Chapter 1
ONE
LILY
ONE YEAR LATER: MAY
Lily Gallagher triumphantly pressed the enter key on her laptop, successfully submitting her last final exam. Just like that, her first year of college was over.
She still needed to pack her things and help Dylan return their dorm room to the state it had been when they moved in, but that would happen later. Right now? Right now, she was late.
The sky was gray, threatening rain, as Lily rode her scooter across campus in the direction of the café where she was supposed to be meeting Wren Parker for breakfast. She had timed it perfectly, knowing she would beat Wren, given her tendency to run seven minutes behind schedule.
Lily had no idea why it was seven minutes in particular.
Still, Wren had been consistently seven minutes late to nearly everything they’d ever done together, for as long as they had known each other.
But Lily didn’t mind. She actually found it kind of amusing.
She splashed through a leftover puddle from overnight rain as the café came into view.
She slowed to a stop in front of the unassuming yellow building tucked away in a residential neighborhood.
Alongside the other colorful Craftsman houses, the building looked like a quiet home, but Lily, peering in the windows, could see a coffee bar and pastry display case.
“You’re the only person I know who wears a helmet when they ride an electric scooter.” Wren’s familiar voice drifted to her, accompanied by a gentle tapping on the top of the helmet Lily had yet to take off. She whipped around, beaming, her laugh already on its way out.
“Believe it or not, Wren, I actually value my life. Do you know how many deadly electric scooter accidents there are a year?” Lily smirked, unbuckling the strap under her chin and removing the helmet.
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” Wren crossed her arms, giving Lily that signature lopsided smile.
“I don’t know the exact number, but the injury rate is definitely on the rise.”
“Okay, okay,” Wren said, raising her hands in defeat. “You at least look good in a helmet.”
“Thank you.” Lily rolled her eyes, quickly looking around the street and then into the windows of the café, checking to see if anyone was watching them.
She didn’t see any lingering eyes and, deciding that the coast was clear, she reached for the strings of Wren’s Puget Sound Pride hoodie, tugging her closer, pushing up on her tiptoes, and placing a quick kiss on her lips.
“Lily,” Wren whined sheepishly, stepping back and looking around. “What are you doing? We’re in public. What about the rules?”
“What? No one’s looking at us and there’s, like, no one inside.” Lily stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “I just finished my freshman year of college and I wanted to kiss my girlfriend to celebrate.”
Yeah, that’s right. Wren Parker was her girlfriend. She slid her hand into Wren’s, loving the way they fit so perfectly together. They had officially been girlfriends for five whole months, and Lily still had to remind herself that this was actually real.
Wren gave her three gentle squeezes before letting go to reach for the door, holding it open as Lily breezed through.
The inside of the café was like stepping into a terrarium.
The bright white walls were covered in creeping pothos, exactly how Lily remembered them.
It had been a few years since she had come here.
She looked up and grinned at the large natural log light fixture draped in fake moss and ropes suspended over a large communal table. Yup. Exactly like she remembered it.
“Are those troll dolls?” Wren asked skeptically, examining the log.
“Uh huh, and there’s Polly Pocket, Barbie, and I think that one’s a Bratz doll.” She gestured towards an upside-down doll protruding from the moss decoratively covering the fixture. “They dress them up for all the different holidays.”
The pair approached the counter and placed their order.
Wren, of course, insisted that she pay; it was their Sunday ritual after all.
Whenever their equally busy schedules allowed, they spent Sunday mornings hunting to find “their” breakfast spot, venturing all over Seattle in their search. This one was promising.
Wren twirled the metal stand holding their order number between her fingers like a baton as they looked around the room.
“This place gets weirder the longer you look at it. Like, at least thirty macrame plant holders are hanging from the ceiling, and there’s also a vintage Frogger machine.
But also, they’re playing old-school R instead, she held out her hand expectantly as Wren handed over the mug.
“I’ll call her when I get back to my dorm today.
Okay? Dylan’s last final is on Wednesday, and we still need to pack everything before Mama and Dylan’s dads come to move us out.
And on top of all of that, I have training, and I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed.
” Wren’s gaze flashed with worry, but only for a moment.
“I’m fine. I promise. You know me, I need to spin sometimes, but now I need to lock in.
Olympic trials are less than a month away. I need to be at the top of my game.”
“Lily, c’mon,” Wren said through a bite of her parfait. “There’s no way you won’t make the team. You’re coming off an amazing year. You had such a great freshman season. You work harder than any other gymnast I know.”
Lily sipped her tea, looking absently around the café. “Yeah? And how many others do you know so well? I have to keep working hard. Can’t let up now. This year is probably my last Olympics. I’ll be twenty-three for the next one, and I’m sure some new talented senior elite will replace me.”
“Well, with that attitude, probably,” Wren grumbled under her breath.
Lily would be lying if she said that thought hadn’t been at the front of her mind recently.
This could be her last Olympics. Her dream that had felt so fresh and new and real four years ago could now be winding down.
She had tried to talk to Wren about her fears about what would come next for her once gymnastics was no longer the center of her universe, but Wren always took the path of positivity.
Lily, however, couldn’t even think about it without her stomach hurting.
So instead, she decided it was better not to address it at all—but that didn’t mean the thought didn’t linger.
They finished eating, not really chatting about anything in particular, just enjoying time together.
This was the first moment all week they had managed to find an overlapping free space in their jam-packed schedules.
But if Lily was confident in one thing only, it was that there was no such thing as not enough time, only poorly managed calendars.
They always found a way to be there for each other.
Lily’s knee bounced nervously, stilling only when Wren’s hand found hers under the table.
“You sure you’re okay? You seem a little off today.”
“I think I have too much nervous energy. Can we go for a walk? Before heading back to campus?”
Wren agreed and grabbed her jacket, following Lily out of the café and down the neighborhood street.