I grunt, settling down on the weight bench to do bicep curls. My muscles burn, and I’m still panting from the run, but I don’t care.
At least, I think I don’t care, until the door to the gym opens and Lila steps inside.
I pause, nearly dropping the barbell on the floor.
I have no idea how much time has passed since I promised to sit for an interview. An hour? More?
Lila doesn’t look angry, though. If anything, she seems confused.
Glancing down, I remember that I’m shirtless. I’m definitely not jacked like Noah, nor am I impeccably toned like Hale, but Lila sweeps her green eyes over me nonetheless, a glimmer of something coming to life in that gaze.
I watch her approach, temporarily speechless as I struggle to figure out how to apologize for flaking.
She sits down on the bench beside me, her clipboard nowhere to be seen. I straddle the bench, facing her, and can’t seem to do anything but stare.
“I was looking for you,” she says softly.
“I, uh—I needed a moment.”
Her head tilts to the side. “Are you okay?”
“I just got some complicated news. Kind of don’t know how to deal with it, so I’m clearly trying to strain as many muscles in my body as possible.”
I didn’t mean to let that many words tumble out, but Lila’s proximity and the Anita-induced anxiety have me feeling disoriented.
Lila should definitely be upstairs running the show, but she remains where she is, observing me with nothing but kindness in her expression.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Do I?
I think about how sweet she was to Leo when he wandered up to her dorm on the mezzanine. How adoring she was to him during the Family Safety Fair. Honestly, in the week since then, Leo hasmentioned her several times, asking when he can come to the station and visit her, specifically.
Lila is the sort of person who cares about everyone. I don’t know her well, but I’ve seen enough to know that’s true.
So I take a deep breath, scrub a hand over my sweaty face, and say, “It’s about Leo.”
Her lips drop instantly into a frown. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. It’s just custody stuff. I didn’t think it’d be an issue. I thought I had time to deal with the adoption process at my own pace. It’s so expensive, you know? And for a case like mine, you need a really good lawyer. I wanted to make sure I did it right.”
Lila nods earnestly. “I understand that. I also like to do things right.”
Against all odds, a smile tugs at my lips. “Anyway, one of Leo’s blood relatives just reached out and said she thinks he’d be better off with them instead of me.”
She jerks back in shock. “What? But I thought they hardly ever spoke to you.”
“They don’t, it’s true.” I shrug. “Unfortunately, they’re his blood and I’m just some guy who was briefly married to his mother.”
“Why would she…?” Lila trails off, eyes lighting with indignation on my behalf.
So willing to go to battle for me, and I’m not even brave enough to reveal the truth of my desire for her.
“I don’t know. I was thinking it might be because she heard about the station. All the stuff going on in the news. Whatever.”
Lila narrows her eyes, but that raging fire of frustration isn’t directed at me.
“Ridiculous,” she snaps. “Anyone can see that you’re an incredible father to Leo! Because that’s what you are to him. His real father, biology be damned! You have an entire firehouse full of people who would vouch for you, Evan. You’re an incredibly kind, patient, attentive father. You’re a good man, and that distant relative is a wicked witch who is so bored with her own life that she feels the need to cause trouble in someone else’s!”
