A buzz from Sarah’s phone drew both of their attention. She flipped the phone over, glancing at the screen before quickly slamming it face down and looking at Lily with wide eyes. But it was the blush on her cheeks that caught Lily’s attention first. Her mom wasn’t really someone who blushed…
“Sorry,” she said, voice much higher than her usual tone. “What was the second part of your question?”
First the blush and now this weird voice? Lily raised a skeptical eyebrow, choosing not to say anything about it, instead asking her question again. “How did you know what you want to do for the rest of your life?”
Her mom took a breath, steadying herself.
Still weird.
“First things first. It’s not the rest of your life. Let’s just go ahead and squash that notion.” The phone buzzed again, causing her to hesitate before continuing. “I’d recommend thinking about it in smaller chunks of time. The next two to three to five years to start.”
Lily nodded, her mom’s words making her feel the tiniest bit better. Logically, she knew it wasn’t the rest of her life, but that didn’t remove the fact that she was still scared she’d make the wrong choice when it came time.
The phone buzzed again, Sarah reaching for it with red cheeks and lightning efficiency. “I’m just going to silence this.” She flicked the side switch on her phone, then set it down once more.
“As far as how do you know what to do? There isn’t really a one-size-fits-all answer, I’m afraid.” Sarah leaned against the counter, her palms spread on the granite. “Some people knowexactly what they want to do, and others figure it out as they go. The things I would think about are what you like doing, what you are good at, and what feeds your sense of purpose.”
“Sense of purpose?” Lily asked, confused. Was she supposed to have a sense of purpose already?
Her mom smiled. “Work you would feel good putting your name behind. What values you want your work to reflect, things like that. It’s okay if you don’t have those figured out yet. Out of curiosity, sweetie, why do you want to know?”
“No reason. Amanda and I had an interesting conversation this morning at the gym, and I’m gathering info.” Lily shrugged nonchalantly. It wasn’t a lie; that’s exactly what she was doing.
Lily had been an info gatherer for as long as she could remember. From the age of ten, she had kept meticulous journals—her musings, her wants, her wishes, and observations—which had only evolved into her excessive but hyper-organized spreadsheets. Her justification was simply that she liked knowing as much as possible about something before making any decisions.
“And you’re sure there isn’t more to it than that?” Sarah raised a sharp brow, exercising that oddly specific parental power of knowing when Lily was holding something back.
“Positive.” Lily gave her mom the most convincing smile she could muster. “Actually, I’ve gotta go. I’m supposed to call Wren. She’s three hours ahead on the east coast.” She hopped off her stool, reaching for her tablet, moving towards the hallway.
“I’m always here if you want to keep talking,” her mom called after her. Lily gave her a half-interested“I know” before heading upstairs.
Lily’s thoughts ran on an endless loop through every corner of her mind as she plopped down onto her bed, calling Wren. On the third ring, Wren’s face pixilated before coming into focus in the dim light.
“Hey.” Wren grinned widely at her, adjusting the hotel pillows behind her head, jostling the camera in a way that let Lily catch a glimpse of the freckles covering her chest where they disappeared beneath her sports bra—the loose, comfy one Wren preferred to sleep in.
“Hey, superstar.” Lily let out a small breath, already feeling better now that she could see Wren. She loved how Wren had that effect on her.
Lily shifted, settling herself deeper into her pillows as Wren launched into a very detailed rundown of how training camp was going, giving her a near minute-by-minute recap while also getting lost in several side stories along the way. Lily liked hearing about Wren’s interests, she really did, but there were times when Wren’s stories and retellings had a habit of eating up the precious amounts of time they had together, and this was turning into one of them.
“Wren—” Lily gently interjected. “You already told me about that.”
Wren went quiet. “Sorry. I got excited,” she said sheepishly.
Light flooded Wren’s screen, pulling her attention away. “One, sec,” she muttered. “Sydney just got back to the room.”
Wren put the phone face up, giving Lily a view of the ceiling as she undoubtedly went in search of her headphones.
“Hey Lily,” came Sydney’s voice, followed by her head popping into frame. “Don’t worry, I won’t take up too much of your precious phone time.” She gave Lily a sweet smile that she could have sworn was secretly a snarl.
Kill her with kindness, she repeated to herself.
“Thanks, Sydney, much appreciated.” She gave a thumbs up as Wren came back into view, headphones on.
“Okay, we’re good. We have at least thirty minutes until Syd’s bedtime routine is done.” Wren’s lopsided grin was adorable as ever, tugging at Lily’s chest the same way it always did.
They were quiet again, Lily waiting to see if Wren would talk first. When she didn’t, Lily did. “So do you want to know how my day went?” she asked, trying to point out to Wren that she had a habit of skipping over that question.
Wren smiled brightly. “Oh, yeah! I always want to know. Tell me everything.”
