Page 69 of Valley Girls
“I hate parking cars,” Thea said, without lifting her eyes from the massive swift-water rescue handbook she was reading. “But I’m not going to be parking cars forever.” She swallowed another bite of cereal. “How’s school?”
“Uh. Great. I finished all of my trig.”
“Great job! Keep at it,” Thea said. “Mom called. I told her you’d call today.”
Rilla nodded, still torn between being angry at Thea for criticizing Mom and angry at Mom for being that way in the first place. “Yeah, okay.”
“All right,” Thea put her bowl in the sink and reached for her Stetson. “Pray I don’t get run over by an angry tourist,” Thea said, and then was gone, leaving Rilla sitting at the table in an empty house.
She hadn’t seen anyone since the day she dropped the rope, on purpose mostly. Even though she knew she wanted to go back to climbing, going back out to show her face andask to leadwas a ... hurdle. She looked at her phone and wondered if Mom would even be up. Probably not.
Taking the computer, she opened up a blank document, determining to knock out a paper on the book she’d only half finished reading. The clock ticked loudly. The quiet in between the ticks seemed to carry a noise. After ten minutes on the couch, her body was sore from sitting still. She should just bite the bullet, go back out, and ask. No one was going to be in Camp 4 today, especially not this late. She could go and try and find a stranger to climb with—people often signed up for partners on the ranger board—but any partner would be able to tell right away she was a fake. She couldn’t lead! Rilla groaned and leaned forward with the computer. She started writing and barely even knew what she was saying, she just kept her fingers moving. After filling a page, she figured it was time for a break and clicked over to movies, propping up Thea’sWilderness First Aidon her knees to page through.
Ten episodes ofVampire Diarieslater ...
Shit.
Rilla looked up, realizing the light had turned amber and her whole day was gone. She closed the computer and unfolded herself off the couch just as Lauren came in the door.
“Hey girl, busy day?”
Rilla smoothed her hair and tried not to look guilty. “Yep. You?”
“A squirrel got into the Half Dome Village store.” Lauren sighed and sank in the recliner, unlacing her boots. “I swear, if I get the plague ...”
“The plague?” Rilla said, stashing the computer under the couch and trying to think what she could do to make it look like she did something.
“Yeah, don’t touch rodents. They’ll give you the bubonic plague.”
“Are you serious? The actual plague. Who touches rodents?”
“You’d be surprised how many people try and pet those mangy bionic rodents.” She pulled off her socks and sighed. “What have you been doing all day? MoreVampire Diaries?”
Rilla blinked.
“It shows what you’ve been watching.”
“Oh.”
Lauren laughed. “Oh indeed.”
“I did get all of my trigonometry done,” Rilla defended herself.
Lauran waved her hand. “That’s a fight for Thea. I do not care about a few episodes ofVampire Diaries.”
Rilla’s shoulders sagged in relief.
“We need to talk about what happened during the evacuation.”
Shit. Rilla studied her hands.
“I guess you’ve talked with her about it, right?”
Rilla stayed quiet.
“Yeah,” Lauren said like she’d just proved a point. “I know your situation is complicated. I’m not pretending I understand the dynamics that are unfolding there. I know for Thea, it’s been difficult to figure out boundaries and how to move forward, and I imagine you will need to learn the same things. But here’s the thing.” She pulled her legs off the chair and leaned on her knees. “You cannot, under any circumstance, tell a gay person she must come out. Even to your sister. Even to her mother. You crossed a line.”
Rilla’s face felt like it was burning up. “It ...” She swallowed. “It wasn’t about coming out. It was about her and my mom.”
