Page 48 of The Way We Score

Love it! Craig already calls me Pepper Spice.

Rachel

Don’t go! I just got here! I was in the pool with Miss Gina.

Allie

Grape spice.

Rachel

You’re Bookish Spice?

Allie

We’ll workshop it. Cherry Spice for Liv, Stormy Spice for Raven—unless Sr. Joaquin changes things…

Raven

Joaquin is dead to me.

Dylan

He did not wash his hands very well

Raven

Goodbye, spice girls.

Same—time for me to be a lawyer.

Dylan

Boring spice.

Cherry kisses

I put my phone down, but I don’t go back to being a lawyer. Instead I slide my laptop into my messenger bag and pack up whatever I can take home for the day.

“Headed home?” Bob Semple, one of the head partners, stops me in the hall as I start to go. “Been through a divorce myself. I know it can be rough.”

“Ah, no.” I straighten my spine, giving him a confident smile. “My divorce was the best decision I’ve made in a while.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I…” He looks down.

“No worries.” I continue, faking it til I make it. “I came in yesterday, so I’ve caught up with my desk. The rest I can take care of at my house.”

“I see.” He nods, seeming uncomfortable.

Instead of apologizing, I reach out and pat his upper arm briskly. “See you tomorrow, Bob.”

Then I turn on my heel and stride to the door. As soon as I reach my gray metallic BMW, my shoulders fall. I pull the handle and toss my bag onto the passenger’s seat.

On the way home, I make a quick stop at a Safeway to grab a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, and when I get to my apartment, I pull on my plaid pink flannel PJs and pull up the old Cher movieMermaids.

Curling up on the couch, I wrap a blanket around myself and eat my favorite ice cream as I watch Cher, Winona Ryder, and little Christina Ricci navigate life as a family of three girls on their own.

I remember watching it with Mom after my dad left us and moved to Tuscaloosa to start a whole new family. I didn’t want to be Winona Ryder. She was so obsessed with the nuns and Jake Ryan, and I couldn’t relate.

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