The Game Changer - ch 4 (Patreon)

The next chapter of TGC officially won the March bonus content poll, so here we are :)

As I said on the poll - I promise, there will be other/different bonus scenes in the next couple of months!

Also as a side note - I've officially added a little copyright note to every tier's welcome note, signifying the privacy of patreon content. Just given how much piracy there is, the general degredation of privacy, and how much I've found content I've written in other places on the internet (never anything from here! Thankfully, because you are all amazing). I just want to cover all of my bases (... and so does my lawyer lol).

So I just wanted to make everyone aware of that little update. I do believe that everyone that signs up here is very respectful to both me and everyone else here, as no one on patreon has ever done anything to make me believe otherwise. As always, I'm deeply appreciative of you all.

Anyway... let's gooooo

------------ The Game Changer --------------

Chapter Four

“On behalf of the Elliston Preparatory School Board of Trustees, I’d like to end this meeting by officially welcoming Abigail Parker to our ranks. I’m hopeful you’ll take this opportunity to further your understanding of our illustrious and renowned history,” Jeffrey Fletcher, the president of the Board, nodded in Abbie’s direction with an expression that bordered precariously between a smile and a grimace.

There was something superbly, darkly, satisfying for Rose as she scanned her eyes over all of the similar expressions on all the faces of the other Board members that she knew weren’t thrilled about Abbie’s appointment.

She didn’t bother to tamp down on her smirk, even as she dropped her gaze to her tablet to shut it down, now that the meeting was over.

“I’m sure that will happen. And, in turn, I’m very hopeful to offer my perspective for the future of Elliston,” Abbie promptly returned.

Rose turned to look over at Abbie, a warm pride working through her, ticking up her lips into a bigger smile. It was a pride that she technically had no reason to feel, given that she had nothing to do with who Abbie was as a person; she knew that. But she’d wanted Abbie to join the Board for this very reason.

And she was, genuinely, so fucking glad she hadn’t been wrong. So glad Abbie was still someone that would join the Board when presented with the fact that she could, possibly, be making a very positive difference for students here.

Abbie’s blue eyes were locked on Jeffrey, and she offered him a smile that looked a lot more genuine that his did. But only on the surface.

Because Rose knew Abbie’s various smiles. Maybe Abbie had more now, as she’d gotten older, but her default one was definitely that sweet, honest grin. And this smile? Had something hard, something challenging underneath it.

It hooked strongly at something inside of Rose, right next to that pride.

Jeffrey cleared his throat. “Yes, well. I look forward to the next meeting.”

“As do I,” Abbie returned with the same energy.

As everyone started packing up their belongings and heading out, Rose lingered.

She’d only brought her iPad, so she could go right back to her office. Something she’d learned was that after these meetings, lingering and leaving herself open for conversation with several of these people would bring her nothing but a headache. Today, though, a part of her was hoping – very intently, too intently – to catch a minute with Abbie.

For what purpose? Rose couldn’t even say.

It wasn’t like Abbie had made it a secret that she didn’t want to spend time with Rose. Even after she’d accepted this position to join the board last Friday, she hadn’t sought Rose out at all.

Granted, the new school year had officially started, and as of today, Wednesday, everything was still so chaotic, Rose hadn’t really had any free time on her hands. She had to imagine it was the same for Abbie.

Still, the knowledge that Abbie was there in the athletic director’s office, a five-minute walk away from her during the day, popped into Rose’s mind, unbidden. Multiple times a day.

Sitting here, in this meeting, had been the longest they’d spent in one another’s company, and most of it had been spent not interacting with one another. Abbie had seemed to take great care to make sure they didn’t touch one another, either. Not even the brush of a knee when she’d taken the empty seat next to Rose – the only one that had still been available when she’d arrived about thirty seconds before the meeting had started – or the casual touch of elbows when they’d both reached out to make note of something.

And yet, Rose still felt like her entire body was buzzing from the proximity.

So, no. She didn’t have a clue what she’d want to actually say to Abbie. Especially given Abbie’s vehemently negative reaction to the slightest intimation of their past.

A reaction that had, frankly, taken Rose by surprise.

Regardless of all logic, she found that wanted that indefinable conversation. Then again, nothing about her feelings where Abbie was concerned had ever been particularly logical.

“Abbie, I’m so glad to have you joining us,” Ms. Belanger said as she approached them from behind, coming to stand right between their chairs.

She’d been seated on the other end of the large conference table, but had given Abbie a very enthusiastic wave when she’d entered the room.

Both she and Abbie swiveled to look up at her, and finally they made contact with one another. Their knees not brushing, but pressing against each other. Rose felt herself shiver at the touch of Abbie’s bare skin, given that she was wearing a skirt and Abbie was already wearing the shorts she’d likely be wearing to practice after the meeting.

She noted the way Abbie’s gaze dipped briefly to their knees, the way Abbie’s nostrils flared as she took in a deep breath… but didn’t move back even as she tensed.

She didn’t look at Rose, either. Rather, she skipped that and went right to looking up at their former teacher.

