Chapter 4 #2
Six months? Was she serious? “Why?” Lily asked. “The team doctor seems to think I could be competing in December, which would only be five months away.”
Dr. Mel grinned. “I didn’t say it was impossible, I said I wouldn’t advise it if you were my patient.
I tend to think longer term—not the next few months, but the next few years.
” Lily picked up the shift in her tone as Dr. Mel crossed her arms, leaning against the counter opposite the cot.
“You need to ask yourself what your goals are here. What matters most right now. If your priority is making it back in time for the college season, that’s doable—with risk.
But if you have your sights set on a third Olympics?
Then rushing your recovery could jeopardize that. The risk of reinjury is high.”
Another Olympics. Lily hadn’t considered that as an option. Two had felt impossible enough. A third would be the dream, but did she really have it in her? She didn’t know the correct answer, and she didn’t have a strong feeling either way.
“How soon would I need the surgery?” she asked, fingers toying with the strings of her Team USA hoodie.
“I’d want it taken care of no later than tomorrow evening,” Dr. Mel said simply.
“Okay. Thank you. I think I need a little time to consider things.”
Dr. Mel left the room, saying they had her number and to call her when she made a decision.
Lily shut her eyes momentarily, thinking, before asking, “What time is it?”
“Almost seven, sweetie,” her mom answered.
“Wren’s game is starting soon. Can you get my bag for me? I need my tablet so I can watch.”
Sarah got up as Beth leaned closer to Lily again. “Lils, you need to decide what to do. I don’t think it can wait till after Wren’s game,” she said quietly.
“I’ll know by the start of the game,” Lily said, not looking up as she pulled the tablet from the bag her mom had handed her.
“I just need some time to think.” She glanced at her moms. “Can I have a few minutes alone? You guys should grab food or something. When you get back, I’ll know.
” She tried to make herself sound nonchalant, unbothered even.
Her moms shared that look again before Beth spoke. “If that’s what you want, Lily, but we can also stay and talk through things with you.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m pretty sure I know what the answer is, I just want a few minutes to sit with it, you know?” The throbbing sensation in her foot was returning and she pressed the heel of her hand into her thigh to counterbalance the ache.
“We’ll be back in fifteen minutes,” Sarah said as she pulled the door open for Beth. The two of them disappeared into the hall, leaving Lily alone with her thoughts.
It took her a minute to set up her iPad with the feed for Wren’s game. If they won today, the USWNT would head on to the gold medal match. She tapped the mute button, leaving the feed to run in the background of her thoughts. Then, Lily shifted her focus. What to do about her predicament?
She had been excited when Dr. Ryan said he didn’t see any reason why she wouldn’t be able to compete in her college season.
But Dr. Mel had given her more to think about.
Lily had pretty much written off a third Olympics.
But that idea excited her more than the thought of rushing through her rehab just so she could compete in December.
The Olympics had always been the dream, not collegiate athletics.
She closed her eyes again, leaning back into the pillows. What she really wanted, more than anything, was to be able to ask Jamie what she would do. Jamie always had the answers, or at least some weirdly abstract way of getting her to them. But she couldn’t do that. Not anymore.
A flash of wild curls crossed her tablet screen as Wren zoomed in and out of the frame, running through her warm-up alongside her teammates. Lily beamed at the sight of her; she couldn’t help it. Even through a screen, the sight of Wren made her want to smile.
Lily reached for her phone, pulling up the group chat she kept with her moms.
Lily to the Gallagher Girls 6:54 PM
Decision made. I want to go with Dr. Mel’s approach. Mom, please let her know. Also, I’m craving lime Jello. Can you find me some?
She tossed her phone down onto the bed beside her, sighing, that little voice in the back of her head whispering, What if I’m not the comeback type?
That evening, after she and her moms had watched Wren’s game, all crowded around Lily’s tablet, her moms had flipped a coin to decide who would stay overnight with her in the medical center.
Sarah won and had just drifted off to sleep in the recliner next to her when Lily’s phone lit up with a text.
