The Game Changer - ch. 11 (Patreon)

Alexa, play Kacey Musgraves. I'm all right with a slow buuuurrrrrn

... alas. Here we go!

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

Chapter Eleven

“You know this is all insane, right?” Rose grunted, as she lifted one of the large, squat sculptures that was settled onto the right side of the office, then dropped it to the ground.

Even though voice had that dour tone Rose had always managed to pull off so well, there was no denying that it was laced with an energy. The same kind of wild abandon that Abbie felt coursing through her own veins.

“It feels good, though, right?” She breathed back, looking at the shattered ceramic pieces in front of them on the floor, before she turned to look at Rose.

Who was breathing heavily, staring down at the floor as well, her hands now on her full hips. The rise and fall of her chest was on clear display, as she, too, was only in that insanely tight shirt that she’d revealed after taking off her jacket.

Abbie hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said: they wore clothing differently. Fine, she was only in a sports bra, but she didn’t have Rose’s breasts. Her full, generous breasts that drew Abbie’s eyes like a magnet.

Her skin was all flushed and the way she’d tied her hair back was now messy and askew, and multiple times throughout the last half hour, she’d let out those quiet sounds of laughter, like she couldn’t believe what they were doing.

Rose looked up at her, her dark eyes looking bright and luminous in the room that was only really lit from the fireplace. “Yeah. It feels good,” she murmured back.

Her throat ran dry, the awareness buzzing through her shifting. Becoming much more… present. More focused. More – more.

Which wasn’t her intention. Hadn’t been her intention when she’d started this, not at all.

She’d had no idea what had been waiting for her when she and Rose had gone up to her office. She’d really believed that they were going to – to bond, like normal people. They were finally in a good place on a personal level, and she knew without a doubt that Rose knew what it felt like to have lost the first game of the season, in a way she couldn’t share with the girls on the team and not even her moms, really.

Because she hadn’t wanted to reframe it right away. She’d wanted just an hour or two to feel all of her feelings before pulling it together and strategizing for next week.

She couldn’t have predicted that Rose was going to open up to her about having been sent to that religious hell after having such a traumatic coming out to her father.

She also couldn’t have predicted the gamut of emotions she, herself, would feel. Rose’s story wasn’t about her, she knew that. But she’d felt it, deep inside of her soul. She’d needed… she’d needed to do something about it. To do something for Rose – both current and past Rose. To do something visceral.

So… she’d broken the furniture. It had gotten her energy out, given her an outlet. For her anger, her sadness, her sympathy. As they were sitting in this room, surrounded by things that not only didn’t belong to Rose, didn’t match who she was, but were picked out by and served as daily reminders of her asshole father.

It wasn’t right.

Most of all, it had given Rose an outlet.

One that Abbie could see she needed, even if Rose didn’t see it.

Rose had kept everything buttoned down and under control, taking over this job and not “wasting time” to redecorate the office. But, she needed to. The changes she wanted to make here needed to happen in here, first.

And now, as the destruction and debris was all around them, and the crackling of the fire was the only thing she could hear over their breathing, Abbie definitely felt like things… shifted.

She felt it, in the pit of her stomach. That fluttering, as Rose looked at her with wide, dark eyes.

They both jumped when they heard the knocking on the door, surprise coursing through her like she’d been doused with ice water. Which, she supposed, was good on one hand. That hand being that she and Rose were both high on adrenaline and emotionally, she felt for Rose so deeply right now. So, combined with their mutual attraction – probably not great.

“Who is that?” She whispered, standing shock-still.

Rose rolled her eyes at her, as she whispered back, “How the hell should I know? I can’t see through the walls.”

The knock came again. “Who’s in there? I’ve called the police!”

Abbie’s eyes widened, the alarm cutting through everything else. “The police?!”

Rose dropped her head back with a soft groan. “Jesus. It’s Heidi.”

She watched, fascinated, as Rose rolled her shoulders back, and her spine straightened, and the energy, the freedom, that had coursed through her was pushed away. In its place was Rose Elliston, in control.

She walked toward the door, very elegantly and swiftly stepping over any of the carnage they’d left in their wake, and was already speaking when she opened the door. “Heidi – hold on. I’m in here.”

When the door was opened wide enough for Abbie to lay eyes on Heidi, she could see that Rose’s admin assistant already was on the phone. Presumably with the police.

Her eyebrows shot up on her forehead in shock. “Rose? I came back because I realized I’d left my good phone charger here, and it’s a Friday, so I didn’t want to be without it all weekend. But then I heard so much – crashing? Things breaking. I could smell the fire from the fireplace! I–”

She cut herself off with a gasp, seeing the destruction of the room, after looking away from Rose for the first time. “Oh god!”

Abbie’s nerves tangled together. Not because she regretted what they’d done, but because apparently the police were now involved. Which, she had to imagine, would mean the Board would somehow get involved.

What could Rose possibly say to Heidi – or the Board or faculty members – that didn’t cast her in a highly questionable – at best – light? She couldn’t confess to being a party to property destruction, even if it was in her own office.

“Isn’t this insane?” Abbie found herself saying, gingerly stepping forward, feeling some of the ceramic pieces break under her feet. She could feel her cheeks heat, but she pushed on. Casting a look around the room, as she tossed her hands into the air. “We must have just beat you up here – we came up after the game and found the office total trashed! We’ve been trying to pick through everything and see what the damage is.”

Heidi was shaking her head. “This is unreal.” She turned her attention back to her phone. “You’re almost here? Yes, I can meet you at the front doors.” She looked back at Abbie and Rose, gesturing to her phone. “I’m going to meet the police and lead them in here.”

“Great. Yeah, we were just so – so blown away at it, we didn’t even think to call, yet,” Abbie asserted, keeping her tone as innocent as possible.

