Page 143 of Red Zone
I swallow and force a little laugh. “Just me. Always just me.”
That hangs between us for a second.
She doesn’t say anything right away—just stares down at her noodles like she’s thinking something over.
And then she sets her cup on the coffee table and turns back to me.
“You should come to my dad’s,” she says matter-of-factly.
I blink at her. “What?”
“For Christmas Eve,” she clarifies. “Dinner. He always does something. You don’t have to stay the whole night, but…you shouldn’t just sit around by yourself.”
I let out a little laugh, caught somewhere between surprised and touched. “You’re inviting me to Coach’s house? He’d justlovethat.”
Her lips twitch, like she knows it’s not exactly a perfect plan.
“Let me worry about him,” she says. “What do you say, Hayes? Wanna spend Christmas Eve with me and my mess of a family?”
And for the first time all day, something in my chest eases.
I set my empty cup next to hers and lean back against the couch, glancing at her with the faintest smile.
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “Yeah I do.”
38
LYLA
The dashboard clock glows 5:42 as we head out of town, the winter sky already dark. The faint hum of Christmas music plays from the radio, but my thoughts are louder.
I can’t stop replaying what I saw the other night.
Carter—in the middle of that football house chaos, smiling faintly to himself as his teammates wrapped presents for kids they’d never meet.
Kids like him.
Because that’s what this was really about, wasn’t it?
Not a school fundraiser, not a PR stunt.
He’d done it quietly, without telling anyone what it really meant to him. He’d just…given. His own money. His own time. And sat there watching everyone else laugh and wrap gifts, like just seeing it was enough for him.
Generous.
Selfless.
Two words I never would’ve thought to use for Carter Hayes when I first met him.
And yet…here we are.
I grip the steering wheel a little tighter and sneak a quick glance at him. He’s sitting back in the passenger seat, one hand resting casually on his thigh, watching the road like he hasn’t got a care in the world.
But I know better now.
Underneath all that swagger, there’s…more.
More than he lets anyone see.
