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SIX

TANNER

“Hey, Mills, wait up. Mills.”

She spun around at the sound of someone yelling her name. Her eyes darted through the dozen or so people crossing the sidewalk before landing on mine as I jogged toward her, expertly dodging a couple of guys heading in the opposite direction to me.

I was lucky I’d spotted her, because I didn’t know where exactly I was supposed to have been headed.

Just that the doctor’s office was in the brownstone-style building next to the bronze skyscraper not far from my apartment on Tenth, which is what she’d said in her message to me when I’d asked where her doctor was.

She’d also called the building cute—this cute brownstone .

I’d never thought of a building as being cute, but yeah, I mean, I guess it was okay. If you liked that sort of thing.

“What are you doing here?” she asked when I stopped in front of her, her big brown eyes wide, and her perfectly shaped brows knitted together slightly while she tried to figure out what was happening, and how she felt about it.

Namely, me attending her appointment.

It wasn’t an entirely unwelcoming expression— those I was familiar with.

In the time I’d known her, the grumpy, surly side of Millie was one I had become well aquatinted with.

It was the one I saw most, and, truthfully, the one I enjoyed.

Even when she spent time in our apartment, coming over with Radley to watch a movie, or anytime we’d been out as a collective group of Lux and Radley’s friends, she barely offered me more than a withered look, or a snarl.

While we’d progressed from those days—evident by the reason for this doctor’s visit—I still hadn’t been certain that turning up unexpectedly wouldn’t cause us to regress. But she didn’t look mad, she looked confused. Though I’d take that over the crying.

“You have your doctor’s appointment, right?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“Oh good. Let’s go.”

“You’re coming?”

I flashed her my best grin. “I told you, I’m supporting . Any and all appointments, plus the rest of the shit that comes with a baby, I’ll be there.”

The frown she was wearing only became more pronounced. “Don’t you have practice or something?”

“It’s nine a.m. What time do you think practice is?” I laughed.

She shrugged. “I dunno.”

Tugging on her arm, I moved us out of the way of several passing New Yorkers.

The middle of the street wasn’t the best place to stand at any time, let alone during rush hour, but it was a great time to be out and not get recognized because everyone was far too busy hurrying to work to pay attention to anything and anyone around them.

“For home game days, we have to report to the grounds by lunchtime. Therefore, any baby stuff that takes place in the morning, consider me there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why’d you look so surprised.”

“I dunno, I know you said you’d support, but I just didn’t know what that would look like.”

I waved a hand down my body. “It looks like this.”

Her mouth rolled into a line, and I tried hard not to stare. I didn’t know exactly what we were to each other, beyond two people at the beginning of a pregnancy journey with less than a clue between them, but I knew enough that I probably shouldn’t try to kiss her. No matter how much I wanted to.

“Okay then.”

My neck craned up at the brownstone. “So this is the cute building?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, my doctor is on the third floor.”

“Then let’s go.” I jogged up the steps and held the door open for her. “So what’s the appointment today?”

“Just to talk about next steps. I need to tell the doctor I’m… we’re …going to have the baby.”

I didn’t dare look at Millie when she uttered those words, because I also didn’t want her to see the nervousness on my face, but I figured she must have had at least some of the trepidation because the two flights of stairs we walked up were taken in silence.

I found a seat while Millie registered at the reception desk.

I thought the place would be covered in pictures of babies, or parents with babies, or models of babies.

But it wasn’t. Just a couple of large plants and a low coffee table covered in magazines, as well as a jug filled with ice and curled slices of cucumber.

In the opposite corner sat a man, his eyes darting up to mine every couple of seconds in that way where someone recognizes you but can’t quite remember where he’s recognized you.

If I hadn’t grabbed one of Parker’s plain black trucker caps which was a little bit too big, the guy would probably be asking for a photo already.

Luckily Millie barely had time to sit down before we were called in, and the guy went back to his magazine.

“Hi, Millie, please come in,” said a stern-looking woman, peering around the frame of the door to usher us inside. Her eyes scanned the length of my body, before landing back on my face with a raised eyebrow. “And you must be the father?”

