Page 80 of Balancing Act (Soulmate #1)

BETH

Beth adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulder as she and Sarah navigated the crowded arena concourse. This was it—the Olympic trials. It was still surreal to think about. Lily—their Lily—competing in the Olympic trials as a hopeful for Team USA.

“We need to stop by the Empwr booth before we head to our seats,” Beth said, scanning the row of vendor tables lining the concourse. “I promised Jamie I’d send her a picture.”

Sarah stifled her small laugh with a cough. “You two text more than teenagers.”

Beth rolled her eyes but smiled. “She’s been running around all morning. It’s my duty as a supportive girlfriend.”

They reached the Empwr booth, where the familiar slogan— Invest in Women’s Sports —was splashed across banners, T-shirts, hats, and sleek promotional materials. Beth picked up two brightly colored shirts and held one out to Sarah.

“How mortified do you think Lily will be when she sees us in these?” Beth teased.

Sarah examined the shirt, a playful smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Completely mortified. Even better if there’s photographic evidence. We should put them on now, take advantage of the free marketing. You know the cameras are going to find us in the crowd.”

Beth laughed. “You just want to say you wore Empwr before it was mainstream.”

Sarah smirked. “I’m just always thinking about business.”

They quickly stopped at the bathroom to change before continuing toward their seats. As they walked, Beth felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her.

“How many of these have we been to over the years?” she mused, taking in the familiar energy of a competition day—the chatter of excited families, the bright arena lights, the smell of chalk in the air.

But this one—the trials—carried a different weight.

Beth could feel it; she was sure Lily was feeling it, too.

Sarah let out a low whistle. “Too many to count. The tiny invitational meets. The big national and international ones. Remember that one in Texas where the AC broke?”

Beth groaned. “How could I forget? Lily was still in juniors, and we were melting.”

“And now here she is. Trials. The Olympic freakin’ trials.”

“I know. I think back to the little girl who used to cartwheel in a tutu through the living room and have us judge her routines. She’s always been a little force of nature. She gets that from you, you know. I see so much of you in her.”

Sarah smiled in a way that she tried to hide, a way Beth had always pretended not to notice, but it was one of the things she’d seen first about Sarah all those years ago.

“Really? Because I was going to say she gets that from you.”

Beth slowed slightly and turned toward Sarah, considering her for a moment. “I think she gets it from both of us.”

They reached their seats, and Beth’s eyes instinctively sought the mats below—and there she was. Lily.

Sarah leaned toward her, her voice low as she took Beth’s hand.

“Whatever happens today, whatever the outcome is for her, she’s already everything I ever hoped she would be and more.

I know I wasn’t always good at saying it back then, but watching you raise her, and how you love her and support her dreams?

I’ve never doubted for a minute that you are exactly the mom she needed. ”

Beth’s eyes lingered on Sarah as her words landed.

The fear, the doubt, the quiet uncertainty Beth had carried for years—the constant undercurrent of Am I enough for Lily?

—lifted because she finally felt like she knew the answer.

Yes. She was enough. She might not always be perfect, but Beth would always be enough.

She blinked hard, clearing her throat. “Are you trying to make me cry?” she said, eyes already darting away—landing on Lily, out on the floor, all fire and focus. She squeezed Sarah’s hand. Sarah, thankfully, did not follow up.

Jamie stood beside Lily now, her posture relaxed and focused, talking to Lily as she adjusted her grips.

The past few weeks had been a whirlwind—Jamie’s re-entry into the public eye, the internet’s sudden fascination with their relationship, Lily’s now-viral clapback to a reporter asking one too many borderline homophobic questions about being raised by two moms, and the unexpected uptick in Beth’s art sales that had Sean grinning ear to ear—but in this moment, none of that mattered.

Jamie found Beth from across the floor, and a slow, knowing smile spread across her face as she lifted a hand in a wave. Beth waved back, warmth curling through her—the easy kind that came from knowing you were exactly where you were meant to be.

Lily turned then, spotting her and Sarah in the crowd. Without hesitation, she lifted her hands and shaped them into a heart.

Beth and Sarah, without missing a beat, did the same.

She had been afraid she was doing it wrong for so long—life, love, parenting.

She had spent years searching for balance, for the right equation that would keep everything from falling over.

But maybe there was no perfect formula. Maybe life wasn’t meant to be a balancing act.

Maybe it was about learning to shift, to move with it, and to let go of the fear of falling.

She wasn’t scared of the unknown.

Not about the outcome of today for Lily. Not about Jamie’s test results. Not about how the shape of her life looked different from how she thought it would.

She was just here. And that? That was enough.

JAMIE

Her test results hadn’t come yet, and it was eating Jamie alive.

It had been weeks, and she was still waiting, growing increasingly nervous each day.

But she had to keep it together, because this weekend was about Lily.

Bright arena lights illuminated the floor before them.

Gymnasts carried whispered conversations with coaches, and judges scrutinized every last movement.

She pulled her thoughts away from the unknowns, centering herself on the here and now. Her therapist would be proud of her, Jamie thought, making a mental note to tell her about it during their next session.

“Jamie.” A small voice snapped her attention back to the arena. Lily had been preparing for her final routine of her Olympic trials—the beam. Jamie stood beside her, steady and calm, the way she wished she had been able to be for herself at Lily’s age.

