Page 67 of The Roommates

“You miss her,” Colin said. “I do too.”

There should be a shock of jealousy. Instead, I was relieved to hear he felt the same way. “Yeah.” I sighed and tucked the thought away. I didn’t want to, but other things needed to happen first. “Grilled cheese it is.”

I made food. As we ate, we discussed what came next for the school. We usually slowed classes down significantly during the fall and winter months, and we’d already had a plan to stop teaching completely if I qualified for the Olympics.

The reminder sent a spike of pain through my shoulder, and I shrugged it off with little thought. This was better. I knew this was better. A glance at Colin, and I had no doubt.

We grabbed our phones, to start making phone calls and class cancellations. When I unlocked mine, several missed calls stared back. “Oops.”

“Who?” Colin asked.

“John. A bank contact Daria referred me to.” I swallowed. “Daria.”

“Call her back.” Colin’s insistence matched the voice in my head.

I was already dialing on speaker phone so Colin could hear.

“Hey.” Daria’s greeting was a combination of hesitant and hopeful.

Or I wanted it to be. I was pretty sure it was. “Hey. I saw you called.”

“Hello,” Colin chimed in.

Daria laughed lightly. “How are you both feeling?”

“Like a million, bazillion bucks.” Colin answered.

I shook my head. “Not quite, but close.”

“Good. I was worried…” The way she trailed off, I expected more. But then several seconds passed.

Was she waiting on one of us? I opened my mouth,

“Alana is having a pool party,” Daria said suddenly. “Her not-quite-uncle has a pool and she’s inviting her friends and she wants her swim coaches there.”

I was surprised, after the fuss Alana put up when she almost walked in on us. Then again, yesterday she was back to her normal, competitive self.

“Neither one of us will be swimming for a while.” Colin zoomed in on the obvious.

“I told her that. She said you could sit at the side of the pool with me.”

“Shesaid that?” I was a teensy bit disappointed that hadn’t been Daria’s suggestion, but she’d passed the word along, so that was a start.

Daria’s huff was light. “I say that too. I’d like to see you both again.”

I exchanged looks with Colin and saw my hope reflected back at me. He gave a slight nod.

“We’ll be there,” I said.

“Good. We’ll see you then.” Daria gave us the party details then hung up.

I had other calls to return, but I didn’t think this conversation could wait.

“How I feel about her doesn’t make me love you any less.” Colin blurted out before I could figure out how to start the conversation.

“How do you feel about her?” I could use his answer to decipher my own thoughts. But I already know. “Because I’m falling for her—have fallen?—one is only a few steps from the other. But I love you so much.”

Colin’s smile was now one of my favorite sights. “So maybe we tell her this, instead of holding onto it for years and hoping it becomes something.”

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