Tumble (Dogwood Lane 1)

“Ugh,” I groan, picking up my phone. Not in the mood for happy social media posts, I click the icon for email. Nestled in the middle of a shoe-sale notification and an alert for a new blog post on a sports website is an email from James Snow.

Dear Ms. Kimber,

Thank you for your application to Archon Sports. We were impressed with your résumé and body of work and would like to invite you to interview via telephone.

Please let me know a couple of dates and times that work for you, and I will send a confirmation email and instructions.

Looking forward to meeting you,

James Snow

Managing Editor, Archon Sports

Springing to my feet, I do a little dance in the middle of Claire’s guest room.

“Did I miss something?” Claire asks, coming into the room.

“I just got an interview.”

“Must be pretty special to elicit a dance this soon after waking up.”

“It’s okay,” I say, picking up my shoes. “I actually just left my job, so I’m happy to get anything while I figure out where I really want to land.”

Claire sits with me on the bed. She watches as I slip on my sneakers.

“Sometimes we all need a change of scenery,” she says. “Did you work there long?”

“A few years. They screwed me over on a promotion, and I decided to go elsewhere.” I bite my lip as I stand. “It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done—just up and quitting my job. But I write stories telling little girls and grown women alike they can achieve anything they want. Not to let anyone knock them down. That they don’t have a ‘place’ in society. Staying at my job would’ve felt really hypocritical, you know?”

“Sounds like you made the right choice.” She gives me a quick hug. “Now I gotta get to the café, or I will be job hunting too.”

“Let’s go,” I say, following her out the door.

“Great job, Mia!”

She shrieks and jumps up and down, the bun on top of her head wobbling with each leap. “I did it!” she says, grinning from ear to ear. “Keyarah! Did you see?”

“Do it again,” her friend insists. “Hurry. When I did my back tuck the first time, I waited too long to do it again. Go.”

“It’ll be better this time,” Madison says from the side of the mat by Keyarah. “You know you can do it now.”

The three little girls banter back and forth while Mia gets settled at the corner of the mat. She looks at me with a hint of trepidation in her bright-green eyes. Her hands clench beside her.

“Hey,” I say. “Breathe. You got this, girl. Remember to push off your toes.”

“Okay.” She nods and takes a long, deep breath.

Motioning for the girls to quiet down, I take a step off the mat. Remaining as still as I can, I meet her eyes.

My heart sprints with her as she barrels across the floor. I hold my breath as she turns her roundoff, and my torso pulls up as Mia leaps backward and rotates.

“Come on,” I beg as she unwraps her body and sticks the landing. “Nailed it!”

Her friends cheer as I clap, watching Mia jet across the room toward me. Before I can congratulate her, she propels herself into me. “Thank you,” she says, her arms wrapped around my waist.

“You did it. Not me.” I laugh. “Aerial said you almost had it last week.”

“Yeah, but having you tell me I could do it was different.” Her eyes shine with gratitude, as if she really believes that.

My heart nearly bursts. “That had nothing to do with me. It was all you, kiddo.”

“She’s been working on that forever,” Madison says as she and Keyarah come up to us. “Since we got out of school. That was the first day you tried it, wasn’t it?”

Mia lets me go. “Yeah. The last day of school I tried it for the first time. I freaked out, and every time I tried it again, I remembered falling so hard. I didn’t think I could do it.”

“Let me tell you something,” I say. “You’re gonna fall a lot. Sometimes it’ll hurt and sometimes it won’t hurt as much as it will bruise you, and you’ll have that scar for a really long time. But you can’t let it stop you.”

“Sounds like you’re talking about life.” Aerial walks by, flipping me a wink. “Nice job, Mia.”

“Thanks!”

“Did you fall a lot?” Keyarah asks me.

“All the time,” I tell them. “The worst one was in Iowa. I’ll never forget it.”

“What happened?” Madison asks.

“Well, I got on the mat. I had hit this routine all year, and if I hit it, I would win.” I skip past the part about Dane and how my mind couldn’t shake him and his baby drama that day. “It shouldn’t have been hard at all. My foot slipped and I fell, whacking my head on the beam on my way down. It knocked me out cold.”