The smile on Abbie’s face, this time, was very clearly sincere. “I’m really glad to see you, Ms. Belanger. I’ve been meaning to pop by and say hi. We didn’t really get a chance to chat or anything after my hiring interview.”

Ms. Belanger waved her hand, readjusting her glasses. “Oh, don’t worry about that; I’m sure you’re incredibly busy. I just wanted to let you know how wonderful it is to see you settling in, and how truly proud I am of everything you’ve accomplished over the years. And you’re no longer a student; we’re peers. You can call me Francine.”

Abbie’s cheeks flushed, sweetly, at the praise, before her eyebrows lifted high on her forehead. “Uh… I mean, I’ll try. And – thank you. It doesn’t surprise me at all that you’ve won the favorite teacher vote from the student population.”

It was Ms. Belanger’s turn to smile, bright and genuine. “I just do what I love to do.”

“Well, you were always my favorite teacher,” Abbie offered, still wearing that honest smile.

Rose couldn’t help but scoff slightly, murmuring, “Suck up.”

It was only then that Abbie lowered her gaze to Rose, eyes narrowing.

Ms. Belanger laughed, sounding absolutely delighted. “Ah, and it’s lovely to see some things never change. I have to go; I’m the script supervisor for this semester’s drama club! But I hope to see you around more than just at these meetings.”

“I hope so, too,” Abbie returned, giving her a little wave.

Ms. Belanger landed her hand to Rose’s shoulder, squeezing softly, in a wordless goodbye.

As soon as she’d gone, Abbie turned her glare back to Rose. “Suck up? Really.”

Rose only arched a look right back at her. “Well, you were always my favorite teacher.” She echoed back, deliberately using a high-pitched, terrible imitation. One she knew would grind Abbie’s gears.

Abbie’s cheeks flushed – she really had always been so easy to rile up.

“She was!” Abbie defended.

Rose tried very valiantly to hold back her laughter, pinching her lips together. The thing Ms. Belanger had been wrong about, though, was that – while high school Rose absolutely would have made that remark to Abbie, she’d have meant it.

Admittedly, she did mean it now, too. But there was no vitriol behind it. No latent insult.

If anything, she found Abbie’s earnest brown-nosing… endearing.

Maybe she had back then, too, but – well, her feelings years ago had been a lot harder to sort through and manage.

Abbie rolled her eyes, but changed the topic rather than devolve further. “Also, calling her Francine? I can’t do that.”

Her tone was so scandalized, Rose couldn’t help but laugh. And, yeah, that was undeniable endearment welling up inside of her.

“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” she agreed, shaking her head. “Even though I’m the headmaster, she’ll always be Ms. Belanger to me.”

“Glad I’m not alone on that at the very least,” Abbie murmured, before she paused, her gaze dropping down to where their knees were still firmly pressed together.

Pointedly, she shifted away, before turning her attention back to the items she was packing up in her bag.

Rose breathed deeply in both relief and disappointment.

An interesting feeling, for certain, and definitely not an amalgamation that was foreign to her. Especially not when it came to Abbie Dalton – Parker.

The reality Rose had accepted in the last couple of weeks was that her physical reaction to Abbie was the same now, as a fully-grown adult, as it had been back when she’d been a hormone-riddled adolescent.

The only difference now was that she didn’t feel like she had to beat herself up whenever she felt it.

In a way, it made her want to chase the high. Maybe that was why she wanted to seek out Abbie’s company?

She was attracted to women; she was attracted to Abbie. And it was okay. What an absolute revelation.

In another way, it made her a little wary. Was it this incredibly freeing, awe-inducing feeling to be able to feel this attraction? Of course. But absolutely everything about Abbie screamed complication.

And, realistically, the last thing Rose needed in her life, right as she was on the cusp of truly untying all of the knots she’d been held down by for so long, was anything complicated.

Plus, there was the matter of Abbie’s dislike for her.

The reminder dimmed some of the anticipation Rose had felt about this time with Abbie – now that they were the only two people left in the conference room. She cleared her throat softly, before saying, “I really do want to thank you. For being willing to join the Board. And… truthfully, for giving that attitude right back to Jeffrey at the end of the meeting,” she confessed.

God, she really did.

“I think you can see what I meant, about the old-school members disliking change.”

Even though it hadn’t been a calculated plan, it seemed her comment lit Abbie’s ire – but directed at someone that wasn’t her for a change. A very welcome change, Rose noted, as Abbie looked at her, blue eyes alight with passion.

“Yeah, I can definitely see what you were talking about. And – whatever.” She shrugged. “Maybe he’ll learn that making any veiled comments about my doing things the old-fashioned way are only going to make me even more determined to change things around here.”

Oh, yeah. There it was. For a second, Rose could only stare at Abbie, a smile toying on her lips. This was precisely what she’d hoped for when asking Abbie to become a board member. The reality was that Rose had been trying to find someone to fill this position for months, but she hadn’t been confident even in her better options for faculty members.

“Honestly, Abbie – when you wanted me to give you a reason about why I wanted you, specifically to join the Board? That, right there, is the reason.” She surprised even herself by speaking the words aloud, but she absolutely stood by it.

