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“I wanted mine to be amazing. I wanted to show Aubin that I could do it, that she’d made a good choice when she’d asked me to be her maid of honor and I was really feeling that pressure, I guess.” I sighed a little, because it was a pressure I’d always felt, the need to prove myself in the shadow of my sister. “At least she seems ok with it now. She doesn’t believe that I tried to ruin her wedding on purpose, not anymore.”
“You wouldn’t do that. You don’t have it in you to act like that,” he said. “I’ve never seen you do anything but try to help people, even when it’s not to your own benefit.” Frustratingly, he put down the fork again. “Don’t do that with me, all right, Lissa? Don’t act in ways that are against your own best interest because you think it will help me or protect me, or anything else.”
“That’s what it means to care about someone,” I said. “Like you letting me be here in your apartment and losing sleep because I disturb you. It definitely wasn’t in your best interest to act that way, to put yourself in danger and bog yourself down with my problems. You did that because you’re a good friend to me and I’ll be the same for you. I’ll do that even if you tell me not to.”
“You’ll be a good friend to me,” Bowie echoed, and I nodded. We finished dinner and he did eat a lot, although not as much as I would have liked him to.
“I don’t think I’m up for dance lessons tonight,” he told me as we finished the dishes and moved to my bed, the couch. “Sorry to let you down again.”
“I’m very disappointed,” I said. “And I’m really doubting your intentions with ‘The Last Dancer.’ I used to think you were trying to learn, but now I think you only watch it to laugh at the contestants like everyone else does.”
“I admire them,” he argued. “It takes a lot to get up and try something new. They’re embarrassing themselves in front of millions of people.”
I thought of the upcoming game and my hand went to my foot. It had been hurting pretty badly and I hoped I didn’t embarrass myself and the Wonderwomen, the coaches, and the Woodsmen team.
“That hurts you,” he noted. Carefully, he took my leg and placed my foot on his lap. “Have you been back to the doctor?”
“I’ve been a little busy. And I don’t want to know,” I admitted. “She’ll tell me to rest it and I can’t.”
“Aren’t you the woman who was arguing with me about going to practice when I was sick?”
“This is different. I’m done after this season so it’s my last hurrah.”
“Why are you done?” he asked me. “You don’t have to be.”
“I have to get a real job after I graduate, not all this piecemeal stuff,” I said. “The way I’m doing things now is pretty hard.”
“I do ok,” Bowie reminded me. “I’m going to get a new contract after this season and I’ll do even better. You don’t need to worry about money or even having a job. We’ll share what I make because we’ll be partners.”
I stared. “I couldn’t do that.”
“You could, if you wanted to.” He smiled at me. “I don’t think you will, because you’re used to working your little tail off. But you can take it easier. You can be on the squad as long as you want, if you’re not injured. It’s something to think about,” he prompted and I nodded. “You could go see Bill get his opinion on it first. He’s a good trainer.”
Yes, my sister’s husband was skilled. They were apparently still wooing him to lead the Rustlers’ training staff because of that. “It’s an idea,” I acknowledged, and Bowie laughed.
“I’m going to treat you the same way that you’ve been dealing with me through my little cold. I’m going to boss you, lecture you, and make your life miserable until you listen to me.”
“I didn’t do that!”
He laughed harder. “I was afraid to answer anything but, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ You’re the toughest coach I ever had.”
“Because you matter so much to me!” I sputtered. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”
He tilted his head. “I feel the same about you.” And with how he was looking at me, I had to turn my gaze away. There was something there, something he wasn’t saying with words, and I couldn’t quite meet it.
∞
Aubin and Bill had been together for a while—they’d dated for a year and been engaged for thirteen months as she made her extensive wedding plans. But even so, I didn’t know him very well. We’d met a bunch of times but it had always been brief, with my sister rushing things along and not allowing us to converse very much. I understood that she was probably afraid of our dad’s problems driving her boyfriend away from her, but I’d always been sorry that we weren’t more friendly, because Bill had always seemed so nice and easygoing. Like today, when I’d looked up his number in the Woodsmen Family Directory, texted him, and asked if I could stop by the players’ training rooms, he’d said sure and that he’d be glad to help.
And after he’d examined my foot, he also seemed genuinely sorry to deliver the news to me. “I know that you don’t want to hear this and I don’t want to have to say it, but you need to get this x-rayed.”
“Oh.” No, I didn’t want to hear it. “Really? Are you positive?”
“No, I’m not positive about what’s wrong, and that’s why you need to go. Sorry, Sissy,” Bill answered.
“I’ll go. I will next week,” I promised.
“I’ve heard that before.” He smiled a little. “Just one more game, right?”
