Free Light the Lamp by Catherine Gayle Page A

me, but I was willing to go with the flow. At least for now.
    We had a deal, after all.
    So he’d dropped me off up in the owner’s box and left to get ready for the game. I scanned the room again, trying to get a feel from the other women there and looking for a friendly face. One group, huddled in a corner with their heads close together, eyed me with snooty looks before going back to whispering to one another.
    Near the front of the box with good seats to view the game, a handful of women were talking and laughing. They seemed much nicer than the ones with the snooty looks, but none of them looked up and saw me, and I didn’t want to interrupt.
    I was just about to go off on my own and find a seat away from all the rest of them when two more women came in. One was tall, dark haired, and drop-dead gorgeous. The other woman was younger—even younger than me—and tall, drop-dead gorgeous, but bald. Actually, she might be a girl still and not a woman; it was hard to tell. She had a purple scarf secured over her head, the same color as the team jersey she was wearing. She looked sickly, with pale skin, hollow cheekbones, and big bags under her eyes. I was pretty sure she was a cancer patient. Come to think of it, Liam had mentioned someone with leukemia, although I couldn’t recall who he’d said that in connection to.
    She smiled when she saw me, but then she walked right past me and sat next to a little redheaded girl who couldn’t even be ten years old yet. The woman she’d entered with joined the laughing group opposite them.
    The two girls bent their heads together for just a minute and then looked over in my direction, smiling again in a way that seemed welcoming. I decided to see if I could sit with the pair of them. When I headed over to them, they were in the process of spreading a throw blanket over both their laps. They looked up and grinned at me.
    “ You’re Miss Noelle, aren’t you?” the little redhead said. “You live with Mr. Kally and Mr. Jamie. I just told Katie who you are.”
    “ You’re right,” I said.
    It was unnerving that people knew who I was when I didn’t have any idea who they were. Had Liam already told everyone in his life about me? I didn’t feel like I was a big enough deal to merit such fast notice. And just how did word spread so quickly? I’d only been with him for about two days. Just with him, though, not with him with him.
    “ How did you know who I am?” I asked, adjusting the strap of my purse over my shoulder. I let my hand fall over the body of the bag, feeling the same four items inside that had been there since my car burned on the highway.
    “ I’m Maddie Shaw. I live across the hall from you.” The little girl nudged her head toward the seat next to her and nodded, her eyes wide in a wordless offer. “This is Katie. She’s dating Mr. Jamie.”
    I sat down where Maddie had indicated.
    Katie blushed like crazy. “I’m not dating him.” She turned a shy look in my direction. “He took me to my prom is all.” I couldn’t help but notice that her lips kept curling up in an embarrassed smile. She wanted to be dating him.
    So this was the girl Babs was out with the night I met Liam. I already liked Babs, but this made me like him even more. Katie wasn’t just any girl; he’d taken a girl with no hair to her prom. That was just about the sweetest, most thoughtful thing I could imagine. I made up my mind right at that moment to be sure he stayed in my life, no matter what happened in my future. Some people are keepers, and Jamie Babcock was definitely one of them.
    I laughed. “I’d say that counts as dating.” I winked conspiratorially in Maddie’s direction.
    “ It counts as a date. One.” Katie gave Maddie a stern look. “Don’t let my dad hear you talking like that or he’ll kill Jamie, okay?”
    Maddie just rolled her eyes the way only a kid could do. Then she leaned over to me and whispered, “She’s wearing Mr. Jamie’s jersey tonight.