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Her gaze is shrewd, not focused on me at all but on Lilly’s back as she walks inside. “Got yourself a girlfriend, huh?”
“She’s not part of any news story,” I reply curtly.
“Rumor around the Titans offices is that you met her through your charitable works at the children’s hospital. That’s newsworthy. What is she? A nurse?”
“Lilly’s off-limits.”
“Lilly,” she repeats with a smug smile. “Got a last name?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I snarl, turning my back on her. I glance over my shoulder. “Find someone else to interview.”
“No wait,” she calls out, putting her hand on my forearm. “I’ll leave it alone. I still want to interview you though. How about dinner? I can make your favorite at my place.”
I can’t tell if she’s serious. She’s fully aware I’m with someone, but maybe she’s trying to bait me for more about Lilly.
“How about at the arena in one of the conference rooms?” I counter, making it clear I’m not interested in anything personal.
She huffs out an annoying breath. “Fine. And we can take a camera crew on a hospital visit—”
“No,” I growl, facing her fully. “That’s off-limits too.”
“But—”
“No buts. You’re not going to exploit kids—”
“I would never do that,” she snaps in outrage. “And you’re being a hypocrite. The Titans organization had a photographer who followed you on one of your visits and used the shots in their press releases.”
I feel slightly chagrined because she’s not wrong about that, but that was before I developed a personal relationship with Aiden and started to fall in love with Lilly. There is no way I will let any of this near them now.
I freeze a moment, considering something.
Am I falling in love with Lilly?
I take deep stock of my feelings, and yeah… that feels fucking right.
“You’re not going to follow me to the hospital. Feel free to talk to someone in the administration there as part of the story and maybe they can give you a tour, help to raise awareness and maybe garner donations. That’s the only reason the Titans did a press release about it. Now, I’ve got family waiting for me. Reach out after the playoffs and we’ll set something up.”
I don’t wait for a reply, turning my attention back to the restaurant. I see that Lilly nabbed a high-top table right in the middle of our roped-off area.
For the next half hour, the other Titans players and their significant others and families arrive. During the playoffs, more of the parents and siblings come to watch the games, so our cordoned-off area is shoulder to shoulder before too long. Lilly seems to be having fun and while she’s spent a little time talking to the Titans women she’s befriended, she’s stayed pretty close to Claire for most of the evening. They’ve been involved in deep discussions and I have no clue what they’re talking about. It could be me, it could be Aiden, it could be our alcoholic fathers, it could be whether aliens exist. Doesn’t matter—what I love about it is that I can see these two women are going to be close friends. I know it’s something Lilly desperately desires… girlfriends. She never had the true opportunity because of working at the deli, managing her father and taking care of Aiden.
Between the Titans women and my sister, Lilly will have all the female support a woman could want and fuck if that doesn’t bring a level of joy to this day that I didn’t know I needed.
I stick close to my parents and Damien, catching up on all the things that don’t get said in our multiple calls and texts during the week. They’ve spent a lot of time asking about Aiden and learning more about his disease and recovery, which I’ve been understanding more about every single day.
My mom nudges me in the arm and nods toward Lilly and Claire as they talk. “You know your sister is divulging every embarrassing story she knows about you, right?”
Laughing, I put my arm around my mom and squeeze her. “Lilly’s solid. She won’t go running.”
Damien snorts. “She will when I tell her about that time you tried to catch that foul ball and flipped over the fence.”
That was indeed embarrassing as the waistband of my pants caught on the metal at the top and the resulting force of my flip over pulled my pants all the way off.
I shrug as I watch Lilly excuse herself to the bathroom. “She’ll find it charming.”
“Or when you got into Paw Paw’s chewing tobacco and ate it,” my dad tosses out.
Claire walks up to rejoin us at that moment and wrinkles her nose at the reminder. “I’ve never seen someone vomit so much. He projectile-painted the wall in his bedroom with it.”
