgender youth wearing a tight red crop top, a curly blonde wig, and four-inch black stilettos. I smiled. A six-foot-two version of Tiffany. All she needed was neon-pink yoga pants and a pair of Boston terrier earrings to complete the outfit.
My attention kept drifting back to a single student, however: Rainbow. Something was obviously upsetting her. She’d slipped in mere seconds before class started and refused to make eye contact. Her lips trembled as if she were holding back tears. I vowed to connect with her after class, or at least make sure that Gabriel did.
What seemed like five, but was actually sixty, minutes later, I ended class with a smile and the words “Thank you.” I normally ended by touching my palms together in the Anjali mudra and saying Namaste, the Sanskrit word loosely translated
as “The spirit in me honors the spirit in you,” but that ritual seemed as out of place as my Deva Premal music had been.
The transgender teen called the class ‘the GOAT.’ Sleeping Guy’s friend replied, “Yeah, that was dope.”
I’d never felt so old.
Or so satisfied.
Gabriel handed out the gift cards while I said goodbye to the students. Rainbow loitered in the back of the room until everyone but Gabriel and I had left, then approached me.
“I wanted to say thank you. You’re amazing. I can’t believe how much you’re helping me. I feel safe when I’m with you.”
She didn’t look like she felt safe. She looked grief-stricken. Barely able to keep from sobbing.
“I’m glad you’re finding the class useful,” I replied. “But honestly, there’s nothing special about me. You’re the one doing the work.”
For a moment, the shadows behind her eyes lifted. “I hope you keep coming after the six-week series is over. I miss yoga. I used to take classes in high school.”
I almost asked her which high school, but I realized that doing so might violate Gabriel’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. “I hope I get to teach more classes here, too.”
Rainbow stared down at her knees, as if gathering courage. “Um … I heard that you own a yoga studio.”
“Yes, Serenity Yoga in Greenwood.” I reached into my pocket and handed her a business card. Gabriel gave me a dark look.
“Do you ever need help?” Rainbow asked. “I’d work for cheap. Like mega cheap. I’d be your slave for free yoga classes.”
Gabriel dropped a chair into the metal holder, clanging it loud enough to make me glance in his direction. He vigorously shook his head no.
Even I couldn’t miss a hint that obvious. “Sorry, I don’t have any openings right now.”
Rainbow’s face shifted, from hopeful anticipation to practiced indifference. “Whatever.” The nonchalance in her voice sounded forced.
“Don’t take it personally, Rainbow,” Gabriel said. “Kate already has lots of employees. Besides, I can’t risk losing you as a student here. How else will I get the board to authorize adding more classes?”
She rolled her eyes.
Gabriel gestured with his chin toward the door. “Why don’t you see if Chuck needs help with the lunch dishes? Kate and I have a few things to discuss.”
The teen shuffled out the door. “Fine. I didn’t want to hang out here anyway.”
Gabriel waited until the door closed behind her before speaking. “You were about to slide down a very slippery slope there, Kate.”
“How? I mean, you’re right, I have plenty of help. Still, I could have made up a job for her. We have space in our classes.”
“Bad idea. If you want to work here, you’ll have to learn to keep clear boundaries, especially with kids like Rainbow.”
“Kids like Rainbow?”
“She’s almost certainly a minor. The board has been very clear. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to fraternizing with the kids.”
“I wasn’t planning to take her out clubbing. I was going to let her post a few flyers in exchange for yoga classes. What’s so bad about that?”
Gabriel’s jaw firmed. “I’m sorry, Kate. Any off-site activity with one of our underage clients is out of the question.”
“Even if—”
He held up his palm. “No exceptions. We’re under intense scrutiny right now. If the board catches wind that you’re doing something even slightly suspicious, we could both lose our jobs.”
I was about to press further, but our conversation was interrupted by a high-pitched scream: “Get your hands off me!”
This time, the ruckus was next to the kitchen.
A six-foot-tall, stocky man with a graying crew cut and a vicious expression held Rainbow’s tiny wrist in one hand, her backpack in the other. She struggled, clearly trying to escape. A small crowd of murmuring onlookers gathered nearby. Chuck wasn’t among them.
Gabriel’s voice boomed. “What’s going on here?”
As the stranger whipped toward Gabriel, Rainbow jerked her arm from his grasp and yanked back the backpack. She hugged the pack to her chest and stumbled several steps back. Crew Cut stomped the same number of steps toward her.
“Your little road trip has come to an end, young lady. You’re coming with me.”
Gabriel stepped between them, face locked in a dangerous expression. “She’s not going anywhere until I know who you are and what you’re doing in my facility. Step away from her or I’ll call the police.”
Crew Cut sneered. “Be my guest. The cops can shackle the little delinquent and drag her ass home that way. She’s a sixteen-year-old runaway, and I’m her stepfather. Police or no police, she’s coming with me.”