Even as she felt her cheeks flush slightly, watching the way Abbie froze for a few seconds as she registered what Rose said, before she tilted her head at her. “Explain?”

Rose took a deep breath, hoping that nothing she said would accidentally ignite Abbie’s agitation at her. It seemed, in the last couple of weeks, that she was very good at that even unwittingly.

“I mean – the Board, technically, is in charge of deciding employment, here. As you know. So, there were a few other contenders I’d tried to persuade to join before you were on staff, but… I knew I was playing a game of roulette. Even though everyone I’d invited to join was someone whose views – I believe – align with what I’d like to do, the reality is, I need more than beliefs; I need someone with conviction. Someone willing to go against all of the old-school trustees and not get discouraged or intimidated. Someone willing to push even though there is the possibility that it could have a backlash.” She winced, apologetically, quickly adding, “I’m very much hoping there won’t be, of course.”

In the quiet moment that followed, her stomach tingled with nerves. Would Abbie see this as the gotcha moment she’d obviously been waiting for last week, when she’d made it clear that she believed Rose had been leading her into a trap by asking her to join the Board? The fact that there was, technically, a possibility that she could be fired by a majority-ruling board vote, and that Rose hadn’t discussed that, prior to this?

All right, Rose could – when thinking about it in this moment – see how Abbie might come to that conclusion, and she was already turning her wheels, trying to figure out how to make Abbie understand and believe that she hadn’t meant to do anything duplicitous.

After several seconds, though, Abbie slowly nodded. “Okay, I can see how that may have been difficult.”

Relief swept through her. Even so, she couldn’t help but frown, incredulous. “That’s… all?”

Abbie finished packing her bag, swiftly zipping it up as she turned to look at Rose once more, lifting her eyebrow in question. “… yeah?”

She should just let it go. She knew that, and yet – “Last week, you were ready to jump down my throat because I wanted you to join the Board because you’re a lesbian. But now, after discussing the fact that you could – potentially – be fired for standing up to them, you’re totally fine about that?”

“Well, your reasoning for wanting me to join, as you told me last week, is still true. I’m a lesbian. I’m willing to fight for what I think is right. And I’m not afraid of the Board,” she drawled the word mockingly. Adorably. “If they want to fire me for that, it’s not your fault.”

And there it was. Even when Abbie so clearly didn’t like her, she was never unfair to her.

There was also that… tone in her voice, when she commented on the other board members. Something so stubborn and impassioned, and Rose hadn’t accounted for how viscerally she would enjoy that.

But she certainly did.

Abbie scoffed a laugh, obviously very unaware of Rose’s thoughts, as she continued, “Funny how Fletcher and the others were thrilled to hire me to bring back some glory to the athletic program, but aren’t thrilled about having a lesbian’s vote when it comes to policy.”

“Believe me, I understand,” she murmured, all too knowingly.

Not that Abbie understood why, but… Rose ached with the understanding of where she was coming from.

Those blue eyes narrowed at her in thought, as Abbie slowly asked, “If you understand, then… why are just trying to change things now?”

Even though her words were accusing, her voice wasn’t. She mostly just sounded confused. Like she was studying Rose and trying to put together the pieces, but she couldn’t quite make sense of her.

For a second, Rose was just as confused. Before it clicked for her, what Abbie was getting at.

“How long do you think I’ve worked here?” Rose asked, quietly.

Abbie shot her an exasperated look. “I don’t know; forever? You were the person that once said you’d never really leave Elliston.”

Rose immediately knew the moment Abbie was referring to. Their time at prom, before they’d kissed. More aptly, she supposed, before she’d kissed Abbie.

A part of her wanted to ask – to demand – why Abbie was allowed to bring up the past, and she wasn’t. But, given that they were having such a non-acrimonious conversation for the first time in weeks, Rose wasn’t willing to rock the boat right now.

Beyond that, she didn’t want to fixate too much on that moment, anyway. Because she could remember that night all too well. The kiss with Abbie, of course, but… everything else she’d been feeling, too. Such hopelessness, while watching all of her peers celebrate rushing toward a new beginning.

Clearing her throat, she explained in a voice far softer than she’d intended, “At the time, I hadn’t actually been referring to my remaining – physically – here. It was more a comment on my family. My name. Who I am.” Who she was expected to be.

Abbie accepted it with a nod, her eyebrows furrowing gently as she tucked Rose’s words away in her mind. “All right. But. You’re still here.” She gestured around them.

“I am,” she acknowledged, shaking her head. “But after I got my graduate degree in education, I didn’t work here; I worked for the state, planning and auditing curriculum. I only ended up here when my dad died last year.”

As she spoke, she looked around the conference room. Much like her dad’s – her office, large, ornate window designs and polished, well-maintained wood ruled all. It had taken her a few months, but she was finally starting to get to a place where she didn’t feel dwarfed by her father’s shadow, here.

With the new year starting – a year that was all her own – she hoped she could conquer that feeling completely.  