I stuck my hand out, not expecting to receive quite such a firm shake back. “Tanner.”

“Great. Sit down, please.”

The doctor took a seat on the other side of her desk from us, behind a screen that almost completely blocked her view, and began typing. “Your bloodwork’s come back to confirm your pregnancy.”

From the corner of my eye I noticed Millie’s fist clench, before she rammed them between her legs. I wanted to reach out and hold her hand, but I figured she’d only snatch it away.

“So, have you made a decision on how you’d like to proceed?”

Millie glanced briefly at me and nodded. “Yes, we’re going to go ahead.”

“Okay.” The doctor opened her drawer and pulled out a thick wedge of leaflets, which she placed in front of us.

The top one had a picture of the baby I’d been expecting in the reception area.

I left it where it was. “First thing you need to do is make an appointment with your OBGYN. Have you got one in the city?”

She said obigeewyen so quickly I was still trying to figure out what it was and whether I had one, but Millie shook her head. “No, she’s back in D.C.”

“Well, given that your last period was in May and intercourse took place not long after, we know your baby will be due roughly sometime toward in the middle of March?—”

“During the preseason.”

The doctor and Millie stopped talking and stared at me.

I coughed away the lump in my throat that had appeared out of nowhere. “Sorry, I just meant, the preseason starts in February and the regular season end of March.”

The doctor pulled off her glasses, two large creases appeared on her brow. “What season?”

“Baseball, ma’am. Um…sorry, I mean, doc. After Spring Training.”

“Oh, right. Okay.” The doctor frowned and turned back to Millie. “As I was saying, if your OBGYN is in D.C., then you might want to think about getting one up here if you want to have the baby in the city. Have you decided on your plans for school?”

Millie nodded. “Yes, I’m going to defer a year.”

“But you’re staying in New York? Or going back to D.C.?”

The way the conversation was playing out caused my heart to pound hard in my chest. The idea that Millie would be pregnant and in another city hadn’t occurred to me, and from the way my mouth dried up, I didn’t like it. Especially when Millie turned to me with an apologetic smile.

“We need to talk about it, I guess. We’re still getting used to the idea.” Her eyes flicked to the doctor and back. “I guess it makes sense to stay here for appointments. You’ll be here for the rest of the season. That’s easier for you, if you’re sure you want to come with me.”

The flash of panic subsided with a deep breath as I smiled gratefully at her, even if I didn’t like the way she said if you’re sure . “Yes, I’m sure. Let’s get one of these OBGYNs in New York.”

The doctor cleared her throat. “We can set you up with one in the city. Doctor Humphries is one of the best OBs we have in our practice here. I can set up an appointment with her for your twelve-week ultrasound if you’d like? We can share notes with your D.C. doctor if needed.”

“Thank you, sounds good.”

“Excellent,” said the doctor, clacking away at her keyboard. “August eleventh?—”

“It needs to be early morning,” Millie interrupted, and the way her eyes glanced my way, along with a small smile, had my heart kicking hard in my chest .

“Ten a.m. then.” The doctor picked up the leaflets and this time held them out for one of us to take.

“Read through these and they’ll give you all the information you need about what will happen.

I’m going to suggest some prenatal vitamins for you, and let me grab your blood pressure before you go, then we’re all set. ”

The doctor scribbled everything down on a pad, and I took the list from her.

While she got busy taking Millie’s blood pressure, I shot a quick message to my nutritionist. He provided me with all the supplements I took on a daily basis, so I figured he could get these, too, and drop them off at the club with my usual supply.

“Good luck, call me if you need anything,” the doctor said as the pair of us stood. We must have both been wearing that caught-in-the-headlights expression because she added, “You’re going to be fine.”

Once again, we walked in silence until we stepped outside and the AC was replaced by the humid New York air and the honk of traffic. I looked down at my watch; 9:40. It was rare I was even awake at this time, especially during the season.

I stifled a yawn. “Hey, you wanna go get coffee? We can read over the leaflets?”

“Sure,” Millie replied. “I should probably find out if I’m even allowed coffee.”