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Kane folded his arms. “What are you talking about?”
Juliette suspected he knew exactly what she was talking about, but he clearly wanted her to spell it out.
“Olivia has got Juliette thinking she’s gay.”
“I am gay, mom! And that’s not Liv’s fault. I would have figured it out sooner or later, Liv or no Liv.”
“You’re not really gay, Juliette. You’re just confused.”
“Laura, be reasonable. Juliette knows her own mind and body.”
“But she can’t be – I won’t lose my daughter!”
“She’s right there!” Kane gestured angrily to Juliette. “You’re not losing her!”
“But her soul –”
“Oh, you can fuck right off with that Leviticus crap, Laura! It’s a bunch of bullshit and you know it!”
Laura gaped at him like a goldfish. Kane had never spoken so harshly to her in their entire relationship. “But… but…”
“But nothing. You call yourself a Christian? Then be like fucking Christ, Laura! Anything else and you’re not a Christian, you’re just a hypocrite. Tell me truthfully, what would Jesus say?”
“He’d tell her to repent –”
“No, he wouldn’t! Have you even read the Bible, Mom? He’d tell me that my father in Heaven loves me unconditionally.”
“Yes, but –”
“There are no buts. Either you accept me or you don’t, but don’t you dare pretend you’re forsaking me because that’s what Jesus wants you to do. Juliette stormed over the book shelf and withdrew a copy of the Bible. She hurled it at Laura, who had to duck to avoid it.
“Go re-read the fucking gospel!” Juliette snapped. Then she stalked out of the room, half-blinded by tears. She made it to her room and fell into bed, pressing her face into the pillow to muffle her sobs.
She could hear Kane and Laura screaming at each other in the lounge. Juliette was distantly gratified that Kane had stood up for her when she hadn’t been able to stand up for herself, but that did little to outweigh the anguish she felt at her mother’s rejection.
Juliette had known it was coming, of course, and she had thought she’d be prepared for how much it would hurt.
She was wrong. She hadn’t been prepared for this at all.
She didn’t know how much time had passed – two tissue boxes worth – before there was a knock on the door.
Juliette resisted the urge to scream at Kane to go away. He was worried and checking in on her. She didn’t want company right now, but the least she could do was tell that to him to his face.
“Yes?”
The door opened. “Juliette.”
Juliette was shocked to hear her mom’s voice.
“Go away,” Juliette snapped. “You can take your intolerance and your conversion camps and you can go straight to hell.”
“That’s not what I’m here for. I want… I want to apologize.”
Juliette didn’t dare hope. “Let me guess. Kane told you that you had to treat me right or he’d leave you.”
Laura glared at her. “Kane loves me. He would never give me an ultimatum like that. However, he did help me… see certain things better.”
“Oh yeah?” Juliette couldn’t imagine that Kane had said anything different to what she’d been telling her mom her whole life. But maybe it would be different coming from her fiancé. Juliette knew that Liv probably had a better chance of convincing her to do something she didn’t want to do than anyone else. Perhaps it was the same for their parents?
