Page 61 of The Game We Played

I shove my phone in my pocket and inhale a few deep breaths. I don’t want to bring my bad mood into Alaia’s family’s house. They deserve better.

When I have my temper under control, I turn around to walk up the sidewalk. Alaia is waiting for me on the steps.

“I promise I didn’t listen to your conversation.”

“I didn’t say you did.”

“But you appeared upset, and I want to support you.”

Support me? Those words have my heart banging against my chest. No one has supported me before.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“What could you do?”

“If you’re mad, we can break plates.”

I blink. “Break plates?”

“Mom keeps a stash in the shed out back.”

I chuckle. “Your mom keeps a stash of broken plates?”

“You’ve met my sisters. There was a lot of anger in this house growing up.”

“I’m good.”

She studies me. “You are? Your conversation appeared intense. I thought the vein in your forehead was going to explode. Boom! Blood everywhere. I grabbed my car keys in case I needed to drive you to the hospital. I have the emergency doctor on speed dial.”

“I’m good. No reason to drive me to the hospital.”

She blows out a breath. “Phew. I really didn’t want to get another ticket for speeding. There’s a limited number of times you can claim to have diarrhea before the cops don’t believe you.”

“Diarrhea?”

She shrugs. “It’s not as if they cancheck.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Have you met my family? I’m the sane one.” She bites her bottom lip. “I promised not to pry into your life, but you’re really okay?”

If I want this woman in my life – and to my utter shock, I do want Alaia in my life for real – I need to be honest with her. Let her into my life.

“My dad called.”

“And? You don’t get along?”

“Not at all. As you know, my mom and him are famous neurosurgeons. They expected all of their kids to enter a medical field. My siblings did. One of my brothers is a cardiothoracic surgeon. The other is a pediatric surgeon. And my sister is a radiation oncologist.”

“And you’re a wide receiver in the NFL.”

“They pretty much disowned me when I was drafted.”

Her brow wrinkles. “But you played football in college. You were on one of the best college teams ever. You literally won the Heisman trophy. What did they think would happen?”

“They thought I’d quit playing after undergrad and go to medical school.”

“But you didn’t.”