She shook her head. “It’s not. I made an offer on that building in the Lower Garden District because, in addition to a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar grand prize, the winner of the contest is guaranteed a loan of up to two million. That’s how I was planning to buy the building. Talk about counting your damn chickens before they hatch!”
Thad captured her hands. “It’ll be okay, Ashanti. I don’t know how yet, but things will work out. They just will.”
Shewas usually the one with the perpetually positive outlook, but Ashanti couldn’t summon a bit of that positivity right now. All she could think about was that location she’d coveted above all others and how close she had come to owning it.
She pushed herself up from the seat.
“Let’s go. I need my dog.”
By the time Ashanti arrived home, all she wanted to do was lose herself in an hour-long bubble bath and a good book, but she hadn’t had the chance to indulge in those kinds of luxuriesin nearly three years. What shewantedto do didn’t matter, there was one thing shehadto do.
She filled Duchess’s water bowl, gave her a treat for being such a good dog on the ride home from the airport, and set her in front of the TV with an episode ofSpongeBob. Then she headed for the stairs.
“We’ve got this,” Ashanti whispered to her parents’ picture as she passed it on her way to Kendra’s room. She rapped on the door with her knuckles.
“Ken?” Ashanti called.
Several beats of silence ticked by before the door opened.
“Hey,” Kendra said.
“I know you said you didn’t want to talk tonight, but it’s time. No more putting this off.”
Kendra waved her in, then went over to her bed and sat cross-legged on it. Ashanti settled into the faux fur desk chair. Just as she was about to speak, she heard the familiartap, tap, tapof Duchess’s nails a moment before her dog waddled into the room. She walked over to the edge of Kendra’s bed and barked at her.
“Are you demanding to get in my bed?” Kendra asked. She scooped Duchess up and sat her between her spread-out knees. “You go to New York and come back acting like even more of a diva.”
“That’s a nationwide star you have in your arms there,” Ashanti said. She smiled, but then sobered. “Okay, Ken, what’s the deal? Why have you been in such a mood lately?”
“It’s stupid, Shanti. I don’t know why you’re so worked up over this.”
“Because you haven’t been yourself, and it has me worried. Is it girlfriend trouble?”
Kendra rolled her eyes. “I don’t have a girlfriend anymore,” she said.
“I know that, but maybe that’s the problem.”
“It’s not girlfriend trouble,” she said. She wrapped her arms around Duchess and rested her cheek on the top of the dog’s head. Duchess, of course, ate up the attention, wiggling her butt in a clear invitation for scritches. Kendra scratched her bottom.
“If it isn’t girlfriend trouble, then what is it?” Ashanti asked. “Is something going on at school?”
Kendra’s eyes flashed to hers before focusing on Duchess again.
“What’s going on at school?” Ashanti asked. “And don’t say it’s nothing. It is something, and I’m not leaving this room until you tell me what it is. Now, based on your reaction when I asked about the literary magazine just before I left for New York, I think that may have something to do with it? Am I on the right track?”
Kendra blew out a heavy sigh. “That’s part of it,” she said.
And just like that, Ashanti knew what was wrong. “You didn’t get the managing editor position, did you?”
Kendra shook her head.
“Oh, Ken.” Ashanti pinched her eyes shut and released a breath. She should feel relieved that it wasn’t anything more serious, but when she thought back on how worried she had been, it made her want to scream. She could not believe her sister had put her through all of this because of that school magazine. Yet, she understood why Kendra felt this way. That magazine meant everything to her.
“These things happen,” Ashanti said. “I know you’ve been vying for that position, but you still have your senior year. That is no reason for you to be in such a funk.”
“You have to admit being managing editor would be impressive on my college applications.”
“I literally pointed out that you still have your senior year to make managing editor not even five seconds ago, Kendra.” Why were teenagers so dramatic? “You have time.”
