Aldrich #3
“Straight. Just training and lifting and stuff.” I tossed my gym bag down on the cubby things that were built into the hallway.
Her eyes tracked my movements and then did a rapid blink like she was itching to pick my bag up off the bench and put stuff away.
I ignored her look and she cleared her throat before motioning behind her.
“Okay, well, I made dinner. Please let me know if you’ve got a specific diet plan that you need to follow since you’re heading back into the season.”
“I thought you knew nothing about football?” I was now wondering what she was doing because making dinner wasn’t part of her job. But her wanting to do it had me feeling some kinda way. Again, I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad.
“I didn’t. So I looked it up.” She shrugged causing her wavy brown hair to shift around her. When a piece of it fell across her chest and onto the wrap, she pulled it back up into a ponytail that only showcased her face better.
Fucking dangerous.
In the lounge set she was wearing — something simple and didn’t even hug her curves — this woman exuded class, gentleness and welcome. The dark pink color looked good as hell against her skin and I caught myself staring.
I cleared my throat once I caught myself and her words sank in. “So I’m sure you saw the stuff about me.”
“I did. But rumors don’t mean a lot to me or hold a lot of weight. Folks will say whatever they want about you just to get a headline.” She was smiling and I was sure that she’d seen a lot in her previous positions.
“What did you find out?”
“You’re really good at your position. Like the best in the league.
I don’t follow football but I saw that the Desperados are one of the top teams in the league.
You seem really humble for someone who has so much talent.
” Sterling was smiling and I wondered if she was carefully avoiding the topic that was the elephant in the room or if she chose to ignore that and focus more on me as a person instead of the drama.
“I’m used to all the attention. And it truthfully doesn’t make any difference to me. Like you, words don’t mean a lot. I’ve gotten this type of attention for over a decade. I get numb to it.”
“Numb. That’s an interesting choice.” Sterling was back to studying me, those teak-colored eyes looking far deeper than the surface and I didn’t want that. I wasn’t in the mood to be psychoanalyzed yet again today.
“What you cook?” I walked toward her, and she backed into the kitchen and headed to the stove.
“I wanted something warm even though it’s so hot here. I made beef stew.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had that. Not homemade and not out of a can.”
“It’s good. And I’m not just saying that because I made it. I don’t eat shitty food or make it.” The look on her face spoke to truth and not someone who was bragging on her skills.
“You don’t have to cook for me. She’s too young to eat real food yet so…” I wanted to explain her motives. Give me something that would make me pull back from her even if it was just a small step away.
“I know. But I have to eat and despite needing to drop some pounds—”
I couldn’t stop the frown that immediately crossed my face. “Who told you that lie?”
Confusion covered her face and she shifted Ami on her chest before she answered me. “I’m sorry?”
“Who told you that you needed to lose weight?”
“I…that’s a complex answer.”
“Must be a man.” And a dumb muthafucka at that.
Sterling might be the type of girl that went for dudes who thought curves meant you were fat, though.
She was from up north and hung around nothing but rich people given her job as a nurse and a nanny.
A nigga like me from Canyon Country in California might be too much.
Her eyes flickered down to the ground before she looked back at me with her face in a blank mask. “No, my mother, actually.”
I could tell by the look on her face this wasn’t something she wanted to talk about but I wasn’t going to have her thinking I agreed with her mother’s stance. “Oh, yeah that is complicated, but she gotta be out her mind. Anyway, come show me what you made, Ling and tell me how baby girl was today.”
The smile that crossed her face made me feel I had been right about switching the subject. “The biggest thing was the doctor doing his house call and nothing remarkable happened with that. Do you want to hold her?”
I almost said no but I wanted to hold her.
So, I sucked up the anxiety I was feeling and held my hands out for my daughter.
I hated to have missed her doctor’s visit but I couldn’t go back and change that.
I’d do my best to make up for it in the future.
“Yeah, let me see her if it’s not too much.
We can have dinner and you can fill me in. ”
She handed the baby toward me and just the brush of her hands against mine had me waking back up. I had to stare down in Ami’s face to keep my eyes off of Sterling as she walked toward the stove. I kissed Ami’s little baby cheek and her little drooly mouth moved like she was looking for a bottle.
“Come on little one, let’s hear Ling tell me how you did today.”