Lance
Lance quietly left the apartment and stood on the metal balcony. Paige's place didn't have much of a view; only a crowded parking lot full of cars. The sky was dark, but loudly humming street lights cast the parking lot in an eerie amber light.
He let out a deep breath and dialed Kip Sterling's number.
Kip answered right away.“Ah, Lance! I've been trying to reach you. I've got good news!”
“Yeah? So do I, but let's hear yours first.”
“Thanks to that report you filed, the police went to Zickell's and managed to obtain the bar's security camera footage. The footage not only confirmed your account—that you were assaulted first and only acting in self-defense—but also led to the identification and arrest of your assailant.”
“Well hey, that's good. Told you I didn't throw the first punch.”
“We've put a statement out to the press clearing your name. I've already updated Mr. Tremblay about your situation, and I'm happy to report that the team is lifting your indefinite suspension. As soon as you rejoin the team in Boston, you'll be good to play.”
“Great,” Lance said. Maybe this Kip guy had some use after all? “Good to hear.”
“So what's your good news?”
Lance began to pace back and forth on the metal balcony. “You know how you said I didn't have a family-friendly image and all that?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Turns out … I've got a daughter!” Lance wasn't sure how he expected Kip Sterling to react, but the silence that greeted him was deafening. “Kip? You there?”
“Sorry, you said what?”
“A daughter. I just found out I've got a daughter, Kip. She's fifteen months old.”
“Oh no,” Kip muttered, his voice sounding muffled and distant.
“No?” Lance repeated, his guts sinking like he were in a free fall.
“Tell me everything you know, Lance.”
Lance started from the beginning: from the night he met Paige two years ago, to always wondering about her, to trying to find her when the team came to Nashville … and finally, last night, finding her again at the same bar. And, as it turned out, they had a daughter together. And that was surely why he'd been thinking about her all this time, right? Because they had a daughter together, and some part of him knew they had unfinished business!
Kip gruffly cut right to the point.“Have you taken a paternity test yet?”
“No, but she said she would if I didn't believe her—”
“So, what, you were just going to take her word for it? How do you know this is your daughter, Lance?”
“She looksjustlike me, Kip. She looks like a carbon copy of every single baby picture I've ever seen of myself. And if that's not convincing enough? Hell, the second I met her, the kid had a hockey stick in her hands. If you could justseethe way she shoots a ball, you'd see it, too. She's only fifteen months old, but she's already got her old man's clapper.”
Kip groaned.“And you believe the mother?”
“Of course I believe Paige.”
“Why?”
“She didn't have sex with anyone else before she got pregnant.”
“And I'm sure that's what she says. But how would you know if she were lying to you?”
“Well—ah—” Lance gulped. “I guess I wouldn't. But she's notlying,Kip.”
Kip didn't hear him or didn't care; the inquisition continued.“Did you wear protection when you slept with her?”
