Beth didn’t answer. She stared down at the mug in her hand, trying to stop the realization that Pat’s suggestion hadn’t freaked her out in the ways she had expected. Instead, it filled her with a strange flutter of surprise at the thought, and she couldn’t help but think about what Lenore had said about letting her body surprise herself.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in Milwaukee for Lily’s trials?” Pat asked, and while she was thankful for the change in conversation, it wasn’t her ideal topic.
“Sarah and Lily are already there. I’m flying out tonight to join them.” She tossed him a look that saidplease drop itwhich Pat thankfully picked up.
The following morning, Beth approached the hotel room Lily had directed her to. They still had a little time before Lily needed to meet with her coaches and head to the arena for her trials. She knocked on the door and a moment later, Sarah appeared on the other side.
“Hey,” she said, smiling as she held the door open for Beth to walk through.
“Hi,” Beth said quickly, brushing past Sarah into the room. She caught the familiar scent of lotion Sarah had always leaned towards—vanilla. It was reassuring to know that some things never changed while so much of their relationship had over the last two years.
“Lily’s still finishing her hair,” Sarah said, stepping past Beth into the suite.
“Oh, sorry, I would have come a little later. Lily texted me and said she was ready.” Yeah, this was awkward.
Sarah shot her an amused look that very clearly said,and you believed her?She took a seat at the small table situated in the suite’s kitchenette, nudging the chair next to her which Beth took.
More silence.
“How’s Nell?” she asked tentatively.
It had been a few weeks since she had last seen Sarah, let alone had more than a few minutes with her to catch up. If Beth were being completely honest, things between them had never quite felt the same after the space they had taken two summers ago at Sarah’s insistence. Sure, they had eventually found their footing again, but their friendship had never healed in the ways Beth would have liked. She used to know every single thing there was to know about Sarah, but now she felt like more of a distant acquaintance than her friend, and Beth couldn’t help but wonder how they had gotten so far from where they started.
Sarah studied her briefly. She opened her mouth, ready to answer, when the bathroom door swung open and Lily burst into the room in a flurry of hairspray and shimmering crystals.
“Okay,” Lily stated matter-of-factly, cocking a hip, her hand resting on it in her classicI’m about to tell you something importantstance she had adopted as a child. “So before I go, I need to tell you two that I’m dating Wren.”
Beth blinked. Whatever she’d been expecting Lily to say, it definitely wasn’tthat.
“She’s my girlfriend,” Lily said in a perfectly even tone, as though she was running through a checklist. “No one knows except Dylan, Wren’s roommate Sydney, and now you two… So, like, you’re now sworn to secrecy, obviously. But Wren wantedme to tell you so now that that’s done”—she bent down to pick up her gym bag—“I’m gonna go.” She shifted her weight towards the door.
Beth’s mind scrambled to catch up. Lily and Wren were dating. Not completely out of the realm of possibility, but this was Lily. Lily, who had never expressed so much as ever having a crush on anyone. Lily, who had eyes and headspace only for gymnastics.
Her eyes immediately went to Sarah. Sarah, for her part, had kept an impeccable poker face, no doubt thanks to all her years of being a shark in the courtroom. Not a single muscle in her face moved.
“Not so fast, Lils,” Sarah said, looking first to Beth, then to their daughter.
Lily groaned, dropping the bag. “What? I need to go.”
“You have plenty of time,” Sarah replied evenly. “You just told us something kind of important. Let’s take a minute and catch our breath.”
Beth’s mouth opened, then closed; her mind was still spinning around Lily’s admission. How had she missed this?
“So you and Wren...are dating?”
“Yeah,” Lily said with a small sigh. “It’s not that big of a deal. I like her, she likes me, we’ve been together for a few months. And before you ask, I don’t know if I’m a lesbian or bi or pan or whatever. I’ve been a little too busy with, you know, training for the Olympics to really sit down and think about it. I’m still me, Wren’s still Wren, and yeah. That’s it.”
Beth caught Sarah’s eye, silently begging for backup. But her brain and, unfortunately, her mouth had already taken a turn down the wrong path. “You know Wren’s gay, right?” she blurted out.
Both Lily and Sarah looked at her like she had grown an extra limb and she couldn’t blame them becausewhat was that? Her cheeks burned as she tried to organize her thoughts.
“Uh, yeah, Mama, I know Wren’s gay. She came out to me, like, forever ago.”
“I think what your mama was trying to—” Sarah interjected.
Beth opened her mouth to try again, to say literally anything else, but it was too late. The words were already coming out. “Are you two…sexually active?”
Silence filled the room as Sarah and Lily both gawked at her.
