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“I’ve got it covered,” Emma explained. “TV’s a great babysitter.”
Robyn sounded like she’d moved closer when she spoke again. “Adelaide, are you safe? Do you need us to call anyone for you?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I’m… Um, where do I start?” She huffed out a laugh that was more of a sigh and she grimaced as her voice wobbled. “I did something today that I know was the right thing to do, but goddamn it hurts, and I’m scared. I don’t want to be because I know he loves me, but I can’t help think that I might lose everything. But I could also lose everything anyway. I don’t know if I’m making sense.” Adelaide wiped away the tears that had started trickling down her cheeks again and closed her eyes.
“Who are you talking about, Addy?” Katy asked, her voice soft. Keeping her relationship with King a secret had once felt like the biggest hurdle they had to overcome. It paled in comparison. So much had happened in the last few weeks that she’d forgotten to fill her friends in on her beau. She’d been so wrapped up in studying and living in her little bubble that she’d pushed away her friends. How ironic that they were hearing about things when they got rocky.
“Remember the guy I met the night of the speed dating? We’ve been together since.” She winced when Katy asked why she’d never brought him to their get togethers. “We didn’t tell anyone because he taught at a Catholic school and what I do for a living might have threatened his job. I didn’t want to risk his career taking a hit because of me. But that doesn’t matter now. He starts teaching at a new school next year. He moved because of me, so we could be open.”
“So what’s happened, hon?” Emma asked.
“I can’t give specifics because it’s not just my story to tell.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, the person who is affected has a lot to lose. I know I can trust you, all of you. I know you’d never say anything. You all know what happened to Levi when he was outed. It’s like that.”
“Okay.” Katy’s response was simple. Final. She wouldn’t push. She didn’t have to. Katy and Emma both knew she was talking about Liam. They knew he was the only famous person she knew. But neither would utter his name.
“King, that’s my boyfriend’s name, told me something. He loves me. He shows me all the time. We’re exclusive and he’d never cheat, but he’s fallen for someone else. I gave him my blessing to explore how things go with this person. It was the right decision. I know it was. But it didn’t make it easy and I’m scared.” She scrubbed her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ear. Pulling at a loose thread on the bed covers, she sighed and slumped, pulling the covers over her despite it being a warm night.
“I think I know how you feel,” Robyn replied. She was opening the door for Adelaide to give her details without pushing or asking her directly. Robyn had gone through the same thing with Mike. The man he’d fallen in love with on a trip away had come back into his life, and Robyn was faced with an impossible choice—ask Mike to choose her or encourage him to have both of them.
“Yeah, you do. We were on the freeway, you know? The straight road. We could have gone down it and gotten to our destination like every other commuter—from A to B with a minimum of fuss.” She shrugged. Doing things because they were easy had never been her style. She’d always needed to love her path and she wanted the people around her to love their lives too.
“But sometimes there’s a fork in the road. A giant neon sign pointing at you to pull off,” Katy murmured, her voice filled with understanding now. It was the same thing she and Levi had experienced with Connor. Adelaide had been there to witness Levi’s dawning understanding. She was the one who’d encouraged him to talk to both of them.
“Yeah.” She paused. Sighed. “The coast was clear and I thought we were cruising. We were on the straight road taking the easy way. It was the safe road to travel down.” Adelaide blinked back the tears, imagining the beauty that King and Liam could create. The love they could find in each other. Liam had been starved of it all his life, and King had so much to give. He had more than enough to give to her and Liam. She believed it down to her bones. She drew on all her strength. All her confidence. She needed to go with her gut. They would get through this intact. They all would.
She hadn’t known Liam identified as anything other than straight, but that didn’t matter. She trusted him to treat King right whether it was one night or more. He would love King just as hard if given the chance. Liam hadn’t had much of it in his life, and he knew how shitty it felt to be treated like an object. He treasured the people who showed him kindness, and King would be one of those people. She desperately wanted both of them to experience the kind of love they could give each other.
“But if we did stay on the freeway, we could have missed all the twists and turns. The adventures. The people and places you fall in love with. I wanted that for them, you know? Like that Disney movie with the race car.”
“Were you suggesting something like public transport, or was it more like rideshare or carpooling?” Emma huffed out a laugh. “I’m sorry, that sounds so bad. My analogies are terrible.” God, she loved her friends for running with her terrible riddles.
“I didn’t want public transport, but yeah, maybe give him—or me—the chance to carpool? I think.” Adelaide laughed too, confusion swirling around inside her. The tears came again, and her words were a whisper. “I just wish…” She shook her head, not wanting to finish the thought. She knew that what she wanted was important. She spent a lot of time talking in her videos about the importance of voicing your needs and desires, and she stood by that. Every person deserved love and sexual gratification if that’s what they desired. The irony of keeping quiet here wasn’t lost on her, but this time she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. This time she would be the one to show how much she loved both of them by giving King the chance to love Liam without her interference. She smiled, pushing herself to look like she meant it.
“I’m confused,” Katy admitted. “So I’m just going to put it out there. Are you saying King and Liam are together?” Katy asked.
“I can’t out him.” Adelaide shook her head, her shoulders falling as she realized what she’d done. By saying she couldn’t out him, she’d just done exactly that.
“Oh, honey. No,” Katy murmured.
Her voice hitched. “It’ll be okay, won’t it? I just wanted him to take the long road and experience life to the full. That’s all that’s happening.”
“Addy, you’ve been in love with Liam for years. It’s going to destroy you watching them together.” Katy voiced Adelaide’s deepest fears, and she couldn’t help the sniffle as the tears dripped down her cheeks.
“I’ll be okay.”
“Does King know how you feel about Liam?” Robyn asked.
“No. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. I didn’t want to complicate their relationship.”
“Good, at least I don’t have to whip his arse,” Katy mumbled, then added, “You need to tell him. You’re sitting there hurting while he’s with the man you’ve been in love with for years.”
“Isn’t that exactly how your relationship with Connor went down, and exactly how Levi and Connor got together?” Emma reminded her. “Adelaide needs our support just like you did.”
Katy’s only response was a grumbled acquiescence.
“I can’t tell you what the right thing to do here is. But I can say that watching Mike leave for his first date with Ezio was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I cried myself into a heap. I made Lexi and Jax watchBambiwith me for goodness’ sake just so they’d cry with me.” She huffed. “Not my finest step-parenting moment. But when Ezio and I were finally honest with each other, it changed things for the better.”
“Same with me, Con, and Levi,” Katy added.
