Kate took my empty plate and started clearing our spots.
“It’s so cool to meet you. Can I get your number? Would love to invite you to one of our dinners if you’re interested.”
My brain couldn’t comprehend why she would want my phone number, why she’d want to invite me anywhere—and then I remembered thevideos.
If she was as plugged in to team news as Jeremy, then of course she’d seen them.
“Oh—I’m not—Barry and I aren’t together, though.”
Hunter put her hand on my arm.
“Please. I know how excited Barry is about that baby. You’re family.”
Speechless, I just nodded and took her offered phone, entering my number and name before handing it back. I felt almost shy, like the cool girl at school had just asked me to hang out in the cafeteria.
“Good to meet you, Hunter,” I said.
“You too, Hannah.” To my surprise, she pulled me into a quick hug before promising to text me soon and rushing off in another direction.
“Well, she was gorgeous,” Kate said, and I had to agree.
They did show us on the broadcast—Ron took a shaky recording of all three of us being shown on the screen, but I couldn’t make out what the broadcasters had to say about it, because Ron and Mom were talking too loudly about how cool it was to see their babies on the screen.
After two losses in a row, Barry scored the winning goal with forty-two seconds left on the clock, and needless to say, the stadium was a madhouse. Barry was interviewed after the game, and I got a recording of that, loud and clear without Ron and Mom exclaiming in the background.
When he was interviewed post- or mid-game, he was always sweaty, hair all wet, red lines on his forehead from his helmet. He looked hot every time, which wasn’t fair because when I was sweaty I just looked red and a little sickly. The reporter asked him how it felt to score that goal, how it felt to be on a new team, and then, squeezing one more in:
“I hear congratulations are in order! You posted that you’re expecting a child?”
A wide grin took over Barry’s face.
“I am, yeah, a baby girl this February.”
“Well, I hope she takes after you and we see her in the women’s league!”
“I hope she takes after her mom,” Barry said, smiling still.
“Congrats again. Thanks Barry.”
“Thank you, Ken.”
Jeremy and Kate teased me about that little comment for the rest of the night, cooing about how inlooooveBarry was with me. I pretended not to be melted butter about the whole thing.
And when he came home an hour later, I pretended it didn’t mean anything that he got into bed with me, kissing me long and languorous before falling asleep, hand on my stomach.
CHAPTER 25
HOME IMPROVEMENTS
Kate was acting weird. She picked me up in the Harvey Janitorial van after my shift on Monday to run company errands, and I went without complaining, even though I was very sleepy and wanted nothing less than to run errands. The tasks weren’t all that bad; we went to a few of the buildings to replenish their stock of rags and various cleaning supplies, then stopped at Home Depot to pick up paint samples I decided on for the bathroom, before I convinced Kate to stop for waffles at the diner where Josie asked way too many questions about Barry. I invited her and Marcus to the next game, and they were stoked.
And all the while, Kate was being weird. Quiet, defensive, and not even excited when I asked her to tell me about the latest book she was reading.Usually,describing books in detail to me was her favorite pastime.
“Did something happen with the professor?” I asked.
She’d been occasionally responding to his frequent texts after deciding maybe he didn’t think that janitorial wasn’t a respectable job path. She had not agreed to another date, though the man was persistent, I’d give him that.
“No, I’m normal,” she snipped, most definitely not normal.
