Page 20 of Forever Player

Willow nods and goes to the bathroom.

I head out with my daughter. As I’m starting my walk, I see a car pull up. I pause because I see Eden and Ellie getting out of the car.

I stop in front of them. I don’t know Eden all that well, but Ellie is married to Connor, my teammate.

Ellie sees me and frowns.

“Brett, I didn’t know.” Those are Ellie’s first words. “Well, I knew Willow got knocked up, but I didn’t know you were the baby daddy. Like that would’ve been my last guess.”

“Really?” I ask, surprised.

“I mean, yeah, you guys hung out for a night and Willow isn’t a one-night stand kind of girl.”

“Yeah,” I sigh, thinking of how scared Willow must have felt.

“You’re here now,” Ellie says, rubbing my arm. Then she peeks into the stroller and says hi to Maylee. “I should’ve seen it. The dark hair, those light blue eyes. You look like your daddy, don’t you?” she asks Maylee, using an infantile voice. Maylee’s eyes begin to flutter. “Somebody is tired.”

I don’t know Eden all that well and she just waves. “Good to see you, Brett.”

“Did you know I was the baby daddy?” I ask Ellie. “At Christmas, did you know?”

“I didn’t.” She frowns. “I knew about Maylee but Willow was evasive about the paternity, but when you asked about her at Christmas I kind of thought maybe it was you. Then I convinced myself there was no way, but I did tell Willow you asked about her,” she says. “But really, this is a conversation you need to be having with Willow.”

“You’re right. I’m just trying to get my head around all the messed-up events that prevented me from being with Willow,” I say to both women.

“You’re here now,” Ellie says.

“That I am. Willow is inside, she’s just getting up. I’ll see you two later.”

I walk off with my daughter along a path covered in dirt and some snow. The wheels of the stroller are large so it maneuvers easily.

Maybe I should’ve done more when Willow didn’t respond to my calls. I figured it was just one night for her and she didn’t want to talk to me. Now I know that one-night stands weren’t her thing, which makes me feel both special and bad. Special because she trusted me, and bad because of my reputation. If I wasn’t such a ladies’ man, then maybe Willow wouldn’t have been so quick to jump the gun and think so poorly of me. She clearly didn’t tell her friends about me because she didn’t want to start shit. I could only imagine how angry Connor, Evan, and Liam would be if they found out I took Willow to bed then ditched her. Even though that isn’t really what happened.

I look down at my daughter sleeping so peacefully. I take in a deep breath of fresh air and I vow to be the best I can for Maylee, but I also need to do better by Willow. I really like her and I think we can be something more. I’ve never had a connection with a woman the way I did with Willow that night, and the sex was off the charts.

“I need to make your mama fall in love with me, Maylee. On a scale of one to ten, how hard do you think that is going to be?”

Obviously, my daughter doesn’t answer. She’s fast asleep and even if she wasn’t, I wouldn’t get a response. If there is one thing I know; it is I want to make Willow mine. I just need to win her trust and see where things go. That’ll be step number one.

CHAPTERFOUR

Willow

I hear chatter downstairs and I take the stairs quickly because it must be Ellie and Eden in the kitchen with Mom. They texted and called nonstop last night after I lost consciousness and Brett whisked me away.

Mom is blabbering about how good-looking Brett is, and I need to stop her before he hears and his ego gets even larger.

I arrive on the main floor and Mom has already taken their coats and is offering coffee.

“Hey,” I greet my friends.

“You look good,” Ellie says, assessing me to see if I am in one piece after confronting Brett.

“You mean for a woman who confronted her baby daddy in a public place and fainted?” I snort. Last night could have gone very differently. I am just thankful Brett has turned out to be a nice guy, who is owning up, for now.

“I still can’t believe Brett is Maylee’s father. My mind is having trouble wrapping around the idea,” Eden chimes.

“Come have a seat.” I guide them to our old cherrywood kitchen table. “Can I get you guys some coffee?”

---