Page 7

FOUR

TANNER

Millie: Are you awake?

Millie: Never mind it’s too early, can you meet me when you’re awake?

Millie: At the diner where we had breakfast that time

Millie: It’s Millie by the way

Well, well, well.

The clock said 6:40 a.m. She’d sent these messages thirty minutes ago. Why was she even awake? Come to think of it, why was I awake?

I turned my phone over and tried to go back to sleep, but even as I was closing my eyes I knew it was pointless.

I reached for my phone again. Four messages from Millie among another dozen from the Simpson Family Group Chat , and a couple from my mom, which I ignored.

It was the first time I’d heard from Millie in six weeks. Since the day we’d slept together.

I really should go back to sleep. I had a game later, and we were flying to Chicago as soon as we were done.

But there was no way I could sleep now. Millie had had my full attention from the day I’d met her, and right now was no different. Throwing back the covers, I jumped out of bed and ran out of my room to across the hallway. I needed advice.

Inching open the door, I could just about make out the mop of blonde hair on the pillow. Usually waking up my sister resulted in pain close to death, but this was an emergency.

“Hol. Hol, ” I hissed, padding across the hardwood floors. She didn’t move, so I knelt on the mattress and tried again, this time with a prod. “Holiday. Wake up. Millie texted me. I need you to tell me what to do.”

A loud grunt came from somewhere under the comforter.

“What time is it?”

I glanced at the clock and decided no good would come from telling her. “Um, not sure. Morning time. Hol, I need you. Please.”

A hand emerged and slapped down on the pillow, palm facing up. Taking the opportunity, I carefully placed my phone in it, only for it to disappear back into the tangle of sheets.

I hoped she wouldn’t take too long, but I laid down next to her anyway and stared up at the ceiling.

In an unusual turn of events, I hadn’t told any of the guys about the afternoon I’d spent with Millie all those weeks ago. Six weeks. Forty-five days. One thousand and eighty hours .

Not that I was counting.

But for all that time I hadn’t spilled on the biggest secret I’d held since I was a teenager and Holiday had sneaked us out of our parents’ house in the middle of the night to watch a midnight showing of The Wolf of Wall Street at the drive-in, even though we weren’t old enough to drive.

We’d taken a blanket and sat on the hill behind the drive-in field.

After the first hour of Leonardo DiCaprio, I’d fallen asleep.

I knew if I told the guys, they’d share their opinions about me needing to move on, and burst my bubble. I was officially the only single guy in the apartment, therefore they all felt they had expertise over me—they didn’t, at least Parker didn’t.

The only person I’d confided in—because I’d needed to tell someone—was Holiday, my twin, my best friend, and favorite person in the whole world.

The one who knew me better than I knew myself.

She was also who I turned to whenever I needed help, plus I told her everything anyway, so it didn’t really count.

Holiday’s advice had been to sit tight, give Millie her space, and let her come to me when she was ready.

A month went past, and I truly began to doubt my sister knew what she was talking about.

I’d stared and stared at my phone for hours, waiting to see if a message would come through.

I’d had all the guys message me, in case my phone was broken, but it wasn’t.

I was spending more and more time at Holiday’s place in Greenwich Village because she was the only one I could talk to about Millie.

“ Tanner ,” Holiday screeched suddenly, her head shooting out of the covers. “It’s not even seven a.m. Gahhh.”

Turning my head on the pillow as nonchalantly as possible, I replied, “Oh, really? I was wide awake. Huh, well, what do you think I should do.”

“Go and meet her,” she snapped, pulling the pillow from under my head and throwing it over her face. “And let me go back to sleep.”

“Got it.” I grinned and dropped a kiss to the only part of her head visible. “Thanks, Hol, love you.”

I took her grunt to mean she loved me too.

Tanner: Good morning to you too. I can be there in thirty minutes.

I made it in twenty-nine minutes.

And now here I was, walking into the diner where we’d had our first date (as I liked to think of it). I’d never been here this early, and it was surprisingly busy. But even though nearly all the tables were full, I’d spotted her the second I’d pulled up outside.

Because I didn’t see her on a daily basis, every time I laid eyes on her again felt like the first time I had.

My heart juddered against my rib cage as I soaked her in, even from this distance, through the slightly dirty windows.

She sat in a booth by the wall, waiting, dark hair tossed over her shoulder and so glossy it looked like it had received a fresh coat of paint.

