Read Online Return to Sender by Julie Cross - Free Book Online

six to nine thirty every morning for the next month.”
    “I don’t know, are we?” She glances over her shoulder at me for confirmation.
    I’m not sure what kind of workout schedule Nina Jones has planned for them, but I can assume TJ’s concerned that they’re moving in on his territory. He’s been working out early every morning in gym three.
    “Let’s get your stuff and find your cabin.” I tug Karen’s hand and pull her toward the van and away from TJ and Liberty.
    A few minutes later, I’m hauling her and Stevie’s suitcases toward my cabin. They’ve been assigned the empty room on the left side.
    “Does Nina really have us working out at six in the morning?” Karen asks, stepping around mud puddles from last night’s rainstorm.
    “She might not have a choice. Campers start warm-ups at nine and rotations at nine thirty.”
    “Six is not that different from seven,” Stevie says. “Of course, I’m sure she’s got us scheduled for another four hours in the afternoon.”
    I open the door and let them step inside first. Both girls glance in the direction of the room TJ and I are sharing before settling in their empty one.
    “Top or bottom bunk?” Karen asks Stevie, who immediately points to the top.
    Two more of the senior national team girls come inside, too, rolling their own suitcases and heading for the back room, which is three times the size of our rooms but sleeps four. Stevie heads over to the girls to say hi, and after tossing Karen’s luggage onto the bottom bunk, I grab her hand and pull her out the door, taking advantage of the opportunity to sneak away.
    “I’ll give you the grand tour.” I flash her a grin and she quickly slides in front of me, heading away from the other girls even faster than me.
    “God, I need a gymnastics mental break.” Karen rubs her temples, closing her eyes briefly. “Two flights with Stevie talking strategy, code of points, and difficulty scores is a bit much. How’s it going here? Your roommate seems…”
    “What?” I tease, leading her away from the cabins, towards the gyms. “Don’t tell me you’re going to swoon over him like every other female staff member?”
    She glares at me. “I’ve never swooned in my life. He seems bitter about the whole schedule issue, that’s all I was going to say.”
    I toss an arm around her shoulder and kiss her cheek. “I was kidding. TJ’s all right. Don’t worry about him.” That’s pretty much all I could say. Explaining TJ is a daunting task. I’m not really sure what his deal is, but we’ve had some fun together in the past couple weeks. He kept quiet during most of the training and he observed other coaches all of last week. Campers arrive tomorrow for the new week and he’ll be coaching tumbling on his own. “So what happened with your grandma?”
    She shrugs. “She was a little bit easier to deal with than I expected. I think she wants to see me more, to talk more. We had dinner together almost every night and went shopping a couple times. Maybe it’s all sinking in now for her, you know? I’m her only family.”
    “That’s good, right?” I sense some concealed information between her words. “You never told me the rest of the story with her impending inquisition, did you guys end up talking about—”
    “You?” Karen supplies, laughing a little, but it’s a nervous laugh, which makes me nervous.
    “Yeah, and you know… the house. Is it all finished?” I hate that I wasn’t there for her when she went back in there. For both selfish and unselfish reasons. I guess on some level, I like that she needs me. I like that no one else in her life understands what she’s going through.
    “It’s finished.” She looks away from me and seems to be done with the subject.
    “Okay, and the part where you and your grandma gossiped about me… ?”
    “We did not gossip about you.” She chews on her lower lip, causing me to think about kissing her.
    I shake my head and continue walking.