(rivals to lovers, small town, sports) (Season 2 ongoing) After a devastating Olympic loss puts her career in a downward spiral, an aging skier returns to her laid-back mountain hometown to rediscover her love of her sport and instead finds herself...
Content note: This book contains sexual content and discussion and/or depictions of gender dysphoria, misgendering, negative body image, weight change, and emotional abuse.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Holly's first mistake was reading the text.
They were already running late before they'd stopped for gas and they couldn't spare a minute. But when their phone belled, they scooped it up, worried it might be their boss with urgent last-minute comments about this morning's big meeting.
It wasn't their boss. It was their sister.
You mind if I bring a new friend to lunch?
This must be the tenth time this summer Juniper had asked some variation of this question. Once, before they'd realized what she was doing, Holly had said yes. Every time since, they'd said no. And yet.
Will you stop trying to set me up?? they typed furiously.
Instead of hitting Send, they closed their eyes and exhaled hard through their nose. This made their brand-new binder pinch around their ribs. When they'd tried it on last night it had seemed fine, but it had been a mistake to wear it this morning. The online reviews had promised an airy, lightweight, "so comfortable you won't even know you're wearing it" experience. It was not delivering. Today it felt like a straitjacket.
The discomfort on top of the stress of today's meeting had them on edge. Juniper meant well. They knew that.
They deleted what they'd written. Instead, they just said, Not today.
Holly tossed their phone into the passenger seat. In front of them, an older man was taking his sweet time filling his SUV while he chatted with the woman at the next pump, so they jangled the shifter into reverse. Still fuming, they hit the gas pedal before the backup camera initialized.
There was time to realize they should have shoulder-checked but not enough time to do it.
They felt the ugly crunch of the impact. The headrest smacked them in the skull. They smashed their foot on the brake, too late.
Behind them was a truck. A big, red, impossible-to-miss pickup truck parked squarely in front of the gas station. They'd backed straight into it.
"Shit!" they whispered. "Shit, shit, shit."
Okay. Okay, this wasn't great, but car accidents happened every day. No, Holly had never been in an accident before, but it happened, right? They'd been moving slow. The damage couldn't be that bad. All they had to do was exchange information with the other driver and let their insurance figure it out.
Two minutes of conversation, max. They could still make their meeting on time.
Except first they had to move because they were blocking the entrance to the gas station. Already someone leaned on their horn.