She hoped it landed. Her mom and Caroline could read her like a book, and so could Norah – she generally couldn’t successfully lie to people who knew her well. But usually her tells were because of guilt.

And she didn’t feel guilty about this.

As soon as Heidi had turned and hurried out, Rose spun around to face her. “What are you doing? You realize we’re now going to have to go with that story to the police.”

“What am I doing?” She hissed back, coming to stand face-to-face with Rose again. “I’m saving your ass with the Board. I’d assumed we’d just clean up – or, maybe, call some sort of cleaning crew in here this weekend. I don’t know. I didn’t think that it was going to blow up into a thing!”

She hadn’t really thought through every possible ramification, obviously, and – clearly – neither had Rose. But, in fairness, how could they have predicted that her assistant would have walked in after she’d left for the weekend?!

“The fucking Board,” Rose muttered, grimacing. She nodded at Abbie, the gears in her mind turning, before she quickly walked over to one of the wooden panels on the wall. And then she blew Abbie’s mind, by pressing on the bottom corner of it, and the panel folded open.

Abbie walked over, their shoulders brushing, as she gaped at the security footage. “What in the… this is in your office?!”

“And in the security room,” Rose confirmed, as she reached up and pressed a couple of buttons, before flicking a switch, sending a couple of the screens to black. “But we have a weekend security team that comes on duty at nine – so, soon – and will monitor everything until Monday morning. Nothing in the dorms is recorded, of course. And because this building attaches to the dorms, it’s only monitored during the weekend when no one is supposed to be in here.”

She released one of the buttons she’d been holding down, before quickly shutting the panel and stepping back. “There. I’d turned the cameras on when I’d left for the day, but I just reset them, and the security team will turn them on when they come on shift.” She arched a look at Abbie. “I’m saving your ass so the police won’t catch you in a lie.”

Abbie held Rose’s gaze with her own, feeling her lips twitch into a smile. “I guess that makes us co-conspirators.”

The corner of Rose’s lips pulled into a returning grin. “I suppose it does.”

***

Abbie let out a sigh as she hefted the large duffel bag into the back of Caroline’s SUV, before she stepped back to admire her handiwork with a small smile.

She truly did love to pack up the back of a car for a trip; it was like a game of Tetris. Or it should be, if done right.

“You know, Abbacado, I’ll never fail to be amazed at just how good you are at this,” Caroline commented as she walked up next to Abbie and lightly bumped her hip into Abbie’s.

Rather, given the fact that Abbie had long out-grown Caroline in terms of height, her hip against Abbie’s outer thigh, but – to-may-to, to-mah-to.

She jokingly buffed her nails against her shoulder. “Look, when you’ve packed and traveled as frequently as I have over the last decade, you get pretty damn good at loading the car.”

Even though she’d flown to games most often, she’d always loved a road trip. If her schedule permitted it – between the soccer season and, during the years she’d been pursuing her graduate degree, her schoolwork – she’d opt to drive to and/or from as many places as possible. Often joined by her teammates, hence the need to utilize all of the space in a vehicle.

“Are you two ready for your little weekend getaway?” She asked, and didn’t have to summon or fake any of her enthusiasm, as she rubbed her hands together as she executed a little excited shuffle.

The smile that took over Caroline’s face was absolutely radiant. “I absolutely am.”

“I am, too,” her mom confirmed with a smile that matched the same wattage as Caroline’s, as she drew up to Abbie’s other side, a thermos of coffee in her hands for the road.

Abbie shifted slightly to lean into her mom, tilting her head against hers and closing her eyes for just a moment.

Her mom had officially finished her radiation treatment this past week, and all they were now waiting for was a final follow-up with the doctor, but… everything looked good. She was good.

And, in celebration, Abbie had arranged for her moms to spend a weekend at a beautiful lake house. Because their last few months of summer had been marred by such a dark cloud, and they deserved this.

Caroline let out a longer sigh, one that had a tone to it.

A tone that had Abbie lifting her head up, turning to look at her curiously.

Caroline sipped at her own coffee, arching Abbie a look over the top of the cup, before she said, “I would – of course – be far more ready to go away, if you hadn’t had a run-in with the police last night.”

“You can say that again,” Hannah chimed in.

Feeling herself flush, Abbie stepped back from between them – caged! – and held her hands up as a proclamation of her innocence. “Oh, come on. You know it wasn’t a big deal. Would I have even told you if it was a big deal?”

Like any person who now needed to maintain a cover story, she’d relayed the same thing they’d told the police to both of her moms when she’d gotten home, after she’d had to make her statement.

“All I’m saying is that the last thing I expected to come out of your mouth last night when you told us what you did after the game was that you stumbled upon Rose’s office having been vandalized,” Caroline stated, taking another sip of her coffee as she held Abbie’s gaze with her own.

Abbie glanced between both of her parents, feeling a heat burning up the back of her neck. But… that was the story, and she was continuing to go with it. So, she rolled her shoulders back and stood tall. “It was the last thing I thought was going to happen.”

And that, at the very least, was the truth.

“All right, if you don’t leave soon, you’re definitely going to be late to your check-in time, and what’s the point of that?” She asked, redirecting them back to the matter at hand.

Which, in terms of her family, was a much bigger and more important matter. A few days away to be wrapped up in one another and try to feel a calm that they’d been robbed of for months now – that was important.

She leaned in to pull her mom into a hug first, who returned it and rubbed her hand up and down Abbie’s back briefly. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” she returned quietly, before she pulled back and turned slightly to be pulled into a Caroline hug.

“See you when we get home. Can’t wait to chat more about vandalism at Elliston,” Caroline said as she pulled back. “I’m absolutely fascinated.”

“I think it’s the most exciting thing that’s happened there in its history, with the exception of their National soccer wins,” her mom commented, wryly.

