Page 57 of Something Like That

She flushed the toilet and stood there, arm braced on the wall of the stall. Her stomach gave another gurgle and heave. She sucked a breath in through her nose, pushed it out of her mouth. After a couple more, her stomach settled.

Finally confident she wasn’t going to be sick again, she opened the stall door.

Janelle stood by the sink, her arms crossed, her eyes sad. Alex walked over and rinsed her mouth out a couple of times, getting rid of the taste of sick on the back of her tongue. She glanced at herself in the mirror.

Big mistake. She looked terrible. Her skin was paper white, her eyes dull.

She turned to Janelle. Janelle tilted her head. Her lower lips trembled, just the tiniest bit. Tears welled in Alex’s eyes. She tried to blink them back again.

This time she wasn’t quite quick enough, and one spilled down her cheek. Janelle wrapped Alex in her arms before another one could fall.

She sank into the embrace, wrapping her arms around Janelle and squeezing tight. She managed to stave off the rest of the tears, but her chest still ached like she’d been crying for hours.

They stood there, holding each other in the bathroom, rocking slightly back and forth for what had to be at least ten minutes. And then Janelle started to laugh. Alex pulled away and stared at her best friend like she’d just sprouted a second head—out of her butt.

“Why are you laughing?” Her voice came out a little accusatory.

Janelle patted her on the arm. “Because we’re hugging in the bathroom. If anyone came in, they’d think we’d lost it.”

She felt one side of her mouth twitch. Her skin felt tight and brittle, but she pushed past it until she was smiling for real. Then reality came crashing back in and her smile faltered. “What are we going to do, Janelle?”

“Same thing we always do.” Janelle took her hand and squeezed her fingers. This time, a bit of hope slid through her. “We move forward.”

Janelle was right. If nothing else, they were survivors. They knew how to keep moving. Even if it was slowly, they always moved forward. And that’s exactly what they would do this time.

Even though it hurt like nothing had in a long time.

She squeezed Janelle’s fingers back and then let go. Back to reality, no matter how crappy it felt.

They exited the bathroom and walked across the lobby, heading toward the door and another uncertain future. Dammit, she had been sure this kind of turmoil was behind her.

“You know how they say the universe doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle?” She slipped through the revolving door of the building and popped out onto the sidewalk.

Janelle stepped up beside her. “Yeah?”

“Well, the universe sucks. And doesn’t know a damn thing.”

“Amen, sister.” Janelle started toward her car. “Amen.”

Nick balanced the tray of drinks in one hand and pushed open the door to the arena with the other. The same one where the Sparkles practiced. An unexpected, but not unwelcome, smile spread across his face.

Being back here brought back all the same feelings of being on the ice the last time. The pleasure and the fun, without all the pressures and expectations and failures.

The nervous energy jumping around inside him he could do without, however.

He hadn’t been this anxious since the night before he was drafted. He was all sweaty and flustered, which was stupid, because he was only attending a minor league hockey game.

Except, it was so much more than that. It was also about Alex and what happened in her little rust bucket of a car.

And about the way he’d acted when she’d taken him back to the hotel. The dark thoughts that had plagued him.

He’d let the insecurities in, let the doubts and worries take up too much real estate in his brain. She hadn’t asked for anything outside of their professional relationship, other than they keep things between them casual.

Which he was more than capable of doing. He just needed to stay out of his head and he’d be fine. Thinking had never been his strong suit, anyway.

Besides, what they’d done in her little car hadn’t required any thinking at all.

Which was something he wasn’t focusing on right now. Attending a minor league hockey game with a semi would deservedly get him thrown in jail.