Page 106 of Lucky Bounce: Game On: Part Two

"You couldn't have known the letters held this kind of information," she argued, abandoning her breakfast and sitting down next to him. "Your reasons for being angry with him are valid. And frankly, he should have never put information like that in a letter. He should have told you directly. Do you think your mom knew?"

“No way.” Eli stared straight ahead, then ran his hands over his knees. "Why didn't he ever come see me? If he gave a shit, why didn't he ever come for a birthday, or a holiday. Something?"

"Now is your chance to ask him, Eli. You're going to Tampa. Now's the time to find out. And to reach out to your sisters."

"Like I need this fucking upheaval during the Cup Finals. Jesus Christ," he muttered. "It's not exactly ideal."

"No, but it's your life. It might be rough to see him after all these years, but how great would it be to meet your sisters?"

He didn't say anything for what felt like forever before asking, "Will you come with me?"

Holly frowned. "To Tampa? Of course I'll be there."

"No, to see him. And meet my sisters."

She raised her eyebrows. "You want me there with you?"

"I think I need you there, Holly." He glanced down at the floor. "I need the support."

She reached over and took his hand. "Eli, if you need me, I'll be there."

He took a deep breath. "It means a lot, Wilkes. It means everything."

She squeezed his hand. "Don't worry. I've got you."

Miss hopped into Eli's lap with a demanding "mew," and Holly couldn't help but laugh. "Miss has got you, too. I'm worried she's considering changing over to Team Eli.”

"I'm sure she is," he said, then laughed.

Holly was relieved to hear him laugh after all of this tension. Her cat had perfect timing.

"One of these days, I'll have both of my girls on Team Eli." He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. "It might take some work, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty trying."

"Hmm." Holly gave him a teasing look. "I don't know. It might take a hell of a lot of time and dedication on your part."

"I'm not worried."

"There's that cocky attitude we all know and... well, I won't say love," she said dryly. "I was wondering where it had disappeared to."

Her phone beeped with a text. She slid it from her pocket and glanced down at the screen with a groan. "Oh, hell."

"What is it?"

"Lyla. She's been pressuring me for personal accounts of what happened at the party last night, and I told her that's not happening."

Holly fired off another text, repeating that it was not information she would share for the blog. "She's like a dog with a bone. She knows my personal time with the team is not meant for the blog, but she won't stop."

When the phone beeped again, Eli rolled his eyes. "Her again?"

"Yeah." Holly frowned. "Fuck. She wants all my notes and questions for the feature today. She wants to see me at the office at 1pm. If I don't provide it, she's going to give me her own list of questions and ideas to steer the article in the direction that she wants, instead of letting me decide the tone. This is such bullshit."

"Yeah, that's not happening," he said. "I'm going with you, and I'm going to talk to her."

"Eli, no," she protested. "I can handle this on my own."

"I know you can, but she's out of line. I can get her to back off. This was my idea, and I do have some say if she gets a feature at all, considering I'm the subject. Let me come along."

Holly sighed. "Okay. But remember, don't say anything about me staying with you."

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