Game On by Tracy Solheim

chemotherapy to get her body ready for the transplant, Carly worked for the Blaze.
    “Why? Are you trying to get rid of me?” Carly asked a little defensively. It was the second time today she’d been asked if she missed her old life. She didn’t. She liked having a family to care for. Friends who cared for her. A job where she actually felt useful. But if she’d worn out her welcome . . .
    “No, I am not trying to get rid of you,” Lisa said, taking Carly’s hand in hers. “I just want you to be happy. I don’t want you to feel you have to stay here in Baltimore if you don’t want to.”
    “I’m where I want to be,” Carly said. “Besides, we both know Italy is not the best place for me right now.”
    “Carly . . .” Lisa started.
    “No, Lisa. I get you have a PhD in psychology and you want to get in my head, but I’m fine. My life is fine.” At least, Carly would be fine if a certain sexy quarterback wasn’t looming somewhere in the house, but she didn’t need her sister probing her right now. She just wanted to get through dinner and get this crazy day over with.
    “Okay.” Lisa looked away as she began to toss the salad. “So I hear you’ll be taking over for Asia while she’s recovering. Will that be difficult for you?”
    Carly studied her sister. Did she already know about her encounter—er,
encounters
—with Shane? How could she?
    Lisa looked up to stare at Carly. When she didn’t immediately answer, Lisa asked: “Dealing with the press? Will it be difficult given what they’ve put you through?”
    “No.” Carly mentally breathed a sigh of relief. “It’ll be mostly mainstream media, and besides, my celebrity, such as it is, is pretty much confined to Europe.” Dealing with Shane Devlin, on the other hand, might be a problem. But she didn’t dare tell her sister that. She no longer intended to apologize for her behavior in Cabo, given the accusations he’d made earlier. Both incidents should be something two adults could laugh off, but her reaction to Shane wasn’t humorous. Even now, she could feel the hum of the attraction between them. She’d never felt such a pull toward a man—not even the man she’d intended to marry. She just hoped she could get through the next few weeks without making a fool of herself.
    “Okay, change the subject. Tell me what I want to know. Has Julianne finished with my gown for the gala in June?” Lisa asked as she carried the dipping sauce into the dining room.
    Following Lisa, Carly placed the salad and the bread on the large, oval table. She spied Shane standing against the wall looking like he’d rather have a root canal than sit down to dinner. After his outburst this morning, she wasn’t exactly overjoyed to have to sit with him around the dinner table, either.
    “She’s making one for me, too, right?” Emma asked as she carefully set a pitcher of water on the table. “You said we all get to go to the gala for your new charity.”
    “Yes, Emma, I did say that, but I don’t think we all need to be wearing designer gowns.” Lisa caressed the top of her daughter’s head in consolation. She looked up at Shane. “I’ve started a foundation for children whose parents are severely or terminally ill. After spending years as a couples’ therapist, cancer has served as a little midcourse correction for my life,” she explained.
    Shane still had that deer-in-headlights look about him, but he managed a gracious nod.
    “You lost your mother to cancer, did you not?” Lisa was no shrinking violet when it came to fund-raising. Smiling at her sister’s tenacity, Carly glanced back at Shane. If possible, his face had gone even more ashen.
    “Yes, ma’am,” he said softly.
    “Perhaps you’d be interested in hearing about our little endeavor sometime?” Lisa made it sound like a question when everyone in the room knew it wasn’t.
    “Go easy on him, honey,” Matt said as he carried a steaming pan of lasagna into the room.