Chapter 9
Ellie
“Ellie Finch, is that you? I swear you must’ve grown five inches from the last time I saw you.”
Ellie smiled at the gray-haired woman sitting at the front desk of her family’s medical practice.
Ellie’s parents liked to joke that when they bought the practice, Mrs. McCain was part of the package.
Even though she was well past retirement age, Mrs. McCain still worked there a few days a week.
She always joked with Ellie that she had to in order to keep Ellie’s moms in line. “Hey, Mrs. McCain. Are my moms around?”
When Ellie had arrived home to an empty driveway a few minutes earlier, she decided to pull right back out and drive the few minutes to the practice, since she figured that’s where her moms would be.
Mrs. McCain nodded. “Your mom is cleaning up in the back and your mama is with her last patient of the day. They were hoping to be out of here before you got home, but the last patient is a talkative old woman.” Mrs. McCain rolled her eyes. “You know how they can be.”
Ellie was sure the woman her mama was with right now was younger than Mrs. McCain, but she liked that Mrs. McCain didn’t seem to realize how old she was. “I know. Not everyone can be as young and fun as us, right?”
“This is why you’re my favorite.” Mrs. McCain winked at Ellie. “You’re even more charming than that handsome brother of yours. Will he be coming home for Thanksgiving?”
Ellie nodded. “Nate and his girlfriend, Kaya, will be here on Wednesday. They are staying through the weekend.” Ellie couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at the thought of seeing her brother.
She hadn’t seen him since going to visit him and Kaya this past summer.
The two of them had lived in Vermont for over a year, so Ellie didn’t get to see them as often as she’d like.
“Is this the same girlfriend who came home with him for the holidays last year?”
“Yep. He’s actually been with her for over three years now.”
Mrs. McCain raised both eyebrows. “And he still hasn’t proposed? What is he waiting for?”
Ellie shrugged. “He just turned twenty-six, and she’s only twenty-four, so I don’t think they’re in a hurry to settle down.”
Mrs. McCain shook her head. “Kids these days. By the time I was twenty-four, I was married with two kids and a third on the way.”
Ellie found that completely insane, but she wasn’t going to say that to such a sweet older woman. She pointed toward the back of the practice. “I’m going to go find my mama, but I’m sure I’ll see you before I head home.”
“Don’t count on it. As soon as this last patient is done, I’m going to be running out that door.”
Ellie knew the frail woman in front of her wouldn’t be running anywhere, but she was willing to humor her. “Make sure you don’t run anyone over on your way out.”
“No promises.” Mrs. McCain winked. “Make sure you tell that brother of yours to come in and visit me this week, okay?”
“You got it.” Ellie gave Mrs. McCain a little wave as she walked away.
As soon as she reached the hallway, one of the exam room doors opened up and her mom, Brinley, stepped out. Her mom’s long hair was pulled back in a ponytail just like Ellie’s, and with her mom’s tattoos covered up by her long sleeves right now, it was like Ellie was looking into a mirror.
A wide smile spread across her mom’s face as she reached her arms out toward Ellie and pulled her into a tight hug. “I thought I heard you out here,” she said before placing a kiss on the top of Ellie’s head. “How are you, sweetie?”
“I’m good.”
Before Ellie could say anything else, a woman who was at least ten years younger than Mrs. McCain walked out of the exam room.
Ellie’s mom pulled away from her and pointed down the hallway. “Margarette will get you checked out and schedule a follow-up for you, Mrs. Stone. As always, it was a pleasure to see you.”
The woman, apparently named Mrs. Stone, turned toward Ellie. “This can’t possibly be little Eleanor, can it?”
Ellie’s mom put an arm around her shoulder. “It is. Pretty hard to believe, huh?”
“So hard to believe. It feels like just yesterday that she and her brother were running through the office playing tag. Then again, my grandbabies aren’t so little anymore either.”
“Oh yeah. I think they were in school around the same time as Nate.”
“That sounds about right.” Mrs. Stone laughed. “It’s so hard for me to keep track anymore.” She winked at Ellie then walked away without saying anything else.
Ellie’s mom pulled her closer and whispered in her ear. “Fun fact. Mrs. Stone’s daughter-in-law owns the barn where your mama and I got married.”
“Huh. Small world,” Ellie said as she watched the woman disappear into the front.
“More like, small town,” her mom said with a laugh. “Should we go find your mama?”
“Sounds great.”
Ellie’s mom kept her arm around Ellie as they made their way down the hall together.
They were almost to the end when Ellie’s mama, Annalise, came around the corner.
Annalise’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw Ellie.
“My baby!” she said as she rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight hug.
