Me:Yeah. I’m in the U.S.
Chema:What? You never cleared it with me. You haven’t trained in a week!
I don’t answer him again because I’m a chicken shit, but minutes later, the phone rings, and it’s him, and he’s furious.
“What’s going on?” he clips as soon as I answer the call.
“Hi, Chema. Miss you too.”
“Don’t be cute.”
“I’m sorry. You don’t deserve me disappearing on you.”
“What? You’re disappearing?”
“I wanted to tell you in person. I thought I’d get a break soon so I could say this face-to-face, but that didn’t work out,” I lie. My chest constricts at the betrayal I’m about to lay on him. “I got an agent.”
“That’s great, Tini! Why didn’t you tell me? I knew you were starting to get attention. We even had a reporter here yesterday looking for you.”
“You did?”
“Yeah,” Chema says, all the anger gone from his voice. I imagine his hulkish frame that never quite seems to fit his warm smile.
“That’s a first,” I say, surprised.
“I know. I’ll email you the details so you can tell your agent. If they want to do a feature at the gym while we train, that would be great for the gym too, Tini.”
“Chema,” I say and feel the tears in my throat. “There’s more.”
“What’s wrong?” His voice is all concern now.
“My agent agency. They want me to train with someone else.”
“You’re dropping me?”
I take a deep breath. “I have no choice. It’s the only way the agent would sign me. I had to agree to the new coach and new training plan.”
Chema laughs bitterly on the other end, and the sound knocks the wind out of me. “After everything we’ve been through? After getting you this far? This is how you repay me?”
“I’m sorry, Chema. Please believe me, I never meant to hurt you. It just worked out this way.”
“You know what the worst part is?”
All of it, I think, but keep silent.
“The worst part is I remember that gangly little kid with not a muscle on her body begging me and pestering me to train her.”
“I remember,” I smile when I think of our start. “It took me four months to persuade you.”
“You never persuaded me, Tini. You’re a force of nature. There isn’t a goal you set you don’t accomplish. You wanted me as your coach, and you showed up at my gym daily until you willed me into being your coach.”
“I’m grateful for everything—”
“Which is why I don’t buy this ‘it just worked out this way’ bullshit of yours. If you decided to drop me, that’s fine, but I deserve the respect of being your mentor—of being your friend. Hell, Tini, you’re my little sister. You owed it to me to tell me to my face. I’m your fucking family.”
“Chema—” I croak out, but he is no longer on the phone with me.
I roll to my side and curl my knees to my chest. A shiver runs through me, and the fetal position provides warmth. I cradle the phone in my hand, hoping he’ll call back. Hoping he’ll let me apologize. Hoping he’ll forgive me.
But there is no call, and I fall asleep like that.