“I guess that’s what I’ll have to do. It’s not my first choice, staying in hotels always feels weird somehow. Temporary.”
“Girl, you’re the queen of temporary,” Fiona teases.
I roll my eyes and finish the rest of my drink before I answer. “Yeah, I know. But I still like to have a home base for however long I’m in one place, and a hotel just doesn’t feel the same.”
Typing away at my keyboard for a second, she looks up and turns the computer back to face me. “I hear you, but this one is close to the hospital and offers a discount for stays over two weeks.”
I look at what she’s found, and at least it looks clean and is reasonably priced. I nod. “Okay, that’ll work for now, I guess. Any chance of you taking me over there tomorrow? I can get my stuff moved into the hotel and go to the hospital to see how soon I can start.”
“Of course. I’ve got an appointment in the morning but we can go after that. But only if we can talk about your baby daddy some more.” Fiona clasps her fingers, holding them under her chin and giving me a pleading look. “Pretty please? I need to live vicariously through you.”
I snort out a laugh. “Yeah, okay, because a beefy baseball player is just your type.”
Pretending to look offended, and failing, she fires back, “I’m bisexual. I still find men attractive, until they open their mouths.”
We both start to laugh, and conversation becomes impossible as we give in to the giggles. Eventually our laughter dies. We’re leaning into each other now, and it feels so good to be with someone who knows me as well as she does. Who understands—as much as anyone can—why I’m the way I am, and why I have the insecurities I do.
“I think he could be a really good guy, and that scares the crap out of me.”
Fiona shifts so she’s got one arm around my shoulders, the sides of our heads resting together. “I know. But sometimes we have to face the scary stuff to get to the good stuff.”
“When did you get so wise?”
“About five minutes ago. I’m gonna be an auntie soon, you know. I need to practice my advice giving.”
I loop my arms around her and hug her tightly. “You’re doing pretty good so far.”
No matter what happens over the next few months, at least I have Fiona.
9
BRADY
I don’t recall driving homefrom the store. Guess I was on autopilot. I spent last night staring at nothing, trying to wrap my head around what happened.
Never in a million years did I expect to see Sage again, and pregnant with my kid at that.
What are the chances she’d end up visiting a friend here, of all places?
Now it’s the next morning, and I’m headed to the stadium. As I load my gear into my car, a woman walks by me, pushing a stroller. I freeze, watching her.
In less than a year, that could be Sage and our child.
I’m having a baby.
And I don’t know the first thing about what that means. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did spend way too much time last night googling, and panicking.
Turns out, despite their small size, babies are expensive. They do nothing but eat, sleep, and poop, so they apparently go through diapers faster than a Formula One racer goes through tires.
And then there’s Sage. I’ve never been around a pregnant woman, but I’ve seen enough movies to assume she’s going to need a lot of things. Special pillows, late night snack runs, and who the hell knows what else.
Not me, that’s for sure.
My stomach has been churning all morning, worrying about how the hell I’m going to afford it all when I’m barely making it work for me and the twins right now.
For once I wish the drive to the stadium was longer, simply so I’d have more time to try and get my head on straight. Instead, my jaw is starting to ache from how tightly it’s clenched as I walk toward Dom’s office. I’m nervous for this meeting, that’s for damn sure. But it’s necessary. I’d texted the CEO of the Thunder last night, once I got my shit under control mentally, to let him know I needed to see him and the head coach ASAP. They have to know what I’m dealing with, in case it interferes with anything the team needs.
Still, I’m terrified about what the outcome of this meeting might be. There’s a chance they won’t want to deal with their new player suddenly finding out about a baby he never knew existed, to say nothing of how they might react if I need time off for appointments with Sage or anything else that might come up.
