Page 18 of Balancing Act (Soulmate #1)

Jamie kept her promise. She’d texted Beth that same evening, and that’s how she found herself pulling her Sprinter van into the entrance of a tree-lined gravel driveway a few days later.

She followed the gentle slope of the drive down to where it opened up to a parking pad. A large three-car garage sat off to the side, and a covered breezeway connected it to the main house. In front of her stood a black A-frame home—stylish and modern but with weathered Pacific charm.

She rang the doorbell and took a step back.

In the driveway, Jamie noticed Beth’s white Land Rover parked next to Sarah’s sleek black Porsche.

She recalled Beth mentioning that Friday was family dinner night.

Jamie liked Sarah as much as one could from their few interactions over the past few weeks, but she couldn’t help the uneasy feeling Sarah gave her.

Still, Sarah had been nothing but kind and welcoming to Jamie, so she would suck it up and put on a smile.

A shadowy figure moved on the other side of the frosted glass door, and moments later, she was face-to-face with Beth.

“Hey, stranger,” Beth said, in her signature breathy tone.

Her greeting floated through the air and wrapped its way around Jamie’s ears, tickling her brain in a way that made her feel giddy. She couldn’t help but smile back.

Jamie hadn’t realized when it happened, but that exchange had become all too familiar between them.

It was like it was their thing—something each had committed to—and she wasn’t about to not uphold it.

“Hey, stranger,” she said back, matching her grin.

“Sweet digs.” Beth flushed and thanked her before inviting her inside.

“The kitchen and living room are straight through there.” Beth gestured down the short hallway in front of them, where Jamie caught a glimpse of pristine water views through large picture windows.

“Sarah’s here; we just finished dinner. Lily needs a few minutes to finish up a math test. Do you want anything? We have plenty of leftovers.”

Jamie declined her offer of food, even though she could feel her stomach starting to grumble.

She felt a little nervous about being in Beth’s home.

Not that she had anything to be nervous about.

They were friends now. This was a totally normal thing for friends to do—to go over to each other’s houses.

She couldn’t help but feel a little on edge.

You’re not here for Beth; you’re here to bond with Lily , she reminded herself.

As Jamie walked into the back portion of the house, the hall opened up into a large great room with high vaulted ceilings meeting at the apex of the home’s frame, matching the front exterior.

A kitchen area with an island big enough to seat four and a dining area were to her left, and to her right was a sunken living room complete with built-in couches and a triangular 1970s wood-burning fireplace.

Floor-to-ceiling windows gave way to views of the water, with the faint outline of the city along the horizon. Thick gray clouds reflected on the surface of the water, which lapped up against the rocky shores at the base of the yard.

Jamie let out a low whistle. This was hands down one of the coolest houses she had ever been in.

“That view is amazing, isn’t it? I’ve always loved it.”

Jamie identified the source of the voice, spotting Sarah seated on the couch with a glass of red wine in her hand, knees curled up to her chest, and socked feet tucked beneath her. She swirled her wine.

“I got to hear all about your little rock-climbing adventures over dinner.”

Jamie felt the heat rising in her cheeks as she wondered what exactly had been shared.

Sarah’s tone wasn’t the friendly one she had used with Jamie so far. It lacked her usual warmth, replaced with a much more serious undercurrent.

“As fun as it sounded, are you sure that’s the best use of your time with Lily? Don’t you think it would better her chances at making the Olympic team if she were working toward increasing her degree of difficulty on some of her routines?”

Jamie slid her hands into her pockets. She knew exactly what Sarah was doing. Sarah was testing her. She had wondered when this was going to happen. She stood firmly, squaring her shoulders.

“I think it absolutely is the best use of our time.” Jamie kept her tone even and confident. “I would say trust-building is most critical, considering everything Lily went through with her previous coaches.”

“I think her time is better spent at the gym, and considering how much we’re?—”

“Lily will be right up,” Beth said, entering the room. Her smile fell as she took in the conversation she had walked in on. “Jesus, Sarah. We just talked about this.”

“We were only talking about the most efficient use of Lily’s time since we only have Jamie for such a short period.” The warmth had returned to Sarah’s voice, and her face softened. “Right, Jamie?”

“Yes. And I stand by what I said.” There , she thought. She still managed to get the last word in.

“What happened to ‘trust the coaches,’ Sarah? Between the three of us here, there is only one person who has earned a gold medal.”

“Actually, I have seven,” Jamie quipped. “And a handful of world championships,” she added smugly, for good measure.

Sarah looked between herself and Beth, then raised her hands in surrender before finishing the last of her wine. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry. We really want to help Lily with her goals, and sometimes that turns me into an asshole. What can I say? I’m from Boston.”

Jamie let out a laugh. “I get it. You need to have that drive to reach the goal, and Lily is lucky to have parents who are supportive of her. It’s one thing to be an Olympian; it’s another to raise one.

Sarah, trust me when I say I have Lily’s best interests at heart.

Your daughter is incredibly talented, but talent can only get you so far in our world.

She needs to have people to lean on, and coaches she can trust to guide her.

That’s what Amanda and I are building for her. ”

Sarah’s gaze softened even more, and Jamie could tell she had earned some points for herself with Sarah. She got the feeling people didn’t go toe-to-toe with her very often. She had prepared for a fight but was pleasantly surprised when Sarah had been so quick to accept defeat and apologize.

“I appreciate that, Jamie. Thank you.”

Footsteps cut the tension between the three of them as Lily entered the room.

“Why do I need to learn math?” She groaned and plopped herself down at the kitchen counter, on a stool beside Beth. “When will I ever use any of this?”

“Did you finish your test, love?” Beth asked. Lily nodded.

