Page 30 of Rumor Has It

She was so done with this shit. “And when would my sexuality be convenient for you, Dad?” She asked in an actual yelled response. She sighed into the silence that followed. “Look, I didn’t ask for this article to get printed. Neither did Wren for that matter. It cost her her relationship, which is completely unfair to her, and it forced me out of the closet. A closet I was quite happy to stay in, but here we are. Okay? I’ve had six years to sit with this fact about myself. I get it if you need some time, but it is a fact.”

Before they could say anything, Becky continued, “and it’s not a phase and it’s not going away. It’s just a fact. My hair is blonde, my eyes are hazel, I’m attracted to some women, but no men. Got it?”

Katie smiled at her, clear pride shining in her deep brown eyes. She hugged Becky a little tighter.

“We need to put a stop to the rumors, get ahead of it,” her dad said, not responding to anything Becky had just said, but immediately wanting to spin the cycle. “What information can you give me about…what is this girl’s name? Wren?”

“No. I’m not going there. And you’re not going there,” Becky’s voice cracked. “Me being gay has had literally no impact on your lives. I get it, Pine Rock is small. People will gossip. But then, one of the Abbott boys will get themselves arrested again and everyone will move on to that. Okay? The magazines only care because of Wren’s ex. This will go away faster if we all just leave it the fuck alone.”

“Language, Becky,” her mother snapped.

“You’re right. Sorry, Mom. But I’m serious. I’d rather it if we just ignored it. Wren is my teammate, and this article has done actual damage to her. I’m not making it worse. And you aren’t either. She’s actually a really good person.” Becky refused to keep hurting Wren. She wouldn’t. She knew her parents hadn’t followed her career. Other than the delightful flicking off moment, they had probably never even heard the name Wren Eames.

“Dad, if anyone in town bothers you about it, or God forbid, it actually impacts your practice, just tell them that Wren and I went to rival colleges. We used to get into fights on the field. Tell them about the article from a few weeks ago where I’m literally flicking her off. Just tell them the media is trying to create a story out of nothing. It’s just drama for the sake of drama. We’re teammates and friends. That’s it. It’s the truth, for one. But also, I mean it, whatever y’all say to people, leave Wren out of it.” Becky’s heart slammed against her chest. She could feel her parents itching to call her oldest brother and put his shiny new law degree to use. Anything to clear their family name, but she didn’t want them to.

Sure, getting this kind of media attention for something that wasn’t even true was unexpectedly hurtful, but it was real life. And unfortunately, something that came with the territory of being a professional athlete. All she knew was that she wasn’t going to be the cause of more problems for Wren.

Another round of tears streamed down her face as she thought about Andy’s post. The photo that Wren never intended for the world to see. That photo had been used in the article. Becky’s parents had seen it, even. Everyone had. Oh, poor Wren.

There was a long pause, one so long Becky worried her parents might have hung up on her. Finally her father’s voice cut through her concern. “Fine. We’ll just tell everyone that it’s all media fodder.” The line disconnected then. The silence of the disconnected call hurt more than Becky had ever realized they could.

That was it? They didn’t have anything else to say to her? No more questions about her sexuality? She almost would have taken a rude comment. But nothing? Her mother had asked if she was really a lesbian and that was it.

“Fuck ‘em,” Katie said, pushing Becky over so she could fully snuggle into her on the couch.

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

WREN

“Hey, Eames,” Courtney Sinclair said, nodding her head in greeting as Wren started to unload her lucky duffle bag into her locker.

“Hey, Court.” They had seen each other a few days prior for their club team game. Courtney already knew all the drama that Andy had caused. Wren sighed. Andy had been insufferable over the past week while they sorted through all their stuff and tried to figure out what they were going to do.

In the end, they had agreed that Wren was going to keep their current lease but that Andy deserved two weeks to figure out where she was going to stay. She had taken to sleeping on the couch—when she had even bothered coming home. Their shared existence was stressful and had caused Wren to lose sleep and a few pounds.

She was more than a little happy to be out of there for a few days for the National Team’s next friendly. This time against Portugal. They were playing in Minnesota, and Wren was thanking any god she had ever heard of that they were entering spring and that it wasn’t negative seven degrees outside.

The locker room door opened and another group of their teammates entered, Rebecca among them. All the girls said their hellos and started doing the same thing Wren and Courtney were doing, unpacking their soccer gear into their lockers.

Wren couldn’t not look at Rebecca, though. Rebecca looked just as exhausted as Wren felt. They had texted a few times since their phone call, but Wren still didn’t know how that article had really impacted Rebecca. She didn’t know if it had outed her. She didn’t know anything, and the worry had been eating at her. She’d had a few days to process everything and to try and see the past six years from Rebecca’s perspective, and she had concluded that Rebecca probably just needed a really massive hug.

“Eames, Rothschild, coaches’ office. Now.” Coach T’s voice was sharp and crisp.

The team tittered and oohed, like they were two school girls who had been caught skipping class. Wren sighed and dropped her bag. Whatever this was, it was not going to be pleasant. Rebecca looked mortified.

“Sit,” Coach Jameson sounded, in a word, annoyed. The magazine from hell was face up on his desk. “Explain this. Now.” His meaty finger jabbed into the cover.

Wren sighed. She didn’t even know what to say. Thankfully, she didn’t have to. Rebecca spoke before she had even figured out where to start. “That is my fault,” Rebecca’s southern accent was thicker than it normally was, like she had flipped some southern charm switch that Wren had never been privy to.

Rebecca grabbed the magazine and flipped automatically to the pages that showed photo after photo of the two of them crossing the street, thankfully skipping over that photo of Wren. “I was drunk. At the after party. I was drunk,” she said again, her voice a little more pleading. “None of this is on Wren. She was kind enough to get me back to the hotel safely.”

Wren froze in her seat. Was Rebecca really taking the fall right now?

“Nothing is going on between us,” Rebecca continued. “This article has caused a lot of problems for us both personally, but I cannot let it affect Wren professionally. She was being a good teammate. And a good friend. Which is exactly what you asked us to become. She’s done it. I’ve been reluctant and stubborn, but she hasn’t.”

Rebecca’s jaw tightened, but she carried on, her voice a little more desperate now, “I’m a serious lightweight and I mixed too many alcohols and I puked in the club bathroom. Wren took me back to the hotel so I wouldn’t embarrass myself or the team.” Rebecca nervously tapped at the article, her finger jabbing at the particularly intimate looking photo of Rebecca holding both of Wren’s hands. “I was thanking her in this picture. My parents are fairly prominent members of a Southern Baptist church. If you were from a small southern town, you’d understand why I wouldn’t want the media to get any photos where I look visibly drunk. That kind of thing can really linger for my family on Sundays. I was thanking her for keeping me from embarrassing my parents. And then… and now…” All the energy deflated from Rebecca with that.