Page 35

SEVENTEEN

MILLIE

“How does anyone stay on this?” Radley moaned, followed by a loud thud and another moan. A more pained one.

Glancing around, I found her on the floor, and the yoga ball rolled over by the wall.

Pushing off my knees, I grabbed the remote and hit Pause on the YouTube video I’d found and tried to figure out why yoga for pregnant women was so hard.

“Maybe we should have gone to the class,” piped up Scout, who was lying prostrate on her ball but had been in that position so long she could easily be stuck. “Then they’d tell us where we were going wrong.”

“No way, I have to embarrass myself in the comfort of my own home first. I’m not making the mistake of going to that class never having done this before. Not after what we witnessed.”

A legitimate point , I thought.

It started earlier this morning. The boys had left for practice ahead of the next series, so Radley and I had decided to have a girls’ day before they returned to watch the final Braves versus Nats game, of which they’d be playing the winner in the NLDS.

This would be followed by the Saturday Night Live season opener, which Holiday was hosting.

Since Parker and Scout hadn’t been an official couple for long, and Scout traveled almost as much as the boys, Radley and I invited her to join us for brunch so we could get to know her better.

On the way to the restaurant to meet Scout, Radley declared she wanted to check out the pregnancy yoga place she’d read about.

There happened to be a class in session, full of women in their later stages of pregnancy all with bumps way bigger than mine as they rolled on their yoga balls, stretching and moving so gracefully, it could have been ballet.

Even peering through the glass I could feel the gentleness and calm, while a nimble instructor almost floated around the room with a poise I’d never had.

It was wholly and entirely intimidating.

At no point in my almost five months of pregnancy did I feel calm or gentle.

I felt sick, puffy, and sweaty at the very least. Maybe it was something that came in the third trimester, but I couldn’t see how, and there was no way I was attempting anything like that with witnesses.

Therefore, I decided to get the practice in at home and persuaded Radley and Scout to join me.

Maybe I could learn to be graceful.

Scout rolled to the side of her ball and fell off, proving gracefulness was virtually impossible, and those women were not normal. “I vote we make popcorn, get cozy, and put a movie on. The boys won’t be back for a while. ”

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day,” agreed Radley, jumping up. “We have salty and sweet, and extra buttery.”

“You guys pick the movie,” I said, because it was likely I’d fall asleep anyway. “I’m going to get a sweater.”

When I walked into my bedroom, the afternoon sun had dipped in the sky low enough that it was hitting the buildings, covering the city in an orange blanket. It was stunning.

October had always been my favorite month.

I loved the smell of leaves on the wood burner, the cool fall air when you could get cozy on your own terms with little more than a blanket, before the bitingly cold eastern weather hit for the winter.

But I’d admit I was a little excited to be pregnant over the holidays, when I wouldn’t need any excuses for hunkering down under a blanket wearing stretchy pants.

After peeing for the hundredth time today, I picked up a hoodie Tanner had left this morning, and let myself breathe him in. Woody, amber, and warmth, it was the scent of fall. The scent of happiness.

This scent is what made me calm. Not yoga.

Radley and Scout were huddled down on the couch when I walked back out, a huge bowl of popcorn on the table in front of them, plus three mugs of steaming hot chocolate topped with marshmallows.

“This is the dream,” I announced, plopping myself down next to Radley, plumping up a cushion, and pulling one of the throws over me. “What are we watching?”

“ How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days ,” Scout replied.

Scooping up a handful of popcorn, I dropped a couple of pieces into my mouth. “It’s a classic. ”

“I vote for more weekends like this now the season is ending, and I have school all week.”

“How is school?” asked Scout, through a slurp of hot chocolate.

“It’s okay, it kind of sucks being there without Millie, but I have some friends in class who make it fun. We all miss Millie though.” Radley smiled, snuggling down and placing my legs across hers. “But I’m bringing her all the assignments so she can feel like she’s still with us.”

Yeah, I wasn’t sure how much I’d be doing. I’d read through the first assignment Radley had been given—an essay on the symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe’s work—and decided I could wait another year before tackling it.

“When’s your Christmas break?”

“My last class is December tenth, and Lux has us booked for vacation on the eleventh.” She laughed.

