“My girlfriend’s coming into town.”
Harold’s cheerful expression barely faltered. “Oh that’s nice.” He reached for the creamer. “From college? It’s important to stay connected to old friends.”
A cool, exhilarating calm washed over Grace. She channeled the moment in cross-examination where she’d been leading a witness with question after question until she had them exactly where she wanted them. Until she unleashed the final question that would show the jury exactly why they needed to find her client not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Grace waited for Harold to meet her silence with eye contact and then she held his attention. Her voice was steady and clear and booming when she said, “No, Harold. My girlfriend. My very romantic partner for whom I do not feel an ounce of platonic affection.”
She didn’t run from his reaction, even if every instinct told her to bolt for the door. To fake sick and give her declaration time to blow over. She had nothing to hide, and she didn’t feel a drop of shame for having found a love so big that it had transformed her. That it had filled her with courage and pride and made her fearless. In that moment, she was sure that she would sue the absolute fuck out of the firm if they fired her and then she’d donate every penny to a queer youth project.
Harold’s face flushed so hard, Grace was sure his blood pressure had spiked. “Oh, I… didn’t know that you… Well, I didn’t?—”
“Didn’t know I was a lesbian?” Grace finished like the dutiful associate.
Harold swallowed and Julie stopped breathing.
Grace didn’t fill the silence. Didn’t make it comfortable. Didn’t offer a single explanation or excuse or apology.
She stood there until Harold replied with a shaky, “My grandson is gay.”
Grace smiled. “Good for him.”
She plucked her toasted bagel from the machine, grabbed her espresso, and walked out of the kitchen without a backward glance. Her heart was pounding, a wild drumbeat of fear and flight, but for the first time in years, she felt utterly, breathtakingly free.
Resisting the urge to run, Grace strode to her office. She dropped her food on her desk and grabbed her phone. There was no way she could hold back from calling Alix. Even if she felt so guilty for waking her.
But when Alix picked up, she didn’t have a groggy voice and she wasn’t in the silence of her bedroom. It was the ambient noise of a crowded place.
“Where are you?” Grace asked before she could get to her news.
“I don’t want to say,” Alix replied when the noise changed to street traffic.
“What? Why? Are you okay? Did something?—”
“It’s a surprise?—”
“Alix, please. You’re freaking me out and I just told Harold I was a fucking lesbian, so I really need?—”
“You what?” Alix shrieked her laugh. “Did you really? Babe, that’s amazing. What did you say? What did he say?”
Adrenaline made Grace’s body vibrate and her heart pound in her throat. “He was okay, I think. Julie, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to disintegrate.”
“Julie was there? Shut up!” Alix’s delight made Grace’s heart soar into her throat. “What did she say? I need you to start over.”
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll tell you later. But where are you?”
“Um, well, I wanted to surprise you so I flew in this morning and I’ve just kind of been hanging out at the coffee place across the street from your building, which I realize now sounds like a cry for help, but I didn’t know how?—”
“You’re here?” Grace’s knees threatened to buckle. “In Miami? Right now?”
“Yeah?” Alix replied like she wasn’t sure.
“What coffee shop?” She was already grabbing her purse, flat shoes in hand.
“The one literally across from your office.”
Running, Grace didn’t bother with the elevator. She tore down the service stairs, heart pounding when she burst out onto the lobby. She sprinted across the street, causing a cacophony of honks that she ignored.
And then there she was. Alix, standing outside of a coffee shop with an enormous pink suitcase, her longboard, and a ridiculous grin.