“How are you feeling, kid?” Jamie asked, meeting her gaze.

Lily took a breath, shifting on her feet. “Good. A little nervous, but good. This is it, you know?”

Jamie grinned. “A little nerves are good. I want you to take all of those and use them. Let them push you to give it everything you’ve got.

” She rested a hand lightly on Lily’s shoulder.

“And most importantly, go out there and have fun. Because none of this is worth it if you can’t say you had fun doing it. ”

Lily’s face broke into a brilliant smile, and without warning, she threw her arms around Jamie’s waist and squeezed her tight.

Jamie hugged her back fiercely. “Go crush it, Lils! Show them why they should pay attention—why everyone should know your name.”

With her heart thrumming with a familiar kind of excitement—the kind that reminded her exactly why she had fallen in love with this sport in the first place—she watched as Lily jogged toward the beam.

From the moment Lily took her first step on the apparatus, it was clear she was unstoppable. Every movement was precise when it needed to be but fluid when it mattered. The nerves that had been so visible just minutes ago were nowhere to be found.

Jamie watched in quiet awe, nudging Amanda beside her. “For all her complaining about how much she hates the beam, you’d never know it watching her.”

“She’s been nailing this set in practice.” Amanda hummed. “But she’s doing something different?—”

Jamie noticed it, too. The pacing of Lily’s routine had shifted. Her transitions between skills didn’t align with what she and Lily had planned, what Lily had practiced so many times.

Realization dawned on her, and she pieced together what Lily was up to.

“Is Lily about to do—?” Amanda started to ask.

Jamie couldn’t believe it, her grin already spreading. “Oh, yeah. She definitely is.”

She tried to contain her excitement as Lily moved into her final pass—the dismount.

A roundoff.

A back handspring.

And then?—

She went for it.

A double Arabian dismount, twisting through the air in a sequence so iconic it had been named after Jamie herself.

The Lyons dismount.

The entire arena seemed to hold its breath.

And then—Lily landed. Perfectly.

A deafening eruption of cheers split the air. Jamie and Amanda jumped to their feet, gripping onto each other as they screamed.

“She stuck it!” Amanda hollered, shaking Jamie’s shoulders. “Did you see that?! She stuck it! Goodbye Lyons dismount, hello the Gallagher!”

Jamie was already moving. Before she could process it, Lily had sprinted straight into her arms, colliding with a force that nearly knocked her backward, taking all the wind out of her.

“I did your dismount!” Lily gasped, still breathless.

“You did!” Jamie hugged her so tightly she could feel Lily’s heart pounding against hers. “That was incredible!”

Together, they turned toward the scoreboard as numbers flashed across the screen.

15.275.

Just enough to bump her combined beam score to the top of the leaderboard.

The crowd roared. And an overwhelming pride surged through her. She turned, searching through the sea of faces until she found Beth and Sarah in the stands. They were jumping up and down, holding each other, tears in their eyes.

This—this was what it was all about.

After the final rotations wrapped up, the gymnasts were called to line up for the moment they had all been waiting for —the announcement of the US Olympic Team. The entire arena fell into hushed anticipation as the names were read.

“Camila Vasquez.”

“Taylor Kensington.”

“Brooke Mizuno.”

“Zuri Williams.”

“Lily Gallagher.”

The crowd exploded. Jamie watched Lily’s eyes widen, her hands flying to her mouth before she turned, arms thrown around her teammates as they jumped up and down with her, celebrating.

Lily had done it. She was going to the Olympics—making history as the youngest gymnast to make the team.

Jamie watched, the smile still on her face as the new Olympians were swept away for interviews and press.

She stepped away from the crowd for the first time all day.

The high of the moment still buzzed in her veins, but as the arena’s noise dulled, she pulled out her phone only to see a missed call—Dr. Albright’s office.

She froze as that feeling of dread crept in. But instead of letting it consume her, she paused, took a deep breath, counted to ten, and held the phone to her ear.

She prepared herself for her world to fall apart any second now. But before those words had fully settled on her, she felt a hand circle around her waist and a chin rest on her shoulder. Beth was there, next to her—as if she had known Jamie needed her.

She barely had time to slide her phone back into her pocket, turning in Beth’s arms, and Jamie let out the biggest sigh of relief. It moved through her whole body, grabbing every last bit of fear she was still holding on its way out as she buried her face in Beth’s shoulder.

“I don’t have cancer,” she whispered against Beth’s hair, the words barely audible over the pounding of her own heart. “The doctor finally called. Everything came back benign.”

Beth pulled back just enough to see Jamie’s face, her eyes searching, full of an undeniable love so deep, so raw that Jamie felt it everywhere.

“Benign?” Beth echoed, Jamie confirmed. And then Beth was kissing her.

It wasn’t planned, wasn’t even a conscious thought—it was instinct, a reaction to the sheer magnitude of the moment—their fears finally, finally lifting.

When they pulled apart, Beth pressed her forehead to Jamie’s, exhaling shakily.

Her arms tightening around Beth, picking her up and spinning around as she laughed feeling lighter than she had in weeks. She didn’t have cancer.

Everything about today had been life-changing.

For Lily.

For Jamie.

For all of them.

And as she stood there, wrapped in Beth’s arms, Jamie felt it settle deep in her. This life—this family—was the best thing she had ever fought for.