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Her eyes widened. “The last few years?” she asked, repeating my words. “What—”
Her question broke off as I pushed hard and this door also flew open, catapulting me inwards. “I think it got warped from the water,” Trinity explained as she helped me up from the floor. Then we had to hurry to get ready and go to the studio, where my sister waited with the coaches.
Aubin didn’t say much to us, just waved and smiled when Rylah introduced her to the new girls who’d joined the squad after she’d left it, but as we danced I saw her watching everyone carefully and taking copious notes on her phone. I watched Danni watching too, and she messed up a few times as she paid attention to my sister rather than the steps.
When we were done, I waited outside the studio for Aubin. I watched her chat with the two coaches for a while before they went back to their office and she slowly gathered up her bag and walked to the door where I stood.
“Hi, Sissy,” she greeted me. “You need to work on your toe point again.”
“Why were you here?” I answered. “Why did you come today?”
“The coaches wanted another perspective on the team, and I’m a great resource for them,” she said. “I was the captain and I did grow up as the daughter of a cheerleader.”
“Mom left when you were ten.”
“I remember her,” she told me. “You don’t, but I do.”
“Why did they need another perspective?” I pressed. “What are we doing wrong?”
“There are plenty of things to improve. Does Danni have you guys thinking that you’re perfect?”
“No, of course not!” I answered. But something seemed odd about this story. Even when we’d really struggled in the time leading up to the Woodsmen Fan Day, the coaches hadn’t called in reinforcements. “Rylah and Sam asked you to come tonight? Is that what happened?” I asked.
“I suggested it,” she told me. “The last game was a disgrace and it’s clear that they need help. I thought that they might want to have an assistant. You know, like I could work here, too. You could tell them that it would be a good idea. Don’t you think I’d be a great coach?”
I stared at her. My sister wanted my help? My opinion? “Yes, of course you’d be a great coach.” She was great at everything. “But you already have a job,” I pointed out. She had started that company with Jess, the all-natural cosmetics thing.
“I may have to think about—” She broke off and then said, “We’re having some problems. It’s fine, it’s good. I’ll be able to fix it.”
“Do you still need investors? Is that the issue?”
“Do you know someone who’s looking for new opportunities?” she asked eagerly, but then frowned. “Never mind. Who would you know?”
“No one,” I agreed. I couldn’t admit, even to my sister, that I did have a relationship with someone who had a lot of money. A relationship as friends, maybe close friends. We’d been spending a lot of time together.
“Sissy, what are you muttering about?” Aubin’s voice broke into my thoughts. “You stare off into the distance and your lips move, and you look totally crazy.”
I’d been imagining something very simple, actually. I’d been thinking about driving over to Bowie’s apartment building, where he waited outside for me and we parked my car together. Then we walked back and made dinner and a lot of nights, I’d been sleeping on the couch.
My sister checked her phone and frowned harder. “Ugh, I have to go. Billy’s parents are in town.”
“Are you going to dinner with them?”
“They already ate. His mother wanted to talk to him alone and I wasn’t—I need to go.” But she still hesitated. “How’s Dad?”
I was more than a little surprised that she’d asked. “Pretty clean, as far as I know. But he’s up to something because he’s not spending many nights at home. I don’t think he is, anyway.”
“He has a girlfriend?” She looked disgusted. “And you’re not there to monitor him? Are you permanently at Ward’s now?”
“Um, we broke up.”
“You took my advice,” she said, nodding. “Good.”
“It’s not that good.” I hesitated about how much to tell her. We still stood in front of the dance studio and there were so many ears that might be listening.
“Don’t start the boomerang thing of getting back together. Once you’re done with a boyfriend, be totally done.”
“It’s more that he wasn’t treating me very well,” I tried to explain.
