Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Hi, Mom. Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yes. We’re fine. I was just calling to see how you are, honey,” she replied.
Something in her tone was off. She sounded anxious. And this was the hard part of living almost three thousand miles away from home. The Johnstons were a tight-knit group. I’d always been close to my family. To my parents, anyway. My sister, Bella, was two years older than me and light-years more mature. She planned her life to the nth degree. She’d met her husband, Will, in high school and told him he was the one, but that he’d have to wait till they were twenty-five to get married. And that was how it had gone down.
According to Will, he’d expected her to bring out the pregnancy books on their three-year anniversary. No one thought twice about it. Planning ahead was what Bella did.
Kind of like Ash. Although if you asked me, Ash took that skill set to a whole new level. And yep, the thought of him gave me a chubby. Not okay to be sportin’ wood while talking to my mother.
“I’m fine, Mom.” I squirmed on the sofa to get more comfortable. “Nothing exciting to report on my end.”
That I can share with you, I amended in my head.
“Mmm, well, that’s interesting because I just got off the phone with your girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend.”
I set my notebook on my laptop and bolted upright. “What? Katie? Why would she call you?”
“We’re still Facebook friends. She posted something about her cousin coming out and how grateful her family was for all the community support. I liked her post and commented…something like, ‘Give her our best.’ I think I added a heart symbol too.”
“Emoji,” I corrected.
“Yes. Anyway, it started a small online conversation that ended with a phone call. She told me you’d been kind to her cousin…Cara or Carla.”
“Carly.”
“That’s it. And she said she didn’t want to put anything in writing in case it jeopardized your job. Is there really a chance you could get fired, honey?”
This was tricky. This was also usually where I relied on my infinite ability to distort the truth. In this case, I didn’t want my parents to worry about me. My go-to response should have been, “No, Mom. I’m perfectly fine.”
I opted for honesty.
“Yeah, there’s a chance. Westgate is a conservative school, and they don’t like controversy of any kind. So far, admin hasn’t said a word. Nothing. But something will come up. They can’t ignore it forever. If it’s on social media, it’s a so-called story. And if we make it to CIFs…and we will—someone may decide that our goalie’s sexuality is a headline. If they try to make it into a distraction, we have to make it into a strength.”
Wow. I was impressed with myself. I hadn’t realized I’d been harboring those thoughts until I said them aloud. Carly’s coming-out wasn’t a negative, but someone would certainly try to use it against us. If they knew her coach was bi and very interested in a certain four-eyed scientist, we’d blow up the school’s reputation and get kicked out and fired in the process. Or we’d usher in a new era.
My mom sighed. “It might be a good time to talk to Dad about that job he keeps offering you here.”
“Mom…”
“There’s an opening, Blake. One of the professors is retiring, and they’ll hire a Pepperdine grad in a heartbeat.”
“That’s nice, but I also have a year left in my master’s.”
“Which you could complete online,” she singsonged.
“True, but—”
“You have options. That’s all I’m saying. You can tell those creeps to shove it if they give you any guff for being an ally and come home to a nice, well-paying job. And your mom’s famous apple pie,” she added with a chuckle. “I just want you to know you aren’t alone, Blake. Stick to your guns. Do the right thing. You’ll be fine no matter what.”
The lump in my throat threatened to choke the life out of me.
She might not have meant that in the way I needed to hear it, but I clung to the sentiment like a man climbing a fraying rope up a mountainside. I would do the right thing. I would be okay. Everything would be okay. Eventually.
“Thanks, Mom.”
I could feel her warm smile through our cell connection. “So I have to ask…is there any chance of you and Katie getting back together?”
“No.”
“Mmm. You said that very quickly,” she remarked shrewdly. “Did something bad happen? Can I ask that, or am I grossly overstepping the mom boundary?”
I gave a half laugh. “No, it’s fine. There’s nothing to report, though. We fizzled out. That’s all.”
“Is there someone else?”
My hesitation spoke volumes. When she hummed in a telltale “I thought so” kind of way, I immediately set things straight. “No, it’s not like that.”