45. Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Five

Sage

" H ow long have you been doing this?" I turn to Liam and he keeps his eyes on the road as he drives to the Yankee Stadium.

When he told me he had an event this weekend, I cleared my schedule to come with him simply to see him interact with the kids. He's giving a tour of the stadium to kids with disabilities, and this is the last kind of event I expected him to host.

"I've been doing this twice a year since I was signed with the Yankees."

I smile at his words as he goes on.

"It's for my sister…" He keeps his eyes on the road and I can see his shield go up, like it took a lot for him to simply say that but I hold his hand and give him a reassuring squeeze, silently urging him to continue but he doesn't.

"Did she have a disability?" I keep my tone light, and when he pulls in a deep breath, I can tell he's just trying to find the right words, so I don't push him.

"Yeah, she had Down syndrome." He suddenly looks so lost, and it hurts to see how torn he is as he talks about her. "She was born prematurely, and I was so scared that she wasn't going to make it out of the NICU, but then she did, and… my whole world turned upside down."

He turns to look at me, and a soft smile touches my lips. "I bet you were a great big brother."

"I thought you were certain that I was an only child or the youngest?" He teases and I immediately remember my words from a month ago. "What was it you said? I'm mean and seemed like I never had to share my toys?"

I laugh softly before pushing his hand away, but he reaches for me again with a small smile. "We had a fourteen-year age gap, so you were sort of right, I never had to share my toys with her, but she loved to eat off my plate, even when we had the same fucking thing."

The car fills with my laugh, and he glances over at me with a small smile. After a beat, a sad look washes over his face, and he's quiet for a minute before saying, "I just wish she was here sometimes."

He sounds so… desperate. I feel my nose burn as my eyes tear. "Oh, Liam…"

He keeps his eyes on the road but I notice him force the lump down his throat.

"She would've been so proud of everything you've done." I kiss the back of his hand and he looks out his window as he nods silently. We get to a red light, and when I turn his face to mine, I swear my entire soul is crushed by the sight of tears in his eyes.

He blinks them away and before I can voice any comforting words he brings his lips to mine. "Don't say sorry."

I smile against his lips and kiss him harder. Someone behind us honks, and when I pull away, Liam leans in again and kisses me one more time.

I hold his hand for the rest of the drive, and by the time we make it to the kids, they're all here, and they are so freaking cute. Some of them run to Liam, and I didn't peg him as the type to be good with kids or like them at all, but he bends down and hugs all of them.

"How is everyone doing today?" He looks around at all their excited faces and a few of them waste no time to go on a tangent about how they're doing.

"And my hot dog had mustard in it!"

I glance down at the little boy in a wheelchair and smile at the shock on his face.

"Is that good or bad?" Liam asks before lifting another little boy when he keeps pulling on his arm.

"It was great! I love mustard!"

We laugh at his excitement, and Liam tells him we'll get him more mustard before he starts the tour. Their parents are with them, and I can see how happy they are to see their kids so excited.

"What's everyone's name?"

The little boy in the wheelchair is the first to answer as he screams his name. "Kyle!"

I let out a soft laugh, and all of the other kids share their names before the tour starts. All of them ask an insane amount of questions as we start walking, and a lot of them have nothing to do with the stadium or baseball, but Liam answers them all patiently. Considering he's someone who is insanely impatient with adults, it's like watching a different person as he interacts with them.

One of the kids has Tourettes, and when she has her tics while Liam is explaining something, the other kids clearly get distracted.

"Would you be quiet ?! He's talking!" One of the boys turns sharply.

I feel my eyes slightly widen as I take a step forward. "Oh– that's not–"

Liam calls the little boy's attention before I can finish my sentence. "Bren."

He turns to him, and from Liam's look alone, he shuts his mouth, but I don't feel too bad. I know he's a kid, but he's been mean to the other kids the entire tour. Rather than his parents trying to correct him or, at the very least, apologize for him, they're on their phones, taking pictures of Liam and the stadium. I'm sure his outbursts are a result of them completely ignoring him.

"Remember what I said about being kind on the tour?" Liam reminds him. "Nora can't control her tics so let's be kind and not tell her to be quiet."

The little boy apologizes and Nora seems to shrink as everyone looks at her so I hold my hand out to her and nod towards the huge mirror behind her. She takes my hand and her mom smiles at me appreciatively as we walk a few feet away from the group.

"Did you pick out your outfit on your own? I love your dress."

She studies herself in the mirror, and a smile touches her lips as she runs her hand down her dress. "Thank you! Mommy–" She has a tic, and I give her a few seconds before trying again.

"Mommy helped and–"

I wait for this one to pass, and she lets out a breath before going on.

"And I picked my shoes!"

I glance down at her red rain boots and laugh quietly. "I love them!"

She taps her heels together, and her mom laughs quietly from behind her. When I glance back at the group, they start walking again, so I take her hand and catch up to them.

