Page 21 of Yesterday I Cared
“He’s right. You have to want to do this, Emmie,” Bryce chimes in.
Her smile brightens. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted, if I’m being honest.”
Bryce takes that as her acceptance. “Great! We have some forms your parents will need to fill out. Ronan wants to do some private sessions with you before he pulls you into the team, since you’ve had no formal training. Is that alright with you?”
Emmie nods excitedly, her hands twisting the towel around. “Yes, absolutely!”
“And I have some stipulations,” I tell her. She nods again. “School is your priority. You have to keep your grades up. I require all my swimmers to give me quarterly updates on their grades. If you slip below a C in any course, you’re benched from meets until it goes up. You have to stay out of trouble; getting caught drinking underage or being apprehended will result in an immediate suspension. If you’re on this team, you’re committed. You show up on time for practices and meets, and you do your best. Swimming may feel like an individual sport, but your team is invaluable. And if you ever need something, you come to me, or any other adult working for Adair, okay?”
“We want our swimmers to know this is a safe space for them,” Bryce adds. “If you’re in trouble or need something, we’re here to help.”
“Exactly. Do you agree to these stipulations?”
“Absolutely. Thank you so much for this opportunity!” She reaches out to shake both of our hands.
“Welcome to Adair, Emmie.” Bryce grins. “Let’s get those forms and do a quick tour of the place.”
“So, tell me more about him!”
Ronan, who was crossing the room to get a cup of coffee, stops dead in his tracks and turns to face Josie and me. “More about who?”
Ignoring his question, I look at my best friend. “There’s nothing else I can say, Jos.” I laugh. “You know how dating apps work; they don’t give you a lot of room to get to know someone. That’s what the dates are for.”
From his spot in the other chair, Bryce scowls at the mere mention of his girlfriend ever being on a dating app, which makes me bite back a smile. Josie lasted all of one week on a dating app before swearing to never download one again; the lack of authenticity and taking the time to get to know someone was a huge turnoff for her. She wasn’t in the market for a quick path, so she kept traveling the one she already was on, and it led her back to Bryce.
“But the two of you have been talking fordays!” She drops her head back against the couch in annoyance, turning it to look at me. “Come on, there has to be something he’s told you that’s of note.”
But he hasn’t, not really. All of our conversations have been pretty shallow, not digging too deep into either of our personal lives. I know he works at the nearby university, but I don’t know what hedoes there. I know he’s a horrible texter and wouldn’t know how to use a comma correctly if his life depended on it—which is something I won’t be telling the writer sitting beside me.
“Oh!” Josie flinches at my outburst, but I don’t care because Idohave a fun fact about him. “He has a cat. It’s named…Cat.”
The fact sort of dies on my tongue as I remember just how lame it is.
Josie’s anticipatory smile drops. “Oh…That’s…not the most creative name I’ve ever heard, but it’s hardly the cat’s fault. I’m sure they’re still adorable and it gets the point across.”
Am I so pathetically alone that my best friend is trying to rationalize this lame tidbit of information I somehow managed to remember? The truth is that this guy is nothing special. He’s a pretty basic, copy-paste white guy who doesn’t seem to be interested in anything other than fishing—he even posed with a fish in his profile—and football. Our conversations are boring, and he barely asks about me, but it’s what Joy would label as progress. My therapist has a point; I need to start moving on from the Bianca situation, and this is the first lame step.
“You’re allergic to cats.”
My gaze snaps up to Ronan, who is still frozen in place but also now frowning at me. I told him that in passing once, but he remembers it. Remembers it enough to bring it up in a moment like this. It shouldn’t have an impact on me, not really, but I suddenly feel like some kind of way about it.
“I…” I trail off, not even knowing what I want to say.
“Oh, my god, you are!” Josie gasps, looking at me with wide eyes. “How is that going to work?”
I can’t talk to Ronan—can’t acknowledge that some of the information I shared with him is still there despite years of not speaking—but I can talk to Josie. More importantly, I can joke with Josieand make things seem better. Even if she doesn’t fully believe me, Ronan will. He won’t be able to see through the façade I put up. Or I hope not.
“We’re not getting married,” I joke. “I probably won’t even end up at his house.”
“But if he has a lot of cat hair on him—”
“Thank you for your concern, Ronan.” I glare at him. “I know how to handle my own allergy. I’ll be prepared.”
He snorts, but finally finishes his path to the coffeepot to make himself a cup. “That’s the start of a really healthy relationship, Mia. You have to medicate yourself just to be able to breathe around him? The Save the Dates practically write themselves.”
“Don’t all the romance novels talk about how romantic it is when someone takes your breath away?”
“Oh, please. There’s a difference between that and a medical condition that prevents you from breathing.”
