“Ugh,” she dragged out the groan. “Don’t tease me like that. It’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is that I can’t walk two doors down and plop on my sister’s couch anymore.”
“You could,” she argued. “If you moved here with the rest of us.”
I grew silent at that, casting a glance toward my daughter before I made myself a bowl of Hamburger Helper and stepped out onto the back lanai. I still kept an eye on her through the sliding glass doors.
“You know it’s not that simple,” I said once I was outside.
Gabby sighed. “I know, I know. I wish it were, though.”
I didn’t have to elaborate, because Gabriela was the only one I’d ever opened up to about everything that had happened between me and Randy. Mom and Dad knew we were divorced, but they thought it was just because the love had faded over time and we’d been fighting a lot.
Gabby knew the truth — the bruises, internally and externally, that prompted my final decision.
The only reason Randy had even granted me the divorce I’d asked for was because he didn’t think it would last, and because it happened on his terms. I’d threatened to hire a lawyer, to get my parents involved, to show people the photos I’d taken with the marks he’d left on me. So, to keep his reputation safe, he agreed to the divorce.
On the condition that I would never leave Stratford, so that Paige would be close to him.
So that I would always be in reach.
My heart squeezed. Growing up, Gabby and I were all each other had. With Mom in the Army and us moving every few years, we had grown up changing schools like most girls changed which Barbie doll was their favorite. After Mom retired, we came to Stratford.
I was a junior in high school at the time, and Gabby was just starting college after taking some time off. For a while, we called this town home, but when Gabby got into nursing school in Texas, our parents moved with her — mostly because Mom had been offered a full-time Army Policy Analyst position in Austin.
Under different circumstances, I would have gone, too.
But when it all happened, I was newly married, starting a new life of my own.
And I was pregnant.
That’s another thing they don’t tell you — how when you start a family of your own, the family you grew up with suddenly shifts to second place.
“So, how was your first day?”
I blinked, shaking free from my thoughts as I shoved a bite of our cheap dinner in my mouth. “It was… something.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Not bad,” I clarified, taking another bite and speaking around it. “Just… interesting. It felt good to be at work, to feel that part of my identity come back, but… well, let’s just say my boss gave me a less-than-stellar welcoming.”
My sister’s voice hardened, and I could picture her brows folding together. “Who do I need to kill?”
I chuckled. “Easy, no need to bust out the nunchucks,” I teased, referring to the time in sixth grade when she’d handed a kid his ass after he tried to put his hand up her skirt. She’d ripped his stupid toy nunchucks from his other hand and knocked him upside the head with them. “He was just predictably sexist with the intro, that’s all.”
“What do you mean?”
I rolled my eyes. “He went on about how he’s worried about me being the new trainer because I’m a woman. He thinks he’ll have trouble with the team being distracted.”
“He said that?”
“In not so many words, yes.”
“Well… don’t hate me, sis, but… he’s probably not wrong.”
I sighed. “I know he’s not, but the point is that it shouldn’t be me he talks to about that. It’s not my fault I’m a woman, and I shouldn’t be held responsible for the teenage boys on his team getting distracted.”
“Did he say anything to them about it?”
I shifted, poking at the noodles in my bowl until I had five of them stacked on my fork. “Well, yes, actually. He did. He set his expectations for how they should treat me before practice.”
“Was he condescending then?”
I frowned. “No,” I admitted. “Actually, he spoke about my accolades, and said they were lucky to have me.”
“Wow,” she said, mockingly. “What a jerk.”
“Anyway,” I said, ignoring her. “After that, it went fine. No injuries during practice, but I did meet with a few of the players who had injuries last season, to see where they’re at in recovery. And I got my tables all set up. You wouldn’t believe the equipment they have, Gabby,” I added. “It’s like a professional football team rather than a high school one.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you win two state championships in a row.” She paused. “Who’s the head coach again? Anyone we know?”