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I knew if I looked at Carly, she’d either be wincing or trying to swallow a laugh. A glance past Colin, at Brooke, showed a soft smile playing on her face.
“Let’s have a geography story when we get home,” Colin suggested.
Harmony clapped.Lessonswere no fun, butstoriesabout where famous architecture actually lived was very much her thing.
A whistle echoed through the room, and the loud chatter died to a low roar. A voice came over the loudspeaker—one of Tanner’s new swim coaches—announcing the start of the exhibition match. The races were fast-paced and intense. Single elimination, narrowing down the swimmers until there were two left.
Alana made it all the way to the finals, and came in a heartbeat behind the winner. Her scowl was obvious from here, and I knew this was going to hurt. As far as she was concerned, second place was first loser.
But she was gracious with her smile and shaking the other girl’s hand, before they ran off to the locker rooms to change.
After the awards ceremony, and everything broke up, we drifted back to the gym where the refreshments were. Carly already had her cookies back out and was pleased they weren’t crushed. She even offered one to Harmony, who looked at me questioningly before accepting.
Tanner and Alana joined us a few minutes later. Carly and Brooke congratulated her.
Her smile was tighter up close. “Thank you,” Alana was polite. “But I’ll actually deserve it next time.”
“You’ll kick butt, next time.” Tanner said.
Alana scoffed. “Yeah, I will.” She glanced over her shoulder, then looked at me. “Can I go say hi to Joe?”
I didn’t bother to correct her. “Do you want company?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Can I go with?” Harmony asked.
Alana nodded, and took her hand. I may be smug that Joe had screwed himself out of work, but I didn’t ever want the girls hurting because of it. Alana and Harmony walked toward him.
He smiled when he saw them. The hug from Harmony was genuine and sweet, but the one with Alana was wooden and awkward. Whatever the three had to talk about didn’t take long. As Alana and Harmony turned away from him, he walked out of the room.
When the girls reached us again, Alana asked, “Can I have a cookie? And go talk to my friends?”
“We should probably do the same. The mingling thing,” Tanner said.
“Then shoo. All of you.” I made waving motions, then took Harmony’s hand when the other three scattered.
“You all really are good together.” Was that wistfulness in Carly’s voice?
Brooke sighed softly. “You really are. You’re lucky, you know.”
I did know. Everything about my relationship with Tanner and Colin, and theirs with Harmony and Alana, was right. This was the way life should be. A life I wouldn’t give back for anything.
* * *
