Page 24 of Waiting for Friday Night

Quinton paced back and forth in his living room. He’d come home, showered and changed into joggers and a T-shirt, and hoped to spend the evening watching a fantasy football show on the sports network. He would not be able to focus on anything football related for the night or foreseeable future.

“I like it boring,” he said. “That kept me out of trouble and my name out of the headlines.”

“Are you about to be in the headlines?” He could visualize the delighted smile on his sister’s face with those words. She loved it whenever he got attention.

“Lord, I hope not,” he sighed and shook his head.

“What’s going on?” The teasing had left her voice and concern crept in.

He stopped pacing and stared at the family picture of him, his sister and their parents on the wall. His mom had insisted they take the picture for holiday cards the year before. “Remember that time we were hanging out at Christmas and I told you about the donation I made in college?”

“Donation?” A heartbeat later she sucked in a breath. “Oh, that donation.”

“Yeah. That one. I wondered if I had a kid out there and you told me to do an online DNA test just to see if I got any hits.”

“Uh-huh, I remember. You didn’t get any hits.”

Quinton stared at the picture and tried to imagine Shania in it. If Shania was there, then Halle would be there, too. His heart rate sped up. What the hell was happening to his life?

“Back then I didn’t.”

There was a long pause and Quinton could imagine his sister’s brows drawing together as the meaning of his words worked their way through her brain. She gasped after several seconds. “Nooooo!”

“Yeah.” He turned from the picture and started pacing again.

“You found your kid?”

Your kid. The words hit him like a freight train. He had a kid. A kid! Biologically, but did that make Shania his kid? Did he have any right to claim her as his daughter considering how she was conceived?

“More like she found me.”

“Aww... I have a niece!”

Quinton stopped pacing. His sister sounded delighted. She wasn’t supposed to be delighted. She was supposed to be stunned, like he was. “Okay, stop it right there. Don’t go calling her your niece or anything. I don’t know what any of this means.”

“How did she find you? Did she call you or message you through the website where you took the test? Or maybe she hunted you down via social media. You know, she would see that you played professional football. I hope she didn’t come to you with some sob story. I don’t care if she is your kid. She can’t just try and milk you for every dime you’ve got.”

Quinton shook his head. That was like Dawn; she could go from zero to a hundred in less than ten seconds. Which meant she’d see the bright side in a situation and before you could think things were great, she’d also hit you with the worst-case scenario.

“She didn’t come to me with a sob story. And she didn’t come to me via social media or the website. She came up to me after football practice.”

“She hunted you down in person? Oh no, that’s the sign of a stalker.”

“Hold up, before you go left, let me explain. It’s not that bad, but kind of worse. She lives in Peachtree Cove.”

“What!”

Quinton jerked the phone away. When Dawn didn’t continue yelling, he put it back to his ear. “Not only that, she plays football.”

“Wait! The girl on your football team is also your daughter? Quinton, how in the world did that happen?”

He sank down on the couch. “I wish I knew.”

“Oh my God, it’s meant to be. We always wondered why you took that job in that small town instead of coming back here. Now I know. It was fate.”

“It’s not fate. It’s messed up. Dawn, don’t you know how messed up this is? My kid is one of my players. I don’t even know if I can call her that. What does this mean? What does this make me to her? Am I supposed to step in and try to be a father now?”

“Do you want to be a father?”

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