Abbie’s laugh was entirely genuine. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Really, if her mom knew the full story, she’d know it was definitely the most exciting thing that had ever happened there.

She waved at her parents until their car pulled out of sight down the long driveway.

Abbie knew that Caroline definitely didn’t suspect the true story, because she knew that neither of her parents would ever suspect her of being the root cause of massive amounts of property destruction. But she also knew that Caroline had such incredible bullshit detection, and she was sure that the dots didn’t fully connect for her.

She knew that if she told her parents the full story – everything Rose had shared with her, the reality of who Rose’s parents really were – they would fully support Abbie and Rose tearing that office apart. Destroying all of the pieces of furniture and décor that were marred with the lingering presence of her father.

But she couldn’t tell them Rose’s story, not something so personal. Something so life-shaping.

Rose hadn’t verbally expressed to Abbie that she didn’t share this story with most people, but she could feel it. She could feel it in the tone of her voice, the heaviness that weighed down each word. She’d felt it from the look on Rose’s face, that haunted look.

This morning, after she’d had the night to really let everything Rose had told her settle in, she’d felt so… stuck on that look.

Stuck on Rose. Stuck on the past.

Maybe she and Rose hadn’t been friends back in the day, and they definitely hadn’t been close.

And Abbie didn’t blame herself for that, because she’d gone into every interaction with Rose with a clean slate, back in high school. She couldn’t blame herself for not having been there for Rose back then, because there was no way she could have known what was happening.

But, now that she knew, she just… she just wished she could have known.

She’d come home and thought for hours about her memories of high school Rose. How solitary she’d been, even when they were doing things as a team. How alone she’d always seemed, even in a group setting.

And, of course, high school Abbie didn’t think much of it. That was just Rose. By her own admission, even before Abbie had been at Elliston, even before everything happened with Tessa, she’d still been reserved, still held herself back from the team.

But it made her ache inside. And it made her determined to do and be better now that she did have all of the information.

***

A few hours later, in the late afternoon, she rang Rose’s doorbell, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet as she waited.

There was a chance Rose wasn’t home, she supposed. And if that was the case she’d just leave the bags she’d brought with her on the porch with a note or something.

But… she hoped she was.

It took so long to hear anything from the other side of the door, she was about to abandon her post to go find a piece of paper in her car to leave said note, when the door swung open.

Cassie stood there, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a painter smock that was, indeed, smeared with many different colors of paint.

“Coa-Abbie!” Cassie beamed up at her, practically vibrating with energy.

“Cassadilla!” She leaned down to offer her hand out in a high-five, which Cassie gamely reared back and slapped her own small hand into.

The girl had some might. Rose’s daughter to the core, and Abbie enjoyed that.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, tilting her head up at her in a look that was this close to being suspicious, despite her obvious excitement at seeing Abbie.

“I brought some things over,” she answered, lifting the bags and shaking them back and forth slightly. “Where’s your mom?”

“She’s in the arts and crafts room,” Cassie informed her, before proudly adding, “We checked the, um, the doorbell camera, and we saw you, and she told me I could answer it! You can come in. Mom said so.”

Like a proud little host, Cassie stepped back and gestured for Abbie to walk by her, which she did.

She playfully, gently, nudged Cassie with her bag as she walked by, shooting her a wink. “Why, thank you.”

Cassie slammed the door shut behind her, before she started scampering through the living room, looking back to make sure Abbie was following her. “My mom’s in here.” She let out a large sigh. “She told me that if I was gonna answer the door, I had to bring you back here.”

“That’s a good rule, if you’re letting someone in the house,” Abbie agreed, genially, as she followed Cassie through the house.

Cassie sighed again, her shoulders lifting and falling as if to say If you say so. “My dad, um, he dropped me off, and so now my mom and me are doing craft time together.”

“Craft time?” She echoed, trying to reconcile the idea of Rose doing “crafts” with the Rose Elliston in her mind.

But, if she’d learned anything in the last several weeks, it was that the Rose Elliston in her mind was not the full Rose. Which, at the root of everything, was why she was here.

She playfully nudged Cassie again as she swung a bag. “Is that why you’re wearing this, hmm? Crafting? I thought it was just a really fancy tie-dye.”

Cassie actually scoffed, shooting Abbie the most adorably furrowed look. “I don’t like tie-dye.”

“I apologize for the very accusation,” with that, Abbie paused to give Cassie a little bow.

Which she accepted, seriously, with a nod, before she turned them toward a room Abbie hadn’t seen the last time she’d been here. Out at the very back of the first floor, there was a room that had to have been added as an extension. Maybe a sunroom, given all of the windows. But it seemed to be fully insulated.

And it truly was an arts and crafts room. For a few seconds, Abbie felt like she was transported right into the past, during an art class in school. On one side, there was a literal children’s size easel, with a current… masterpiece… that Cassie seemed to have abandoned to come and answer the door.

There was a large table in the middle that was lined with drawers, which she had to imagine were full of different supplies to use on said table. And on the other side of the room was Rose.

Sitting at a pottery wheel, she wore an apron that was smattered with spots of clay. Underneath it was a black tank top, leaving her arms completely bare. Her hair was clipped up, pulled back from her face and from her artwork.

And most of all, her hands.

Covered in the clay up to just past her wrists, it was like – like the were magic. Mesmerizing, bare minimum.

She spun the wheel relatively slowly – from what Abbie could tell, anyway, because she was in no means knowledgeable when it came to this – bracing two of her fingers against the inside of the lip of the vase, and – yeah. Wow.

Abbie could only stare, having been completely unaware of how attractive a woman could be while making pottery until this moment, her arms hanging limply at her sides. The bags hadn’t felt heavy before, but she suddenly felt laden down by them.

Oh god. Was pottery supposed to be erotic?

Rose, however, clearly wasn’t experiencing any of the same heart-pounding, dry-mouthed attraction she was, as she pointedly cleared her throat to snag her attention.

