Page 117 of Win Big

He’d burst into tears, but we wouldn’t tell his mom that. I didn’t make him feel ashamed or embarrassed, though. I just dried his tears and told him it was okay to be scared because those dinosaurs are pretty realistic.

“Oh, tell me about it!” she invites.

I follow him, but pause when I hear the name “Everly Wynn” on the TV. My head whips around and I turn into the living room.

“... daughter of hockey legend Bob Wynn, who is the executive director of the Condors Community Foundation,” the newscaster continues. “We reached out for comment on this article but did not get a response. We did speak to the managing director of Safe Charities America, Joseph Link, who produced this report.”

They go to a clip of this Joseph Link dude saying, “While the Condors Foundation does successfully raise a lot of money, they scored poor marks on evaluation metrics, such as financial transparency, hoarding cash, and overspending on fundraising, based on analysis of their financial statements of the past three fiscal years.”

Hoarding cash? My jaw damn near hits the floor. I gape at the TV.

“In fact, some might say that the Condors Foundation is a puck hog,” he finishes with a smirk. “While professional sports teams may have strong track records in sport, when it comes to their charitable foundations, fans may want to consider donating their money to other organizations.”

Heat rushes through my body and my hands curl into fists.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I snarl.

“What’s that?” Heather calls.

This is a big TV station in Los Angeles, with a huge audience. Jesus Christ.

I drop my ass down onto the ottoman. They’ve gone to another news story, but fuck, my mind is still racing with what I just heard.

Heather comes into the room. “Are you okay? Did the dinosaurs exhaust you?” she teases.

I shake my head, not looking up at her. I stare at the floor, thinking about Everly. Obviously, she’s heard about this, if news reporters are contacting her to ask for comments.

She must be devastated.

I think about how hard she works, the long hours she puts in, the effort she makes to reach out to other potential partners the Foundation can both give money to and obtain donation money from. She has connections in this city like nobody else, and such a winning way about her that she has no trouble getting donorsto write big checks or give their time to participate in fundraising events. I know the banquet raised a ton of money.

There’s no way the Foundation is hoarding money.

“Wyatt?” Heather sits too.

Everly tries so hard to be perfect. Now I know why. After hearing the story about that asswipe Gage Gregoire, and how upset her parents were, I get it. She made a teenage mistake and rebelled a little. Who among us hasn’t? She regrets what she did and never wants to let her parents down again. She also doesn’t want to be the center of any negative attention ever again.

This must be crushing her.

“Wyatt? What’s wrong?”

I look up at Heather.

Her face changes, her smile fading.

“Everly,” I croak out.

She nods.

“There was just a thing... on TV...” I wave my hand. “She’s kind of in trouble.”

Heather’s lips tremble. But she lifts her chin and holds my gaze. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

I can’t stop the word. It’s physically impossible. “Yes.” I pause. “I need to go...” I stand.

She stands too. Her eyes glossy, she says, “I’m sorry, Wyatt, if I’ve wrecked things for us. I’ll understand if you don’t want to come by anymore.”

I don’t know what to say. We haven’t talked any more about us being a family. In my head, it makes sense. But my goddamn heart is hurting over Everly. It’d be great if I could just forget her, but I can’t. I don’t think I ever will. And spending the rest of my life with someone who’s not her... I don’t know if I can do that, much as I want to be there for my friend’s family. I wanted to be someone who could be relied on, someone honorable and responsible. And I was terrified I could never be that guy. I’mstill terrified, but I want to try. Marrying Heather isn’t the way to do it, though.

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