Page 184 of Rock Bottom Girl

“I’m exhausted,” Zinnia said.

“I’m miserable. The amount of attention I need just to be okay is terrifying,” Amie Jo said.

“You had something real with Jake,” Zinnia told me.

“Had? You didn’t do something stupid, did you, Marley?” Amie Jo was horrified.

“I kinda broke up with him,” I confessed.

Amie Jo gasped so hard the branch creaked. “That is asinine! Who wouldn’t want Jake Weston? Hell, I want Jake Weston, and I’m married.”

“I was only supposed to be here until the end of the semester. It was a temporary position! I wanted to do something bigger, more important than teaching gym class.”

“What about your team?” Zinnia asked.

“Those girls had the longest losing record in school history. You taught them how to work together and trust each other,” Amie Jo pointed out.

“Do you know how epically impossible that is to do at this age? Teach women that they’re sisters, not enemies fighting over the last damn piece of fine pie?” Zinnia asked as she swung the bottle of wine wildly.

“I wanted to do something like you do. Something that makes a real difference,” I told her, still trying to explain my hopes and dreams.

“I hate my job, Marley. I hate it,” Zinnia enunciated carefully. “My desk and inbox are full of pictures of what landmines and gunshot wounds and poor medical care do to people. Every day I am drowning in them.”

She took another drag on her cigarette. I drank deeply from the Chardonnay.

“What about that goth princess Libby? Look what you did for her this semester,” Amie Jo said, breaking the silence. “You made a difference to her. You made her popular!”

“What you and Jake had together? That doesn’t come around often, and you’re my sister, and I love you, but you are a complete dumbass for ruining it,” Zinnia said, poking me in the shoulder.

“Hey!”

“You were happy, M,” my sister said. “Like really happy. And I kinda just want to push you out of this tree for not recognizing it.”

“Ugh. You push her out of the tree, and I’ll throw a wine bottle at her,” Amie Jo interjected. “He loves her for who she is. She doesn’t even bother with makeup or brushing her hair half the time, and Jake looks at her like she’s Gisele Bündchen in front of a camera. It’s disgusting.”

“Well, this is fun and all, but let’s focus on you two,” I suggested.

“You know, I think that’s the thing I hate about you most,” Amie Jo mused. “You don’t have to try. You don’t have to wear extensions and shoes that make you lose your toenails. You don’t have to spend six hours a week in a tanning bed afraid that your husband will leave you if you’re not tan enough. They all genuinely like you just for being you.”

“Yeah, no one is inviting you to black-tie affairs because you helped with their fundraising or raised their political profile,” Zinnia said, getting into the spirit.

“But you’re doing great things. Important things,” I reminded her.

“Ninety percent of what I do is ass-kissing. Is that great? Is that important? I’ve never had one person in my office look up to me the way all of those girls on your team look at you. They adore you. They respect you.”

“Just like Jake,” Amie Jo complained. “Do you know how hard I had to work senior year to make sure you two didn’t get together?”

“What?” I snapped.

“Remember how he asked you to Homecoming and changed his mind?” she said.

“He told you? Of course he told you. He said he changed his mind and was taking you. You were more his type.” My voice was two octaves higher than usual.

“Jake didn’t ask you to Homecoming. I did. And then I pretended to dump you for me,” Amie Jo insisted.

“You diabolical little—”

“I know, right?” she said, shimmying her shoulders. “People always underestimate a pretty face and nice boobs.”