Abbie managed to snap herself out of her daze and look into Rose’s dark eyes. She had an eyebrow sharply arched at her, that same expression Cassie had worn etched into her face. Almost suspicious – like she would be totally suspicious, if Abbie had been an unwelcome visitor.

As it was, she was simply questioning. Curious.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, as she reached down and lifted a sponge that was a little bowl of water, then carefully slid it along the outer rim of the vase.

Which, now that Abbie could take a moment, she could really appreciate the handiwork that went into creating that vase. It wasn’t a simple, flat-sided piece, which she’d have still been impressed by. There was real, artistic shape to it; wider in the middle, then curved back up into a slimmer top, with the lip curved out into a little divot.

Like, genuinely impressive.

“I’d been wondering why Cassie answered the door by herself, but I see now that you were in the middle of creating a piece of art,” she commented, lifting her bags up and setting them down on the table to free up her hands.

Mostly because she needed to scoop her hair back from her face and just – wow. Sure, the sun was shining brightly into the room with all of the windows, but it hadn’t been this hot in here when she’d walked in. Abbie was sure of that.

Rose rolled her eyes, as she dropped the sponge back into the bowl, and slowly the wheel came to a stop. “I saw you on the doorbell camera; it’s not like I sent my child to open the door to a stranger.”

“I told her that!” Cassie insisted, dropping her hands to her hips.

“She did,” Abbie confirmed. “But I was still surprised.”

She could tell by her tone, though, that Rose wasn’t actually insulted or aggrieved by her comment. Just curious as to what Abbie was doing here, having shown up, uninvited, to her home on a Saturday afternoon.

The question was etched into her expression as she reached out to grab a wire-thing, and she slid it smoothly under the clay to disconnect it from the wheel.

“I repeat, what are you doing here?” Rose questioned, as she carefully lifted her creation and set it on a shelf near the window, before she reached down and used some sort of scraper to swiftly work over her hands, collecting the remnants of clay.

Abbie swallowed tightly, her eyes glued to the way Rose handled these tools, working them over her fingers.

Blinking herself out of it, especially as Cassie jarred her into the present by scraping one of the chairs of the table back and climbing up into it, she refocused. “Oh. Well, I had the afternoon free, so I thought I’d bring some stuff over.”

She gestured at the reusable cloth tote bags she’d placed on the table that Cassie was reaching for.

“Hey, you,” Rose said, before she let out a firm tsk. “I see you, little miss paint hands. Do not touch those bags.”

Cassie dropped her hands to the table with a clatter, before she groaned, long and exaggeratedly. “My hands are dry!”

As if to prove it, she lifted them and wiggled her fingers up at Rose. Though they were covered in paint, they did, indeed, appear to be dry.

Rose, however, was unmoved. Her gaze remained firm and steady, as she sidestepped and gestured to a basin sink Abbie was only just noticing, up against the wall. “You know the rules after arts and crafts time. We all clean up after ourselves.”

Cassie released another drawn-out, deep sighing groan, and Abbie had to bite back a laugh. Especially when Cassie essentially slid bonelessly off of the chair, landing on the ground with a soft thump. Still, she walked over to the sink, accepting Rose’s offered hand to help steady her balance as she stood on a stool so she could lean over and properly wash her hands.

Rose leaned in next to her, going about diligently scrubbing off her own hands under the wide flow of water.

Abbie took her time to look around the room again, noting the different décor pieces that were sculptured, wondering if Rose made them. After a minute, she looked back at Rose and Cassie, who were both finishing up at the sink.

Rose’s hands were clean, and she was now assisting Cassie in using one of the little scrubby tools to properly clean all of the dried paint from her fingernails. Rose with Cassie continued to be so interesting to her.

Finally, they turned to look back at her as Rose turned off the water. Rose’s stare was expectant, looking for answers. Cassie’s was excited and soon turned back to the bags on the table, as she hopped down from the stool in order to get back toward the bags.

“What did you bring?” She asked, glancing to her mom. “Can I see it now?”

Abbie also looked at Rose, who nodded at her to give the go-ahead. Her own excitement bubbled up inside, as she reached into the bigger, more stuffed bag she had. “Give me a drum roll, please?”

Cassie looked at her, eyebrows knit tightly together.

Rose breathed out a laugh as she stepped forward next to Cassie to demonstrate drumming her hands on the table. Cassie took it over and gave Abbie a perfunctory drum, then they were both back to staring imploringly at her.

“Having your full attention, then, I can work with that,” she murmured, absurdly amused by them, by the twin pairs of dark eyes giving her expectant, impatient looks.

Without further adieu, she pulled out the official miniature coach shirt she’d put in a special order for days ago. Its arrival right after her mom and Caroline had left was what had really sparked this idea of making a special delivery over to Rose’s today.

“Ta-da!” She held it up proudly, turning it so they could both see the Coach Cassie emblazoned on the back of it.

Cassie gasped, and hopped onto her feet on the chair she’d been kneeling on, reaching for the shirt.

“That’s my name! That’s my name! What’s the other word, Abbie?”

“It says Coach. Coach Cassie,” she explained, “So whenever you come to practices, there’s no confusion as to who is on the coaching staff.”

Cassie’s smile was a mile wide, a prominently missing tooth on display, as she grasped for the shirt. “I’m a coach!”

“And a coach, of course, needs other accessories…” She trailed off to drum up the anticipation, as she emptied the bag completely.

A jacket, also emblazoned with Cassie’s coaching title, as well as a visor, a whistle, a little clipboard that had a pen attached to it with a cord so nothing was getting lost on the field.

Cassie had already pulled off her paint smock, before attempting to pull on the Coach shirt by herself. She let out a disgruntled sigh when she mixed the angle up, attempting to put her head into the sleeve.

