Chapter 23

23

Q uinn sat on the hood of her mother's car, her heart racing as she waited. The crisp autumn air nipped at her cheeks, but she barely noticed, her mind consumed with the impending confrontation. For a week, she'd tried to reach out, to explain, to make things right, but her mother's silence had been deafening.

Quinn had come to the farmer's market like she did most weekends, but this morning, she spotted her mother's car, and instead of going shopping, she perched herself on the hood of her car, patiently waiting for her to return.

And almost an hour later, there she was, carrying two brown bags, one in each arm. But the moment their eyes met, her mother froze.

"Quinn," Sarah said, her voice tight when she finally reached the car. "What are you doing here?"

Quinn slid off the hood, her legs shaky beneath her. "Mom, please. We need to talk."

Sarah's jaw clenched. She moved to the trunk, fumbling with her keys. "I don't think there's anything to say."

"There's everything to say," Quinn insisted, following her mother. "You won't answer my calls. You won't see me. How are we supposed to work through this if you won't even talk to me?"

Sarah shoved her bags into the trunk, her movements jerky and agitated. "Work through what, Quinn? The fact that you're sleeping with my best friend? That you've both been lying to me?"

Quinn flinched at her mother's harsh tone. "It's not like that. We didn't plan this. It just... happened."

Her mother slammed the trunk shut, finally turning to face Quinn. "Do you have any idea how this feels?" Sarah asked, her voice breaking. "To find out my daughter and my best friend have been sneaking around behind my back?"

Quinn closed her eyes. Rebecca had warned her about this very moment. "Would you have had a better reaction if I'd told you the second I started feeling something for her? It was always going to be like this."

"And shouldn't that tell you something," her mother countered, brushing by her to open the driver's side door.

"I love her," Quinn said as her mother got in. The admission shocked both of them.

"You what?"

"I know you don't want to hear it, but this is real. This isn't an affair where the appeal of it all is the sneaking around. Both of us wanted to tell you."

Her mother leaned back against the headrest as she sighed. "Quinn, I'm not trying to be difficult. I just want you to be happy."

"I am. I'm happier than I've ever been."

"But the age difference…"

Quinn shook her head. "It's irrelevant."

Her mother didn't say anything, but she didn't shut the door and drive away either. Eventually, she spoke, but it was so soft that Quinn wondered if she'd imagined it.

"I miss my best friend, and I miss my daughter."

Quinn bit the inside of her cheek when her mother turned to her with tears in her eyes. "Can we come to Thanksgiving? Together?"

Her mother inhaled a deep breath. "I never told your father or Reagan."

Quinn nodded. "I thought you wouldn't."

"This might be more shocking than coming out."

"I know." Quinn shoved her hands in her coat pocket. "Can we come to Thanksgiving?" she asked again.

This time her mother answered with a simple nod. "I'd like that." She sighed softly as she turned to look up at her. "It's going to take me a while to get used to this."

"I get that."

"But I will try."

Quinn felt a smile tugging at her lips, hoping that the worst of this was over, because she wanted nothing more than to go to her parents' house for Thanksgiving and Christmas and have Rebecca there with her.

There was really only one thing left to do.

She had to come out to the world.