Page 59 of Crew Girl

His recorded voice started telling her she could leave him a message.

She didn’t want to leave him a message. She wanted him to be sitting on an erg like the rest of the guys. That. And to untangle the confusion bomb that had splattered her brain all over the place ever since he’d told her he wanted to be more than friends.

“… please leave your message after the beep.”

How to approach the deeply awkward situation he’d put her in?

To say Britney hadn’t taken well the news that Teagan had decided to turn down the Gravenhurst offer and stay on the Easton rowing team would be putting it mildly. She’d stared daggers at her, then told Teagan that she would regret her decision. Going to school was a daily act of bravery. Doubly so if she knew Josh had reneged on the friend-zone deal they’d struck.

Beeeeeeeep.

“Hey, Josh. Teagan here. So yeah. You said you didn’t want to be just friends. That’s going to need an explanation.”

This was a mistake. Bringing it up. Maybe he was playing hooky because, like her, it’d be easy to pretend it never happened. Too late now!

“I don’t even know why I’m calling you. Talk later. Bye.”

Right! Back to being a drill sergeant.

The guys had come into practice pumped. Insisted they weren’t going to rest on their laurels after winning the Head of the Laurence Trophy. If Ryder was right, that college scouts had been lurking around the regatta, the only thing for it was to up their game.

She pocketed her phone and went back to her position in front of the seven of them who had bothered to show up. They were halfway through the session and pure focus. All eyes trained on her, waiting for the next call.

“Teagan saaaaaays… pull!”

Seven ergs flew into action.

This was fun. Playing her own version of Simon Says on the ergs. Hard for them, and rewarding for her. To see them training so hard. She’d made the right call, sticking with the team. Coxing might not have been the future she’d imagined, but hadn’t her dad always told her that no amount of planning stopped life from throwing in a few curveballs? He’d nailed that one. Still not so much as a postcard from him. At least her mom wasn’t totally abandoned here. She and Coach went way back. And also, apparently, Senator Garner. Just this morning, Mom had casually mentioned that she knew Brit and Baloo’s mom from the pageant circuit, back in the day. She was going to ask her for help getting permission to make much-needed improvements to their house’s plumbing system. Yeah, good luck with that, Mom…

“Teagan saaaaays… freeze!”

Seven ergs fell motionless. Their riders poised for action, waiting for the next call.

“Where’s Josh?” demanded Ryder.

“Dunno.” She didn’t want to talk about it. “Haven’t heard from him.”

“So, what?” Ryder pressed, clearly as annoyed with Josh’s absence as she was. “Practice is optional now?”

“Row!”

Quaid set his erg in motion. Everyone else stayed frozen.

“She didn’t say ‘Teagan Says,’ Quaid.”

“Crap!” He gave himself a slap on the forehead.

“Teagan saaays… pull!”

They did. Sweet. Nothing like having her team respect her authority. She waited a few seconds.

“Teagan saaaays… give me a ‘yes, ma’am’!”

“Yes, ma’am!” they shouted as one, then all fell about laughing.

Cam was the last one up to the leaderboard to chalk up his score. He shot Teagan a quick look before writing his time.

Ryder scowled.