“My wha...?”
Red nodded toward Delaney’s waist. “Your anterior superior iliac spines. When you stood up just now, it looked like you might have a lateral pelvic tilt. Your hips are off just a little bit. I could check to see if one side of your pelvis is higher than the other. But if you’re like Humphrey, I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Oh.” It took Delaney a moment to process everything Red had just said. Delaney recalled Sunny saying that her sister was a massage therapist. “No, I wasn’t talking about me.” Delaney laughed and ran her hands through her hair. “When I said ‘reminds me of someone’ I meant Wyatt. This other dog. He escapes from Sunny’s place and comes over to my motorcycle shop. The one that used to be named Sinbad.”
Red tilted her chin up. “Oh, wow. You’re the shop girl? Yeah. Of course you are. That makes sense.”
“Yep. That’s me.”
Red tsked her tongue. “I’ve heard all about Sinbad. Small world.” Then her expression got serious. “Do you want me to check, then? The ASISs?”
“Go for it.” Delaney opened her arms wide, then let them fall back to her sides. Why was she being awkward? Going overboard to prove that she was not like Humphrey wasn’t going to prove that she was not like Humphrey. “What do I have to do?”
“Just stand there.” Red kneeled down and felt around the front of Delaney’s hips, both thumbs landing on either of the bony ridges of her pelvis. So that’s what an ASIS was. Red leaned back and drew an invisible line, thumbs meeting just under Delaney’s navel. Red squinted. Then she ran her hands around to the back and sunk her fingertips into Delaney’s shorts, right around the bones at the top of her butt and looked up at the ceiling. “Yeah,” Red said, after feeling around for a while. “Left is higher than the right. More than half an inch, I think, though I’m just doing a very quick scan right here.”
“What causes that?”
“Could be dysfunction of the SI joint,” Red said as she rose up. “I’d have to do a thorough intake, but if you’ve been in the Marine Corps for twenty years, I’m not surprised. Carrying heavy packs, etcetera. You should come in for a massage.” Red smiled. “I prefer dogs, but I do humans, too.”
“Ha. That’s cute. Sunny told me you massage the dogs.”
“Sunny’s and Pete’s.”
“Well, that’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard, Red.” Delaney grinned at her and Red’s cheeks got a little pink to match her hair. Cute. “Thanks for the assessment. I’ll get back to you on the massage. Speaking of Sunny, do you think she’ll be in? I’m wondering how Wyatt-Formerly-Sinbad is doing.”
Red started laughing so hard her eyes teared up. “Sunny doesn’t have a membership here,” she said between chuckles. “She thinks we’re all crazy.” Red waved a hand around at the group gathering in front of the whiteboard, ready for the warm-up. “Sunny teaches spin classes.”
Delaney smiled. On one level, Sunny wasn’t wrong. They were all a little crazy here. “That’s alright. I’ll just text her.” Delaney almost went to the cubbies to get her phone and text while she was thinking about it, but both Detective Callahan and Tabitha walked in at that moment. Tabitha waved hello but Callahan didn’t notice her at first, his strides steady and straight as he headed toward one of the restrooms. He had a bag on his shoulder and was wearing slacks and a dress shirt, his badge on a chain around his neck. A glance at the clock showed he only had a couple of minutes to change and be on time for class. Nobody liked to be late if Rhett was coaching the class; he was worse than Delaney’s seventh grade history teacher who gave you an extra page of homework for every minute you were tardy.
Tabitha got Trinity settled next to Humphrey and fell in beside Delaney and Red.
“Hey, Tabitha. Glad you came back. Working out?” Red nodded toward the group as she headed in that direction.
“Definitely.” Tabitha seemed in high spirits.
“Yep.” Delaney shook herself and followed along, training her eyes at the whiteboard to see what was on the menu for today. Hopefully not handstand walks. Last thing she needed was clumsy Callahan smashing into her. Delaney felt the corners of her mouth turning up.
Looked like front squats, dead lifts, 400s and lateral burpees over the barbell. Delaney felt her heart jack up with excitement, even as Tabitha groaned beside her. “I’m going to die,” she whispered.
Delaney elbowed her in the ribs. “You’ll be fine.”
“Detective Callahan told me the same thing.”
“You guys know each other?” Delaney snapped her head in Tabitha’s direction.
“A little. He helped me out recently.” Tabitha pretended like she was zipping her lips as she nodded in Rhett’s direction.
Rhett had just finished his intro to the workout when Callahan sidled up behind Delaney, off to her left. She caught him in her periphery, not seeing him so much as she smelled his mintiness.
“Alright, let’s get warm.” Rhett clapped his hands together, sending everyone scattering to do a 400m run. Delaney hoped the detective would run next to her so she could casually bring up the stolen bike but Rhett called him back. “You were late, Callahan. I want ten burpees before you start your run.”
Delaney finally looked Callahan’s way and caught his eye, just as he dropped without protest to the ground and executed a push-up. As he stood and finished the burpee with a jump, arms stretched overhead, the “My House” video popped into Delaney’s memory. She pictured Callahan’s Mean Cop Face as he lip-synced,Morning comes and you know that you wanna stay...and she burst into laughter. She immediately covered her mouth with her fingertips, even as Callahan offered her a slight, confused grin.
Rhett’s gaze shot in her direction. “I agree that this is hysterical, but why aren’t you running, Marine?”
Delaney bit down on her lower lip and swallowed her laughter. She almost said,I’m retired, but knew what Rhett’s response would be.Once a marine, always a marine. She gave Callahan one final chuckle and took off outside, through the open bay door, into the gray sky that was just starting to pop with the opening strains of a new thunderstorm.
Tabitha was a much slower runner and fell in with one of the other ladies, but somehow, Callahan caught up with Delaney. He came sprinting up beside her, his feet heavy and breathing labored.