“How’s school? How’s track? Have you figured things out with your new teammate yet? I want to hear everything.”
Ellie knew that her mom meant well, but her head was spinning from all the questions. She had come home to get away from school. She didn’t want to have to think about it now. “Any chance we could talk about all of that later? I could really use a break from school.”
“Of course, sweetie.” Annalise placed a kiss on Ellie’s head. “Let’s just enjoy each other’s company for now. I’ll wait for another day to grill you. Deal?”
“Deal.” Ellie gave her mama another hug. She was so happy to be home.
***
By Wednesday, Ellie thought she might actually get through break without being forced to talk to her moms about what was going on at school. Unfortunately, her brother ruined that for her within minutes of getting to their parents’ house.
“Where’s my favorite sister?” he asked as soon as he walked into the house.
Ellie ran down the stairs from her bedroom and wrapped her brother in a tight hug. “Hey, bro, what’s up?” she asked as he picked her up off of the ground and twirled her around.
“Not much. Happy to be home,” he said before placing her feet back down on the ground. He punched her shoulder playfully then gave her an incredulous look. “What’s this I hear about you letting some freshman brat beat you at time trials?”
Kaya slapped Nate on the arm. “Be nice to your sister.” Kaya hugged her now too. “Ignore your brother. He’s just jealous you’re a better athlete than him.”
“Damn right, she is,” Nate said with a laugh. “Which is why she shouldn’t be letting a little punk from her team beat her.”
Ellie sighed. Clearly, her brother wasn’t going to drop this. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“It better not.” Nate puffed out his chest. “Mom and Mama told me there’s a chance she doesn’t like the gays. You know I won’t stand for that seeing as how all of the women in my life are queer.”
It was true. Even Kaya was pansexual. Why she chose Ellie’s meathead brother when there were so many hot women in this world was something Ellie would never understand, but she was glad she had. She loved Kaya.
Before Ellie could say anything else, her moms walked into the hallway to greet her brother and Kaya. “We told you about that so you would be extra nice to your sister,” Mama scolded him. “Not so you could tease her about it.”
“There’s someone homophobic on your team?” Kaya asked. “She’s not mean to you, is she?”
Ellie shook her head. Her mind flashed back to what Sierra said about not meeting your heroes and a pit formed in Ellie’s stomach once again. I think I might be the mean one. “In a strange turn of events, she might not actually be homophobic. There’s a chance I completely misjudged her.”
“What makes you think that?” her brother asked, his chest still puffed out as if he was getting ready to fight someone.
Ellie shrugged. “Apparently, she has two moms.” And gives off gay vibes if I’m going by Chris.
“Interesting.” Nate looked over at their moms. “Maybe you two know them.”
Every woman in the house glared at Nate, but it was Ellie who spoke. “Not every gay person in the world knows each other, asshat. That’s such a cis white male thing to say. I expected better from you.”
“Chill out,” Nate said with a laugh. “I was only kidding. Maybe I expected better from you. ” He shook his head. “You can’t just go around assuming every single person hates gay people.”
The smile on his face told her he was kidding, but his words still hurt. Mostly, because they were true. Ellie had made so many assumptions about Sierra that were completely wrong. It made her wonder what else she didn’t know about her.
“Take it easy on your sister,” Mama said as she wrapped an arm around Ellie protectively. She smiled down at Ellie and squeezed her side. “I’m just happy, because I take it this means you took my advice and actually had a talk with her.”
Ellie cringed. “Not exactly. Sorry, Mama.”
“ Will you be having that talk?” Her mama gave her a look that told her there was only one correct answer to that question.
“I’ve been trying, but she really doesn’t want to talk to me. I didn’t make the best first impression on her.”
“Well, the great thing about first impressions is that they are just the first one. You have plenty of time to make it up to her.” Ellie’s mama squeezed her side again. “Want me to send some pie back with you? Does she live close to school? I bet her family would love my pie.”
Nate snorted. “There’s a joke there, but I have a feeling one, if not all of you, would slap me if I made it.”
Ellie’s mom snickered. “I’m glad you said it, because I was about to. I’d probably get in much more trouble than you.”
Mama rolled her eyes at her wife and son then smiled back at Ellie. “I have no doubt you can make this right.”
The way her mom was looking at her as if she was the greatest person in the world made Ellie want to believe her.
She wasn’t sure she could, though. She had no idea how close Sierra’s family lived to their school, because she knew virtually nothing about her.
She wanted to know more, not just because she needed to make this right, but because she was drawn to Sierra in a way she couldn’t explain.
Not knowing her didn’t seem like an option anymore. She wanted to know everything.
Fuck.