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I set the cup back down. Terence is always right about tea temperature. “Roller derby is a contact sport on wheels. What’s not to love?”
“Contact sport on wheels. Alli, you are more accident-prone than that animated character who has a dark cloud of dust behind him.”
“You’re confusing your analogies, but that’s neither here nor there. I bounce back! Roller derby is a chance for me to explore a whole other side of myself. Athleticism, showmanship, coordination…”
Terence sighs into his tea.
“Okay, I know I’m not the most coordinated person around.” I sip the tea. “Ouch, but how else am I going to build it if I don’t push my abilities?”
“Do you maybe think that being coordinated is overrated?”
“Says the guy who excelled at everything he ever touched.”
He blinks. I’m touching a soft spot, and I know it.
Terence is the kind of guy who has to reach the top of whatever he does. Whether it was drawing in elementary school, tennis in high school, some sort of complex mathematics in university… Terence goes for the top.
In some ways, it’s amazing that we are besties.
His hair is always cleanly coiffed, where mine flies in six directions at once. He’s tall and blond and svelte (he hates that word) where I’m curvy and cute and, as a rule, dress down for any given situation.
Going more than skin deep, Terence is the guy who is only ever in the top ten, where I never stay with anything long enough to be called a success.
We can drive each other crazy, not see eye-to-eye on simple stuff every single day, but there’s no one in the world with a more loyal friendship than Terence and me.
But I can see on his face that I’d better change the subject now.
I might be the more effusive and demonstrative one, but Terence’s heart is more fragile than anyone knows… since he doesn’t show it to anyone but me.
“Change of subject.” I do a flourish with my hand. “Did you manage to sort out that problem in the books at the doggie day spa you were telling me about?”
“I’ll have you know,” he lifts his finger the way he does when he’s going to give me a lesson, “the Dog’s Paw Dog Spa is much more than simply a doggy day spa. Certainly, there is the canine wellness center, but they also have veterinary health services, training of several varieties, a dog hotel, and they’ve expanded into agility. Don’t tell anyone this part…” He leans forward.
I lean forward, too. “The secret is safe with me.”
“I think I will suggest they move into a new arena.” He flicks his eyebrows like I know what that means. I’ll have to take a wild guess.
“Uh, staff bring their dogs to work?”
“We do that already.”
“Therapy dogs?”
“No, but that is not a bad idea.”
“Just tell me!”
“Watch the tea.” He reaches out to settle my arm and then flashes me the kind of smile that goes all the way to his eyes. “Mountain rescue.”
“No way!”
“Calm, calm. It’s just an idea, a long shot.”
“It makes so much sense! You’ve got the Rockies just there and oodles of people in need of being saved every year!”
“Oodles? Anyway, you’re way ahead of yourself. But since I’ve been reviewing their activity logs with year-on-year growth, the idea just came to me.”
“And you’d be perfect for that job.”