“Yup, and now I’m ready to be inspired.” Lily looked pointedly at Jamie.

“Good! Because I brought supplies.” Jamie opened the backpack she’d been carrying and emptied its contents onto the kitchen island. Out of it tumbled a large stack of magazines, glue sticks, stickers, and a bag of Nerds Gummy Clusters—the Very Berry flavor. Lily’s eyes lit up.

“You remembered!” she squealed, pulling the bag of candy toward her and tearing it open.

“A deal is a deal.”

Sarah had joined them at the kitchen counter and put her hands on Lily’s shoulders.

“Can I have a few for the road, Lilypad?”

Lily popped a handful of the gummy orbs into Sarah’s open palm before hugging her goodbye. “See you on Tuesday for Ultimate Frisbee, Jamie?”

“Wouldn’t miss it!”

“Lily, love,” Beth said, as the door closed behind Sarah, “I set aside two canvases for you to use in my studio. Can you go grab them?”

When Lily was out of earshot, Beth turned to face Jamie, her blonde waves brushing the tops of her sweater-clad shoulders. She cocked her head to the side, gazing at Jamie intently.

“So Sarah managed to rope you into the Ultimate Frisbee league?”

“Didn’t take much convincing. It’s not like I’ve got a lot going on at the moment, outside of the gym. Thought it’d be fun.” Jamie shrugged as she stole one of Lily’s candies.

After a moment of contemplative silence, Beth said, “Sorry about Sarah.” She gripped the quartz countertop as she leaned ever so slightly into Jamie. “She can be...”

“. . . a little intense?” Jamie finished for her. “I can handle intense. Don’t worry.” She popped another candy into her mouth, enjoying how Beth tried to hide the way her eyes had flicked to Jamie’s lips, even if for the briefest moment.

“Music,” Beth said sharply, cutting the moment. “We need music.”

Lily returned with the canvases as Jamie spread things out across the counter. Beth fiddled with her phone, and a moment later, the sound of “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac filled the kitchen.

“This song,” Jamie said, with an appreciative groan. “It hits differently.” She rocked back and forth on her stool, dancing along.

“Isn’t this your favorite, Mama?” Lily said casually, flipping through one of the magazines.

“It is. It’s one of those songs that keeps getting better each time I listen to it.”

“It’s a great choice.” Jamie flashed Beth a smile over the magazine page she was cutting out a picture from.

Soon, the countertop was littered with magazine clippings as she and Lily chatted about everything. Beth had retreated to the couch and was curled up with her sketch pad while Jamie and Lily worked in the kitchen.

“Okay, I think that completes mine,” Jamie stated satisfactorily. She looked down at her own mess of magazine clippings haphazardly glued to the surface of the stretched canvas. Now that she was really seeing it, maybe the individual cutout letters had been a bit overkill.

“Me too.” Lily snapped the cap back on the glue stick she had been working with.

“Beth, would you mind being our captive audience for a few minutes?” Beth peeked up from her sketch pad with a sightly confused expression before smiling and nodding. “Lily, I want you to take sixty seconds and tell us about what your vision board includes.”

“Fine, but I could have done better with a little more time.” She flipped the canvas around, holding it in front of her.

Lily’s canvas was filled with a collage of images and quotes that all came together perfectly.

Jamie was surprised that not all of it was centered around gymnastics.

She had cut out pictures of art supplies and other women sports icons, kittens, and Taylor Swift, with a heavy emphasis on the color yellow and rainbows.

Quotes like “stick it” and “dream big” covered her collage, alongside others, and Jamie thought it perfectly represented Lily as a person, not just Lily the gymnast.

“Oh, my love,” Beth said. “It’s beautiful.”

“I know this was supposed to be about gymnastics,” Lily started, looking directly at Jamie apologetically, “but I don’t think I can meet my gymnastic goals without all these other parts of me. You know?”

“Yeah, I do.” Jamie beamed at the younger girl.

“But now I kind of wish I had gone first.” Jamie winked at Lily and flipped her canvas around, revealing a poorly laid-out board of her visions and dreams for herself.

While Lily’s vision board had considered the balance of color and overlapping shapes, Jamie had simply stuck things haphazardly across her canvas.

Both Beth’s and Lily’s faces split into matching smiles as they held back laughter.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh...” Beth tried and failed to hide her laugh in a cough.

“It looks like a serial killer made it,” Lily joked.

“Hey, wait a second!” Jamie tried and failed to defend her handiwork.

After Jamie had briefly explained her hopes for the future, the three of them had sat around talking, curled up on the couch next to the fire, until Lily couldn’t hold back her yawns any longer. Jamie glanced at the clock in the kitchen. It was past ten already.

“Lily, love, why don’t you head to bed,” Beth said softly, patting Lily’s thigh.

Lily nodded sleepily and stretched before getting up and going down to the lower level of the house. Jamie stood, too, heading into the kitchen.

“Let me clean up, and then I’ll head out as well.” Jamie moved to begin cleaning up their mess from earlier.

Beth, leaning casually against the countertop, watched her intently, making no effort to hide her gaze.

Jamie felt the weight of that look, each glance seeming to tether her more firmly to the spot.

“Or you could stay for a little while longer,” Beth murmured, her voice a soft entreaty hanging delicately in the air between them. “We can just talk.”

The suggestion caught Jamie off guard, her hands pausing mid-task.

She swallowed hard, her heart pounding in a conflicted rhythm.

Usually, she relied on her instincts to guide her in moments like this, to whisper the right course of action where logic had failed.

But now, her instincts were as divided as her thoughts, leaving her stranded at a crossroads of caution and desire.