Haddie nodded approvingly. “I knew I liked Tommy the second I met him.” Then she winced.
Emma’s brows drew together. “Then why do you look like you just ate a lemon wedge?”
Haddie groaned and dropped her head to the announcer’s desk, banging it lightly against the damp, peeling wooden ledge. “Because it appears that I am and always will be a terrible judge of character.”
Emma slapped her palms on the desk, and Haddie jumped.
“Um…hellooo?” Emma said, pointing at herself with both her thumbs. “I am made 100 percent of extremely good character, no additives or preservatives, and you fell for me the second you met me.”
Haddie raised her brows and dipped her head toward Emma’s T-shirt. “After I got past the kitschy tees. It was touch and go before that.”
Emma stood and adopted an exaggerated runway-esque pose. “Except then you realized the tees make me happy, and that I make you happy, and we both lived happily ever after. The end.”
Haddie playfully flicked her friend’s messy topknot and sighed. “Yeah, I guess it was true love or soulmates or whatever you want to call it.”
Emma collapsed back into her chair. “And from what I know of Tommy Crawford, you’re pretty spot-on with your initial assessment of him, so where is this character-assessment doubt coming from?” Her expression grew somber. “And if this is when we talk about Chicago, I promise to stop cracking jokes starting now.”
Haddie swallowed a knot in her throat. “You mean my grandmonster? You already know all there is to know.” She did her best to keep her voice even.
Emma nodded slowly. “Yeah, your grandmonster,” she began gently. “I know you’re grieving that loss in your own way. But you’re also grieving the loss of a perfectly good job at a perfectly good school in a city I know you loved, and I don’t quite get how they’re all connected.”
Haddie felt all the color drain from her face.
“Hads,” Emma continued when Haddie still hadn’t formed a response. “I don’t want you to feel pressured to talk about anything you’re not ready to talk about. But I’m here whenever you are, okay?”
Haddie pressed her lips together and nodded. “I just want to move on, Ems. Here, in my new life with you and Matteo, and my very unexpected new roommate.”
Emma gasped, clapped, and bounced once in her seat all at the same time. “Are you two in love? Did he propose with a giant Toblerone? Are you going to be my sister-in-law?”
Haddie snort-laughed, at once aghast but also grateful that Emma knew exactly what she needed in this particular moment—ridiculous suspicions that were laughably off the mark.
“Not even the tiniest bit close, my friend. In fact, I’m pretty sure any lingering attraction I had toward him has effectively been squashed like a sidewalk overrun with cicadas.” So what if the man brushed his teeth before bed wearing nothing but a pair of sleep pants and a self-assuredness that silently said,I know you like the view? She could still appreciate such a view and at the same time unappreciate his lack of empathy for the school’s soccer program.
Emma winced. “Thank you for the nightmare-inducing analogy.”
“You’re welcome.” And then she told Emma everything—from meeting Tommy at the back-to-school event to being impressed at how much Levi wore his affection for his friend on his sleeve to the same manshrugging offthe notion that the soccer program’s budget was not being cut. No, no, no. The program was being dismantledaltogether because the teams never made it that far in their conferences, and the program was more of a money suck than a money draw for the district.
“So, you know…” Haddie continued. “Bye-bye to the one thing you might love or that you might be good at, kids. This here’s a football town!”
Emma narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Principal Crawford’s email didnotsay ‘This here’s a football town.’”
Haddie threw her arms in the air. “It might as well have. Because that’s how it sounded in my head, and…ugh! Levi just washed his hands of the whole situation and said, ‘What’s done is done.’”
Emma nodded, adding, “Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm,” for emphasis. “And how did that make you feel?”
Haddie groaned. “You know you’re not actually a therapist, right?”
Her friend shrugged. “I’m getting into character. But also, howdidit make you feel when he said that? I mean, you two have been living together for almost two weeks now. As friends, right?”
Haddie backhanded her friend on the shoulder. “Yes as friends! How many times are you going to ask me that before you believe me?”
Emma pouted. “I don’t know. You’re hot.He’shot. You’re my best friend, and he’s my fiancé’s brother. How amazing would it be if you and Levi really did fall in love? You could buy the house next door to ours. I don’t think it’s for sale, but Matteo and I could turn our place into a frat house long enough to drive them away. I’d totally do that for you. And then we can grow old together likewe were meant to.”
Haddie pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and then let out a long exhale. “Ems. I love you. Truly, I do. But Levi Rourke and me? Never gonna happen.” Even though it almost had and Haddie still thought about that almost-had at least once a day.
“Right… Right…” Emma replied. “Because that thing he said about cutting the soccer program made you feel…?”
“Betrayed, okay?” Haddie blurted out. “It made me feel betrayed. He knows how excited I am about coaching these kids and how much it means to me, but this year for him is just a quick little detour until he gets back to what he actuallywantsto be doing. Ems, this job and these kids areitfor me if Coach Crawford doesn’t let me go before I make tenure. How am I supposed to tell them that whatever happens this year, it doesn’t matter because the program is over before the season even begins.” Her eyes widened. “Oh wait. I can’t because Coach Crawford said we need to keep everything under wraps until the school board approves his decisions, which he’s confident they will.”
