Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
DELANEY
“What happened?” The second the door closes behind Derek, she’s on me. “Do you still have a job? Are we still…an us?”
I shake my head. “I got fired.”
“What’d they have on you?”
I swallow back the panic that’s been steadily rising in my throat since I left the arena.
“It was pictures from dinner in Miami.”
“Wait.” Lydia looks stunned. “We weren’t even together then.”
I roll my eyes. “By a few hours or so.”
“You could have easily denied it.” She grabs my hands. “That would have been a true statement and you wouldn’t have been lying.”
“But we’ve been lying since then,” I clarify, not that she doesn’t know that. “I didn’t want to. You’re too important.”
Lydia pulls me in tight for a hug. “I’m sorry if telling you to deny us made you feel less important than you are to me. Because you’re not.”
“I know.”
“I was just trying to find a way to keep you any way I could.”
I give her a half-hearted smile. “Well, at least for now, you’ll have me all the time.”
“Good.”
“Can we walk to my place? Sorry, I have a lot of nervous energy I need to walk off,” I ask.
“Sure.”
Grabbing our coats and Biscuit’s leash, the three of us head off on the walk that would normally be too long for us to make. But right now, it’s exactly what I need.
“I wonder what they’re going to tell the team,” Lydia says.
I blow out a breath, the cold wind smacking us in the face as we leave her building. “I guess that’s not something I have to worry about. Or studying film.”
“Hey.” She squeezes my hand. “You’ll still be studying film. I have no doubt that you’ll keep coaching me. And I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“That you have to take the brunt in all of this and that I can stay with the team.”
“Well, you better win a championship.”
We stop at a crosswalk. “Don’t worry, I will.”
The two of us walk in silence. Both of us seem wrapped up in our thoughts until I remember.
“What was Derek doing here?”
“He came to check on me,” she says.
“After your douche of a dad was here?”
She nods. “Yeah. Which made me realize that I was fighting for something that was never there. He didn’t care about me, but I kept wanting him to want me because what parent wouldn’t want their child?”
“I’m sorry he was so terrible to you. You, Lydia Bishop, are the most incredible woman in the world and worth knowing.”
“Well, you’re almost right.”
“Almost?” I question. “You’re telling me you’re not the most incredible woman in the world?”
She shakes her head. “I think you are, but that’s not the point I’m contesting.”
“What is?”
“Lydia Bishop. I’m changing my name.”
“You are? Do you have something against the name of Lydia?”
“Bishop. I’m changing my name to Hollins.”
“What made you decide this?”
We stop as Biscuit does his business. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her face is makeup free. Soft. She’s so damn beautiful that I have to thank my lucky stars that I got a second chance with her.
“I realize I have no ties to Bishop. He’s not my dad. Derek is. I want to be an official Hollins.”
I wrap her in my arms. “Well, maybe in a few years you could change your name again.”
“You’re assuming I’ll take your name if we get married?”
“Yes,” I say, matter-of-factly.
“And what if I want you to take mine? Or we each just keep our own names?”
“I’ll love you whatever your name is.”
“Even if I want to change it to Queen of the Milky Way?”
“Ugh. Really?” I bury my head in her shoulder.
“I see your love for me has limits then.”
I kiss her forehead. The tip of her nose. The corner of her mouth. “No. No limits. I’ll love you always. Even if I have to call you the most ridiculous names on the planet.”
“Milky Way.”
“Even then.”
“I love you, Delaney. I’ll spend every day making sure you know how much I love you because you do the same for me and I don’t even think you realize it.”
A throat clears and I spin on my heel, not even realizing that we’re already at my front stoop.
Oh shit.
“Mom. What are you doing here?”
Lydia bumps into my back as I stop short of the stairs leading up to my front door.
“Mom? This is your mom?” Lydia whispers behind me.
“What do you mean what am I doing here?” Sunglasses cover her eyes so I can’t see what she’s looking at.
“When you called, you seemed down in the dumps so I decided to come see you. I didn’t want you to be alone and thought that you could use some cheering up. But it doesn’t seem like you’re alone…”
I swallow back the bile rising in my throat. This is so not how I saw my day going. Losing my job and my mom seeing me with Lydia?
I’m at a loss of what to do.
“Umm, let’s go inside.”
Walking past her, I give her a quick hug before opening the front door. She follows me in, with Lydia following her.
“I know it’s early, but I think we might need something to drink,” Mom says, dropping her bags in the entryway and heading straight for the kitchen.
Oh God. This really doesn’t bode well for me.
“Are you okay?” Lydia asks.
“I…”
Am I okay? I have no idea. Not until I know what to expect from this conversation with my mother.
“Hey.” Lydia grabs my hand and squeezes it. “No matter what happens, we’re in this together, okay?”
