Romance: My Italian Prince, Undercover Love: Sweet Romantic Comedy (9 page)

BOOK: Romance: My Italian Prince, Undercover Love: Sweet Romantic Comedy
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“OK, let’s go packing. I guess we’ll need a lot of yoga pants.”

 

“Nope, We don’t need to bring anything. Just our poor souls.” Kat said in a dramatic voice after hanging up her call. We’’ll find everything we might need over there. I told you it’s not just
some
rehab center.”

 

 

 

Chapter 9

 

 

 

 


Namaste
! Or maybe
Satnam
?” Vanessa greeted Kat with a big smile as she rolled out her yoga mat and sat down next to her on the sun deck.

 

The Garden of Peace had
embraced them both with quiet sincerity and had offered them a soothing escape as they had signed up for a program that promised
to give them
life-changing experiences. The accommodation on a hilltop above the ocean was completely off grid with solar panels, compostable toilets and a garden, which provided fruit and vegetables. Yoga took place daily on a deck overlooking the beach and classes for your own choosing of disorder followed after.

 

“It’s
Namaste,
Green,” Kat
whispered
. “And would you please keep it down, I’m trying to focus!”

 

“Oh, Sorry.”

 

Vanessa began warming up by doing some shoulder mobility exercises she had learned the oth
er day. Then the group was instructed to close their eyes and go search for their
Inner Happy Place
. Vanessa closed her eyes but couldn’t resist opening one eye to peek at her fellow yogis.

Kat was sitting on her mat with her legs crossed and her hands palm side up on her thighs. Her eyes were closed, and she drew in slow, easy breaths through her nose.
There was some serious soul-searching going on there.
Vanessa tried hard to quiet her mind and keep thoughts out in the same way she had been instructed on the crash-course yesterday, but found she couldn’t stay focused. Her mind just wouldn't stop chattering.

 

Vanessa gave up on her mediation and looked out over the people who laid on the deck. Everyone in different yoga poses. They actually looked quite funny and she couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Ouch,” Kat elbowed her and hushed.

 

Why was she so tense? This
inner
p
eace
thing
was supposed to make her feel... well peaceful. They had been attending the
Garden of Peace
for two days now and even though Vanessa felt relaxed, it hadn't transformed her life as it had promised in the brochure. She was careful not to mention this to Kat though, who was a bit sensitive to any kind of, what she called “criticism of the healing.” Kat had signed up for all the mind-freeing classes she could find. Sometimes Vanessa had woken up late at night when Kat came back dripping in sweat from one of her night-classes. At one point, she had even woken up early in the morning and got quite the shock when she saw Kat doing the sun salutation pose while standing butt naked on a stool. Although Vanessa had tried to indulge herself in the search for her inner peace, she couldn’t get into it as easy as Kat... However, this was normal. Kat was always trying out different ways of looking on life, while Vanessa was suspicious about everything that she classified as “New age mumbo jumbo.” And
The Garden of Peace
definitely went into
mumbo jumbo category
. She preferred science. Nevertheless, she had taken in lots of spiritual, “yoga words” and tried to use them in conversations as much as she could.

 

 

The Garden of Peace
was a huge site on the coast, just south of NY. It used to be a hilltop farm, but now it was all low buildings and Koi-lakes. They had settled for a cottage at the upscale
LUXE Inner-Peace Area
, but one could choose from a whole range of different kinds of accommodations. Like small cozy cabins to the gated
Ultra-Lux Ultimate-Inner-Peace
cabins. Rumors had it; it was where all the celebrities stayed. There was a hiking track and a running track, which Vanessa totally intended to use sometime. In addition, they sold fresh healthy juices and served vegetarian meals, and there was free yoga at lunchtime on the beach. In the evenings, they showed inspirational movies outside in the garden while everyone lolled on beanbags. Actually, she never wanted to leave.

 

“Who’s that?” Kat whispered in her ear. Vanessa
tried to localize whom she meant but all she could see were legs and arms pointing in odd directions from the people on the mats.

 

“Who’s who?” Vanessa whispered back, intrigued. Was it someone famous?

 

“That guy over there,” Kat gave a nod towards a man standing in the
Happy Baby Position
.

 

“Oh, the guy doing the
Ananda Balasana
pose, I do recognize him!” Vanessa felt excited, finally someone famous.

 

She couldn’t figure out who it was though, but whoever he was, he was in great shape. He was dressed in the typical
Garden of Peace-Attire
, loose yoga pants and a crop top if you were female. This guy didn’t wear anything more than his loose pants, which he had rolled up over his muscular thighs. He was tanned, and his yoga-sweat shimmered on his body as if he was smothered in oil. On a closer look, he
was
probably smothered in oil, the glow seemed a bit too perfect to be coming from pure sweat. Suddenly the guy changed his position into the snake and his face turned towards them. Vanessa gasped. She couldn’t believe this. It was Mitch! Of course it was. He was going to
Garden of Peace
that's why it had sounded so familiar to her when Kat suggested that they should go. She had thought it was because she had read so much about it lately.

 

“Oh shit, it’s Mitch,” she mouthed to Kat who sat staring with open mouth at him as he had now gotten up and stretched his back by touching his toes with his fingers.

