Inventing Herself Read Free Page A

how hard she’d tried, she couldn’t conjure up a face for Prince Charming.
    She was all for fairy tale endings for girls who wanted them. She was all for the white knight on a horse if that was what a girl craved. She’d never thought of herself as that girl. She’d wanted all the things she now had, but it was becoming increasingly clear that she’d missed one small detail.
    Not Prince Charming, that wasn’t her. Not someone to save her, she could save her own damn self, thank you. But … someone to share it all with. Someone who would be happy with her.
    Maybe that’s what was at her centre. It wasn’t lost on Sophie as she drifted off that it scared her to death.
    Run!
    Sophie rushed down the sidewalk, dodging people who apparently had nowhere to be this morning. Thank God she only wore flats, and also thank God her new black leather boots seemed to be secretly structured like a tennis shoe, because she was flying. She darted up the steps into the building and rushed past the security guard, Herman.
    ‘Morning, Herman!’ she shouted, coming to a cold stop at the bank of elevators and hitting the button for the seventh floor.
    She heard his deep chuckle. He was a humongous man with a thick handlebar moustache and sea green eyes. ‘Running late, Soph?’
    She laughed. ‘What gave me away?’ The elevator dinged, parted, and waited for her entry. ‘Gotta go! But dig out the pictures of the new grandbaby for me. I want to see when I come back down!’
    ‘Will do,’ he boomed even as the doors hissed shut.
    Her heart was thudding, her legs felt rubbery. It was too early to run and she hadn’t even had proper coffee yet. Sophie found the list that Temperance had given her and opened it with shaking fingers. Of all the things on there, yoga seemed the least intimidating. For some reason, writing letters to herself kind of weirded her out. So that would be where she started.
    Inside the office of There , the bright lights and chatter seemed a bit overwhelming. Not enough sleep and that faceless man in her dirty fantasy were weighing on Sophie.
    Brush it off. Get on with your day …
    She slid into her chair, hoping to escape Temperance’s gaze from the big bank of office windows. Temperance sat up there at her desk like a bird of prey on its perch. Sophie typed “Yoga studios” into her search engine and added her zip code when prompted to do so.
    A slew of names came up. So many of them she felt overwhelmed. It was stupid and childish, but she put her head down on her desk blotter and groaned.
    ‘Why are you moaning and why are you looking for yoga studios?’ Kate asked, plopping into Sophie’s visitor chair.
    ‘Assignment,’ Sophie sighed.
    ‘Your assignment is yoga?’
    ‘My assignment is finding my centre in the new year.’
    ‘Is that a –?’
    ‘Do not say sex joke!’ Sophie hissed but then giggled. Kate followed suit.
    ‘Oh- kay . Is it like a Zen thing?’
    ‘Pretty much. I have a list.’ She waved it.
    ‘Well, if you want a yoga studio just go to Oakmount Studios up on Bradford Avenue. The instructor – if you get Joel – is to-die-for. So hot it’ll melt your mat.’
    ‘Yeah? Do they take walk-ins?’
    ‘Yep.’ Kate checked her watch. ‘If you hurry you can make the ten o’clock class.’
    ‘I don’t have anything to wear!’ Sophie chewed her lower lip.
    ‘Sweetheart, I have a bag in my car with some clean leggings, a tank top, hell, a mat! Everything you need and not an excuse to be found.’
    ‘I didn’t know you were into yoga.’ Sophie frowned. Now she really had to do it.
    Kate grinned. ‘I’m not really. I just like to mix up my exercise routine and I’m definitely into men like Joel.’ She waggled her eyebrows. ‘Good luck with it.’
    ‘What’s your assignment?’ Sophie asked.
    ‘ The Bad Girls’ Guide to Good Cooking .’
    ‘Jealous,’ Sophie moaned.
    ‘Don’t be. I can fucking burn water.’
    ‘Now we move into downward dog.’ Joel’s rich