Scout reached forward, taking a fistful of popcorn. “Where are you going?”

“Bahamas, I think. We went last year, it was so peaceful and private. Do you have any vacations? Do you have the offseason like the boys?”

“A little,” she replied. “Not as much as them because we use the time to pull all the plans together for the following year, but it’s more chilled for sure. Parker and I have vacation time planned for November, right after the World Series.”

“Where are you heading?” I asked.

“Don’t know, it’s a surprise. But he’s told me to pack a bikini, so I can’t complain.”

The idea of wearing a bikini and walking along a warm, sandy beach had me sighing softly. I probably wouldn’t have to work hard to persuade Tanner to take one, although given we’d only agreed yesterday to take things very, very slowly on a trial basis, a vacation together seemed contradictory.

We were doing everything backward, sideways, all the ways except the one that made the most sense.

We were having a baby together, and since yesterday we’d had more sex than I’d had all year.

I was happily taking things one day at a time, but I was also struggling to separate what the baby wanted from what I wanted—namely to be around Tanner.

Have him with me, have him touching me.

It was almost impossible to believe he used to be the biggest pain in my ass, but I needed to be sure that I wanted to be with him for me, too, not just the baby. Like it or not, we were tied for life.

“Do you guys have plans?”

I rubbed a hand over my belly—which according to the app was lemon size this week—an unconscious movement of mine these days. “No plans, except to get prepared for this one.”

“Are you excited?”

“I think so.” I smiled. “It’s taken a lot of getting used to the idea I’m going to be a mom, but Tanner’s making it easier for sure. He’s been so helpful, and supportive.”

“Do you have names picked out?”

Ignoring the tightness in my throat, I replied, “Yes. If it’s a boy, we’re naming him after my dad.”

Radley’s eyes widened, and her soft smile spread over her face. “I love that idea.”

“Me too.”

For reasons I couldn’t work out, it hadn’t occurred to me to name the baby after my dad.

I’d decided it was perhaps down to the fact that everything to do with the pregnancy seemed to be a surprise and I was still figuring it out one day at a time.

One task at a time. But of course, Tanner had proved himself again and again that of the two of us, he seemed to be the one most capable.

His idea of naming the baby Brady meant more to me than he could ever possibly know, and when I’d called my mom to tell her, the emotion in her voice set off my own flood of tears.

We had less than a month before we found out if Brady Simpson was going to make an entrance. Or if Poppy would be gracing us with her presence instead.

“Have your families met yet?”

I shook my head. “No, we’re doing the family meetings once the season is over. Then we have until Spring Training to get everything ready.”

“Wow, it’s come around so quickly,” Scout said. “I feel like it was only a couple of months ago when Tanner was talking about you while trying to get me to date Parker.”

“Tell me about it.” I laughed, my eyes flicking to the screen with Matthew McConaughey’s face paused. “Everything’s moving so quickly, it’s scary. And on that note, shall we start the movie? Otherwise the boys will be back before the end.”

As expected, I fell asleep. I only got as far as the scene where the bet is made, before the day swept over me and I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

Not even for a second hot chocolate. It wasn’t until the elevator pinged that I woke up, and opened my eyes to spot Parker, Lux, and Tanner walking out carrying their sports bags, which were promptly dumped on the floor.

“What’s happening here?” asked Lux, taking in the popcorn and marshmallows, plus the couple of glasses of wine, which Radley and Scout appeared to have moved onto while I slept.

“Girl time,” replied Radley, jumping up for a kiss.

Stretching my arms out from under the blanket, I caught sight of Tanner marching toward me dressed in his black Lions hoodie and sweatpants, his bright blue eyes trained on me with a smile splitting his face.

A flutter of butterflies swept through my chest the closer he got, until he was all I could see.

He was so assured and it felt so normal that he’d beelined toward me, I could hardly think of a time when he didn’t. Or why I would ever stop him.

His hands found the bump first, and he bent down with a kiss.

“Hi, baby lemon,” he murmured, before moving up until he hovered over me, his lips lined up perfectly to mine, hesitating for a split second, silently asking permission to do the same to me. I tipped my chin closer to his and granted it. “Hi, Baby Mama. How’s it going?”

“Good.” I grinned back. “We did a little yoga, and I had a nap, as you can see.”