Page 72 of The Dating Coach
"Liam, talk about that defensive play in the final minutes," someone asked.
"We executed our system," he said flatly. "Did what we needed to do."
"You're heading to the championship game. How does it feel?"
"Good," he said, with all the enthusiasm of someone describing paint drying. "It's what we worked for."
"There've been rumors about European teams interested in you. Any truth to that?"
For the first time, something flickered in his expression. "I'm focused on finishing the season. Whatever comes after... comes after."
"What about the controversy from a few weeks ago? The video? Has that affected—"
"Next question," the moderator interrupted, but Liam was already speaking.
"The only thing I regret about that video," he said clearly, "is that it cost me someone important. Standing up for what's right is never wrong. Loving people without conditions is never wrong. If teams have a problem with that, it's their loss."
My heart cracked at the pain buried in his professional tone. A reporter pressed further: "So you don't regret the relationship? Even with how it affected your draft stock?"
Liam looked directly at the camera, and for a moment it felt like he was looking at me. "I regret letting fear win. I regret not fighting harder. I regret accepting someone else's definition of what's best for me. The relationship? Never. That was the best thing that ever happened to me."
He walked away before they could ask more, leaving reporters scrambling and me frozen in place. As I watched him disappear into the tunnel, I realized I'd turned him into exactly what I'd tried to prevent – someone going through the motions, achieving success that meant nothing.
Chapter 32: Liam
The woman sitting across from me at the campus coffee shop looked like Gemma might in twenty years – same determined jawline, same intelligent eyes, but with laugh lines that suggested she'd found more joy in life than her niece currently allowed herself.
"I'm Penelope," she said, extending a hand. "Gemma's aunt. The one from Philadelphia."
I shook her hand automatically, my mind racing. "She mentioned you. You helped raise her and Mia?"
"I did, when their parents were too busy condemning everyone to actually parent." She stirred her coffee with deliberate movements. "But that's not why I wanted to meet you."
"Why then?" I asked, though I suspected I knew.
"Because my niece called me at 2 AM three weeks ago, sobbing so hard I could barely understand her." Penelope's eyes sharpened. "Something about ruining your life and doing the right thing and being just like her mother."
"She didn't ruin anything," I said immediately. "She—"
"Saved you from herself?" Penelope suggested with a knowing smile. "Protected your future by removing herself from it? Made a unilateral decision about what's best for you?"
The accuracy stung. "Something like that."
"Mm." She took a sip of coffee, studying me. "Tell me, Liam – may I call you Liam? – what do you know about Gemma's childhood?"
"Enough," I said carefully. "Religious fundamentalist parents. Conditional love. Having to hide who she was."
"That's the summary," Penelope agreed. "But did she tell you about the competitions? How her parents would only attend her swim meets if she placed first? How they'd withdraw affection for weeks if her grades slipped below perfect?"
My jaw clenched. "No. She didn't share that particular detail."
"Or about the time she gave up a full scholarship to a prestigious swim camp because Mia needed her that summer? Their parents were threatening to send Mia to one of those awful pray-away-the-gay camps because they started suspecting Mia’s friendships with girls."
"Jesus," I muttered.
"Indeed. Gemma was eighteen. Already sacrificing her dreams for her sister's safety." Penelope leaned forward. "Do you see the pattern? She's been trained since birth to believe love means giving up what you want for others' benefit. That her worth is tied to what she sacrifices, not who she is."
"I told her I didn't want her sacrifice," I said, frustration bleeding through. "That I could make my own choices."
