Page 21 of Red Zone

I shrugged, but by the knowing look in her gaze, it was clear my secret wouldn’t hold. “It’s the dimple, isn’t it?”

“Yep. All that. Especially since Lily has the same features and mannerisms.”

There was no point in denying it. She’d known Lily’s father was a football player, but I’d kept Liam’s name from her and definitely my uncle. “That was Liam, Lily’s father.”

Her mouth formed an o as she leaned a hip against the counter, two bowls in hand. “Does he know?”

Heat flooded my cheeks, and I busied myself by peeling the skin from Lily’s apple. “He still doesn’t know. Last night was…unique. We don’t typically get along.” Or we hadn’t since I’d come back into contact with him.

“He seemed enamored with Lily—and you.”

I bit my lower lip before releasing it. “He wasn’t ready to be a dad. I never told him. Please don’t say anything.”

She studied me for a few seconds. “I’ll keep your secret, but I don’t like lying to your uncle. This needs to come out, sooner rather than later.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I appreciate you keeping this to yourself. As for Liam knowing, I’m still not sure that’s the best idea. You know how things were between my parents.”

After Dad decided to file for custody rights, it was ugly until the day they both died in a horrible accident exiting the lawyer’s office. A truck hit a car and jackknifed onto the sidewalk where they were standing.

“Skye, honey.” Aunt Eileen set down the bowls and squeezed my arm. “You can’t project what happened between them onto someone else. Liam is a different person.”

“You don’t even know him,” I snapped, uncomfortable with the dark emotions swirling in my mind from memories and past mistakes.

“Well, don’t write him off yet.” She kept her voice low so only I could hear. “That young man has feelings for you.”

“Please.” I rolled my eyes. “All we do is fight. He doesn’t think of me as anything but annoying.” I shot a covert glance to where my uncle had gone, somewhat reassured he couldn’t hear anything as his voice carried from the one-sided conversation drifting in from the living room. “And I can’t even think about anything more because Liam’s on the team. Can you imagine Uncle Tommy’s reaction? Liam’s chances for the NFL would be seriously compromised, and that’s all that matters to him.”

Aunt Eileen’s lips pressed together tightly for a moment. “Just… let me worry about Tommy when you decide to tell Liam the truth. He seems like he would make a wonderful father.”

I closed my eyes as she left me to my thoughts. The guilt was an enormous boulder in my stomach. Pushing out a breath, I wiped all the uncertainty from my face and took Lil’s food to the table.

Uncle Tommy entered the kitchen, his phone back in his pocket. He paused at the table and studied me for a hot moment. “Are you all right? After yesterday? Liam said you got home okay.”

“Oh, yeah. It was a horrible shock, and I’m still trying to work through it, but Liam was great. He made sure I got back, like you asked him to, and even read two stories to Lily.”

The blanket covering me when I woke this morning gave me pause.Had he done that?It was messing with my head so badly. I preferred to think of Aunt Eileen coming in to check on us and covering me instead of the version of Liam I’d been privy to last night—which was so at odds with the combative experiences we’d had since our reconnection.

“Liam.” Lily perked up at his name, slapping her little hands on the table. “I wants Liam over.”

Uncle Tommy grinned. “You like one of my football players, Lily? Your mama will have to bring you to a game.” He tweaked her nose, making her laugh. “We’ll make a football fan out of you yet.”

“Game!” Lily bounced in her seat. “I wants Liam, Mommy.”

Really?I shot my aunt a panicked glance, but she was no help. How he’d been with me last night—reading to Lily—softened the edges of the walls I’d built around my heart. He wasn’t supposed to care, wasn’t supposed to make me feel safe. Yet, he had, and I hated him for it because it made me question the decisions I’d made to protect Lily and myself. “We’ll seeabout going to a game sometime, Lils. It’s pretty cold right now to sit for hours in the bleachers. Maybe next season.”

Lily’s lip trembled. “I wants Liam to play. Pwease, Mama.”

I reached over and tickled her stomach, ignoring Uncle Tommy’s pleased expression. He had no idea and wouldn’t be so indulgent if he knew who Liam was to Lily and me.

“I have a fun idea, Lils. Next time I take pictures of the guys inside, I’ll bring you. Okay?”

My daughter, appeased by my promise, tucked into her sandwich, and the subject was dropped. We got through lunch. I cleaned Lily up then sent her off to play in the living room. As Lily’s giggles faded into the background, I wiped down the counter, my mind buzzing with everything left to do that day. I had no time to dwell on Liam or Aunt Eileen’s knowing look. Work, as usual, was my escape. I needed to get ready to meet with Professor White.

I wasn’t scheduled to take any social media footage until tomorrow since it was another home game. I would have to travel to some away ones as well because they’d made it into the pro bowls, but that would come later.

Aunt Eileen appeared in the doorway. “Everything okay? Are you headed out?”

“Yeah.” My smile was distracted. “You got her? I have to get to my meeting with Professor White.”

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