“It makes you happy.”
She nods. “So, so happy. It’s my favorite thing in the world.”
“Girls like Tara can see that. She knows how much you love being Sophie. How much joy you get from it. I don’t have to see you act to know that you do it with your whole heart, and I bet you light up the stage. Tara knows you got this role because you deserve it, and I promise you, that makes her ragey. You have something she wants, and you got it because you earned it. The only way for her to make herself feel better about that is to try and tear you down.” I squeeze her hand again, waiting until she looks at me. “High school can be the worst sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. The best thing you can do is to find something you love, which you’ve already done, and stick to the people you know have your back.”
“Zoe does,” Riley says with a smile.
“Does she?” Riley and Zoe’s friendship makes me unreasonably happy. I’ve known Zoe since she was born, and I’ve had a front row seat to watching her grow up, maybe even helping to raise her a little, just the way Molly, Julie, and Hallie helped my mom raise me.
Riley nods, reaching for her phone and unlocking it, opening her messages and handing the phone to me.
Zoe
Fuck that girl, Ry. She wouldn’t know good acting if it hit her on her stupidly wide, way too shiny forehead.
You’re the best Sophie that there ever was.
Mute that dumb group chat. We don’t need it anyway.
“Zoe’s a really good friend, just like her mom.”
“She is. I’m glad I met her this year.”
Setting down her phone, I take Riley’s other hand too. “Focus on how much you love the play and the people who careabout you, like Zoe. You’re close to your brother, and you have a dad who would walk over hot coals for you.” I consider my next words, whether it’s an offer I should be making considering all the complexity between Cam and me, and then figure,What the hell?“And if you ever need someone else to talk to who was once a thirteen-year-old girl in ninth grade and knows what it’s like, you can always talk to me.”
Riley glances out at the ice and then back to me. “Would it be okay if I, like, texted you sometimes? You’re really easy to talk to, and you give good advice.”
I have to swallow down the emotion that bubbles up in my throat at Riley’s question. The vulnerability in her voice. Nothing in the world would make me say no to her right now. “Of course.”
She unlocks her phone again and hands it to me so I can put in my number, and when I give it back to her, she tucks it away in her backpack before grabbing another bag of M&M’s—peanut butter this time—and gives me a wicked grin. “So, what’s going on between you and my dad?”
I inhale sharply, letting out a sputtering cough. “What?”
Riley rolls her eyes. “I’m not blind. I see the way he looks at you. I’ve never seen my dad look at any other woman like that, ever. I’ve never even really seen him with another woman at all. He definitely likes you. Do you like him, too?”
“We work together,” I say lamely, and my answer definitely doesn’t impress Riley because the look she gives me says, very clearly,You are so full of shit.
“Okay,” she says. “But I think you should definitely like him. He’s pretty great—you know, for a dad—and you’re super cool.”
I don’t know what it says about me that I feel like I won something by being labeled cool by a thirteen-year-old girl, but before I can figure it out, Cam skates over and leans on the boards, arms crossed, glancing at me and then at Riley. When he focuses on her, his eyes narrow a fraction, concern flashing overhis face, and I know he sees the remains of her tears. “What’s going on over here?”
“Just talking,” Riley says casually, leaning back on the bench and crossing her legs in front of her.
When Cam looks at me, I see the question he doesn’t ask out loud.
Is she okay?
I nod, giving him a small smile. Relief replaces concern, and the gratitude in his eyes almost knocks me over. I’ve always had my mom’s ability to read people and situations easily, and I assess this one in an instant. Cam has been parenting on his own for years. He makes it look practically effortless, but being the sole source of emotional support for two kids can’t be easy, especially with the demands of his job and all the time he spends away with the team.
Cam is lonely.
The same thought I had that first day in my office comes back to me, except this time, I don’t remind myself to be objective. I can’t. Because Ethan hugged me after I made that goal, and Riley opened up to me, and every time Cam looks at me, I never want him to look away. And I’m self-aware enough to understand what that means.
Eventually, one way or another, this is happening.
I just hope I can keep it from taking down my entire professional life in the process.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
