“Stretch first.” Mavis tossed me a water bottle before slipping into a deep lunge.

Flexibility had never been a strong talent of mine, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to give it my all. I’d managed to follow Mavis with a few alternate stretches until she announced it was time.

She took off, heading for the sidewalk in front of the house, and I followed quickly behind her. Part of me wanted to stop and kiss Owen goodbye, but the other part of me wanted to punch him in the nose for treating me like I was some sort of breakable object.

“He’s going to hurt Kenny,” Mavis said. Resignation laced her words. “I should have already taught him.”

“What? Why?” I kept pace beside her despite my longer stride.

“It happens.” She shrugged. “Part of the learning process. He won’t do it to be mean, but that’s why he refused to teach you. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he hurt you, not even on accident.”

“But I’m part of all this and I want to be able to take care of myself.” I shook my head. “Men are so stupid.”

“They have too many heads.” Mavis smiled. “Means their thoughts don’t know where to go.”

I laughed, drawing the attention of some neighbors exiting their front door. Mavis raised her hand and smiled at them. They waved back in acknowledgment.

“Let’s go before they walk over to say hello.” Mavis took off with ease and I was left pounding the pavement behind her.

She might be a tiny woman, but there was an untapped well of energy hiding inside. I wasn’t that out of shape, but I eventually stopped seeing anything around me except the next few feet of ground. My shoes were the cheap tennis shoes I’d bought with Owen and my toes started to protest. The promise of water and a flat surface was the only thing that kept me going.

That and the desire to be able to take care of myself.

When we turned back on to Mavis’s street my lungs were screaming and my legs felt wobbly. I used to love to run. It was the perfect time to think, but I’d passed that time mark an hour ago.

“Want to do the circuit again?” Mavis looked over her shoulder at me.

I didn’t respond. The only words I was capable of at this point were of the four-letter variety and I honestly didn’t want to waste any oxygen on them. Which was a new thing for me. Instead I went around to the back of her house intent on a giant glass of water.

Owen was wearing sweatpants and a white t-shirt that stretched over his muscles as he walked Kenny through some sort of exercise. I had to remind myself I was irritated with him as I walked past to go in the kitchen. An older man was busy at the counter and I froze. Slowly I walked backward until I was again on the patio.

“Um, Owen?” I checked behind me to make sure I was at the right house. Yep. I had walked into the right kitchen.

“Yes?”

“There’s an old man in the kitchen.”

“That’s Mr. Felding. He’s the butler,” Kenny explained. “He’ll get you anything you need. And he makes great sandwiches.”

“Uh huh.” I frowned. I hadn’t noticed any household staff last night. Then again, we had arrived very late.

I walked back into the kitchen and the old man turned to smile at me.

“Good morning, ma’am.” He bobbed his head. “Are you hungry?”

“No.” Just the thought of trying to process food after that run made my stomach queasy. “I’d really love some cold water, though.”

“Still or sparkling?” He moved toward the large refrigerator.

“Still.” I managed to sit at the island instead of falling flat on my face. My throat was raw from sucking in cool air during the run.

“Here you are, ma’am.” He set the glass down in front of me. “Can I help you with anything else?”

“No thank you.” I picked up the glass and chugged half of the water. “Call me Ava, please.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He wasn’t one for chit-chat which was more than okay with me. I had no idea how much he knew about his boss.

Mavis sauntered in a few minutes later and went straight to the refrigerator for a drink. She poured herself a glass of green juice and I grimaced. It would figure that Mavis was a health nut.

“Good morning, ma’am.” Mr. Felding gave her a little head bob.

“You kept up.” Mavis slid onto the stool next to me.

“I’m not sure if you noticed, but I was about ten yards behind you for most of the run.” I grimaced. “I was the one sweating and groaning. You might have mistaken me for a zombie.”

“Oh, I know you were there. The point is that you kept pace, even if you were ten yards behind me.” She tapped her glass of stinky green juice against my cup of water.

I took another drink of my water. It certainly hadn’t felt like I’d kept pace with her. She had blown past me without even trying. My eyes cut in her direction and I frowned. Looking at her, you would never know she had gone for a run.

“Okay, we’ve had a long enough break. Let’s go work on forms.” Mavis drained the rest of her drink and hopped off the stool.

I leaned over and placed one of my hot cheeks against the cool marble counter top. I didn’t want to do forms. I just wanted to die here against the cold stone.

“Get up. You’ve got a lot to learn.” She put her hands on her hips and for a brief moment I had a vision of Jazzercise Barbie.