Abbie gently tapped her knuckles on the table, regaining her attention even though the movement had clearly been mindless on Abbie’s end. Something subconscious she’d done while she was thinking. “Then how’d you get your job? I didn’t realize this was something your family could just, like, pass down as an inheritance.”

Rose breathed out a laugh at Abbie’s visible consternation. “Technically, they can’t.” She dryly confirmed. “Technically, my position is decided by the Board, just like yours. But technicalities are really just minute factors when your name is the institution.”

Did that made her feel great? Not really. In fact, it had been one of the factors that had contributed to her almost not taking up the mantle. Not the leading factor, but one of them.

“So… it’s nepotism.”

Abbie’s tone wasn’t cutting, though. In fact, it seemed a little lighthearted?

“Precisely,” she confirmed, feeling her lips tug into the slightest of smiles, before she regarded Abbie, seriously. “The reality is – there are certainly people whose career tracks were technically more suited for this position than mine.” She could acknowledge that. “And I nearly didn’t take this job. But I’m here for the same reason I asked you to be here. Because I didn’t believe that the Board would choose someone that wants to do something… different, here. Something better.”

She gestured at Abbie, coming full-circle.

Who looked at her, those blue eyes so… intent. Searching. Earnest.

It was an expression Abbie had always worn. Like she was just trying to figure everyone out. An expression that had terrified – and irritated – Rose, in the past.

Now… well, it was still a little off-putting. But in a different way.

Also in the past, Abbie used to have no problem spouting off about whatever her thoughts were. Even if those thoughts were to express that she had no idea what Rose was talking about.

Now, she didn’t say anything.

She simply nodded, once, before she turned back to look at her bag resting on the table. And after another moment, she said, “All right, then. I have to get to practice. I can’t tell the team that they’re going to be penalized if they’re more than five minutes late and then show up more than five minutes later, myself.”

With that, she stood. Then she fucking stretched.

Rose’s mouth closed so quickly, her teeth smarted.

Fine, Abbie wasn’t doing anything actually obscene, but what the fuck?

Her midriff was at Rose’s eye level, and the Red Fox soccer shirt she wore rode up a couple of inches, revealing her stupidly, ridiculously toned stomach. Obviously, Abbie had abs; she’d just left behind a career as a professional athlete. Rose was aware of that.

But being aware of something and seeing it right in front of her face were two very different fucking things.

Her throat ran utterly dry, all of the blood rushed through her veins faster, hotter, and she clenched her hands against the armrests of her chair so tightly, her knuckles hurt.

The moment only lasted a few seconds, but it felt both like a blink and a lifetime, before Abbie lowered her arms and reached for her bag, slinging it over her shoulder.

Rose blinked, quickly turning her head away to get fucking control of herself. She breathed in through her nose, deeply, and held it… before slowly exhaling through her nose.

Abbie took a few steps, before Rose shook herself out of that unreasonable trance, and quickly stood as well, following after Abbie.

This time, unlike last week, she didn’t allow her eyes to drop and linger on Abbie’s magnificent ass. No, there was something else – something more important – she wanted to dive into without distractions.

As they exited the conference room and turned down the hallway that would lead them in the direction of the exit toward the field outside, she kept pace with Abbie. Who looked at Rose questioningly out of the corner of her eye.

Taking another deep inhale, Rose bit at her inner cheek and, “I know you don’t want to talk about the past.”

Granted, Rose didn’t know if Abbie meant the entirety of their past or just the night they’d had sex. Either way.

Abbie’s footsteps faltered, and she turned to give Rose a dubious stare. Like she couldn’t believe Rose was deliberately bringing up the past, now. Again. There was a glimmer of heated agitation already there, ready to pounce.

And it was that glimmer that drove Rose forward.

“But I just… I need to clear the air, regarding what you said last week. About my antagonizing you when we were younger,” her voice was quiet, but firm.

She needed to say this, especially if they were going to be seeing one another with any regularity.

Abbie’s eyes narrowed at her, as her pace slowed but didn’t stop. She didn’t say anything, either, which Rose was going to take as a good sign.

She held that striking blue gaze with her own, hoping Abbie could see that she was sincere, as she said, “I’m sorry, Abbie. For the fact that I did,” she pursed her lips, “Antagonize you when we were in school.”

Her stomach tingled with that nervous feeling again, wondering if Abbie was going to interrupt and tell her off. Wondering, even more ardently, what Abbie was going to say or do, if she didn’t.

Intertwining her fingers, she pressed her hands down against her stomach, as she continued, quietly, “There are about a million things I could tell you, in an effort to explain.”

To explain who Rose was. Why she was that way – more specifically, why she’d been that way. Why she was still… figuring things out, even at thirty.

“But specifics aside, everything boils down to the fact that I was profoundly, ineffably unhappy. On a very deep level.” She swallowed hard at the truth in her words, an aching feeling settling in her stomach.

She hadn’t given perhaps enough thought about saying this to Abbie while they were literally walking down the hall of Elliston. The literal backdrop of her daily life back then. For some reason, it made this even heavier to say aloud.

“And I know – as an adult – that is not an excuse to treat someone else poorly.” Breathing out a mirthless laugh, she raked her hand through her hair. “I mean, I think I knew that back then, too. But…”

All she could offer was a shrug to accompany her truth.

