Page 89 of Balancing Act
Beth held up a plastic bag, grinning. “Got one for me and Lily, though I think she might roll her eyes at the idea of us matching.”
Jamie smiled. “I bet she’ll secretly love it.”
Amanda, unusually quiet for the last few moments, smirked and leaned in toward the two of them. “Well, I’ve never been a fan of third-wheeling, so I’m going to see myself out now. See you two tomorrow.”
As Amanda left, Jamie turned to Beth, who watched her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. There was gratitude in Beth’s eyes, accompanied by depth she hadn’t experienced before.
Beth finally broke the silence. “Thank you. For coming all this way. For everything.”
Jamie looked at her, and for a moment, the whole world seemed to narrow to the two of them standing there amid the fading crowd. She wanted to tell Beth how much this—being here, being part of it all—meant to her. But all she managed was a quiet, heartfelt, “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”
Beth’s lips curved into a gentle smile, eyes bright. “Well,” she said. “Since we’re in Austin, it’d be a crime not to have barbecue. Want to go find a quiet place for dinner?”
“I believe I promised you a date where I’d take you to dinner and tell you all my secrets. Is that still something you’re up for?”
“I think it depends on the secrets.”
Jamie laughed at that. “I promise we’ve already covered the big stuff.”
“Well, in that case, absolutely.”
Warmth flooded through Jamie as she nodded and fell into step beside Beth, the two of them walking out of the arena together, side by side, like they’d done this a hundred times before.
NINETEEN
BETH
The morning was still dark when Beth eased her car into the empty parking lot at PGTC. She glanced over at Lily in the passenger seat, whose eyes were heavy-lidded.
“Are you sure you don’t want to catch a little more sleep before practice?” Beth asked, stifling a yawn of her own. “You’ve been working so hard, love. I’m sure Amanda would understand.” Her concern that Lily might be pushing herself too hard still slid through in her tone.
Lily flashed her a tired smirk, already shaking her head. “Nah. I’ll be fine, Mom. Besides, Amanda promised she’d help me nail that new combo. If I want to do as well as I did in Austin at my competition in March, I need to put in as much work as possible to perfect my routines.”
Beth smiled at her daughter’s enthusiasm. The old familiar pang hit her—a mix of pride and protectiveness layered with a strange gratitude. After all those years of tension, this was where she and Lily were now. Lily was thriving, and their relationship had never been better. That made everything worth it. She gave Lily’s arm a gentle squeeze. “Promise me you’ll listen to your body, love. Don’t push too hard.”
“I won’t,” Lily answered, her eyes sincere.
Lily leaned across the console and pulled Beth into a hug, surprising Beth before she sunk into her daughter’s embrace. Lily had come so far in the last year and had grown up so much, and Beth couldn’t be more proud of the force of nature Lily was becoming.
“Love you, Mom.” Lily pulled back, slipped out of the car, and quickly hurried toward the large metal doors. Beth watched Lily enter the gym, giving her one last wave before she turned the car around.
The roads were quiet as she drove home, dawn starting to brush the sky with hints of pink and gray that came with dreary February mornings. She felt that familiar pull, a nudge deep inside her that she’d learned to recognize as her creative spark waking up. Today felt like a painting day.
When Beth got back to her studio, she slipped her earbuds in and picked up her paintbrush, diving headfirst into the commission piece for one of Sean’s clients. She worked diligently, methodically splashing misty green and agreeable gray brushstrokes onto the canvas. It was a nice break from her usual style, but she couldn’t help the desire to find her next big project. But for now, commissions paid the bills.
She honed her focus on the painting in front of her, and the world narrowed to her and the canvas. Brushstrokes came easily today. Now that she was thinking about it, they had been coming easily for a few months, and she knew exactly why. She pulled her attention away from that thought and instead let her mind fall into that peaceful rhythm where everything faded away except the canvas and the colors before her.
But Jamie slipped in anyway.
Her thoughts drifted to the feeling of Jamie’s arms around her, the warmth of her embrace. She could picture her vividly—the way she laughed with her whole body when Beth said something amusing, or the subtle, self-assured smirk thatcurved her lips when she knew she was being effortlessly charming. Beth loved how Jamie sent her photos throughout the day, offering a glimpse into the quiet corners of her world, even when they were miles apart. She even saw it in her interactions with Lily and how Jamie had helped her change how she supports Lily’s dreams.
Jamie had woven herself so seamlessly into Beth’s life that it felt strange to remember a time without her. Their lives were intertwined in ways that felt inevitable, and Beth loved how that felt—steady, grounded, and theirs. She wondered,Is this what it’s like to fall in love as an adult?
The only other time she’d fallen in love, she’d been eighteen, too young to know herself, too inexperienced to understand what it meant to build a life with someone. But this? This felt like more than love—it felt like growth.
Jamie filled spaces Beth hadn’t even known were empty, leaving her with what she had felt would always elude her—the feeling of having it all. It was like a secret that everyone else had unlocked but that she’d believed she’d never get to discover for herself.
Austin was like taking a giant leap forward. Slowly, more of Jamie’s walls had come down. At dinner that night, she remembered how Jamie had been so honest with her about her past, as Jamie told her about Kendall and their friendship and how the lines had blurred for her. She opened up about her experience as a closeted athlete and how isolating that had felt as she carried that secret along with the secret of her cancer diagnosis.