In the six weeks that had passed, her golden skin had deepened to a luscious bronze from her July Fourth at the beach (according to Radley) .

Eyes the color of milk chocolate kept flicking toward the door, but it wasn’t until she spotted me, her mouth forming into a nervous smile, that my heart really felt like it might burst.

I slipped in opposite her. “Hey.”

“Hi,” she replied, chewing on her lip.

“How’ve you been?” I asked at the exact same time she said, “Thank you for coming. Sorry it’s so early.”

I didn’t bother to tell her it could have been the middle of the night and I’d still have come. Holiday wouldn’t have been happy though.

“I was awake,” I replied instead.

“Are you hungry? I just got here. Do you want coffee?”

“Yeah, I’ll take a coffee.” My eyes moved up to Giuseppe as he walked over with two glasses and a pitcher of water. “Hey, man, how’s it going?”

“Better now you’re in here. I know with my breakfast we’re gonna win tonight. You flying out later?”

I chuckled. “Yeah.”

“And you, young lady, are you going to finish what I put in front of you?”

“Um…I’m actually not hungry yet,” Millie began as the color slowly leached from her face. “Could I just get a mint tea?”

I frowned a little. As long as I’d known her, coffee was her drink of choice. Every time she came into the apartment with Radley, she’d head straight for the coffee machine.

“I’ll take hers, Gui, pile up my plate.” I winked at him, turning back to Millie when he walked off.

The tiny diamond stud inside the shell of her ear caught the light as she tucked a strand of hair behind it. She then went about straightening up all the packets of sugar, tidying the salt and pepper, and lining up our glasses of water with the placemats.

“Millie.” I placed my hand over hers and stilled it. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yes.” She brushed her hair back again and nodded. “I…um…I wanted to, uh…apologize. The last time…I behaved so badly. I’m sorry for what I said to you about…um, and for making you leave.”

She looked so uncomfortable with her hands twisting into little knots, and so unlike the confident sassy girl I’d always known that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s not funny.”

“I know,” I replied, waiting as one of the servers returned with my coffee and her tea. “I’ve never been kicked out of someone’s dorm before. First time for everything.” I laughed, though when her face paled further, I decided it was perhaps too early to make jokes. “Hey, I’m kidding.”

“I’m pregnant.”

I wished she’d picked a different moment to blurt news of this magnitude, and not right when I’d taken a sip of coffee. Hot liquid spluttered in my face, sprayed all over her, all over our booth, some of the table next to us—basically, anything within the vicinity.

The dispenser of napkins couldn’t dispense them quickly enough. Millie was wiping herself down while apologizing, and I was too busy trying not to choke, or breathe in any more coffee.

“Did…” C ough . “You…” Cough. “Just say you’re…” Cough. “Pregnant?”

She nodded. “Yes. I did. I’m pregnant. ”

“And…and…” I pointed to myself. “Me?”

She nodded again. “Yes. It’s yours.”

I was still wiping my face dry and coughing up the remains of the coffee I’d inhaled to focus too much on what she’d said.

Taking a big gulp of water I sat back and tried to gather some semblance of a thought but my mind was blank.

Totally blank. I don’t know what Millie was thinking, but when I glanced up at her, tears were pouring silently down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I had antibiotics, and I forgot. I told you I was on birth control…”

“Hey, stop, slow down.” I slid into the booth seat next to her, wrapping my arms around her while she sobbed into my chest. “Millie, breathe.”

While I might come to this diner enough for the owners to know me, and it was close enough to the stadium that the majority of patrons were likely Lions fans, it wasn’t the best idea to be sitting in public comforting a crying female. A pregnant one, no less.

Pregnant. What the actual fuck?

Images of diapers, rubber ducks, and those teeny-tiny baby hats appeared in my vision.

Ever since I’d started having sex, my dad had drilled it into me to always use protection, and when I moved into the MLB, it was drilled into every member of the team to always use protection that you’d provided. It didn’t matter what the girl said or did. Or how many packets of condoms there were.

Unless you’d bought them, you didn’t have sex. And up to six weeks ago I’d lived that code.

Too many stories of guys being trapped into pregnancy the second they hit the big leagues floated around the clubs. Money they’d worked their asses off for rising through the ranks of the minors now had to be shared out because of one stupid decision.

But with Millie, I hadn’t hesitated.

I’d wanted her so badly, that I’d never stopped to think twice.