‘Thank you,’ is her response. ‘I like yours too.’
I like Harmony. I guess I’m in awe of her. This is her second year as captain of the squad, and she has to walk a fine line between keeping everyone in check but also maintaining friendships. Everyone loves and respects her, but I sense she keeps her distance a little in order to remain impartial and just a teensy bit authoritarian.
‘Thank you,’ I say.
We sit in silence for a moment. ‘Can I ask you something?’ I ask, keeping my voice low. ‘What if Persia had refused to change her dress?’
Harmony’s lips twist. ‘Then she’d be sitting on her own in the CMC locker room right about now.’
‘Would that have bothered you?’
‘Not as much as if it had been game night and she’d refused to go out on the field for any reason. It’s only a wedding. I doubt anyone would miss her.’
‘You do a real good job.’
She laughs, looking out the window. ‘I don’t know about that.’
‘Can I ask you something else?’
She turns her head back around to face me. ‘Ask away.’
‘I was gonna ask about…’ I swallow. I want to know how she manages to keep her cool, knowing that a hot NFL player is crazy for her and she’s managed to resist his advances the entire time she’s been on the squad. I want to know how she manages to put up fences around her heart. Because the more attention Jake Walsh pays me, the more I’m tempted to give him my phone number, violating the terms of my contract.
‘Actually, don’t worry. It’s none of my business,’ I say.
I feel my cheeks burn. I keep my eyes forward, looking out the window as the coach leaves Danube Stadium behind.
‘To be in this squad, we have to make choices sometimes,’ Harmony says after a moment. ‘But we also have to back our own decisions, even if we doubt the validity of them, or if it makes us unpopular. Doin’ the right thing by you might not be the right choice for somebody else. I think you have great potential, Ren. I think you could be captain of this squad one day.’
I blink at her. ‘You do?’
‘I really do. I know we don’t know each other well. But I can see you’re the kind of person who always wants to do the right thing. And that’s an asset to be exulted. I believe we uphold values of common decency in this squad. And you’re the embodiment of those good values. I can tell.’
I grant her a big smile, but on the inside I crumple.
She doesn’t know about my double life.
None of these girls do.
And just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach.
The Club House at the Canyon Country Club is an enormous white building with black-and-white tiled floors and pillars out front. On arrival, men in suits usher us through the building to a large patch of grass at the back, where rows of gold seats have been lined up in a half-moon shape, facing a pretty white pergola with fresh pink roses woven through its wooden frame. We’re high up, and the view is stunning out across the gulf, the crashing waves audible in the distance.
The other guests are already seated. I feel all eyes on the squad as we enter. Kathleen stands at one end of a row, shepherding us all in one by one.
‘Sit with me, sit with me,’ Jewel hisses at me from behind, grabbing my hand. ‘That’s him over there, see?’
I glance to my right. On the other side of the central aisle, which is lined with a long carpet, is the Mutineers football team and their plus ones: glamorous wives and girlfriends and otherwise. It doesn’t take me long to locate Jake Walsh. He’s looking over his shoulder and smiling at me, the breeze ruffling his hair. He looks different in suit and tie. There’s a woman in a purple satin dress sitting next to him.
Jewel squeezes my hand. ‘Oh my god, don’t look,’ she breathes. ‘He’s looking this way.’
Kathleen makes eyes at me, and I move down the row, Jewel on my tail. We both sit down at the same time.
‘What do you think?’ Jewel asks me. ‘Seriously cute, huh?’
‘What’s there to get so het up about?’ I ask innocently. ‘You do know you signed a contract, right?’
‘I swear, if Jake Walsh asked me out on a date, I’d tear up my contract right there.’
