Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Attention, ladies!” Ms. Coolidge made the morning announcement from the breakfast buffet. “As it gets closer to the World Winter Games, corporations are starting to learn about the first-ever four-woman bobsled team. It’s with that in mind that Physiqua has just agreed to sponsor us.”
A cheer went up, Misty’s voice among it. The company made some of her favorite workout leggings, and she was excited about the idea of spending the World Winter Games clad in their clothes. Any day now, she’d hear if she would.
Three sharp claps cut through the room to bring everyone’s attention back.
“Interviews are winding down over the next few days, but we’re still keeping an eye on everyone and taking note of who we think would be the best fit for the team in terms of athletic ability as well as emotional readiness.
In other words, it won’t be time to slack off until you’re packing to go home. ”
A buzz went up around the room as she stepped down. “Don’t get me wrong, I miss my dog every day,” Tallulah said.
Eva rolled her eyes as she passed their table. “I suppose one rich bitch deserves another.”
A slight flinch was the only hint that Tallulah had heard her. “But she’s in good hands, I can see her online, and I’m not about to turn this down.”
“Me either,” Angela said. “My daughter’s not even three yet, but she needs to see that girls can do anything.”
“I grew up with that message, and look at me now,” Tish said. “But seriously, I’m all in. That’s why substitute teachers were invented, and I’ve been training for something like this my whole life.”
“I can vouch for that,” Misty said. “And I’m all the way in too.”
It was true. The beauty of working freelance was that she could work on her own schedule, arrange to have everything done before it was time for the Games, and pick up work again after she got home. And it wasn’t like she had a boyfriend to distract her and take her head out of the game.
She wasn’t quite rid of the impulse to tell Spencer how things had gone on her days at the combine or to know what he was up to at the gym.
His socials were still the kind of thing she’d expect from any fitness influencer and didn’t seem to have anything to do with him.
She wanted to reach back out but had all but shut the door on that with their argument.
Not to mention, he hadn’t given any indication that he was interested in still talking to her.
Before the strength session, Tish pulled off to go to her interview.
Misty bumped her fist against her friend’s before she left, but there was no time to dwell on it.
She went about the rest of her workout until it was time to bundle up and head for the track, and the rest of the afternoon flew by as quickly as the sled.
As they returned to the hotel to shower and change before dinner, a receptionist called out to them. “Is one of you Angela Stilwell?”
Angela stepped forward, smoothing a hand over her dyed platinum hair. “That’s me.”
“There was a call for you while you were away. Your husband says it’s an emergency and to call him back as soon as possible.”
Everyone’s faces were flushed from the workout, but Angela’s went pale. “Oh, no.”
She took her phone out of her bag, took it off airplane mode, and left the group to call him back in private. Some of her competitors kept going, but others showed signs of lingering in case she needed them. Misty stayed, unable to even imagine how it would feel to get this kind of news.
“Seriously?” Angela had stepped halfway down the hall to make the call, but Misty heard it as clearly as if she’d shouted it in her ear.
The other woman stormed back to the group, color back in her face. “What happened?” Marla asked.
“Is Evelyn okay?” Tallulah asked.
“She’s fine.” Angela looked more mutinous than relieved, though. “You’ll never guess what the emergency was, so I’ll tell you. The washing machine broke this morning, and Raymond can’t find the repairman’s number.”
Misty joined the rest of the group in incredulous shouts.
If she and Angela made the team and she got to meet Raymond, Misty couldn’t imagine she’d be able to politely greet him after this.
The whole time he’d been calling his wife with questions that could have been answered if he’d taken the slightest bit of initiative to look around the house or Google, he’d managed to annoy the rest of the combine too.
Once she got that off her chest, all the fight seemed to go out of Angela. “I thought he could handle this. I thought I could trust him...”
The first sentence echoed so loudly in Misty’s head that she could barely hear the rest of Angela’s words.
She’d thought Spencer could handle this.
He’d known why she was there from the day they met, and had spent their sessions more than prepared for the possibility that she would be away for weeks, only to start whining once reality set in.
Did she want to be with someone like that?
Her first and immediate answer was no, so why couldn’t she forget the defense she’d given Tish?