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“Absolutely fucking not,” he barked. The woman’s face lost some of its color.
“Liam,” I chided. “Easy.”
“Don’t you tell me to go easy. They’re not my concern. She is.”
I rubbed the nape of my neck. This was goinggreat.
Charlotte approached, sliding a hand over my back. “Do you want me to hold her while you two talk?”
Liam nodded, nudging Mira to get her attention and pointing to Charlotte. Mira couldn’t hear anything because of the ear coverings, but she held her arms out to Charlotte with a shy smile.
When the little girl was settled into Charlotte’s arms, a sharp pang of sudden longing bolted through my chest.
Maybe it was because she was wearing my jersey, or because she’d been looking at me with soft, understanding eyes. Looking at me like she knew exactly what I wasn’t saying to her. Whatever it was, it felt a bit like I was getting a glimpse of something I wasn’t ready to see yet.
She held Mira easily, doing a slight bouncing motion as she tickled Mira’s belly, which pulled a happy laugh from the little girl.
Liam set his hands on his hips. “I don’t give a shit how much money Chris gave—they don’t get to spring her face up on a fucking Jumbotron without talking to me about it first.”
The board president was motioning to someone else, the stress clear on her face as we ran out of time to make this decision.
I swiped a hand over my mouth.
“Am I wrong?” he barked.
I blew out a slow breath. “I don’t know, Liam. I don’t think it’s a matter of right or wrong. She’s not even three. She doesn’t know what you’re asking. You just have to decide if you feel comfortable with it. If Chris and Amie would’ve felt comfortable with it.”
The noise in the stadium grew louder and louder as the team sprinted out onto the field.
The band played the fight song, and the stadium clapped to the beat, roaring and screaming and pumping their fists in the air as the team leaped up to touch the banner overhead.
There was so much tradition in this place, and that was something Chris and I had done dozens and dozens of times. A lump swelled in my throat as I watched them.
Liam emitted a loud sigh. “What Chris and Amie felt comfortable with doesn’t matter right now.”
I snapped my head in his direction. I couldn’t have heard him right. “What?”
“They’re not here.” He held my gaze, dared me to argue. “And if they were, they’d have no reason to plaster her face in front of all these people. I’m not letting her be some sympathy sideshow. Chris and Amie put her in my charge because they trusted me to make hard decisions. So whether they’d say yes or no”—he held his arms out—“doesn’t matter.”
Simple as that.
Something about his words had my skin feeling tight, my lungs struggling to pull in enough air.
How was that so easy for him?
He marched over to the woman, apparently giving her more of an explanation thanabsolutely fucking not. Charlotte stood next to me, shifting Mira to her other hip. “What just happened?”
I had a hand covering my mouth. I shook my head.
Liam marched back and held out his hands. Mira clambered right back into his arms and wrapped her own around his neck.
He looked ready to spit fire. She cupped her hand around his ear and said something. His face softened.
“We gotta go,” he said.
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
“She needs to piss,” he yelled. Mira giggled.
