Chapter 1
Is this it?
I don’t know what I was expecting when I boarded the plane to Hopeless—I mean Hope—Indiana, but it definitely wasn’t this.
When I go to double-check the house number on my phone, Mike's smiling contact picture with his wife, Olivia, mocks me. Wouldn't be surprised if he sent me to the wrong address as his final “fuck you” to me. Can't say I don’t deserve it.
I check the message, then glance at the number on the sleek, modern house to see if it matches.
Yup, this is it.
But I still can't believe that Zach Evans liveshere. I know his girlfriend—my ex, by any other name—has expensive taste, but this shit… this shit is next level.
With a monstrosity of a fence and blacked-out windows, it's not exactly how I expected the Scholarship Kid to spend all of his NIL deal money. But hey, maybe I've given him too much credit over the years. He's clearly too dumb to realize that football money only lasts as long as he's healthy.
Shut up, Jamie. Stop being an asshole for once in your life and focus on what's important.
The girl behind that door. She's all that matters.
A very cute, blonde-haired little girl.
What's her favorite toy? Favorite color? Does she like to sing along to any songs? Is she talking yet? I don’t even know how old kids are when they start talking. Does she call Tiff Mama or Mommy? Does she call some other asshole Dada?
Questions run through my mind faster than I can process them. The same questions that have kept me up since I found out I have a daughter.
Three years too late.
For three years, she’s believed I didn’t give a damn about her, and now I've got to somehow prove I'm not the asshole everyone makes me out to be.
Kind of hard to dispute considering I spent my entire high school career playing up to that role.
Creak. CRACK.
My boot crushes through the snow as I take a step to the side when a delivery driver walks past.
I pretend to read something on my phone, not wanting to look too suspicious.
He presses the buzzer.
“Hello?” A sweet, feminine voice crackles through the speaker and it's her.
Tiffany Bright. I laugh bitterly to myself. Never did I think I'd ever breathe her name again, let alone find out she'd becomeeverything even though she moved across the country to get away from me.
Well... sucks for her. I'm here now, ready to give up a borrowed legacy for a woman who doesn't want me and a child I've never met.
Mychild.
The gates open for the delivery driver, and I look around, checking no one's watching before slip in behind him. Once there, I hide behind a bush until the driver is gone.
Am I trespassing? Yes, but I don't have any other choice.
When the driver is gone, and the gate is shut, I take a few tentative steps toward the house with the ugliest porch I've ever seen. Who needs all that glass?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I take a step back, staring at the black wooden door as I exhale a shaky breath. With flowers in one hand and the other buried in my deep navy coat, I feel ridiculous.
What the hell am I doing here?