Rose easily adjusted the shirt, then tugged it down, smoothing it over her shoulders.

Immediately, Cassie turned to look at her mom, her hands on her hips. “I’m a coach, too! Like you, mom!” Her eyes went wide, and she scrambled to get off the chair.

Abbie’s own eyes widened, positive Cassie was going to fall face-first onto the floor. Rose was unfazed, seemingly having expected this, as she’d already reached out an arm to bracket around Cassie, before using it to help scoop her in close and lower her to the floor. Her feet were already moving like she was running even before they were on the ground.

“We, um, to get your phone from the kitchen! You gotta send daddy a picture!” With that, she was off like a rocket into the other room.

“So, let me get this straight: she’s a coach, and I’m an assistant?” Rose drawled, slowly crossing her arms over her chest.

Abbie slowly arched an eyebrow at her. “You could always work your way up. I hear the head coach is open to ideas.”

And – oh. Okay, well, she hadn’t intended for any sort of flirty comment to come out of her mouth, but it was most definitely flirty.

She could see that Rose obviously thought the same, as her eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise. “Huh.”

Anyway. She felt the tingling in her cheeks, and looked down at the bags on the table. “Well, that takes care of my Coach Cassie gear. In the other bag…”

She rooted through it, and emerged with a small container of cookies on one hand, and a notebook in the other.

Rose eyes both of them, warily. “What is this supposed to be?”

She shook the Tupperware. “Cookies. Just, you know, a classic dessert, typically enjoyed by all. And,” she lifted the notebook in her other hand. “Party planning ideas.”

“Party planning ideas?” Rose echoed, baffled. “You came here to bring cookies and… plan a party? With me? What – what are you even talking about?”

“You’re forgetting the Coach Cassie stuff.”

Dark eyes rolled back at her. “Right, I’m such a fool.”

Abbie’s lips ticked into a grin. “The cookies are mostly because I’d made a batch so my mom and Caroline could take some with them. They went away for the weekend, and now I have like a dozen left. Cassie seemed like a great vessel for them. And – yes. About the party. Now that the season has kicked off and the dust has settled, I think it’s a good idea to get everyone together. Players, their parents or guardians if they’re local, potential donors to the team…”

She blew out a deep breath, before shrugging. “I know it’s not something Coach Dru ever did, but things were different when we were on the team. We were a much more cohesive unit. I think it’s a good idea to bring everyone together, away from campus. We can do it at my house – well. My parents’ house. The backyard is huge, we have bathrooms in the pool house, so no one even has to traverse inside the main house. We can just have one, big, inclusive – fun – get-together. Casual. Food, music, conversation. Some party games. Hell, maybe a bouncy house. I don’t know.” She tapped her finger against the notebook. “Hence, the planning ideas. I figured, as my assistant coach,” a quick smile flashed over her face as she shot Rose a look. “You’d probably have some good insight.”

Rose’s expression was contemplative as she nodded, slowly. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

She beamed. “From you, Rose, I’ll take it to mean you think it’s a good idea.”

“Mom, Abbie are you coming?!” Cassie called from the other room, somewhat impatiently. “Are you staying for dinner, Abbie? We – um, mom said we can order a pizza!”

She trailed her gaze over to Rose, who was staring at her with narrowed, questioning eyes. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

It wasn’t exactly an invitation, but it wasn’t not. It was more… skepticism.

Still, Abbie nodded, a smile cracking over her face. If that was Rose cracking the door open for her to possibly stay for dinner, she had no problem steamrolling it all the way open. “Yes, I do. Thanks.”

***

Norah – 6:11P.M.Your moms aren’t home. You aren’t working. And you aren’t in a relationship. So where the hell have you been all afternoon?!

Abbie leaned back against the wall in Rose’s kitchen as she checked her phone for the first time in hours, as she’d learned that there was a “no electronics” rule in the arts and crafts room, and that was where they’d stayed after they’d ordered a pizza, as Cassie had pulled out multiple games for them to play.

Abbie – 7:42P.M.I’m at Rose’s, planning the party idea you and I kicked around a few weeks ago. Since, you know, she’s my new assistant coach and all

Norah – 7:42P.M.First and foremost, don’t act like you didn’t want me to not be your assistant coach just as much as I didn’t want to continuing being one

Secondly – OHHHhhhhHHHH you’re with ROSE

I see

Abbie – 7:43P.M.You see absolutely nothing

Mostly, she couldn’t see the full picture, because – much like her parents – Abbie wasn’t going to tell her. It wasn’t her information to tell, even to Norah, who had been clued into all of the other Rose-related information in her life.

Also, Cassie, her daughter, has been here. We played board games and had pizza and talked about the team party. Soooo salacious, I know

She dropped her phone down to her side as Rose walked back in. “That was quick,” she commented, looking to the time on her phone.

Rose had only taken Cassie upstairs twenty minutes ago, and it was bedtime – plus, as Cassie had informed her, bath time.

Rose reached up and unclipped her hair, the long, voluminous dark strands falling down her back as she walked toward the fridge. “It’s not the last we’ll be hearing from her,” she dryly informed Abbie, as she refilled Cassie’s teal water bottle. “It wasn’t a full bath; I didn’t wash her hair. So, that was quick. We did tooth brushing time. She likes to flip through her own books, the ones we’ve read to her enough that she knows the stories, at night, now. When she’s done, she’ll let me know she’s ready for her water,” she lifted the cup, as she screwed on the cap, “And a final tuck.”

Abbie took that in with a nod, unable to take her eyes off of Rose. Just… watching her go through this bedtime routine, with her daughter. All calm and simple.

“I’d have never imagined you as so… zen,” the words slipped out, a little mystified.

“Zen?” Rose parroted, and Abbie could hear the eye roll in her voice, even before she turned to face Abbie completely.

