Page 10 of Goalie Lessons

“Luca hates it. Anyway—back to the subject. In Milwaukee, you won’t have to worry about accidentally dating actresses, or actors, for that matter.”

For some reason, the first person I think of dating in Milwaukee is Grayson O’Connor. My stomach tightens and I push the idea from my head—there areverygood reasons I’m not going down that road.

Sloane holds her hand up, knocking a finger with each thing she says. “We have a haunted speakeasy. Milwaukee has the oldest bowling alley in the country—alsothe largest Irish festin the world.”

“Try telling that to Ireland.”

“It’s true. Don’t knock me off my groove here.”

“Are you just listing fun facts you found on the internet?”

“My groove,Astrid. We have Sprecher, a bird-friendly music venue, a clock bigger than Big Ben!”

“I hate to break your heart,Hendricks, but you’re not really listing things I care about here.”

“When did you stop caring about birds?” Sloane sits up so fast she nearly topples herself over on her floaty, face serious like I’ve just laid out a plan to take out the entire fowl population. “Besides, I didn’t tell you the most important thing.”

“What’s that?’

“Me. Your best friend. And I know you hate Los Angeles. Just like I did.”

“You only hated it there because your boyfriend was a tool.”

“Yes, Drew was a tool. But no, that’s not all. It wastoobig, and so much traffic, and Milwaukee just has so much more charm.”

“Hmm.” I took another sip of my soda. I spent a lot of time in L.A., and probably didn’t explore the city as much as I should have. But Sloane is right. Milwaukee has charm—the old buildings, the plucky attitudes. A certain type of Midwest nice that the West Coast severely lacks.

“I can feel it in mybones,” Sloane says, leaning back in her floaty and smiling at the sky. “You’re gonna move here, and we’re going to float in the pool every weekend.”

“You know, except for when it’s buried in snow.”

“Then we’ll learn how to ski.”

I make a noncommittal sound, and Sloane loops her foot through my floaty, pulling me closer. Water laps against our floaties, and when it kisses my skin, it’s cool. The smell of chlorine and sunscreen is all around us.

“So,” she says, “tell me more about the career fair.”

The sun is warm against my face, glowing red through my eyelids. It’s a nice afternoon, and the sound of the breeze rustling through the lawn and leaves soothes me. I know Sloane is half-joking in her pressure to get me to move here, but I must admit, there’s something nice about it. About the idea of living close to her like this.

“Well, I’ve gotten a few offers from different places,” I tell her. “But they’d want me to finish the counselor certification. Which, as you know, I’m not stoked about.”

“Right—you want to do research.”

“There is one psychology research center that’s looking to take on a new research leader, but when I spoke to the director, she said they’re looking for a really good case study to bolster the applicant. To hire me, fund the research, they need something more than what I have.” Sloane makes a noise, but I go on, “There was one job I thought sounded interesting…”

Sloshing as she sits up again, she asks, “What’s that?”

“It’s temporary. Just until Christmas, working at a sort of community center. It’s a place where parents can bring their kids, lots of low-income patrons. People in the system. There are case workers in the space, and counselors, but that’s not what they want me for. They want me to help implement a new mental health education program for both kids and adults.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It sounds…interesting,” I relent. I’ve never really loved working directly with people, but putting together a mental health education program might be good for my resume. And I like the idea of doing something for the kids that need help, and might not be able to get it any other way.

And I’m not that excited about going home to an empty apartment or having to see Roman across the hall. That building is cursed now, anyway—I could let the lease run out, and when I come back to L.A., I’ll spend some time looking for a new one.

“Well,” Sloane says, propping her sunglasses in her hair and running her hand through the water. “Now that I’m team manager for the Frost, I’m trying to get them to invest in an on-staff mental health person. Maybe I could put you up for that?”

“Doesn’t that seem like nepotism?”

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