25

Sabrina threw her backpack over her right shoulder and made her way toward Campus Eats. Today she was thankful for the part-time on-campus job. To go straight home now and just wait for tonight’s gathering, well . . . just the thought made her shudder. In years past, she would have gone for a long run, kept going until every twitch of anxiety dissolved into muscle exhaustion so complete she couldn’t even feel the tension. For now, she had a job to do and she was glad for it. Busyness was her friend.

Brandy had to do well in the race tomorrow. If Sabrina’s father was coming all the way out here, he expected nothing less than first place. Her mother would have more realistic expectations, but clearly, everyone expected Brandy to be amazing, thus demonstrating Sabrina’s effectiveness. If Brandy failed to perform, it’d be chalked up as Sabrina’s failure. She walked behind the counter and put her backpack in a bottom cabinet. The line at the counter was five people deep and that was a good thing. Hopefully they would be followed by many others.

Three hours later, her hope had been realized. Her back and knees hurt from standing, and her muscles ached with exhaustion from constant motion. It couldn’t have been better. Sometimes things just worked out right.

Sabrina had retrieved her backpack and started for the door, thankful for those hours of blissful escape, when little nervous twitches started in her stomach. Apparently she wasn’t completely exhausted. Every step she took toward the door increased the nerves. Maybe she should check to see if her journalism professor had posted grades from this week’s project yet. Mostly in the interest of stalling, she walked over to the nearest booth, sat down, and opened her laptop.

No grades were posted. Might as well check email while she was here. She opened Outlook, which loaded a dozen or so new emails. She scanned the list, and when she saw another message from Rita Leyva she clicked on it.

Rita Leyva was persistent, Sabrina had to give her that. She was so utterly convinced that Sabrina was the right person for this job. Sabrina tried to remember the last time she’d been so completely convinced of anything being absolutely true. She didn’t have to think long. She knew it was back when she thought she was headed for the Olympics.

But she’d been wrong. Dead wrong. Strength of conviction didn’t make something true.

For just a second, a vision of Brandy running in red, white, and blue flashed through her mind. Sabrina snorted at the thought. Wouldn’t that be ironic?

She walked out to her car, supposing that she should be grateful for the mini distraction. It was all silly, really, her being so worked up. It was going to be fine, of course it was. What could go wrong? Nothing. Nothing at all. It was going to be fine.

The short drive home was long enough to give herself a little pep talk. At least she’d have Koen at dinner tonight. With him around, she’d be somewhat distracted, and she knew her parents would like him. What wasn’t to like?

As she pulled into the drive, she wondered if he’d called that afternoon. She dug her phone out of her backpack. According to the screen, she had three missed calls and one new voice mail, none from a number she recognized. She pressed the button and listened.

Hi, Sabrina. It’s Candace Davenport from Grace Rose PR. I am pleased to let you know you’ve made the short list. There is a slight possibility that we will do one more round of interviews in the next few weeks, but this is unlikely, and at most a formality. I was hoping to give you this news personally, but as we have a client event tonight and I didn’t get you live, I wanted to at least let you know. Please call me on Monday and we will talk through details. I look forward to working with you.

Sabrina stared at the phone in her hand in numb disbelief. The unbelievable had happened, and what perfect timing. Wow. Wow. Wow. Her dreams, her new life, it was all falling into place. She climbed out of the car and ran toward the house. This would be a great way to start this weekend off. She pulled open the front door and ran into the living room. “I have the most amazing news.”

The room was empty and dark. “Hello?” She went through the house until she finally saw Nana and her parents in the backyard, checking out the fledgling vegetable garden. She started to run out and scream her news at the top of her lungs. Then she had a better idea.

She’d wait until tomorrow. Until after the race. It would give them twice the reasons to celebrate.

Or soften the blow if things didn’t go so well. Oh, how she hoped and prayed that would not be the case.