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“We’re going to take them down,” she says, pointing to me, repeating my words from yesterday. I burst out laughing.
“I like the way you think,” Jack says, holding his hand out for a high five. She gives him one and turns back around. “Good thing she’s taking after her dad.”
Lexi turns back around to Jack. “Aiden’s not my dad. My mom and dad were killed. Addison is my foster mom,” she says matter-of-factly. “But Aiden will be my foster dad soon.” She jumps in his lap and gives him a big hug. He returns it, but all of us sit still, wide eyed over what she just said. I turn and softly smile to Jack. He’s not sure what to say either. He smiles back and nods. There’s nothing to say. When Lexi jumps out of Aiden’s lap and resumes screaming for Ryker, I link our fingers together and squeeze. It’s intriguing and mortifying the way a child can be honest without any emotion.
Her truth isn’t the way she feels, it’s just truth. She loves Aiden like a father, but he isn’t her father. At least not yet. Aiden picks up my hand and kisses my knuckles.
“She loves you,” I whisper. I don’t want him to be insecure about what he means to Lexi because of what she said. It’s the first time he’s heard that. I’ve had time to deal with hearing it for a few months. It’s gut wrenching at first until you realize that kid’s actions speak so much louder than words.
“I know,” he replies. He takes a deep inhale and blows it out his nose, nodding that he’s okay, and sits forward in his seat. He positions Lexi between his legs and points out random things to her, explaining the game. I sit back and watch them. A couple guys on the team notice Aiden and wave to him. Hmm…I wonder how many guys he knows on the team. Lexi gets super excited, thinking they’re waving to her.
I watch one of the guys walk over to Ryker and point at us. Ryker looks and his smile grows. He jogs over to us and jumps up on the bars in front of us. “Lulu!” He picks her up into his arms and gives her a big kiss on the cheek, ignoring the fans cheering behind us.
“Ryker, look, I’m wearing your jersey,” she says excitedly.
“It looks better on you than it does on me.” Her face beams. He puts her down and looks at me, shaking his head. “You’re killing me, Addison.” He grips his heart. I roll my eyes. My feet are up on the bar and his eyes move down my legs. “If it weren’t for those legs, I might be mad.” He winks at me.
Aiden growls. “You better go before I break your throwing arm,” Aiden jokes. I think he’s finally figured out that Ryker likes to mess with him by flirting with me.
“No,” Lexi says. “You can’t break his arm. He’s the dollarback.”
We bust out laughing. Lexi looks at us perplexed, wondering what we think is so funny.
“Tater Tot, he’s not that important,” Aiden chuckles. “He’s just a quarterback.”
“Hey, Lulu, look at Addison.” Ryker points to me. When Lexi turns and looks at me, Ryker flips off Aiden. He laughs again and blows him a kiss. When Lexi figures out there’s nothing to see, she shrugs and spins back around. “Alright, Lulu, I expect to hear really loud cheers from you. It’ll help me win.”
“I’ll be the loudest,” she promises. He fists bumps her and hops down to go back to practicing.
From the “National Anthem” to halftime, Lexi never sits down. She cheers, yells, sings, and dances the entire night. At halftime, we take a quick bathroom break and grab some food just in time to start all over. Lexi’s like the band director. She stands on her seat and directs everyone to get out of their seats and cheer. Our section follows her like the Pied Piper, and she’s eating it up. By the end of the third quarter, the Cowboys lead by two touchdowns, so the crowd has quieted a bit. Except for us Cowboys fans.
Lexi is sitting in Aiden’s lap and she seems to have stopped ticking. I look over and she’s dead asleep, her head resting on Aiden’s chest. Her hair is in French braids, except for the few errant hairs stuck to her face from either sweat or cotton candy.
“I think she cheered herself to sleep,” I say, smiling at her. Aiden nods in agreement.
When the fourth quarter starts, Ryker glances our way and sees his biggest fan conked out. He shakes his head and chuckles before putting on his helmet and running onto the field. Not two plays later, he throws it for a touchdown and the crowd goes crazy.
Lexi sits straight up and looks at Aiden. “What did I miss?”
“They just scored a touchdown,” he says. She jumps up and hollers, waving her arms around. Her little body must have needed to refuel because she’s up and raring to go again. And she stays that way until the very end.
When the Giants win.
***
“Knock, knock.” I look up from my files at Bryn standing in my doorway.
“Hey, girl. Come on in.” Harper and I just got back from being out in the field all day, and I’m going over my notes. She sits down in one of the chairs in front of my desk, crosses her legs, and reclines. “What’s going on?” Bryn doesn’t normally visit with me during work hours, so I have no idea why she’s here, but her smile tells me whatever it is, it’s good.
“Have you looked at Page Six today?”
I stare at her with confusion. “Why would I have looked at Page Six today?”
“You’ll want to see today’s paper.” I cock my eyebrow. I doubt that. “No, really. You do.” Her persistence has me wondering what it could be. I know that Brooks is in Page Six a lot with the title of “Sexiest Bachelor Single Dad.” I roll over to my computer and type in the website. Page Six is the celebrity, music, and entertainment section of the New York Times. When it pops up, I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand.
“Oh. My. God. You’ve got to be kidding me.” I look at Bryn in shock, and she shakes her head. I look back to the website and the first thing that shows up reads “Who’s Ryker Dallas’s New Girl?” and it has a picture of him kissing Lexi on the cheek at the game. I immediately start reading the article.
Giants’ golden boy, Ryker Dallas, seems to have a new girl, but this one is cute as a button and seems to grab the attention of everyone around her. (We watched her more than the game.)
