Home Run Baby: A Sports Romance (9 page)

“You want us to
start from the beginning
?”

She steps out of the shower. “You’d rather
get married
?”

I back up to give her room to dry off. “Uhh…”

“Because I think
this
is the more rational idea. There’s no sense in tying knots to one another. We’re total strangers.”

“I agree.”

“You do?”

“… I think?”

Daisy hands the towels back to me and grabs her clothes off the toilet seat. “Look, I just know that this kid deserves a family and we owe it to —
at least
— try and be one. Getting to know each other seems like the best place to start. If it doesn’t work out, then…” She pauses to pull her jeans up. “Then, I’m sure it’ll make some other family very happy.”

I nod. There’s no better logic in the world but it still terrifies me. “You’re right,” I say.

She throws her shirt on and steps around me. “So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.”

“Wait…” I follow her from the bathroom. “How did the ultrasound go?”

“Oh…” She reaches into her pocket for her phone. “I actually almost sent this to you before…”

My phone chimes on the bedside table. I grab it and swipe open the attached photo to see an ultrasound with a circular shape at its center.

My baby.

Daisy moves in next to me and points at it. “It’s that
thing
there.”

“Yeah, I figured…”

“Took me a while to actually
see
it,” she chuckles. “And then the doc pointed out the heartbeat.”

I inhale deep. “It has a
heartbeat
.”

“Yep,” she nods. “Anyway, it went well. It’s due in February.” I stare at my phone as she moves towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Hunter.”

“Wait, Daisy.” My feet carry me closer to her. “I, um…”

She pauses in the open doorway. “What?”

“I’m in,” I say. “If I didn’t make that clear before. I want to start from the beginning… with you.”

“Okay,” she says, smiling softly. “Goodnight, Hunter.”

“Goodnight, Daisy.”

She closes the door behind her, leaving me to stare at the ultrasound on my phone a little longer.

Start from the beginning.
How is that even possible now that a tiny heartbeat is involved?

Chapter 11

Daisy

“Okay, now I’m officially freaking out.”

I stare at my open suitcase and the stacks of clothes piled up around the room.

Rose sits beside it on the bed. “Just take what you think you’ll need,” she says, grabbing a pink top off a pile and holding it against her chest.

“That’s the problem…” I yank it away from her. “What do you
need
to bring on a three-month bus ride with you new boss, a baseball team, and your baby daddy?”

She frowns. “I understand your plight.” She slides off the bed and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “First and foremost, you are
pregnant
, so I would recommend dressing for
comfort
above all else. Nothing too snug because it’s just going to be useless in a few weeks once you start getting
huge
.”

“But I’m working with
Trisha Wells
,” I point out. “The woman is a walking fashion show. I don’t want to look horrible beside her.”

“Okay. Professional first, then comfort.”

“But…” I continue, “Hunter and I are trying the relationship thing and you want to look as sexy as possible at first, right?”

“Okay, then,” she says. “Hot first, then professional, then comfort.”

“Wow,” I sigh. “And they say women can’t have it all.” I take a deep breath but it instantly escapes. “Okay, freak out
increasing
.”

Rose guides me to the bed. “Sit down, Daisy.”

“I need a drink.”

“You can’t have a drink. You’re pregnant.”

“I guess I
can’t
have it all, then.” I grab a pillow and hug it against my chest. “What do I do?”

She reaches for a cup on the bedside table. “You drink this.”

“What’s in it?”

“Water,”
she answers. “It’s three in the morning, you don’t need anything else. Then, we talk priorities. If you ask me, you already have Hunter’s attention — and his seed — so you don’t have to worry about looking hot all the time.”

“Sounds logical,” I say into the cup as I choke down a large gulp.

“Next…” She leans over and ruffles through a stack of clothes, “we can be professional
and
comfortable. Luckily, you’re a photographer, meaning you can get away with comfy clothes you can move around in. It’s
expected
. Lots of bending and twisting. Flats only. Save your feet.”

I smile. “You’re really good at this.”

“Strangely, I learned it from watching
you
.”

I reach for her hand. “Rose, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to unload on you like that. I really am happy for you and John.”

She squeezes my palm. “I know. Besides, I knew something had to be wrong with you. Can’t say I expected a
baby,
though…”

“Me neither.”

“But hey, now you get to play the hormone card to get away with saying something snarky. That should be fun for you.”

“You’re right,” I chuckle. “It’ll certainly come in handy in the morning when I call Malcolm to let him know I’m quitting the photo studio job without notice.”

“How do you think that’ll go down?”

“I’m thinking I might fake an emotional breakdown and just start bawling until
he
hangs up on
me
.”

“That’s obviously the most mature option,” she quips.

I set the empty cup down. “Sorry your summer vacation is getting cut short.”

“No problem,” she says, tossing a few shirts away as she picks through them. “Tomorrow, I’ll book the next flight back. I can go home, relax for a bit… maybe go visit Mom for a while before school starts again.”

I wince. “Please don’t tell her about this.”

“The new, fancy job or your baby daddy?”

“The baby daddy.
I
will tell her about that.”

