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Jenna did a small fist pump.
“Don’t get carried away,” Carly added.
“As if I would. You’ve said you’re too busy, and I respect that.” Jenna paused. “How come, though? Army got you moving around a lot?”
“No. I left.”
“You left?” Jenna’s face shifted. “But I thought that was your dream. Must’ve taken something big to walk away.”
Carly swallowed against the sudden tightness in her throat. She didn’t have the energy for a potted history.
“It was,” she said.
For once, Jenna took the hint.
“Fair enough. I should leave you to mingle. If you change your mind about meeting everyone, we’ll be over by the pool table.”
Even with Jenna there, the group didn’t look inviting. As Carly glanced that way, a blonde with an overwrought ponytail swished closer to Lauren, giggling at something that was likely neither witty nor impressive.
“I won’t,” Carly muttered.
Jenna vanished into the crowd, all laughter and hugs for her adoring fans. The moment she was gone, the noise pressed in. Music thudded, glasses clinked, and a cheer went up near the bar, but Carly barely heard any of it.
She gave herself the order to look away. Her body took it a second too late, and Beth noticed.
“Why have you suddenly gone quiet?” she asked, sipping her drink. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m just tired.” Carly willed her pulse to slow. This ghost didn’t warrant a reaction. “And it’s too loud in here.”
“You were fine two minutes ago.”
“I’m still fine.”
Beth studied her, then tracked her gaze to the pool table. A smirk slowly emerged.
“Ah. I see.”
“You see what?”
“You’ve spotted someone you like. This is progress.”
It wasn’t progress. It was regression. The return of something Carly had thought she’d outgrown: being thrown off balance by someone undeserving of the power.
She wouldn’t let it ruin the one evening she’d claimed for herself in months.
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I just need some air.”
Before Beth could argue, Carly set her glass down and elbowed through the crowd. She could still hear laughter from the pool table as she left, every note reminding her why distance mattered.
She shoved through the side door and pulled Beth’s jacket tight against the cold. The small rectangle of concrete outside led down to the playing field, where a set of goalposts stood barely visible in the light from the clubhouse.
Carly fixed her eyes on them.
“I’ve just worked out where I know that girl from,” Beth said, appearing beside her, breath clouding in the cold. “It took me a minute, but now it all makes sense.”