“So, I’m not trying to excuse my behavior, and how it might have made you feel. But I do want you to at least know the reason under it all.”

Abbie did stop walking, then. She stared intently at Rose, whatever thoughts that played out behind blue eyes completely unreadable.

Even if Abbie snapped at her for bringing up the past, though, Rose stood by it. She rolled her shoulders back and attempted to quell that squirmy feeling she still got whenever she was so truly honest with someone. With anyone, really.

“I appreciate that,” Abbie murmured after several long moments, staring at the wall beyond Rose’s shoulder. Finally, she slid her gaze to Rose once more, biting at her wonderfully full bottom lip, before asking, “Are you, now?”

Surprised swept through her, accompanied by confusion. “Am I… what?”

“Happy,” Abbie explained shortly, giving Rose that look again. The one where she was trying to figure her out.

And it made Rose’s stomach tie into knots, before her cheeks heated. The question was so simple, but so not, and she certainly didn’t know how to properly think it through while standing only a foot from Abbie like this.

Especially when she thought about literally every other interaction they’d had in the last couple of weeks.

“Do you even care?” She didn’t know why she asked that; she probably shouldn’t have.

Because it didn’t actually matter, either way. Whether Abbie Dalton – Parker cared if she was happy wouldn’t change the outcome.

Yet, she found herself holding her breath, especially as Abbie didn’t immediately answer.

“Yes,” she finally confirmed, her voice soft, but wonderfully earnest. So honest, in fact, that the admittance sounded like it pained and confused her. “I guess… I do.”

Even if Abbie didn’t seem thrilled to admit it, Rose couldn’t stop the sweeping warmth that filtered through her. Bare minimum, it meant there was some sort of hope on the horizon for Abbie to not hate her.

And that, she realized at this very moment, was exactly what she wanted. It was what she desperately wanted. For Abbie not to detest her. Maybe, possibly, for them to even work up to being… friendly. For them to be something remotely positive.

After all of their history, after all of the jagged threads Rose looked back on in her life at this point, being on positive, resolved terms with Abbie… the idea gave her a peace she hadn’t known she’d been seeking.

“Maybe it’s because we’ve known each other for so long,” Abbie explained, seemingly more like she was trying to figure it out, herself, rather than discuss it with Rose. “Maybe it’s because I know about Cassie–”

Rose held up her hand, arching Abbie a baffled look.  “I’m sorry. My having Cassie could be a factor for you hoping I’ve found a way to be happy?”

“Yes.” This time, Abbie answered right away, her eyebrows furrowing. “A person’s happiness and emotional well-being has a serious impact on their kids, even if they don’t realize it. Even if you were doing your best not to let anything negative show on the surface. It…” Abbie frowned, deeply, trailing off.

And Rose was absolutely riveted to the spot.

For so much of her time knowing Abbie, she’d known about her perfect home life. About her adoring lesbian moms, who came to every game, who Abbie talked about with such… love.

But in this moment, she vividly recalled the man on the soccer field who’d laid his hands on Abbie. And the fact that Abbie’s happy home life with her moms hadn’t always been the case.

A story Rose only knew the surface of, but she’d wondered about it a lot back then.

Abbie cleared her throat. “Anyway. So, yeah. I don’t know the reason, maybe Cassie is a part of it. But… I hope you’re happy in your life, now.”

With Abbie’s direct, open gaze on her, Rose found herself answering quietly, “I’m working on it.”

She was surprised by her own honesty; she felt it, the rawness of how much she meant those words scrape at her throat.

Abbie blinked back at her in clear surprise right back, before accepting her words with a slow nod. “Good for you.”

And there it was.

The fact that Abbie really meant that – that Abbie, despite holding onto negative feelings toward her for years – looked her in the eye and wished for Rose to be happy…

It was the thing about Abbie that Rose had never been able to completely shut out. The thing that had kept her in Abbie’s orbit for so long in high school.

A kind smile, even when Rose gave her nothing but a scowl.

The frozen bananas.

An excited hug.

Yes, she’d been unreasonably – vexingly, terrifyingly – attracted to Abbie, and she’d never been able to turn that off, either. But it was this part of her that had kept Rose constantly coming back into her orbit, unable to truly walk away.

If Abbie had just… been a horrible, shitty person right back to her, she’d probably have been able to leave her the hell alone. To ignore Abbie completely for everything that didn’t involve soccer.

And no, Abbie wasn’t giving her one of her sweet smiles, wishing for Rose’s well-being even now. But the fact that it existed there, despite Abbie’s obvious disdain for her…

Rose sighed.

The moment was cut jarringly short as Abbie’s phone started buzzing from her back pocket. She frowned, fished it out and swiftly answered, “Norah? Are you already here?”

All at once, the warmth that had flowed through Rose in the last couple of minutes froze over.

Norah. Norah Parker. The name echoed violently through Rose’s mind.

The short, curvy brunette from last week. The short, curvy, irritatingly gorgeous brunette with the dimple next to her mouth when she’d given Rose a knowing smirk.

