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“It’ll be fine,” Dom said, squeezing my shoulder.

It was time to go home, but I didn’t want to be alone at my house.

“Do you want to come over? I’ll order dinner, my treat.” Heath was away on a quick HR retreat that sounded like the most boring kind of retreat ever, so he had the house to himself.

“Deal,” he said. “I’ve been eating leftovers because I don’t know how to cook for one.” He’d grown up with eight brothers and sisters, and since he was the second oldest, he’d had to learn how to cook at an early age, and knew how to feed a lot of people from one pot.

“Awesome,” I said.

Camille’s phone made a sound and she answered it.

“Excuse me,” she said to me and Dom, and started walking toward her office, her high heels clicking on the gym floor.

“Stop staring at her ass,” Dom said, leaning down and whispering in my ear.

I glared up at him. “I wasn’t staring at her ass.” I had definitely been staring at her ass. It wasn’t my fault that it looked so good.

Dom drove his own car to my house and the kitties lost their minds when he walked in. They adored him, even more than they loved me.

“Oh yes, I love you, I do,” he said in a baby voice as he picked up Cupcake and Spaghetti. Poor Meatball put her feet on his legs and cried and cried. I scooped her up, but she didn’t want me.

“Brat,” I said.

Dom nuzzled the cats and then looked at me. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Cheese. Lots of melted cheese.”

I ordered a pepperoni and green pepper pizza, wings, and mozzarella sticks.

“Health is going to be so mad,” Dom said as I put in the order.

“It’s his fault for going out of town. There will be plenty of other times for melted cheese.”

Dom followed me into the kitchen where I got us both drinks before we planted ourselves on the couch to wait for the food to get here.

“This is going to be hell, Dom,” I said as Cupcake jumped in his lap and started kneading his thighs. He winced and picked her up before settling her back down. She curled up and closed her eyes with a kitty sigh.

“Maybe it won’t be that bad. We can draw a line down the center and they’ll stay on their side and we will have our side. We should definitely take the side with the locker rooms.”

That would be hilarious. They’d have the water fountain, but none of them would be able to pee.

“That’s mean, Dom. We’re talking about kids here. Not just Echo.” I pressed my fingers to my forehead. I felt a migraine coming on.

“Right, but you definitely want those kids to lose, right?”

Meatball climbed on me and sat on my chest. I looked at Dom over her floof. “I mean, yes. It’s going to be weird. How is this going to work out?” I groaned and Meatball glared at me.

My phone buzzed with a message from Camille. The Bulldogs were being bussed in tomorrow after school. We were going to have to share mats for a few days. I sent Dom the news and wondered how I was going to break it to the team. Immediately, I started typing up a set of rules in my phone.

If I didn’t set boundaries for them, they would push and then there would be a disaster and we’d figure out that it would have been a good idea to start with some guidelines.

I’d have to talk to Echo and work on how we’d divide the space and that was the conversation that I dreaded more than anything else, because that would set the tone for the next three weeks. My stress level was already high, and I didn’t think it could go much higher, but I had the sneaking suspicion that this was the calm before the storm. Not just a storm. A tornado in a hurricane with an earthquake on the side.

In one month this will be over, in one month this will be over,I kept saying to myself. I could get through a few weeks with Echo. Actually, it would be the longest we’d ever spent together, since cheer camp had only been a week.

I couldn’t lie: I was interested to see her coaching style. Now that I’d gotten over the shock and dismay of the whole thing, I was trying to find any silver lining or advantage. I also didn’t want to be a complete bitch and make them feel unwelcome, no matter how I felt about Echo. Her squad didn’t deserve to be painted with her brush. They were probably great kids. Probably. I’d have to wait and see.

I couldn’t concentrate on work during the day on Monday. Normally all I needed in my home office was a latte and some good tunes to keep me motivated and focused. I’d worked non-freelance jobs before, but I really liked being in control of my own time. It also gave me the freedom to coach, which was the biggest perk. I barely made any money from coaching, it was purely because I loved cheer and wanted to share that with people since I couldn’t get on the mat anymore myself.