“Wait a minute.” Now that Robert knew Amber was Coach’s daughter, he’d be outright deceiving the man, and he didn’t feel right about that. It was one thing when he didn’t know. Now, it was totally different. “I can’t look Coach in the face and lie to him.”
Poor Amber looked exasperated. Her posture, usually straight and tall, slouched, and her shoulders hunched inward. The smooth porcelain skin on her forehead had a deep vertical crease between her brows. The vibrant lilac color in her eyes bordered on gray, and her soft mouth was pressed into a tight line, hiding her voluptuous lips. Her entire being projected tension and heartache, and he hated seeing her that way.
Robert put his own mess of jumbled feelings aside as he took in her emotional state and held her in his arms. “It’s not the end of the world. It’s not the end of us.”
Air left her nostrils in a huff. “You don’t know my father.”
“Of course, I do. I’ve spent three quarters of the year with him for the last ten years.”
She leaned back so she could see his face and stared at him for a long time. “I’ll do whatever you want, Robert. If you want to tell him now, I’ll do it tonight. But I still think we should wait.”
He started to agree that pulling the pin out of the grenade when they were this close to Super Bowl wasn’t the best idea. Holding out a little longer seemed like the only answer. “I guess you’re right. I don’t want to jeopardize the game. It’ll put his head in a bad place, and none of us need that.” It wasn’t just about Robert and Amber. The ramifications went far beyond their relationship. The Bucks were sure to play the Super Bowl. The entire Northeast was counting on them to bring it home. If they blew it now, it would be all his fault, and he couldn’t live with the guilt. He’d let down the fans and his teammates. Not to mention what it would do to Coach. “I can do it. I won’t say anything or act any differently.”
Her shoulders fell dramatically, and she looked up to the ceiling. “I bet you’re the worst liar in the world. You are. Aren’t you? He’s going to take one look at you and immediately know you’re hiding something, and you’re going to cave. You’re going to blurt it out in the locker room like an old wash woman.”
“No!” Robert couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. “I mean, yeah, I’m a terrible liar. But I’m not going to lie about anything.”
“OK. So, you’re not going to lie. But can you keep a secret?”
“Sure, I can.”No, I can’t. I’ll spill the beans the second I’m pressed for intel.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t believeyou!” He tried to deflect. “You’re the one who walked around with this tidbit of info that has the potential to tip the earth on its axis, and it didn’t faze you one bit. I tried to coax it out of you, but you were a vault.”
“I’m just used to hiding who my father is,” she said, flatly. “I’ve been doing it for a long, long time.”
He still didn’t fully understand why it was so important to disassociate herself with Coach, but there was too much stuff in his head that he needed to digest. All the energy drained from his body at once, and he felt as if he were about to drop. “I gotta go home.”
“You’re leaving? You just got back.”
“I know. But I ran out of the locker room the minute I met your mother.” A wave of embarrassment washed over him as he recalled the encounter, and he brought his hand to his forehead. “I was so rude to her. She probably thinks I’m a jerk.”
Amber dropped her chin to her chest and let out a short chuckle, the first sign of levity since Robert arrived. “She’s such an instigator. She did that on purpose just to see you squirm. She never surprised my father by showing up at one of his games before. Wait until I see her.”
“She was just playing with me?” Robert was taken aback. “That’s sick.”
“That’s my mother. She has a weird sense of humor.”
He grunted a laugh because he didn’t know how else to respond. He was about to leave but reconsidered and wrapped his arms around Amber. “I think I’m going to stay. I don’t need to run home.
“Are you still mad at me?” Amber asked.
He took a few seconds to think about his answer and decided that, although it could have been handled better, she wasn’t being malicious, and he understood. “No. I should be. But I’m not. I just want the season to be over and clear the air. I hate keeping secrets.”
She lowered her gaze and tucked her chin into her chest. “So do I. But, sadly, I’ve gotten used to it.”
Every muscle in Robert’s body clenched with unease as he entered the locker room. He continually looked over his shoulder as he changed into his gear, as if he wouldn’t have heard Coach’s deep growl echoing off the walls the second he entered.
Worry and culpability had Robert’s head spinning. He should be concentrating on the game and beating Cincinnati, but the only thing he could think about is that he was deceiving Coach. And that Coach was going to hand him his balls on a silver platter.
He needed to sit down. With his head in his hands, he replayed the confrontation with Amber.Stop it!he told himself, but he couldn’t.
“You OK?” Lewinski asked, taking a seat next to Robert and placing a hand on Robert’s shoulder.
Robert let out a deep breath. “Just got a lot on my mind.”
“Trouble at home with the girlfriend? Because you need to leave that shit at the doorstep.”