“Uh, yeah, I’m here. Right where you should be. Only, now, you’re breaking the five-minute rule. Gonna have to figure out a punishment that’s suitable for the coach,” Norah’s voice rang, teasingly, through the phone, where Abbie clearly kept her volume up just enough for Rose to hear the faint echo of Norah’s comments.

Punishment? Revulsion spiked through her, and she tightly crossed her arms. She had to believe it was a sexual comment, and the sharp frown on her lips was impossible to push down.

Abbie dropped her head back, groaning. “Shit. Well, you’re right; fair’s fair.”

“I know I’m right.” Norah’s tone was smug.

Rose narrowed her eyes at it, even as she inched the slightest bit closer so she could make certain she heard every word. Clearly, a masochist to her very core.

“Now – hey, what are they supposed to call you? There’s a smattering of both Daltons and Parkers. You know I personally push for Parker, but I’ll defer to you.”

Wasn’t that so kind? Rose’s inner-voice snarked.

Was Abbie’s wife some sort of possessive nut? Someone that had clearly pressured Abbie to changing her name, despite skyrocketing to acclaim in college as Dalton?

“Eh,” Abbie breathed out. “Obviously Parker is preferrable, but I’m not going to insist to the girls that already know me and look up to me as Dalton.”

“You’re the boss. At least on the field. Otherwise, your athleisure-wear doesn’t really scream top-brass.”

What was that supposed to mean? It wasn’t like Abbie ever looked like a scrub; she looked… Rose sighed. Anyway – Abbie had likely had handfuls of sponsorships and partnerships with athletic brands over the years. Shouldn’t her wife be accepting and appreciative of that?

“Excuse me for enjoying being comfortable,” Abbie snapped back, but let out a laugh. She let out a deep breath, shifting her head up and forward again.

Only for blue eyes to widen in surprise at Rose’s proximity.

She felt her cheeks heat, but she squared her shoulders, arching an eyebrow right back at Abbie. There were still several inches between them; it wasn’t like she was standing inappropriately close.

“I got caught up in something after the Board meeting. I’ll be there in a minute. Start the warm-ups?” Abbie requested.

Norah responded with a confirmation, before she hung up.

Abbie was still staring at Rose curiously as she lowered her phone. “It’s Norah; she’s outside,” she explained, needlessly.

“I heard,” Rose dryly responded, not managing to hold back her eyeroll. “Do you always keep your phone on that volume? How bad is your hearing?”

“It’s so I can hear without putting it on speaker bec–” Abbie cut herself off, pursing her lips as she narrowed her eyes right back at Rose. “You know, that’s none of your business. You’re welcome, actually, because clearly you wanted to eavesdrop.”

She gestured between them, obviously referencing the fact that Rose had shifted closer to listen in.

And it galled Rose… despite the fact that it was obviously true.

“I think it’s my right as the head of this school to know who’s on the grounds,” she shot back, and was so fucking grateful to latch onto that very legitimate excuse. She levelled a serious stare at Abbie. “Apparently you have her running drills outside, alone with the girls? What the hell is that about?”

Really, what was that about? Could Abbie not go a whole workday without seeing Norah? She wrinkled her nose; no way was that true. Abbie had just left a career in which she travelled constantly. It must be Norah, then, that decided to be around Abbie all of the time? Controlling, much?

Abbie scoffed at her. “Actually, I think you’ll find that for me to get assistance with anything regarding the team, the only person I need to sign off is the athletic director–” She slowly, sharply arched a look right back at Rose.

One that made her pulse.

“– and would you look at that? The resident athletic director got the requisite fingerprinting and CORI form completed.” She reached out to mark off an imaginary check. “Done.”

Rose grinded her teeth together, unable to come up with a retort.

No, she didn’t believe Abbie would put students at risk. But she still hated this.

“How did you meet Norah? What does she do?” Her throat was tight as she asked the questions.

Questions she didn’t want the answers to… only she did, just slightly more.

She’d refused to dive so low as to look it up, herself. She wasn’t a fucking stalker, no matter how much she wanted to know information about the woman that had apparently won Abbie’s heart.

She honestly didn’t know much of anything regarding Abbie’s love life over the last eight years. Though she technically followed Abbie on social media, Rose wasn’t very active on socials, herself. Cutting herself off from socials years ago had been a very deliberate decision. A wise one.

All the easier to try to move forward in her own life.

And in her weaker moments, when she would look at Abbie’s socials – or in the moments where she was confronted by Abbie as a public figure in the soccer world, a world in which Rose could never fully turn her back to – there was never anything about her love life.

Which meant Abbie was deliberately tight-lipped. There was no way someone that looked like Abbie – all golden hair and bright smiles and sunny blue eyes and body like an actual goddess, matched with a with a winning personality – was single throughout her entire adulthood.

Not when there were women throwing themselves at her. Even back in college.

God, the thought of it still made Rose clench her jaw so hard it ached. Even years later, it was affronting to think about the fact that she’d been just one of the masses that had done what she’d done that night.

Tried to, anyway. If Abbie’s affirmation had been honest.

