‘This is psychological warfare,’ the report stated. ‘Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact sport. How can a teenage boy trained to fight other boys be expected to hit a girl? League rules on gender divisions exist for a reason. Either the Tiger should be moved to the girls’ division or he should be disqualified and unseeded.’

Amber gave her a concerned frown. “What? What is it?”

“Mom,” Morgan said, “I... I’m trans.”

Tori set down the oven mitt, approached Morgan, and wrapped both arms tightly around her. She wasn’t sure what she should say, what she could say in that moment, but she knew she needed, and wanted, to show Morgan that she supported and loved her

“I honestly don’t know where to go from here. I... I think I need to talk to a therapist or something, not you know, for the good drugs or whatever,” she said, trying to crack a lame joke. It fell on its face the moment she said it, but luckily, she didn’t. She persevered. “But just... I don’t know, to sort through what I’ve been quietly struggling with for awhile now.”