Free Daddy's Game by Normandie Alleman

what she was looking for. Taped around the middle of one of the roses’ stem was a yellow index card. She ripped the tape away and unfurled the message.
    Look in the bottom inside zipper pocket of your luggage.
    Her heart fluttered in her chest as she set up the luggage stand and hoisted her case atop it. She unzipped the red Brighton suitcase, flung open the top, and tossed a sweater and some panties onto the bed, trying to get to the pocket. Inside was a blue jeweler’s box. She opened it and gasped when she found an ivory and onyx cameo with a black velvet cord to tie around her neck. She had seen that very necklace when she had gone shopping with her girlfriends Nellie and Marley for her dress for the opening.
    Nellie must have told Natron how much Carmen had liked it. Enamored of his fame, Nellie was always sucking up to Natron. Nellie had been a well-known beauty queen several years ago and had never quite adjusted to life outside the limelight. Carmen shook her head. Fame meant nothing to her except the occasional inconvenience when the paparazzi followed Natron. She knew famous people were just like anybody else, with hopes, dreams, and problems like everybody else.
    Carmen walked into the bathroom and held up the necklace. It was beautiful against the curve of her neck. She took a selfie with her phone and sent it to Natron with a big thanks and a happy face. She hugged herself, thinking how lucky she was to have a daddy who spoiled her rotten and made her feel so loved and cherished.
     
    * * *
     
    The next day Carmen did some sightseeing at the Empire State Building before getting dressed for the opening. When she returned from her outing, she stopped downstairs at the Todd English Food Hall and had lobster hush-puppies for lunch.
    After showering and trying to tame her curly mop, she put on her new, chic black pantsuit and tied the cameo around her neck. The style was very becoming on her and reflected her personality to a tee. She was tempted to take another selfie to send to Natron, but didn’t want to come across vain so she resisted the impulse.
    On the cab ride to the museum, she checked her phone again. Nothing from Natron. She hadn’t heard from him since she’d sent him the thank-you text the day before. An emptiness skittered through her and she took a deep breath as she prepared to face the biggest moment of her career alone.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Natron closed his locker, high-fived some of the guys, then strolled out to the parking lot. Practice had been a killer today. Coach had really pushed them throughout this training camp and there was a significant amount of pressure for Natron to rise to the occasion. His coaches, his agent, hell, even his mamma were all expecting him to keep up the incredible play that had landed him MVP the previous season.
    The league’s Most Valuable Player award was an honor usually reserved for quarterbacks and running backs. But his 2,000+ yards of receiving had catapulted him over the rest of the field, and in one stellar season he’d become a media darling and the most popular receiver since Jerry Rice.
    For Natron the whole experience had been surreal, especially since he hadn’t grown up wanting to be a football player. The fact that he’d never stepped onto a football field until he was sixteen years old made his story all the more impressive.
    Natron’s first love was basketball. His mother loved to tell how he’d slept with a basketball from the time he was old enough to haul it into the crib with him. Growing up, Natron dribbled his basketball wherever he went, and by the time he was in middle school, his ball-handling skills were out of this world.
    When he got to high school, Natron was the best basketball player in the region, the sport coming easily to him. Though he’d never had to work as hard as the other kids, he was significantly better than they were, thanks to his talent.
    The season of his junior year, a new coach took over the team. The