It was a few days after Reba's big night out that she had to prepare for the arrival of Van's potential new agent. She busied herself by readying the house, keeping her from thinking too much about her night at The Blue Lounge and the napkin that was currently still burning a hole in her back pocket. Barbra Jean had taken the rest from her for her silly little scrapbook, but Alex's number she had discreetly slipped in her purse, and had kept on her ever since.
Everyone was on edge. Van was jumping at every sound and Cheyenne was panicking about what to wear. Reba was thankful for the endless amount of distraction in these two hours leading up to this visit. Micromanaging her family kept her mind busy and off the things she wasn't really ready to think about.
When Sadie Owens did show, Reba was trying to be the perfect hostess. But, managing the whole thing with Barbra Jean in the mix presented its share of challenges. And then Brock showed up and made everything that much worse. Between the heated argument and Cheyenne and Van nervously speaking before thinking, things were going downhill fast.
Eventually Reba found herself alone in the living room with Sadie, trying to rebound from all the chaos she'd endured since arriving. The two of them hit it off well, both divorcees with children, they were finding commonalities all over the place. Reba told her about Lori Ann up and leaving her and Sadie confided that she was feeling lonely too.
Then Sadie mentioned something about switching teams. At first Reba thought it was something to do with sports, seeing as she was a sports agent, but when she clarified, outright telling Reba that she was gay, Reba found herself at a loss for words. Coupled by the fact that not a moment later, Sadie informed her that Van had already told her that Reba herself was gay too, Reba panicked.
Did he know about her meeting Alex? Was that even what that was, flirting? Alex had hit on her, sure, but couldn't that have just been Alex's way of breaking the ice? Why else was she keeping her number in her pocket if it wasn't to eventually call her?
"Reba?" Sadie's voice pulled her away from her thoughts.
She needed an out to get herself sorted. "Will you excuse me for a second," Reba asked. Sadie nodded and Reba escaped to the kitchen. Her confusion quickly took the form of anger as she lashed out at Van for outing her as 'super gay' to Sadie after slipping up and making a poorly thought out gay joke. Now she was trapped in a situation she didn't know how to handle. The worst thing was, she had already accidentally asked Sadie out.
Relief came when Sadie walked in and agreed to represent Van. It seemed the whole family let out a breath at the good news. As Sadie heads for the door, Reba thinks it's all over, that she's off the hook. Then Sadie came back to clarify that she'd pick Reba up the following night at eight. Crap.
As eight o'clock approaches the night after, Reba comes down the stairs, dressed to go out with Sadie. The whole day she's been debating as to whether she can go through with it. She doesn't think she can. She doesn't want to lie to Sadie or lead her on. She wasn't 'super gay', but maybe she wasn't entirely straight either. Regardless, Sadie didn't deserve to be deceived. So when Sadie arrived, and her family gives them a moment alone, Reba decided it was best to come clean.
Sadie takes it well enough, and the two women are able to move past it and agree that they'd still like to go to dinner as friends. Much to the shock of Cheyenne, Van and Barbra Jean, Reba walks out with Sadie and they drive to a nice little restaurant that Reba can't believe she'd never been to before.
Once seated at the restaurant, Reba stared at the menu, not even really reading it, and her blank stare didn't go unnoticed by Sadie. "Reba, is there something on your mind," Sadie finally asked, breaking the tension Reba hadn't realized she was causing between them. Reba maintained the blank look for a moment, shifting her eyes to Sadie. "Do you want to talk about it," Sadie tried again.
"I'm sorry. It's just—" Reba paused, searching for the right way to broach the subject, "I had something happen recently, and I don't know how I feel about it."
"Reba, we cleared this up. I'm gay, you're not, but we can still be friends."
Reba laughed nervously. "Well that might not be entirely true."
"What part?"
"I might not…not be gay? Does that make sense?"
"Not really. Why don't you explain?"
"Well, a few days before you showed up, I went out to a bar with Barbra Jean. She was feeling down and I got dragged along, but I met someone there. Her name was Alex." Sadie listened intently, though Reba wouldn't make eye contact with her. "She left me her number. I've got it in my purse."
"And what do you intend to do with it," Sadie prompted, starting to piece together the problem.
"I don't know. I like her. I just don't know if I like like her."
Sadie nodded slowly, processing it all. "I see. Well, if you ask me, I think you already have your answer. If you weren't interested, wouldn't you have just thrown her number away?"
Reba opened her mouth to argue, but the words died in her throat. Could Sadie be right? "How did you know?"
"Know what? That I was gay?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, you said you were married and had kids, so why the sudden change of heart?"
Sadie laughed. "It wasn't all that sudden, Reba. I've been attracted to women all my life, even when I was married to my ex. I just did what was expected of me and chalked my attraction to women up to mere admiration until after my divorce." Reba sighed, and Sadie could sympathize. It hadn't been easy for her coming to terms with her own sexuality amidst and even after her divorce.
"For what it's worth," Sadie advised, "I think you should call her. Maybe you'll end up just being friends, but if she's been on your mind for days, then maybe this Alex is worth the chance."
Reba smiled, ready to be done with the subject for the night. "Maybe you're right."
