Kate stared at her.
“You’re… that Lily?”
James nodded.
“She is.”
Kate looked stunned.
“But she looks—”
James immediately interrupted.
“Think carefully before you finish that sentence.”
Kate closed her mouth.
James turned to Lily.
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“I asked her to come here because your qualifying competition is approaching.”
Then he looked at the team.
“She isn’t here as a beginner.”
Kate swallowed.
“So she’s our new coach?”
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James shook his head.
“No.”
He paused.
“She’s here because she understands this race better than anyone in this building.”
Lily picked up her towel.
Kate stood dripping beside the pool.
Only minutes earlier, she had been laughing at Lily’s body.
Now she was looking at the athlete whose record she had spent months trying to break.
But Lily didn’t smile.
She didn’t make fun of Kate.
She simply said,
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“I don’t care that you underestimated me.”
Kate looked at her.
Lily continued.
“But when somebody tells you to stop touching them, you stop.”
Kate lowered her eyes.
The following week, Lily began training with the team.
Kate barely spoke to her at first.
Then one evening, after practice, she approached Lily alone.
