“No, she lives in dike”

Dike is a name of a town near here. It’s a pretty small town with a dang good volleyball program.

I lived, for a year, in a neighboring town named Denver. Some family lived there and let me so kindly live in their mother in law suite for my first year of teaching.

Around the time we had started to tell people we were dating, I was out with my cal and some friends, when the boys I hung out with in college walked through the door. I went over for a few minutes to say hello and hang out. When asked questions about myself, I mentioned where I was working and someone asked if I still lived in Denver.

“No, she lives in D*ke”

Frozen.

Huh.

I hadn’t had one conversation with anyone at this table about coming out.

For all I knew, they hadn’t talked to anyone yet who knew.

Everyone continued like normal.

I looked at my dearest friend there- “I’m gonna go back”