“When?”

“Soon.”

She raises a brow.
“Daisy…”

“
Soon
, Rose. I promise.”

“Good. Preferably sometime
before
it’s crowning.”

I cringe. “Well, there’s a mental image I’ve been trying to avoid.”

“Just don’t look up what an episiotomy is,” she chuckles.

“Oh, keep laughing, Rose,” I whisper. “Just remember that anything that happens to me will happen to
you
when you bear
halfback’s
gigantic, roided-out offspring.”

She pauses.
“Yikes.”

“Uh-huh.” I gesture down my body. “Behold, your future.”

“I will no longer tease you about gross baby stuff,” she says, holding up a
scout’s honor
with her fingers.

“Thank you,” I nod.

She lays a few tops into my suitcase. “So, you and Hunter are going for it for real, then?”

“It would appear so,” I answer. “And if I were being super honest with myself,
that’s
the part of this whole thing that freaks me out the most.”

“But you’re the queen of relationships,” she argues.

“I’m the queen of
ending
them, maybe,” I say, “but we’re
having a baby
. There’s way more pressure to get this one right.”

“Don’t worry about getting it
right
. Just worry about the basics. Take it slow. You already know there’s chemistry, right? There were some sparks during conception, yes?”

I nod. “Yeah, and… earlier tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah.”

She raises a brow. “You slept with him again
tonight
?”

I wince.
“Yeah.”

“Wow…” she chuckles. “Maybe I spoke too soon on the whole
taking it slow
part.”

“It just
happened
,” I say. “Maybe I’ll get to play the hormone card every time I do something slutty, too.”

“Man, getting knocked up is the perfect scapegoat for you.”

“It really is,” I nod. “Maybe I should have done this sooner…”

She plops down beside me on the bed. “Daisy, don’t think too hard about it. If he’s the guy for you, then you’ll know it.”

“And if he’s not?”

“Then…” She throws her arm around my shoulder, “we’ll deal with that if we need to. Until then, just follow your gut. So far, he’s got top marks from me.”

“Yeah?”

“Hey, the guy hit three home runs, visited you in the hospital, found out you were pregnant, got you your dream job — all in one day — and
still
had the energy to bang you. I’d say he’s worth a second look.”

“You’re probably right.” My smile fades as I stare into my open suitcase. “
Pack heavy but travel light.
What the fuck does that even mean?”

Rose shrugs.

Chapter 12

Hunter

“So… let me get this straight…” Devin throws the baseball back to me and I jerk my gloved hand towards my face to keep the fastball from colliding with my nose. “The girl you knocked out with your home run is pregnant…”

I toss the ball back to him. “Right.”

“And the kid is yours?”

“Yes.”

“Because you two had a one-night stand six weeks ago?”

“That about covers it.”

He shakes his head. “That’s some magic voodoo shit, man. Either you two won the messed-up coincidence lottery or the universe is trying to tell you something.”

He fires another fastball at me and the impact sends ripples up my arm. I wince and pull my hand free from my glove. “Take it down a notch, Devin,” I laugh, shaking it out.
“Jeez.”

“Sorry,” he says. “I just get a little excited when my friend pulls me out of bed at three in the morning to play catch and dumps his problems on me.”

I slide my hand back into my glove and throw the ball back down the parking lot. “Well, I had to tell
somebody
. I was losing my mind up there.”

“You know me, man. I’m from Jersey, I live for gossip,” he says. “I just wasn’t expecting the lost episodes of
The Twilight Zone
to come out of your mouth.”

“Oh, it gets weirder,” I say. “Guess who’s going on the road with us starting tomorrow.”

“Ooo!” He winks. “That sexy
Sports Illuminated
reporter!”

“Her,” I nod, “and…”

“And…?”

“And.”

He tilts his head. “Your baby mama?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“She’s the photographer on the project.”

“Okay, that’s way too much to be coincidence,” he laughs, throwing another hard pitch my way.

I catch it in my glove and hold it there as I walk to the bench by the motel. “That part isn’t coincidence. I got her the job myself.”

He meets me by the bench. “Why?”

I reach down and grab my water bottle off the ground. “Because she’s having my baby.”

“And?”

“And I’m trying to secure a good future for it.”

“And…?”

“And
what
?”

He sits beside me. “And you’re securing a nice, warm bed buddy for the long road trip full of dudes.”

“It’s not like that. I mean, yeah, it’ll be nice to spend some time with a woman after being packed into a bus with you assholes all day.”

“Hell yeah, it would…”

“But it’s a little different. We agreed to start from the beginning but how do I get to know her without constantly thinking about that baby inside of her, you know?”

“Well…” Devin pauses. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Only child.”

“I’m the oldest of three,” he says. “My mom had my little sister when I was fifteen, so I remember the details pretty well. The most important thing to realize is that
yes
, she’s pregnant, and
yes
, that thing is probably dominating most of her thoughts
all the time
, but she’s still a woman. She’s still a
person
. And, as I shockingly discovered one afternoon when I came home from school early and walked in on her and my dad at the wrong moment, she still has
needs
.”