And she’d always believed in Abbie’s honesty.

Abbie slipped her phone back into her pocket, giving Rose a look like she thought she was crazy. “Um… I’ve known her basically forever by now.”

Ah, wonderful. The exact response Rose and Nathan would give to people when asked about their origin.

“And she’s an Assistant District Attorney,” Abbie informed her, this time with an edge of pride in her voice.

Rose’s lips pursed again, and she did hold back on her eyeroll this time, but just barely. She didn’t want to give any satisfaction about her response.

“Isn’t that lovely.”

“Yeah, it is,” Abbie confirmed, dead seriously, tilting her jaw up in defense of Norah. Abbie reached up and drew her hand through her hair, shaking her head. “I have to get to practice.”

“Mhmm,” Rose hummed in return.

Abbie held her stare for several beats, before exhaling deeply. “Guess I’ll have to see you around, then.”

“It appears so,” Rose returned, rooted to the spot as she watched Abbie turn and walk down the hallway.

Ah, the complex feelings brought on by Abbie Dalton – Parker.

***

Rose nodded along as Cassie chattered up at her, as they walked up the steps of the porch to…

To not Rose’s house.

Though it had officially been a few months since she’d moved out, it was still jarring for her.

Jarring enough that she caught herself as she automatically reached for the doorknob. She didn’t live here, anymore; this was Nathan’s house now.

Which had been the way Rose had wanted it. She’d been the one to tell Nathan that she did not want to live in the house they’d shared in their marriage, and that she was more than fine to sign it over to him in their separation.

Cassie, however, made the moment a lot simpler, as she reached up and twisted the knob, opening the front door.

“– so, she said it was fine, and she, um, she gave me half of her orange,” Cassie concluded the tenth tale of her day, walking in and kicking off her shoes in the mudroom.

Rose walked in and shut the door behind her, clearing her throat pointedly before Cassie skipped right out of the room.

When her daughter swung around to face her, Rose lifted her eyebrows and pointedly dropped her eyes to the small shoes – uniform-issue black sneakers – that were haphazardly in the middle of the mudroom floor.

Cassie sighed up at her, hands falling to her hips.

Ah, one of those evenings, then.

“Mom, you don’t even live here no more! You can’t tell me where to put my shoes,” Cassie smartly informed her, a gleam in her dark eyes – like looking into a mirror – as she stared up at Rose.

Her stomach twisted. It was faint, not nearly as strong as a churn as those comments had inspired months ago, when they’d told Cassie about their divorce –

Was she scarring her daughter? Was she doing the wrong thing? Should she stay with Nathan? Was she being selfish? Would Cassie be okay with the tumult? How would it affect her development at such a young, pivotal age? –

But still, she felt it.

If there had been one thing that had pushed Rose to being the best version of herself that she knew how to be, it was Cassie. She had to believe that she and Nathan were both making the right choices for themselves and for her, and that they would all be fine.

Rose opened her mouth to respond, but Nathan’s voice rang out from the attached living room. “You know, Cass, I’m pretty sure your mom and I are still your parents, no matter where we are or where we live. I’m going to have to consult with the rule book on that later, but I think…”

He trailed off as he came into view, tossing the small kitchen towel over his shoulder, as he’d clearly been cooking – by the aroma that wafted through the house, anyway – when they’d come in.

She shot him an appreciative look.

“Plus, I’d like to not trip over those teeny-tiny shoes when I come in here tomorrow morning,” he finished.

Cassie let out a long-suffering sigh; she’d started with those when she’d been fucking two, and it had never stopped. Still, she bent down and grabbed a shoe in each hand, before shuffling to the little cubby shoe-holder, placing them in the proper spot.

“Done!” She announced, spinning back around to face them. “What’s for dinner?”

“What did my little gremlin request?”  He asked.

“Pasgetti!” She shouted, pumping her fists into the air with a little cheer.

Nathan doffed an imaginary cap down at their daughter. “Your wish is my command.”

“Yay!” Cassie squealed.

Rose felt her lips curl into a smile at the sight of her daughter’s excitement, before she turned to meet Nathan’s gaze. He was wearing a matching grin.

He lifted his eyebrows at her in question. “You want to stay? I made enough.”

She scoffed. “Knowing you, there’s enough for the entire neighborhood.”

Every time Nathan cooked during their marriage, their fridge had been so full of leftovers, there was no possible way to finish them all in a given week. He’d, inevitably, end up bringing in a smorgasbord of offerings to all of the other financial managers at their firm when they all went into the office on Fridays.

He gamely shrugged.

Cassie answered for her, “Mom has a meeting tonight,” she informed her dad, rolling her eyes up at him, as if in disbelief that he didn’t possibly know that information.

They locked eyes again, their smiles tinged with exasperated looks that they were now long used to exchanging.

“I do,” she confirmed a beat later, giving him a meaningful stare.

She had a meeting with their mediator. Her final meeting, actually.

It dawned on Nathan, and he lightly slapped at his forehead with his palm. “Ah. Right.”

Cassie turned and held her arms out toward Rose, signaling that she was ready for her goodbye hug.

