All the air leaves my lungs in a shaky laugh, and my head hangs, letting my braid fall over my chest.
“She did?” The squeak in my voice is apparent, but I don’t care. Keisha is having a good day, and that’s the best news I can get.
“She did,” she reassures me. “She wouldn’t stop talking about you. I know you’re over in Milan being a big shot right now, but I thought you’d want to know.”
I lean my forehead against the wall, eyes closing. For a second, I’m not team captain, I’m not an Olympian, I’m not the girl with too much responsibility stitched into her jersey.
I’m just a niece.
“Thank you,” I say, slow enough that I mean it and feel it with everything in me. “Thank you for calling me.”
“Anytime, Skye.” Her tone gets flirty, which isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
I’ve always given hints that I find her attractive. I mean, she definitely is. But now there’s no way I’d look at another female. Not with Violet’s smile burned into my memory and the taste of her kiss still lingering on my lips.
I end the call without saying anything else, and my chest feels lighter. Not fixed, not perfect, but lighter.
I walk back into the chaos of the living room, still vibrating with the good news about Keisha.
Apparently, I’m smiling like an idiot because the moment I sit down, Paige squints at me from the floor. Her brown hair is swirling over her sweaty face as she breathes heavily, probably on her fifteenth reenactment of the save.
“Oh, my God.” She dramatically points at my face. “Look at her.”
“Look at who?” I deadpan.
“You, Cappy. You look disgustingly happy. Was that your new boo?”
The entire room goes silent for a half second.
Then I hear, “New boo?!” being screeched from the kitchen.
I feel heat crawl up the back of my neck.
“It was the nurse at my aunt’s care facility.” I grab a towel and toss it at Paige’s head. “Keisha is having a good day and is telling everyone her niece is going for gold in the Olympics.”
The energy in the room shifts. Not heavy, but softer. A few of the girls smile at me, and Rissa comes over, sits beside me, and squeezes my shoulder.
“That’s awesome, Skye.” She gives me her best serious face. Even in bad times, she struggles not to make smart-ass comments, but I can tell she’s really trying. And the look in her eyes tells me she’s genuinely happy that Keisha is having a good day.
Paige, noting my discomfort with the vibe in the room, gets to her feet. “Okay, fine. But you weresmiling before you picked up the phone.”
I shoot her a look.
She wiggles her eyebrows at me and takes a step away so she’s not in swinging distance. “Just saying. You’re glowing. And it’s not just the quarterfinal radiance.”
Laughter ripples through the room again, the music turns back up, the chaos resuming.
I hear the squeak of the entire team as I jump from the couch and rip after Paige. She darts out of the way and takes off down the hall. If I catch her, I’m going to leave a bigger bruise than I did with the whole Cappy fiasco.
I try, and fail, not to smile again.
Yeah.
Maybe I am glowing.
Chapter Thirteen
Violet
