she produced the police report that proved it had belonged to her mother, and the legal fees to pursue it would likely cost more than she’d spent on the ring.
That was what Gigi had expected, and she didn’t regret for a moment that she’d plunked down the cash for it. All she wanted was information about who the San Francisco auction house represented when they sold it to Mid-Coast. Any clue to help her track down her mother was welcome.
Of course, in return for all of his hard work, Gigi had offered to take Sebastian out for dinner. The invitation had led to checking out her current wardrobe and trying to decide what to wear out on a date. After spending an hour trying on everything in her closet, she’d determined that either everything had shrunk in the dryer or she’d gained a few pounds.
“The dryer. Definitely, the dryer,” she muttered to herself as she yanked on her yoga pants and wrestled her way into a sports bra she hadn’t worn in over a year. Once she was strapped into the torture device, she pulled a tank top on and made her way outside to her back deck with her yoga mat. Surely some yoga for strength training would help her lose five pounds before dinnertime rolled around, right?
Gigi wasn’t so delusional that she expected any of her clothes to feel better after one yoga session, but it would make her feel better about whatever she ordered for dinner. After pulling up a routine on YouTube, she practiced the deep breathing and did her best to follow along with the instructor.
“This isn’t too hard,” she said to no one as she practiced her downward dog and stretched out her calves one at a time. In fact, it felt really good, and she vowed to make yoga a daily part of her routine.
Pleased with herself, she followed along as the instructor coached her into a forward pigeon pose. The stretch felt great, and she was confident when the coach told her to sit up and reach behind her to grab one of her bent legs. That’s when everything went horribly wrong.
“Oh, son of a… holy shit!” A muscle in her back spasmed, sending pain shooting through her lower back and hip that caused her to flail, leaving her lying on her side as her back continued to spasm. Tears pricked her eyes as she tried to breathe through the pain, waiting for it to subside. Only it didn’t. When she tried to roll over to push herself up, another pain shot from her lower back and down her thigh. She couldn’t lift her head or her arms without her entire body tensing up.
Gigi lay on her deck, staring up at the fog that was rolling in and cursing her luck. How long would she lay there until someone found her? Presumably, two and a half hours if Sebastian was on time to pick her up. Unless… She reached out for the computer, gritting her teeth against the shooting pain. By the time she pulled the laptop toward her, she was panting and sweat slicked her brow.
Gods, she must be a mess. But if she could get Skyler or one of her coven mates to hurry over and help her up, at least she wouldn’t be stranded on the porch in her too tight yoga gear when Sebastian arrived.
Since her phone was in the house, all she had was email. Who was the one who was most likely to see it right away? Skyler probably, but she remembered he’d actually flown down to LA for the day to take some meetings. That left Hope, Joy, or Grace. She wasn’t sure what Grace or Hope were doing, but she knew Joy was prepping for one of those commercials she was offered. It wasn’t something she was excited about, but it paid too well to pass it up. Joy wouldn’t mind taking a break from practicing her lines for the blood pressure medication, would she? Gigi didn’t think so.
After tapping on her email, she went to the last email chain she’d had with Joy and typed an SOS message, begging her to come help. It took less than a minute for a new email to pop up, only it wasn’t from Joy, it was from Sebastian, indicating that he was on his way.
“What the hell?” Gigi scanned the message and realized she hadn’t replied to Joy at all. She’d replied to Sebastian, who’d CC’d