“Katie? Katie! What happened?” Winnie ran over to join us onstage. “Joy called me at the salon and said there was an accident. Are you OK, baby?”
“I’m so sorry, Mom. My arm’s broken. I can’t compete anymore.” Katie cradled her injured arm and fought back tears. “I hope you’re not disappointed.”
“Disappointed? Of course not! And who said you can’t compete? Just because you have a broken arm? Where does it say that in the rules?” Winnie turned to Valerie, directing that last question at her.
Valerie held up her hands. “We never said she couldn’t! If she feels up to it, we wouldn’t keep her out. But it’s her choice.”
“Of course she wants to compete! Isn’t that right, Katie?” Winnie reached out to smooth back Katie’s hair.
“I—oh good, the ambulance is here,” Katie said, the whine of the siren cutting into their conversation.
Winnie blanched. “We’re not paying for an ambulance! Can you walk? I’ll take you now. You must be in so much pain. I’m so sorry, baby,” she said, gesturing at Mr. Acevedo to help her with Katie. Joy went with them, carrying hers and Katie’s bags.
Mayor Gunderson watched the four of them hobble off. “I guess there’s no point in continuing. At least we worked out all the audio problems.” He paused, his eyes landing on Mrs. Philipps, who was writing furiously in her notebook, and Dave, who’d been snapping photos the whole time. “Great, just what we needed. Beth, Valerie, come with me so we can handle this.”
Beth hesitated, looking at me with Jae. “You’ve got Valerie. Surely you don’t need me there, too.”
“You’re the head of the Thompson Family Company, so your voice carries weight. Now come on!”
She glared at him, but obeyed. “Jae, this will only take a minute.”
Jae spared her a glance as he helped me to my feet. “Sorry, Beth, I’ll have to take a rain check. I need to get Lila home. There’s no way she can drive in her condition.”
“But—”
“Thanks for taking such good care of my cuz, Jae! Don’t worry about your car, Lila. I’ll drop it at your place and Sana can give me a ride back here,” Bernadette said, hands out for my keys.
“That’s right! We need to talk about the advanced Zumba class she’ll be teaching on the weekends anyway,” Sana added.
Beth turned away without another word and went to deal with the Shady Palms News team.
Well, look at Bernadette conspiring to get me alone with Jae. Didn’t think she had it in her. Maybe we really had turned a corner in our relationship. “Thanks, Ate,” I said, handing over my keys. “Any medical advice you can give me for a quick recovery?”
“Keep that ankle iced and elevated and stay off it as long as possible. I think we still have Daddy’s cane at the house, so I can drop it off later.”
It had been years since her dad passed from MS, but I still couldn’t believe she was willing to part with something that belonged to him. That simple gesture was enough to bring tears to my eyes, which I pretended was due to the pain in my leg. “Don’t worry about it. Pretty sure we still have Lolo’s lying around somewhere. But thanks. I appreciate it.”
And because she couldn’t leave well enough alone, Bernadette said, “Hey, just two more days and this will all be over. Try not to die before the Founder’s Day Festival, OK?”
She walked away cackling, but I couldn’t laugh at her weak joke. As Jae led me away, I glanced back at the fallen railing one last time. Was it just shoddy workmanship? Or had someone purposely tampered with it to hurt one of our girls?
Chapter Twenty-four
Are you ready, Joy?”
We were behind the Main Stage, waiting for the final event of the pageant to start. All the other contestants were busy practicing their talent with their mom, or having their makeup adjusted by their mom, or receiving a pep talk from their mom.
Except for Joy. The teen was pacing back and forth by herself, muttering what sounded like algebra equations to me. Or maybe geometry? Math wasn’t really my strong point, but she was definitely reciting something math-related.
“Huh? Oh, hi, Ate Lila. I’m fine. I just like reciting formulas when I’m nervous. Focusing on it helps take my mind off things.” She smiled shyly. “I know it’s weird.”
I shifted my weight to my uninjured ankle and reached out with the hand that wasn’t gripping my grandfather’s old cane. “Hey, whatever works, right? I should probably find my own version. It’s like a magic spell—say these words and they’ll help you focus or not stress out or whatever.”