“Okay!" He grins, slipping it on like a crown.
“What’s your name, mate?” I ask, signing one of the photos laid out in front of him.
“Liam.”
“Hi, Liam.” I grin. “So, you any good?” I tip my head over toward the ball.
He shrugs, smiling sheepishly. “My brother says I’m better than him, but I think he lets me win sometimes.”
I laugh. “Older brother?”
"Yeah." Liam nods proudly. “Henry. We watch every Rockford match together. You’re our favorite.”
My heart stops.
Henry.
Just for a second, everything goes still.
It’s not an uncommon name. I’ve heard it a thousand times. But this one hits like a punch to the chest—the kind that knocks the wind out of you.
I blink. I haven’t heard that name said like this in a long time. Not just as a brother, but with the same kind of reverence I say it with.
I look up, glancing around the room to steady myself, and I see her.
Addison stands in the doorway, eyebrows lifted just the tiniest bit, like she felt the second something shifted in me.
I swallow hard and turn back to Liam.
“Henry sounds like a good brother,” I say quietly.
“He is.” Liam nods. “He gets mad when people are mean to me. He takes care of me. He always makes me laugh when I’m sick.”
My throattightens, but I force a smile.
“You know,” I say, voice steadier than I feel, “you’re very lucky.”
“How come?”
“Having a brother like that—someone who’s your best mate? It doesn’t get better than that. It’s special. That’s something you can carry with you forever.”
Liam smiles. “He says we’ll both play for Rockford one day.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” I say, extending my hand to shake his. “Promise me one thing, mate?”
“What?”
“Never let him forget you’re better at football.”
He giggles and nods. I stand, giving him a wink before I step back. When I look toward Addison, she’s still there, grounding me with just her presence.
And something about the way she does that—the way she sees the cracks in me and doesn’t flinch—makes me want to show her more. It makes me want to walk over to her right now and tell every person in this hospital that I like her.
Instead, I just smile. I’ll play by her rules until I can show her the game isn’t rigged.
And for now, that’s enough.
Matt follows behind her wearing an ugly Christmas jumper he thinks is festive, but he really just looks like a tool as always, just with some added tinsel and enough jingle bells to wake the dead. Like I said, proper Berkeley Hunt.