“Yeah, like – you literally have an art studio in your home,” she gestured over her shoulder toward the direction of it, as she studied Rose once more. “In my mind, people who have art studios on their homes are, like, calm, artistic, zen types of people.”

Rose shut the fridge and placed Cassie’s water down on the counter, before she leaned back against it. “It’s not about being zen; I like to have something to hold Cassie’s attention that doesn’t include anything electronic, hence the rule. When she’s with me, it’s an easy activity for us to do together, even while we’re doing different things. It’s good for her. And…” She hesitated, before clearing her throat. “It’s good for me, too.”

There it was. That quiet vulnerability, like Rose was sharing something real with her, her voice sounding a little rough with it.

That thing that Abbie realized, in this moment, she was developing a very strange addiction for. Real, honest, genuine, vulnerable Rose was like catnip.

“I think that’s great,” she said, softly. Honestly. “I mean, I’m one of the least artistic people in the world. I could maybe take a decent picture from time to time, but at least seventy percent of the credit for that goes to my phone.”

She had no problem admitting that.

“So, trust me when I say that I’m in no way being judgey when I say that I didn’t imagine you as someone with an arts and crafts room,” she promised. “I was just, like I said, surprised.”

Rose stared at her from a few feet away, dark eyes so focused. Intent. Her voice held that same intensity, even as it was so quiet as she asked, “What are you doing here?” She held her hand up to stop Abbie from speaking right away. “Not the answer about Cassie’s coaching stuff or the party or whatever else from earlier. What are you really doing here, Abbie?”

She pushed off from the wall she was leaning on, walking over toward where Rose was. Just… craving the need to be a little closer.

Not even touching, necessarily, but… closer.

Everything she felt, now, regarding Rose was turned on its head. It was a lot more complex. Even taking out any sexual or romantic history between them, just from a human standpoint, she felt this drive to reach out to Rose. Because it was clear that she was on a journey for herself for the first time.

She was divorcing Nathan, she was now co-parenting a young child, she was taking over a family legacy that was an uphill battle, in a place that bore some of the worst memories and youthful traumas for her.

And Abbie – all she could imagine was that, other than Nathan, Rose must feel so alone.

She must have always been feeling alone.

That was the weight that had sat on her shoulders since last night. The thing that had driven her here.

Before she could figure out how to voice that without making Rose cringe or snap anything out – because she did know Rose that well, Rose pursed her lips in critical thought before she pushed, “You played board games with my kid for hours. I only play them with her because she’s my child, and I want her to have enrichment and engagement without screens. No one likes board games that much.”

“Actually, I do,” Abbie shot back, turning more completely to face Rose. And she was a little indignant, because Abbie really did enjoy a good game. Of just about anything.

Rose searched her face intently, before she shook her head and breathed out a laughing sigh. “Okay, fine, I can see that in you. But still. You show up, unplanned, at my home. You spent the evening expending all of my daughter’s energy – which is appreciated, but confusing. You’re inviting me to help plan this party at your house next weekend for the team, which I know is something you could manage on your own…” She trailed off, winging up that perfectly arched brow, as she repeated herself, “So, what are you really doing here?”

“Nothing weird,” she insisted, because it was true. “I thought we’d had a conversation – multiple times, actually – about how we’re going to be friends and all?”

Rose’s hard stare didn’t give an inch. “Yes. But are you really going to look me in the eye and tell me that your excessive friendliness today has nothing to do with what I told you last night?”

“Property destruction is a bonding activity. We’re bonded now. Co-conspirators, remember?”

She’d been teasing when she said the words, but… she wasn’t feeling light and jokey, as she stared at Rose. She felt serious; she meant it. She really felt like – like they were in this, now. Like they were bonded, now.

“And this is only regarding the property destruction from last night?” Rose pushed, that sharply knowing look in her eye.

She breathed out a sigh, letting a shrug accompany it. She didn’t see the need to try to lie, really, and she held Rose’s gaze with her own. “Okay, it’s obviously not,” she softly admitted. “It is also about everything shared with me.”

 Rose accepted that with a soft nod, before she huffed out a breath. “Abbie, I’m not…” She trailed off, taking her eyes off of Abbie’s as she scanned them over the room, her jaw working as she clearly tried to find the right words for whatever she wanted to say.

And while she did that, Abbie’s own eyes were glued to the sharp lines of her profile. Taking Rose in like she’d never seen her before.

Which, in a way, she hadn’t. Not fully, until last night. Not even after Rose had told her she was a lesbian, and had left that whole revelation rock Abbie’s world. This – this was far bigger.

When Rose’s gaze returned to hers, there was a strength burning in there, an insistence. “I’m not fragile. I’m not broken, not in any way that affects my day to day life. If I’d…” She furrowed her eyebrows, clearing her throat before continuing, “If I’d allowed myself to give in to what I went through that summer, if I ruminated on it too much, I would have fallen apart. I’m not saying it was seamless or easy to put that in my past, but I am saying that I have.”

“Well, you should know that yes, what you told me has obviously embedded itself in my mind – I can’t help that,” she earnestly confessed. “What I feel it did for us, really, was… I don’t know.” She reached up, sifting her hand through her hair. “I feel like I get you. Like, I get the whole picture of you. And – you know, you and I have been in one another’s lives for over a decade. In every possibly iteration. So, now, it’s time that we have the version of ourselves that are honest, and close, and, I want that. I want to be close, with you. And I feel like you want that with me, too, or else you wouldn’t have told me everything last night.”

She could feel the stillness in Rose’s body as she spoke, could feel the tightness in her shoulders, the way she was barely breathing.

“I just want you to know that the magnitude of that isn’t lost on me. And the magnitude of the work you’ve obviously done on yourself isn’t lost on me, either. It’s… it’s really incredible to see.”

