SOMEONE'S DAUGHTER || t.s.

03. the girl who got frozen

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Travis Kelce was confused by women.

It was strange, since he seemed to be surrounded by women for all of his life—and strong women, nonetheless. His mother, Donna, had made it her mission to raise her two sons to be the most well-behaved, genuinely nice men that she possibly could. And sure, the countless lessons on manners had stuck with Travis into adulthood. He knew to walk on the outside of the sidewalk so a woman could walk on the inside. He knew to open building and car doors for her. He knew to always pay on dates, and to bring flowers every two weeks or so.

And of course, he couldn't forget about Kylie, his sister-in-law, and Wyatt, Elliotte, and Bennett, his three nieces. His nieces were the easy part; they were young enough where all he had to do was cooperate with a tea party or a princess game, and maybe he had to occasionally let Wyatt decorate his beard with glitter, and they'd be satisfied. But Wyatt was three, Elliotte was two, and Bennett was just six months old. They weren't old enough to know how to be confusing to Travis just yet.

Travis stared across the open floor plan of his house. He'd hosted a party to celebrate the victory of the Chiefs two nights before, and numerous members of the team had showed up with their families. Travis had also convinced Jason to bring his family to the party, under the disguise that they would be able to talk about the event on their podcast once they started filming episodes again.

In reality, Travis didn't need to talk about the party with his brother. Enough news articles would cover the happenings of the party with the occasional blurry paparazzi shot of various NFL players and their families leaving Travis' neighborhood later that night. Sure, there would be a few good stories to tell on the podcast, like when Wyatt and Sterling convinced Patrick that he should jump into the pool in the backyard, fully clothed, and he emerged to them smashing chocolate cupcakes into his face. But Travis wasn't desperate for that like he was desperate for the one thing that Jason could bring to the party: Kylie.

Travis and Kylie were just about as close as any brother- and sister-in-law would be. Kylie would tell anyone she could about her lack of trust in Travis, but he knew that at the end of the day, it was part of one of their many ongoing jokes. He rarely would admit it out loud, but he was extremely grateful that Jason had married Kylie. While Travis didn't understand a single thing about the female gender, Kylie did. And right now, Travis needed Kylie's help with decoding females more than he'd ever needed her help in his life.

He nodded across the room filled with people to the area where the kitchen island was, just offset enough from the rest of the house to create a secluded spot away from the party. Sitting at the kitchen island was a lone figure, her blonde hair completely covering her face as she hunched over an uneaten plate of food that Travis swore he'd brought to her an hour ago. He'd remembered to not add olives when he got her cheese, right? He knew she hated olives. At least that was one thing about women that didn't confuse him. Maybe it was genetics, but he also hated the bitter fruit.

Kylie followed Travis' gaze across the room. "Do you want me to try to talk to her?" she asked.

Travis shrugged. "Do you think you could get a word out of her?" he asked.

"In all honesty, I have no clue," Kylie admitted. "She's always been like this, you know. The only thing is... well, Lily always knew what to do when she got like this."

Travis grew quiet at the mention of the woman. Sure, he'd loved her once upon a time—or at least, he thought he had. But "I love you" never turned into Travis getting down on one knee on the beautiful mountain that he'd always told Lily he wanted to pop the question on. He wasn't sure when he'd last said "I love you" to her, but he had to assume it was before he found out about the existence of something—the very same something that had become a someone, the someone that was now sitting silently in his kitchen. Oh, if only Lily were still here.