We make our way around for another half hour. In each room, Liam set up an activity for the kids and I'm surprised he's able to keep their attention for so long. Before I know it, we make our way to their favorite part, the field.

There's just enough of us to play a small game so we moved up all the plates since the kids would get way too tired running all the bases and I pitch to both teams as Liam squats behind home base and catches. They made Liam put his gear on and it's hilarious seeing him in full gear with seven-year-olds running around him.

When my watch starts buzzing I glance down at it and notice Angie is calling me. I hit the automated message and tell her I'll call her back before throwing the ball, and Kyle hits it pretty damn hard.

Liam shoots up, and I laugh at his excitement as he pushes his wheelchair at full speed.

"Liam, slow down!" I only laugh harder as he ignores me.

Kyle is dying of laughter as Liam gets him to second base before the other kids can even figure out who to throw the ball to.

When my watch buzzes again, I let one of the parents pitch and walk toward the middle of the field to answer Angie's call.

"Hey, Ang, is everything okay?" She normally doesn't call back to back once I decline her call so I try to listen closely as the kids yell behind me.

"Are you sitting?" She sounds excited, and I feel myself growing nervous.

"No?"

"You want to sit for this."

I bit my lip in anticipation and take a seat in the middle of the field. A few of the kids tell me to stand and get in position but I tell them I'm taking a break as Angie goes on.

"You were invited to New York's fashion week."

I wait for her to add more but she doesn't and I let out a soft laugh. Being that Florence is a designer and always a part of New York's fashion week, I'm always there, along with the rest of The Core Eight.

"That's it? Angie, I get invited every year. I thought–"

"And Milan."

At that, my eyes widened just a bit. I was invited to Milan's fashion week last year, but since I'm a Moore Girl now and Vincent's name is branded in Italy, I was kind of expecting that.

"And London."

" And London?" My heart rate picks up just a bit, and after she tells me Jade Marine, the designer, invited me, my jaw is on the floor.

"And by Colette Dubios… in Paris." She sounds like she's smiling ear to ear, and I go still.

"Colette Dubios?" My jaw drops before I quickly pick it up. "You're joking." I wait for her to tell me she's messing with me, but she's quiet on the other end. "Angie, tell me you're joking!"

She laughs, but I need to stand now.

"I was invited to all four locations?" I don't let her answer as I let out a scream. "I was invited to all four locations!" I'm quite actually jumping with joy when Liam runs to me.

"What is it?" He looks around the ground before lifting me. "Is there a bug or something? What's wrong?" He keeps his eyes on the ground and makes sure to keep my feet away from whatever he thinks I'm yelling about.

I let out a laugh before throwing my arms around his neck and wrapping my legs around him. "I'm going to fashion week!"

"You always–"

"In all four locations, Lee!"

"I don't know what that means, but we're happy–"

"YES, WE'RE HAPPY! AHH!"

"Well, now I'm also deaf, so thank you for that!" His laugh fills my ears before he puts me back down on my feet, and I grab hold of his hand before running in place excitedly.

"Yayyy!" All of the kids run over to us and scream excitedly, and I break into a laugh.

"Why are we screaming?" One of the kids covers his ears before looking over at his dad, who hands him his noise-canceling headphones, and Liam tries to get everyone to settle down so he doesn't get overstimulated, but I can barely settle down.

"Did we win?"

Before we can answer him, one of the kids screams, "Yes!" and they all start yelling again and I'm crying from how much I laugh.

Liam looks over at me with a smile and gives up on trying to calm their excitement. "Look at what you started." He shakes his head with a smile before leaning in to kiss me. "I'm so proud of you, beloved. You're going to be the biggest fucking star."

I smile up at him before throwing my hands around his neck.

"Fuck!"

I pull away and we both look down at Nora and when she curses again I realize it's one of her tics. I cover my mouth and shove Liam but he immediately turns to her mom.

"I shouldn't have said that around the kids. I–"

"Don't worry about it!" Her mom laughs softly before soothing her daughter's hair. "That was one of her tics long before you said it, no thanks to me."

We laugh softly, and when Nora says it again, she covers her mouth and apologizes, but Liam crouches down and pulls her hand away from her mouth. "Don't apologize for the things you can't control."

She smiles up at him before wrapping her little arms around him. My ovaries are screaming when Liam hugs her back with a smile.

When he pulls away and looks up at me, I'm still watching him in awe. "I love you."

A crease grows in his brows before his smile reappears, and he stands to his full height. "Do you?"

I laugh softly before wrapping my arms around his neck. "Of course I do, Lee."

He smiles so damn big I can't help but laugh.

"I love you more." He brings a hand up to cover our face, and I'm confused at first, but then he leans in to kiss me, and although he tries to cover us, I still hear some of the kids shout, "Ew" and "Yuck" before they all run away, leaving Liam and I hysterical.