I nod. “I love you.”
She smiles back at me. “I love you too.”
“Whatever you tell her, I’ll support you,” Lydia says.
“I just didn’t expect her to land on my doorstep today.” A nervous puff of air escapes my lips.
“She’s a good mother. I have a feeling she’ll surprise you.” Lydia winks at me.
“Can I get you anything?” Mom calls from the kitchen.
“Just water, please.”
The two of us walk into the kitchen and each take a seat on the barstools.
“Delaney, your usual?”
“Yes, please.”
I don’t care that it’s not even one in the afternoon yet. I lost my job and I hope to God my mom doesn’t walk out of here hating me because of who I love.
I need a drink.
“Well, I know who you are,” Mom tells Lydia as she starts pulling out all the ingredients.
“You do?” Lydia looks confused. “How do you know me?”
She scoffs. “As if I don’t watch every Rosebuds game.”
Lydia takes the water that Mom slides across the counter. “I’m glad you do.”
“Am I still going to be watching them?” She quirks a brow at me as she hands me my drink.
“Well, if you want to watch Lydia play, then yes. If you’re watching to see me coach, then no.”
“You won’t be coaching for them anymore?” Mom asks, jaw dropping in shock. “What happened?”
“I was having inappropriate relations with one of my players.”
Mom’s eyes flit to Lydia. “Assuming this has something to do with you?”
“Uhh…” Lydia looks to me.
Well, here goes nothing.
“I’m a lesbian, Mom, and Lydia and I are dating.”
Her eyes dart between the two of us, waiting for more. “And?”
“And?” My jaw drops. “You’re okay with this?”
Mom sips her drink. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, Marcy’s son—”
“Marcy’s son? What does he have to do with this?”
I swig my drink. “He and his husband got divorced. You said it went against the institution of marriage.”
“Because they were cheating on each other. They were trying to outdo one another. Didn’t I tell you that?”
I shake my head. “I would have remembered that.”
“One of them was having an affair so the other decided to go sleep with half the town to prove a point that he could do it too.”
“Really?” Lydia asks. “Doesn’t sound like they were compatible.”
“And then they had a screaming match in the middle of the square during the farmers’ market to air out their dirty laundry. It was quite the scandal.” Mom clucks her tongue. “But that has nothing to do with you, dear.”
I shove a hand through my hair. “I thought you were judging them because they were gay. And I thought you’d hate me because I like women.”
“That’s what you thought?”
Tears start to well in my eyes. “Yes. It made me anxious to tell you who I really was. I didn’t want you to disown me.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Mom pulls me in for a hug. “I am so sorry I made you think that I wouldn’t accept you.”
Tears start to soak my cheeks as I inhale her familiar floral perfume.
“Nothing you do could ever make me not love you. You, my sweet daughter, are the best person, and you would make any woman the happiest person in the world.”
“Well, one makes me happy in particular.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet the woman my daughter is dating. I’m Vanessa.” Mom still has one arm wrapped around me and extends her other hand for Lydia to shake.
Lydia takes it, but Mom pulls her in for a hug.
“Are we only dating?” Lydia goads. “It feels like more.”
A watery laugh slips out. “That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t be happier that this went better than you thought, but at the same time, dating? Really, D?”
Mom laughs and it helps to break the tension inside of me.
“I have a feeling I’m going to like you, Lydia,” Mom tells her. “Why don’t I make us something to eat and we can get to know one another.”
“That sounds good,” I say.
Mom walks around the counter and Lydia takes her spot. When I started today, this isn’t what I planned on doing.
Trying to save my job and my relationship? Yes. Although, I only managed to save one.
Now, having my mom pulling out a box of mac and cheese to start cooking with Lydia here? I never thought this is where I’d be.
“Are you okay?” Lydia whispers.
“It’s weird she knows now.”
“And you’re okay with it? I mean, we did kind of spring this on her.”
Looking up at Lydia, a sense of contentedness washes over me. “I mean, I wish I didn’t have to lose my job to have all of this come out, but I can’t say I’m not glad she knows.”
“I’m glad Vanessa knows too.” Lydia tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “I don’t want you to have to hide yourself from anyone. You’re too wonderful a person to not show the world who you really are.”
“I agree,” Mom chimes in. “Which makes me love you even more already, Lydia. Delaney deserves someone who thinks the world of her.”
“Don’t worry.” Lydia kisses me. “I do.”
I pull her closer. It seems like both of us were trying to chase down these ideas of family, but it turns out, we already had everything we needed.
I was holding on to something while hiding my real self.
Lydia was holding on to the past. But together, we’re creating our own version of family. The two of us together.
I might have lost out on the dream job, but I have my dream girl. The only one I’ve ever wanted.
What else do I need?