“I had to,” Rose’s voice was quiet, and a little strained. “The first time I went to see a therapist was when I was pregnant with Cassie. Because I just – I couldn’t parent the way mine did.”

Abbie opened her mouth, the question already on her lips, before she tightly clamped her mouth closed. No, it wasn’t her business to ask.

Right? Even with this newfound closeness, it wasn’t.

“What is it?” Rose pressed, that knowing tone in her voice. She obviously knew Abbie well enough to know she was biting something back.

“Why did you have Cassie?” The question fell out before she could think of how it sounded, and she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. “Not that – wow, that sounded not great.”

“No, it didn’t,” Rose dryly returned, but there was no ire in her tone. “But, I get it.”

“I just mean… you’re a lesbian,” she stated, holding up one of her fingers as she started listing off her thoughts. “Soooo I’m assuming you didn’t necessarily have, like, a super passionate sex life with Nathan. You don’t scream maternal–”

“Wow, this is a really glowing review of me as a person.”

Abbie groaned, her stomach knotting, as she dropped her head back. “I’m really fucking this up.”

“No, keep going. It’s great,” Rose encouraged sarcastically, but – shockingly – there was mostly just amusement etched into her expression.

“I only meant…” She tossed her hands up. “You know, I don’t even know what I meant. Let’s call it a night. Hey, can you still aim a soccer ball at someone’s head? You want to get mine?”

Rose let out an unbridled laugh, and the open warmth of it made her shiver.

“I believe I could, yeah. And I’ll reserve the right to do it in the future, maybe. Because while you have absolutely no tact, you aren’t incorrect.” Rose shrugged, her shoulder brushing against Abbie’s. “Nathan and I didn’t have a… robust,” she settled on, rolling her lips slightly. “Sex life. We never did, because – to your point – I am a lesbian. I didn’t hate sex with Nathan, but it never felt…” She trailed off, shaking out her shoulders as her cheeks pinked, darting a look at Abbie, then away. “Anyway. We had sex – enough.”

Her eyebrows drew together and Abbie could see the way the muscle in her jaw worked again as she clearly thought back to that moment in time.

“She wasn’t planned, in a traditional sense,” she said, after several seconds beat by. “I was on birth control, still. The whole concept of kids was a very murky area for Nathan and I, at that point. We were barely out of college – hell, I was still finishing my graduate degree. But it was assumed we’d have them, I think is the best way to say it.”

Abbie took that in as she slowly nodded, unable to stop herself from clarifying, “But it wasn’t something you and Nathan discussed prior to that?”

It was so eye-opening to her, all of it. Learning Rose’s background, from high school, to college, and beyond. She was hungry for it, she realized, with all of her attention focused on Rose. And that was another reason she was here, even if she hadn’t quite known it until this moment.

Rose Elliston had somehow become the most fascinating person Abbie knew, and she wanted to know everything about her.

Rose didn’t look back at her, yet, though. Didn’t return Abbie’s captive stare. Instead, her eyes stared across the kitchen, not focused on anything in particular. “Not really. And I know that sounds ludicrous to you. That we were married, that we’d been together for years, and we hadn’t had serious conversations about children.”

Now, she did turn to face Abbie, nailing her with a firm, knowing stare. Completely brought back to the moment.

Abbie didn’t try to dodge it. “It does, conceptually. Yeah.”

She could see the slightest hint of color in Rose’s cheeks, the way she tightened her jaw again, and instinctively, she reached out and dropped her hand over Rose’s. Squeezing gently, feeling her soft skin.

“But I’m not judging you. I don’t think I’ve ever been more interested in a person in my life than I am when we have these–” She gestured between them with her free hand. “– reveals.”

“Reveals,” Rose echoed, scrunching her nose up in disdain at the word.

“Instead of gender reveals, you and I have lore reveals.”

Rose closed her eyes, dropping her head back. Those perfectly full lips curled up into such a small, but genuine, smile. “Lore reveals.”

“Yep,” she doubled-down, and squeezed Rose’s hand once more, stroking her thumb over Rose’s knuckles. “I just – please keep in mind that I have zero judgment. I’m just really invested.”

“In me.” Though it wasn’t technically a question, Rose’s tone made it one. Like she was skeptical, like she couldn’t quite align with that fact.

“Obviously,” she affirmed.

Rose accepted that with a nod, before she reached her free hand up and scrubbed it over her face.

“It was just… expected, that we would – eventually – have children. Our parents had it in their grand plan, of course. Because what else is the point of arranging this union of their families, if not to continue the legacy?” There was such a darkness in her tone, such a dark loathing.

And Abbie felt her own bubble right up, the same way she had in Rose’s office last night. At the injustice of it all, at the fact that Rose’s parents just – just decided how Rose’s life would go, without caring that they were raising a whole, independent person.

She only realized she’d tightened her grip on Rose’s hand when Rose looked down, then back at Abbie in question.

Immediately, she lessened it, and gently lifted Rose’s hand in hers, lightly massaging the back of her hand and her knuckles in apology. It was something she’d do for anyone she considered a friend, anyone she cared about.

But… also different. The way she felt the electricity buzz in her fingertips was very, very different than doing this to any other “friend.”

She paused at that realization, before she slowly put Rose’s hand down. “Ah… sorry. It’s just – what the hell is the point? Why go through the time and effort and energy of having a kid if you don’t really care about being a parent?”

Rose blinked up at her, breathing heavily.

Before she cleared her throat, shooting Abbie a darkly humorous look. “Unlike the office, I own all of this furniture, and will have no chance of being reimbursed thousands of dollars to replace it. So, no more property destruction.”

She swiftly lifted both of her hands up, showing her innocence. “I would never.” With a sly self-deprecation, she added, “Well, not in your home. Wait–” Rose’s comment finally registered for her. “Are you saying that the Board is going to reimburse you for the furniture?”