Gabriel’s voice softened but he didn’t yield. “Rainbow, is that true?”
“Rainbow?” The stranger snorted. “That’s what she’s calling herself now? Rainbow? What other sunshine has she blown up your ass?”
“Sir, I wasn’t talking to you.” Gabriel spit out the word “sir” like a swear word. His voice softened again. “Rainbow, who is this man?”
“No one. Just the pile of trash that married my mother.”
The stranger raised his right hand as if preparing to strike her. “Watch your mouth, you little—”
In one fluid motion, Gabriel grabbed the stranger’s wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. “That’s it. You’re out of here.”
The stranger kept snarling, this time at Gabriel. “Fine. March me out like some bum. You’ll regret it. I’ll be back, and next time I’m bringing the cops. We’ll see how tough you are when they arrest you for harboring a runaway.”
He struggled out of Gabriel’s grip and pointed at Rainbow. “Don’t let that innocent face fool you. Give her an inch and she’ll shoot you in the back. Tell them, Rainbow,” he sneered. “Tell them what an ungrateful little wretch you are. I let you live in my house and eat my food, and how did you repay me? You swiped my cash and stole my gun.”
Rainbow involuntarily glanced at her backpack.
Gabriel’s voice softened, but it held a dangerous intensity. “Rainbow, do you have a gun?”
She gaped at him with wide, frightened eyes. “I … I … ”
That’s all she got out before she choked back a sob and darted out the front door.
ten
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on payroll and trying not to obsess about Rainbow. I’d spent twenty minutes combing the streets for her after I left Teen Path HOME, to no avail. She’d blended back into the cityscape as if she’d never existed.
I knew Gabriel wouldn’t approve of my search, but that didn’t stop me. Rainbow was in trouble, and not just because of her stepfather or the gun she likely carried on her person. She’d been upset about something in class, long before her stepfather arrived.
By the time I left my home office at five o’clock to head for the studio, the day’s overcast skies had darkened to charcoal. Some Like It Hot Yoga’s Ten Classes for Ten Dollars! sign turned my mood the same color. If I didn’t come up with a brilliant new marketing strategy, ten dollars would soon be my bank account balance.
When I arrived at the studio, Tiffany was watering the plants in the lobby. She wore leopard-print yoga pants and a form-fitting T-shirt with the words Three Months Down, Six to Go written across her lower belly. She noticed my gaze and ran her fingertips along the words. “Chad bought me this. I’m actually only at ten weeks, so it’s a little early for me to start wearing my pregnancy like a billboard. But it makes Chad happy, so I figured what the hell. I’m young. What are the chances that something will go wrong?” Her face turned bright red. “I mean, not that you’re old … ”
I placed my hand on hers. “I get it. I’m happy for you, remember?”
&
nbsp; She furrowed her brow. “Well you certainly don’t look happy. Is everything okay?”
“Honestly? No.” I shared what had happened earlier at Teen Path HOME.
“That crew cut guy sounds like a real jerk,” Tiffany said. “If he finds her again, will she seriously have to go home with him?”
“Gabriel and I talked about it afterwards. If he’s really her stepfather, she probably will.”
“You’re kidding.”
I shrugged. “It’s the law. Gabriel was upset, but he said there wasn’t anything he could do about it.”
“But you said that guy was going to hit her!”
“It sure looked that way, but he never actually touched her. If he does hit her, or if Rainbow says that he has in the past, Gabriel will arrange for the police to take her to a foster home, at least temporarily.”
Tiffany shuddered. “From what I hear, that may be worse.”
I’d heard the same thing, but I didn’t want to think about it. Ignorance is bliss, right?
Four hours and two drop-in classes later, I ushered my final students out the front door. The clouds had stopped threatening, choosing instead to douse the sidewalks in icy sheets of rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
That was my cue to hurry home. Bella, for all her bravado, was terrified of thunder. Mouse was great for separation anxiety, but thunder phobia required human comfort.
I was halfway out the back door when I heard a tentative knock at the front. Selfish Kate urged me to keep going. Ignore it. You closed five minutes ago.
But how could I? What if one of my students had forgotten something important, like her house keys? “Hang on, Bella,” I muttered to the empty space.
I hurried back through the lobby and glanced out the window. A waterlogged teenager waved at me. What was Rainbow doing here? Wet hair was plastered against her scalp like a blonde helmet. Water poured in rivulets down her face.
She knocked again. “Kate, I can see you standing there. Let me in. I’m freezing.”
Three reproachful voices vied for dominance in my head. Dad led off with a stern admonition: Don’t let her in. If you give shelter to a known runaway without calling the police, you’re guilty of harboring a minor. Gabriel added, You have to keep strict boundaries. All off-site contact with minors is strictly prohibited. Dharma used Gabriel’s own words against him: Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can.