Wren 12:04 AM
Are you awake?
She looked over at her mom, whose chest rose and fell rhythmically with her sleep, before deciding to call Wren anyway. She needed to hear her voice. Wren answered on the first ring.
“Lily, oh my god, I’m so sorry, I just got done with team stuff, and I saw the post about your fall, and then I saw the video—you’re okay, right? I mean, obviously, you’re calling me, but, like, you’re okay? What’s the plan? Wait, did you break something? Shit, do you need surgery?”
Lily had always found Wren’s rambles to be so amusing—they were filled with so much heart, and it was exactly what she needed right now. Something familiar to sink into.
“Hey, superstar,” she said softly into the phone, keeping her voice low so as not to wake her mom.
“Why are you whispering?” Wren asked.
“Mom’s staying at the medical center with me tonight. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Ruptured Achilles Tendon. I’m about to rock a pretty sexy boot for a while.”
“Lils, that’s—I’m sorry. That’s rough.”
There was quiet on the line as Wren’s truth sat there in the space neither of them was attempting to fill. Lily liked that about Wren—as nervous with her words as she could be, she always understood the times when Lily didn’t want to say anything more on a subject.
“It’s going to make for one hell of a comeback story,” Lily joked weakly. “Can we talk about you now, superstar? That cross to Watson was perfection.”
She could practically hear Wren’s pride through the phone and she marveled at the way it pulled her own out.
“Yeah,” Wren said excitedly. “I mean, everything just fell into place. She was exactly where she needed to be, and I saw the opportunity and—”
“Hey, Wren.” Lily cut her off. “Take the compliment, okay?”
“Okay,” Wren said sheepishly.
More silence followed, accompanied by the rustling of fabric as Wren moved around on the other end of the call. But Lily didn’t mind. Her presence, even quietly, felt so good in whatever form she could get it.
“I wish I could be there tomorrow when you get out of surgery. I might be able to talk to the coaches, but I don’t know.”
“Absolutely not,” Lily said indignantly. Was Wren serious? She had a gold-medal match to prepare for; Lily was the last thing she should be thinking about right now.
“I’m serious, Lily, I want to be there.” Wren’s eager voice came through the speaker, but Lily cut her off.
“I thought you wanted a gold medal?”
“What?”
“Wren, the whole point of us working so hard to get here was gold. I got mine, now go get yours. Don’t worry about me.
I’ll let you know how surgery goes, but promise me that between now and then, you’ll put all your energy into focusing on the gold medal match.
” Her voice strained as she tried to convey her seriousness without waking her mom.
“I promise,” Wren grumbled with a small laugh.
More silence passed before a thought popped into Lily’s head, and before she could stop herself from thinking it through in detail, the words were already leaving her mouth. “Would it make you feel better about missing my surgery if we told everyone we’re dating?”
“Are you serious?” Wren asked quickly. “I thought—the rules? Not until after the Olympics.”
“Semantics,” Lily whispered, looking over at her mom to make sure she was still asleep. “They’re basically over, right? Besides, I want people to know you’re my girlfriend, don’t you?”
Wren considered her for a moment. “I mean, yeah, but, like, I don’t want you to feel like it’s rushed or anything—”
“Wren, I want this. Compromise? How about an Instagram story soft launch? I’ll put something up, and you repost it. Here, I’ll do it now.”
“Wha—now?
“Yes, now. C’mon, Wren.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
Lily navigated to the app and opened a photo of the two of them taken at her mom’s house right before they left for the Olympics.
Lily had her arms wrapped around Wren’s lanky frame, and she was looking up at Wren like she hung the moon, because in her mind, Wren Parker had.
She added text to the screen that read “always, forever @wrenigade.”
She hit send, and the photo disappeared, out into the void of the internet.
“There. Done,” Lily confirmed.
“Holy shit,” Wren said, shock still in her voice. “I mean, I’m so stoked…but holy shit. We just came out.”
“Yeah, we did.”