“Well, obviously,” Rose dryly answered, and the slow, sly smile that slid over her lips was so utterly attractive. “My office was vandalized. There’s a police report. Now, the Board will fund replacement furniture.”

Abbie was positively gleeful at that, and she beamed back at her. “Amazing. Crazy how that happened.”

Rose rolled her lips, tamping down on her smile, and got them back to the point. “Ah – so, yes. Cassie. Pregnancy.”

“Right.” It took zero effort to tune right back in.

“I knew, in the abstract, that it was expected of me. And you’re not wrong; I didn’t exactly feel maternal.”

“I do want you to know that I don’t mean that in any way to impugn your relationship with Cassie; it’s really clear how much you love her. Honestly, it’s really clear how much work you’ve done on yourself, just in watching you be with her.”

Even if Abbie didn’t have a personal investment – working together, bonding, whatever – she’d have been glad to see Rose’s personal growth just for the sake of her daughter.

“I know what you meant,” Rose assured. “Because… I’ve really never been more petrified than when we decided to keep her. Nathan was – as you could guess – very supportive. I knew he would have been understanding if I hadn’t been ready, yet. But – I’d already committed. I was married. We owned a home together. We were starting our careers. For Nathan, it was a question of timing. For me, the timing wasn’t going to change a damn thing. I was already in it. So, if we weren’t going to have that baby – have Cassie – then, we weren’t going to do it at all.”

Abbie accepted it with a nod, and…

She knew it had been years since then. She knew the Rose right next to her wasn’t that person, anymore. She wasn’t a traumatized, lonely teenager. She wasn’t even a young adult, standing on the precipice of a life-altering decision, wondering what to do.

She was a grown woman. Someone that had taken her life into her own hands, who was being the change she’d needed in the world when she was young. She was a parent, who’d worked through her own trauma so she could show up for her daughter.

But it didn’t change the fact that it made Abbie ache for her.

As if she’d been summoned, Cassie’s voice – quiet and tired, unlike Abbie had experienced thus far – reached their ears. “Mom? I’m ready.”

She padded into view within seconds, reaching her hand up to rub at her eye.

Rose pushed herself off from the counter, clearing her throat. In seconds, she pulled herself together, remarkably. “Let me grab your water, and I’ll get you back into bed.” She lifted an amused eyebrow at Abbie. “Normally, she doesn’t come all the way downstairs. I think that was specifically to say goodnight to our special guest.”

And, ah. Abbie felt that, right to the chest. Probably more intensely than she otherwise would have, because of the vulnerable conversation they’d just been having, about Cassie.

She turned to look at her, and Cassie was nodding in confirmation. She wordlessly held her arms up, gesturing for Abbie to lift her. “Yeah. I want Abbie to bring me up. But mom, um, you tuck me in, still.”

What right in the world did Abbie have to say no to that?

Well, all of the rights, but absolutely no desire.

Rose shrugged in acquiescence at her, giving her a silent look. Giving Abbie a way out of getting roped into bedtime discourse if she wanted to.

But – no. Abbie was in this.

Rose didn’t know it by personal experience just yet, but Abbie was the in-for-a-penny, in-for-a-pound kind of person. When she’d been won over, she was won over.

When she’d decided Caroline was her person, was meant for her family, she’d made it happen.

She’d decided, by ten, that Norah was her forever best friend.

Even after her breakup with Daniele, she’d known she was someone worth keeping in her life.

And Rose didn’t know the extent of it just yet, but she was the latest person Abbie had taken on. The universe had thrown them together so many times, it was undeniable. And though she didn’t believe in fate or whatever, it meant something.

Rose was one of her people, now, and so – de facto – was Cassie.

With that, she leaned down and easily scooped Cassie up.

Her long, dark hair was freshly combed back, and she was essentially boneless, leaning all of her miniscule weight into Abbie as she dropped her head down. She was clearly exhausted, but had decided to expel energy to come downstairs and make her desire of a three person bedtime known.

So Rose’s daughter.

Feeling inexplicably soft at that, she reached up and stroked her hand lightly over Cassie’s back.

Only then taking in what she was wearing – namely, the sweatshirt that was so oversized, it was a nightgown for Cassie.

It was heather gray and worn in and seemed so familiar…

Abbie gasped, looking over Cassie’s shoulder at the back of the shirt – it was exactly what she pictured, just older!

She spun, keeping Cassie securely in her arms, to look at Rose. “This is mine!”

Using the hand that wasn’t securely under Cassie, she pointed at the shirt.

Rose frowned at her. “That child is mine.”

“Not the child; the shirt!” She pointed even more insistently. “I totally forgot that I gave you this sweatshirt in high school, and I wondered about where it went forever.”

And… here it was. Still being used. Not by Rose, but her daughter, and something about that made Abbie’s stomach flutter.

Rose’s cheeks flushed, and she blinked, widely, before Cassie said in a sleepy voice, “I tooked this from the box in my mom’s closet when I was really little.”

“I can’t believe you kept it.” She could hear the amazement in her own voice, as she reached up and gently, reverently, stroked her hand down Cassie’s back – and her sweatshirt – again.

Unbidden, she heard Rose’s words from last night strike through her. You were the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

She hadn’t been able to let herself focus on that, last night. She’d been far too caught up in the whole story – which was far bigger than Abbie’s small appearance in it, in her mind.

But she felt her heart beat a little faster as she thought about it, now.

Rose had kept this sweatshirt – well, Young Rose had.

Adult Rose looked at her, before she rolled her eyes. “We’ve already established, multiple times, that I–” She flicked her gaze to Cassie, before mouthing was attracted to you, “In high school. The sweatshirt was in a box. Don’t make it a big deal, Lemon.”

Her voice was curt, and she brushed by Abbie, leading the way toward the stairs.

Don’t make it a big deal, Abbie.

Sure. Okay. She could be normal about this.

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