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As Frankie approached, the stack of boxes covered most of her face, but somehow, she hadn’t dropped the coffee cups yet. I knew my boss was dexterous for her age, but this was impressive even for her.
Her combat boots left tracks through the wet cement floor, which was par for the course. These floors would be disgusting again in just a few hours.
When Frankie reached me, she paused to peek around the boxes. Her dark grey and white hair swept her chin in a frizzy mess of curls that she rarely tried to control, and today’s jeans included so many rips and tears, I wasn’t sure they could be called fashionable anymore.
“If they’re so VIP, why can’t you make it?” I pointed to my earbud after Frankie shot me a confused look. “Marissa.”
“Is that Frankie?” My sister’s voice suddenly perked up. “Tell her hi and thanks for the advice.”
I eyed Frankie suspiciously. “Tell her yourself when you get here for your super important appointment. And what advice?”
Chuckling, the gym owner shook her head before disappearing into her office. After a decade of us living under her roof, she was well-accustomed to our sibling banter.
I dipped the mophead into the yellow bucket of brownish-white water. The bubbles were long gone. Almost time to get fresh water and soap. I’d mopped half the gym already, one of my many tasks to keep this place up and running and off the city inspector’s list.
Bodily fluids left unattended were a bit of a no-no for businesses these days, Gifted or otherwise.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Marissa said. “Anyway, I may have miscalculated the time I’d need to get there.”
“Wait, is it today?”
“Um, did I not mention that?”
As I lifted the dripping mop into the bucket’s wringer, I paused, my skin prickling with goosebumps. You could get almost anywhere in DC within an hour. “Marissa, where are you?”
“There was a party last night at a private estate in Virginia. Oh, Bree, you should see this place,” she said in a rush. “It’s absolutely gorgeous and?—”
“You better not be asking what I think you’re asking.”
“Bree, you have to,” she pleaded.
Shaking my head, I pushed the wringer’s lever, squeezing out the excess water from the mop head. “No, I’m not covering for you again. Call and reschedule.”
“You don’t understand.” Her guilty conscience was audible through the phone. “I will definitely lose my scholarship.”
“That’s a harsh punishment for missing one client’s massage.” I slapped the mop back onto the cement floor and didn’t even grimace when murky droplets hit my faded overalls—they’d seen worse.
The silence stretched until it clicked.
I groaned and leaned my forehead against the mop’s handle. “Riss…how many jobs have you missed?”
“Um, I mean, who’s even counting? It’s a stupid rule anyway. I should be able to set my own hours, but the school constantly books these early ones without asking me.”
Only my sister could make following the rules sound so offensive. “And what time is this appointment exactly?”
There was a slight pause before she said, “Just remember this could cost me everything, Ree. Danielle said she’d have no choice but to cancel my scholarship if it happened again.”
My heart dropped into my stomach, and I closed my eyes. She only called me Ree when she was desperate to get her way, and I was such a sucker about it because it was what our mother had called me.
Marissa had barely been old enough to remember her when she died, but I’d told my sister enough stories to fuel her imagination. Ree and Riss, her heart and soul.
Guilt gripped my insides and held on tight. I’d promised my mother that I would protect my little sister, and I would fulfill that promise no matter the cost. I owed her that much.
After all, it was my fault she’d died.
I clenched my teeth together. We couldn’t pay for her massage therapy school without that scholarship. Money wasn’t exactly easy to come by when you had to hide your Gifts.
“What time?” I asked, resigned.
