“Thanks. I’ll do even better tomorrow.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Coach said, but he smiled at her.

“All right.” She smiled back and pointed to the locker room behind her. “I’m gonna hit the showers now.”

“Try to do something fun tonight that doesn’t involve water, okay? Expand your horizons beyond the aquatic. It’ll be good for you.”

“Yes, sir.” Gemma saluted him as she walked backward to the lockers, and he laughed.

She showered quickly, mostly just rinsing the chlorine from her hair. All the time in the water should’ve left her with crazy dry skin, but she used baby oil every time she dried off. It was the only thing that prevented her from turning into an alligator.

After she’d gotten dressed, she went out to unlock her bike. The rain had come back, pouring down twice as hard as it had earlier. Gemma flipped the hood up over her head, regretting her decision to ride the bike to practice, when a horn honked behind her.

“Do you need a lift?” Harper asked, rolling down the car window to yell out at her sister.

“What about my bike?” Gemma asked.

“You can get it tomorrow.”

Gemma thought about it for a second before running over and hopping in her sister’s car. She tossed her gym bag in the backseat and buckled up.

“I was on my way home from work, and I thought I’d swing by and see if you needed a ride,” Harper said as she pulled away from the gymnasium. Practice lasted only a couple of hours, but Gemma would usually grab lunch and then hit the weight room. She wasn’t buff, but she needed her body in peak physical condition.

“Thanks.” Gemma turned the vents so the heat would blow directly on her. “The rain gets pretty cold.”

“How was practice today?”

“Good.” Gemma shrugged. “I beat my best time.”

“Really?” Harper sounded genuinely excited and smiled over at her. “That’s amazing! Congratulations!”

“Thank you.” She leaned back in the seat. “Do you know what’s going on tonight?”

“With what?” Harper asked. “Dad’s making a pizza for supper, and I was thinking of going over to Marcy’s to watch this documentary called Hot Coffee. What did you have planned?”

“I don’t know. Nothing. I think I might stay in tonight.”

“You mean like stay in in?” Harper asked. “No midnight swims?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.” Harper paused, surprised. “That’ll be nice. Dad will like that.”

“I guess.”

“I can stay home if you want,” Harper offered. “I could rent movies to watch together.”

“Nah, that’s okay.” Gemma stared out the car window as Harper drove them home. “I was thinking after supper I might see if Alex wanted to come over to play Red Dead Redemption.”

“Oh.” Harper exhaled deeply, but she didn’t say anything.

She wasn’t thrilled about their friendship, but she’d already said her piece on it. Besides that, it was better if Gemma was at home playing video games with the boy next door than running around all over town in the middle of the night.