Scrunching her nose, Bridget debated how much she should share. In hindsight, it was a rather amusing story now that years had passed. Had it happened weeks ago, she probably wouldn’t have thought it was as funny. “It was right when they first got together.”
“You can’t stop there. You have to give the details.”
“It’s not that funny of a story.”
“Tell me!” Jerica pleaded.
Chuckling lightly, Bridget closed her eyes as she remembered the day. “I was mad at Eli, nothing new there. We’d just had another fight, I was jealous of Sarah, whatever. This was years ago, all right?”
“Okay. I’ll take your word that you are no longer jealous of Sarah.”
Bridget pursed her lips. Except shewasstill jealous of Sarah. Perhaps not in the same way she had been two years prior, but she was jealous of what Sarah and Eli had, of how open they were with their relationship, of the fact that Sarah managed to be famous and still be out and not have any consequences because of it.
“Bridget?”
Groaning, Bridget took Eli’s advice and followed the rabbit. “I am a little jealous still.”
Silence reverberated.
“Not because I still want Eli, to make that clear. I consider her a very good friend at this point, and that is all. But…I’ve never been out.”
“Oh.” Jerica seemed genuinely surprised by that. “I thought—”
“No. I’m not out. My parents don’t know, no one knows really, except Eli. I suppose her parents know, and probably her brother and sister, but no one else.”
“Do you want to come out?” Jerica asked, hesitation in each syllable.
“I do, I think.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. I think. I’m not so sure. It could be a lot of things I’m not sure I’m ready for.”
“It’s scary, isn’t it?”
“So scary.” Just that one confession put so much ease back into Bridget. She wasn’t expecting it, but she had to realize she wasn’t the first person to come out. She wasn’t the first person to break that news to family whom she knew wouldn’t be supportive. She wasn’t the first elected official who would come out and potentially ruin their career in the process. So many had gone before her, and she had to remember that. Including Eli. Including Sarah. Including Jerica.
“I’m here for you whenever you want to do that. And I strongly suspect Eli will be as well.”
“I know she will.” Bridget smiled, cringing when Eli clearly reached her climax. If only there was a way to truly have selective hearing so she didn’t have to witness this. “Anyway, I’m jealous that they’ve already done it. That they can be together right now without having that block them.”
“It’s a big step.”
“It is. But when I was jealous of Sarah because I wanted to be with Eli, I was also an idiot.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was out patrolling on the highway, and I saw Eli’s truck pulled off to the side, so I stopped. Well…she and Sarah…they were…Sarah was on top of Eli, fully laid out on the bench. And I was the asshole that pounded on the window to break it up.”
“Oh my God, you didn’t.”
“I did.” Shame filled Bridget. “I did, and then Eli got out, and we yelled at each other, and then she said something that made a whole lot of sense, and that was it. From then on I tried to be supportive of her and Sarah, but I still can’t get that image out of my head sometimes. If I hadn’t stopped them, I’m absolutely sure that’s what they would have done.”
Jerica was laughing, full out laughing. The sound muted for a second, but when she came in stronger on the phone, she was still laughing. “You’re adorable.”
“What?” Bridget’s cheeks heated. “What aboutthatis adorable?”
“Are you a bit of a prude, Bridge?”