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“Sissy, don’t cry!” Sidney H. told me after we left the room. “That was really brave of you to try to take the blame for us. And Brielle, you’re the worst wing-girl in the world. I would never go into a dogfight with you.”
“You’re the dog, Sidney H.,” Brielle told her, and they got into it but Quinn hugged me.
“Don’t worry so much!” she said and gave me a squeeze. “They’re not going to kick you off the squad or anything.”
I nodded, because they wouldn’t, not for this. The scandal would be more than they could take during the season.
“I can’t believe they only warned us instead of something worse,” Sidney H. said as Brielle stomped away.
“If you’d been Sidney N. instead of H., you would have gotten something a lot worse,” Trinity told her. The other Sidney had been one of the girls who had partied a little with the Woodsmen players in the previous season and suffered for it. “It’s because we never do anything bad,” she concluded. “Especially you, Sissy.”
“Me?”
“How many times have you been late to practice?” Quinn asked, nodding. “You’ve always been on time, even when your dad was sick, even when you had a broken foot! And you always listen and try hard.”
“We all do,” I protested.
“You don’t even know what a good girl you are,” Trinity told me, but she laughed. “It’s a compliment. You’re every mother’s dream.”
No, I hadn’t been. I followed along after them as we walked toward the parking lot, thinking about that.
“You get along with everyone, too,” Sidney H. said. “Who’s your bestie on the squad?”
“Yeah, who?” Quinn echoed. “We never see you out. Who do you hang with?”
“Um…I guess I’m busy,” I answered.
“We all are,” Trinity said, rolling her eyes. “Char even has kids.”
“That’s true.” She had two and they were adorable.
“What are you girls doing tonight?” Sidney H. asked us and they all had plans, with friends and boyfriends and family, too. “How about you, Sissy?” she prompted when I hadn’t spoken up.
“I think I’m going to see Aubin,” I said slowly. I had to talk to someone about this. Who would understand as well than my sister, who’d lived almost the same life I had?
“She might be alone tonight since her man flew off to Portland with the team for the game. Tell her ‘hi’ for us,” Trinity suggested.
“I will.” My dad was at work at the country club, or he was supposed to be, and I hadn’t been too excited about spending a lot of time alone in our cottage since the problem with Ward had happened. I jumped at every noise, just like the dumb star of that scary movie who still wouldn’t run away and leave, even though everyone watching knew that something was coming to drag her to Hell.
So after we all said goodbye, they went off for dinners and drinks and dancing, and I drove over to Aubin’s. She had a really nice condo a few units away from where one of the Woodsmen, John Hatcher, had also lived before he’d moved somewhere with his girlfriend, and now she was lucky enough to have another player occupying it, too. As Aubin had found, the only problem with the building was that the walls were not very sound-proof. When we’d been over as bridesmaids to talk about nail polish colors and other important wedding decisions, she’d played music pretty loud to drown out the sound of her neighbor’s TV blaring what sounded like video game noises.
I hadn’t spent much time at Aubin’s besides the occasions when I was there in my capacity as a bridal party member. She and Jess had set up the office for their business in the unit’s second bedroom, the room which I’d heard Bill’s mom refer to at the wedding as “the soon-to-be-nursery”. No one had corrected her but I’d seen Aubin’s Wonderwomen bridesmaids, Mia and Erin, exchange a look of doubt about that.
I had texted my sister on the way over so she wouldn’t be surprised that I was coming tonight. She would have been surprised even with that advance notice, since we never really hung out together outside of official holidays or carefully planned meetings like the one we’d had recently in the coffee shop with my dad. And that was why she thought I’d shown up now, of course.
“What did he do this time?” she greeted me as she opened the front door.
“No, Dad’s fine.” I hoped. “As far as I know, he’s at work.”
“Then what is it?”
Her neighbor, a youngish one, emerged from his townhouse next door and peered at us through a bald spot in the hedge. He waved and I did back, but Aubin didn’t appear to see him.
“Can I come in?” I asked her.
My sister moved to the side and locked the door behind me. “Billy’s with the team,” she said. “I’m leaving to meet the girls soon.” She looked great in a red dress that showed off her long legs. “What’s going on if it’s not about Dad?”
“I’m having problems with Ward and I don’t know what to do,” I told her. “I don’t know who to talk to but I need some advice.”