Rose obliged, leaning down and wrapping Cassie up in her arms for a tight – but brief, as her daughter would start to get squirmy quickly – squeeze. She took a deep breath in of her watermelon-scented kids shampoo, holding onto the it.

Though she knew she was luckier than almost anyone else in her situation. After all, Cassie was in her care, technically, at Elliston every day, even if it was one of Nathan’s custody nights. She could see her daughter whenever she wanted.

And sometimes, she did. Even if it was just to walk by the pre-k classroom and peer in through the window in the door.

As if on queue, Cassie squirmed. “All right, Mom, love you.”

Rose released her. “I love you, too.”

“See you! Don’t – um, don’t forget my soccer game!” Cassie called over her shoulder, scampering out of the mudroom.

“I’ll see you there,” Rose called back.

Cassie disappeared around the corner in the direction of her playroom without a glance. And, yeah, it was in moments like this that Rose knew she wasn’t traumatizing her daughter.

Nathan folded his arms, having turned to watch Cassie go, as well, before looking back at her. “I’m constantly impressed and terrified by her spirit.”

She laughed, reaching up to pinch at the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, you aren’t alone.”

They both heard a tell-tale crash of Cassie’s toys being dumped out of one of the organizational bins.

“And you are in for quite the story-time tonight,” she informed him, wryly. “I had my ear chatted off the entire ride here.”

Nathan sighed deeply, but nodded as he accepted his fate. “Yeah… you know, when it comes to the fact that now she has double an audience to regale with her stories, I think she might actually prefer the fact that we aren’t together.”

A genuine, full-bodied laugh bubbled up Rose’s throat. “God, I think you’re right. Especially now that she’s in school.”

“Hey, speaking of school – I’m really happy to come by and pick her up on Wednesdays, so you don’t have to drive her here on your way home,” he offered, tilting his head at her with that sincere tone.

She waved the offer away. “I don’t mind; I, unfortunately, would miss my Cassie updates.” She admitted, and she knew he understood, despite the way they both commented on it at times.

After all, every night Cassie was in the other’s custody, they called to do a nightly catch-up with her before bed.

He breathed out a quiet chuckle, “Yeah, I get that.” He shrugged. “But I gotta swing by at some point. I want to see the Olympic coach!”

Immediately, Rose flushed, and she hoped Nathan wouldn’t notice. “What are you even talking about?”

“Abbie,” he informed her, excitedly, giving her a duh look.

“I know who you were referring to,” she tossed back with the same tone, but refrained from saying anything else in spite of the uneasy feeling filtering through her stomach.

Keeping Abbie and Nathan as separate parts of her world still felt like the most natural, comfortable thing. Even if there was no technical reason; after all, she was romantically involved with neither of them.

“I just mean, I’m already at Elliston, and you work at home. It makes sense.”

His grin didn’t dim, though. “Yeah, I know you’re right. But it’s still cool as hell, though, right? To have Abbie back, coaching the team! We know an Olympic athlete, Rosey-posey! That’s cool! And she’s now local; I want to say hi.” He insisted.

She hummed noncommittally, then cleared her throat to change the subject. “Anyway. I should head out.”

Nathan glanced down at his wrist to check the time. “Oh, yeah, you probably should. I’ll see you Friday for Cassie’s game, then.”

“Go Monkeys,” she dryly cheered.

He laughed. “You sound like that now, but we both know how seriously you take the game when we’re there.”

Rose merely pursed her lips, shooting him a disapproving frown.

As always, he was undeterred. Perhaps even encouraged by her expression, still laughing. He – annoyingly accurately – pointed out, “No other parent in the kids aged four-to-six league has gotten into an argument with a referee.”

“Well, what the hell is the point of having a referee there at all if they aren’t going to call out blatant fouls?” She hissed, incredulously.

It only made Nathan chuckle harder. “It’s a league for kids!”

“So?” She challenged, darkly. “I get that, but there are still rules. That little asshole on the other team ran into Cassie’s space when she was on the ground after catching the ball! He just barely avoided stepping on her with his cleat!”

“The kid weighed about ten pounds soaking wet. Cassie could have taken him in a fight if it came down to it.”

“I know that,” she sniffed, proudly. “But that’s not the point.”

Nathan finally, barely, managed to control his laughter, sobering into just a smile. “Can’t wait to see what Friday’s game brings.”

“Yes, you have me jumping for joy.”

“I’ll see you then,” he sang out.

“See you then,” she returned, before she called out, “Bye, Cassie!”

“Bye, Mom!” She received her faint reply.

As she walked back to her car, she took in a deep breath of the warm evening air.

Yes, sometimes coming to her old house still made her feel strange. But it was good. Everything was… good.

She’d been absolutely honest with Abbie earlier; she was working on being happy. Trying to figure out what that really looked like for her, for the first time in her adult life.

And, in a wild twist of fate that she hadn’t seen coming – somehow, Abbie had come back into her life to possibly fit into that in some way. Even if it was just to bring resolution to her past.

While looking ridiculously attractive in her athleisure-wear.

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