Page 116 of Sweet Redemption

Aurora grunts and stomps upstairs after a mover. “Not that room.”

“You sure you’re up for this, honey?” Mom asks as Kevin, the girls’ beautiful white Persian cat, launches itself from the back of my couch onto a box one of the movers is carrying, making him scream like a little girl. “Oh . . . I forgot about the cat.”

“Yeah,” I tell her. “Me too. Want to go outside?”

“To hide?” Mom asks.

I nod. “Something like that.”

“The wind is changing,” Mom says as she rubs her hands up and down her arms. “There’ll be snow on the ground before we know it.”

“It’s not even Christmas yet, Mother,” I scold, not ready to race through fall just yet. I love this time of year. The frigid winter . . . not so much.

She hands me a slim white box with a beautiful vibrant purple bow. “Are you excited for your new direction?”

“I am,” I tell her, rubbing the silk ribbon between my fingers. “Honestly, I was shocked when Ty mentioned selling the team and wanting to sell it to me⁠—”

“You were his first choice, Serena. Why were you shocked?”

I lift my eyes from the box to hers slowly. “And how do you know that?”

Guilt flashes across her face for a single second before she masks it with a devious smile. “Oh, honey, don’t ever forget that your father isn’t the only one with a family legacy in professional sports. I have my own connections, and Ty happens to be one of them.”

Self-preservation kicks in as my defenses go on high alert. “Did you tell him to make the offer?”

“No.” She shakes her head, her blonde shoulder-length bob moving with her. “He called me to see if I thought you’d be interested. He didn’t want to bring it to King Corp. without your involvement. You, my darling girl, were his first choice.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I move around the table and pull out a chair. “It’s been weeks.”

“Because I didn’t want to sway you one way or the other. You’ve always needed time to work through things, Serena. Ever since you were a little girl, you’ve weighed every pro and every con. Sometimes longer than I thought was healthy, but we each have our processes for getting through life. I’d know. We’re similar in that regard. But I was worried if I brought it to you, you’d jump on it because you thought that’s what I wanted.” She sits down across from me, one brow arched. “You can’t blame me. That’s exactly what you did when your father offered you the job with the Revolution.”

“Have you ever taken time to work through something because you thought that’s what you should do, but your gut has been giving you the answer all along?” I ask, directing the conversation away from work and right into the personal category. Not sure she realizes it though. “I guess what I mean is have you ever gone with your gut instead of your pros and cons?”

“Oh, honey, every decision I’ve ever made, I’ve made because it felt right. Anything can look good on paper. But that doesn’t make it good.” She lifts a shoulder and purses her lips. “We’re not talking about work, are we?”

I shake my head.

“Is this about Hendrix Sinclair?”

I drop my head to my hands. “Does everyone in this town know everything?”

“Your car was in his driveway, Serena. Word travels.” She looks a little too pleased with herself, but in all honesty, I’m not even surprised. “It hasn’t traveled to your father yet, though, so maybe pull him aside and let him know you’re seeing one of his players before he overhears it in the locker room.”

She lays her hand out, palm up and asking for mine, and squeezes when I give her what she wants. “Is he good to you?”

“This time?” I ask, knowing what I’m giving away.

“Was there a last time?”

“Yes.” My eyes jump to the French doors where Kevin McFluffington III just shredded my favorite blue dupioni silk curtains. I’m going to kill my cousins. “He was good to me then, and he’s good to me now. It’s just complicated.”

“It will always be complicated, sweet girl. Love always is.”

Aurora, Saylor, and I watched the Revolution crush DC before the girls went to their rooms and I stayed on the couch, staring at my phone, wondering what to say.

I can hear Octavia in my head as if she were sitting here next to me.

Say what’s in your heart, Serena.