Her outburst stopped us both cold.
“Darth Tateris fucking brilliant. I might need that on a shirt.”
Her cheeks flushed. I waited for another one of her quippy comebacks, but it never came. Instead, she spun toward the yard and walked away. Only this time, I followed.
“You know,” I said, after catching up to her. “You don’t have to hate me.”
She stared at me with an incredulous look on her face. “I don’t hate you.”
“You don’t like me.”
“I . . .” she hesitated, probably trying to come up with some lie.
“It’s okay if you don’t like me now.” I stepped in front of her, halting her steps and drawing her full attention. “You will.”
She crooked a brow. “That’s a little arrogant, don’t you think?”
I shook my head. “Not arrogant, angel. Confident.”
I left it at that, opting to step aside. Far enough to give her space—just as Soren had recommended—but close enough to keep her in my line of sight. And maybe line of hearing, too.
For fuck’s sake, I sounded like a teenager, desperate to know if their crush was talking about them. As it turned out, Nessa was less interested in me and more interested in Clarke’s latest HomeGoods purchase.
Who could blame her? HomeGoods was dope as fuck.
“It was on sale,” Clarke told the girls about her macramé hanging planter. “They also had a bigger one, but—”
“Holy Daddy, Batman.”
Startled by the change in subject, I followed June’s gaze across the yard, keen to see which of my teammates had drawn her attention. But it wasn’t one of my teammates; it was Coach Ward.
I wasn’t sure what surprised me most—the fact that Coach Ward had attended a casual, backyard gathering (because it really didn’t seem like his style), the jeans and T-shirt he was wearing (because I had never seen the man in anything otherthan athletic gear or a tailored suit), or the little girl dressed in head-to-toe purple princess garb who had her hand tucked in his.
“Did you know he had a kid?” Nessa whispered to Clarke. She took the words right out of my mouth.
“No,” Clarke answered at the same time Dani said, “Yes.”
A row of heads whipped in my roommate’s direction. She shrugged. “It’s my job to know everything about the team, and that includes the head coach.”
“Is he married?” June asked. “Please say no because I’ve got a CrossFit class full of friends who will be devastated if he’s taken.”
“Divorced. He and his ex share custody of Carolina.”
Dani was that friend who could dig up anybody’s relationship status or financial history with nothing but a first name and hair color. It kind of made me wonder what skeletons she had pulled out of my closet.
“She’s adorable,” Nessa said. “Don’t you have that same dress, Clarke?”
“Please, I’m a pink girl.” Clarke threw her hands up excitedly. “Oh! Speaking of pink, let me show you the throw pillows.”
And with that, they were back to talking about HomeGoods.
With my teammates otherwise occupied, I did something I hardly ever made the time for and sat down by myself. There was an outdoor, iron rocking chair calling my name.
As I settled into the cushions, yards away from my friends, I tried to clear my mind. There wasn’t much I was bad at—that was my confidence, not arrogance rearing its head once again—but I sucked at sitting alone with my thoughts.
Being outside seemed to help, especially when I was gardening. I’d taken a page out of Soren’s book and turned to long, scalding showers. They were his cure-all for just about everything. But it seemed like no matter how much I tried to sit still and literally do nothing, my brain wouldn’t allow it.
It was always working overtime.