 

The Garden’s yoga pants were quite see-through she could see now and taking they costed a fortune in the gift-shop it was pretty bad quality. She had to remember to put a pair of boxers underneath when she wore them next time. Kat still seemed transfixed at the sight of Mitch’s rear end, but had at least covered her mouth with her hand. Vanessa on the other side, felt nauseous. Her first instinct told her to run but she could see that Mitch had recognized her and had gathered his stuff and was on his way over to approach them. Shit! This was not what she had come here for.

 

“Vanessa? The nurse? Is it you?” Mitch voice was soft and sounded soothing in the same way as the teacher of the meditation class.

 

“Hmm, well, I suppose so,” Vanessa answered in a voice she felt was the opposite of calm, instead, it was high-pitched and tight.

 


Savasana,
Vanessa! You’re welcome,” he added explanatory with his soft voice.

 

“Oh, thank you,” Vanessa couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

 

“I’m Kat, Katherine actually,” Kat sounded as a starry-eyed teenager and held out her hand towards Mitch. She giggled as he bent down and kissed it.

 

“So… how’s it going for you, Mitch? Vanessa felt like she had to say something since their last encounter had been quite dramatic and it felt wrong ignoring the subject.

 

“Fantastic Vanessa, I’m glad you asked. It’s all about finding your inner voice you know,” He said in a matter-of fact voice and beamed happily. “I’m so glad you’re here Vanessa, now I begin to think it’s the universe who has interfered and sent you here so I can truly apologize to you.”

 

“Oh, just forget about it, It’s all forgotten Mitch,” Vanessa told him and patted his bare shoulder awkwardly in a motion to try to emphasize how
very
fine everything was between them.

 

“Oh, great! But it’s important for your inner journey to see face to face with your demons. I thank you for forgiving me Vanessa. Mitch then kissed her hand too and with closed eyes, he put his hands together over his chest and nodded gracefully.

 


Namaste
Vanessa.
N
amaste
,
Katherine.”

 

“Oh my god! Mitch DeLeo kissed me! Kat sounded as she was in shock and her cheeks flushed bright red.

 

“I cannot believe you did that Kat, Vanessa gave her friend a disgusted look.

 

“Did what?” Kat looked completely unaware of what she meant.

 

“Behaving like a star-struck teenager, he’s a messed up addict with a
strange
attitude toward women.”

 

“Right,” Kat nodded and looked a little ashamed. “But God was he good looking!”

 

“Katherine!”

 

“Oh, ok but you have to admit he had lost a lot of weight and he didn't look at all stressed out as you mentioned he was when you saw him.

 

“Kat, I’m serious, stop complimenting him. The man OD’d on magic mushrooms for god’s sake.”

 

“You mean he got a bellyache from all the
Magic Banana Bread
he ate,” Kat gave Vanessa a friendly push and laughed.

 

Vanessa couldn’t help but laugh too. It was quite funny after all and now when Mitch seemed all healthy it must be okay to laugh about it.

 

“What a drama-queen!” They both giggled so hard they had to leave the garden not to disturb the others doing their
trikonasana
with full concentration.

 

In the cafeteria, they sat down and ordered the
Veggie of today
which for Vanessa looked the same as the Veggie of yesterday and the day before that, a salad with quinoa, tofu, and beans. For dessert, they had a raw-food carrot-cake.

“Oh look Kat, tomorrow they serve
basil pucks
!” Vanessa studied the week’s menu and was overjoyed when she saw something different on it.

 

“Basil pucks? Sounds weird,” Kat stated and they both began giggle again.

 

“You know what we should do, Green? Try and get a look what’s it like over there,” Kat gestured towards the gated enclosure within the resort where the A-list stars supposedly
lived
at.

 

“We could walk past and just casually peek?” Kat giggled.

 

“I’ve tried,” Vanessa said regretfully, the security people just shoo you away.”

 

“Typical.” Kat said.

 


Surely, it can’t be only Mitch who’s a celebrity here. The place was supposed to be jammed packed with A-listers,” Kat sounded disappointed.

 

“I’ve heard some rumors going around that Angelina and Brad stayed at the Ultra last month,” Vanessa said in a
gossip-drenched
voice and eager to give Kat some happy news in the celebrity department.

 

The truth was Vanessa had secretly begin thinking that there weren’t any celebrities at the
Garden
at all, apart from Mitch then obviously. That is was all a PR trick to get people like her and Kat sign up to the ridiculously expensive programs. All though she had her hopes up yesterday when a celeb where to join in on the group class and it was a lot of hush-hush about it. However, in the end it was just a Victoria's Secret model who had held up the entire self-esteem group by making everyone sign individual confidentiality agreements. Then she’d spelled her name wrong and we all had to change
Candy
to
Candie
and initial it. Kat laughed so hard when Vanessa retold the story she spilled out her healthy smoothie on the floor, which made them laugh even more.

 

Vanessa felt so thrilled about the two of them being on the same page again, she was about to suggest to Kat they should order a fruit and vegetable cocktail to celebrate, when Mitch´s serene voice came up close behind them.

 

“Is he a guru or something?” Kat whispered as they observed Mitch walking around the lounge area in a
Garden of Peace
T-shirt.

 

Vanessa could easily understand why Kat was so struck by Mitch. If Vanessa hadn’t seen that other side of him, she would probably be as well. He had the most piercing blue eyes you’ve ever seen and he stares at you very intensely before he says anything. Now he wandered around the room greeting people and said spiritual things like “Your journey begins here” and really seemed to
mean
it.

BOOK: Romance: My Italian Prince, Undercover Love: Sweet Romantic Comedy
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