Chapter 12
Teagan
No. Fucking. Way.
This has to be some sort of joke the universe is playing on me, right?
Because while I was trying to contact the man who is the father of my baby, I didn’t anticipate him being the uncle of one of my students.
Olivia runs into her uncle’s arms, and he wraps his around her back, but his eyes don’t leave mine. In fact, the way they run up and down my body makes my stomach flip, so I look away and turn my attention to checking her name off the pick-up list like I do every day.
Olivia’s mom, Camille, has picked her up a few times since I started here, but I never realized their striking resemblance until now, seeing as Camille has blonde hair and blue eyes, and Baseball Guy has dark hair with hazel ones.
“Coach Teagan, this is my uncle Quentin,” Olivia says from behind me and I curse under my breath.
As I turn, I see Quentin stand to his full height before he walks toward me with Olivia’s hand tucked in his and tosses out his free one in the space between us.
“It’s nice to see you do have a name,” he quips, giving me a knowing smile.
“Agreed. Baseball Guy was too generic.” I attempt some light teasing, but the tone isn’t there.
It comes out flat as we stare at one another.
The last time we saw each other, I left him in his car after rejecting him, and now, I’m pregnant with Blueberry, his baby, so my ability to tease right now isn’t very good.
Quentin’s head tilts slightly at my tone, his face searching mine to figure out what’s going on.
“How did you know my uncle was a baseball player? He pitches for the Detroit Panthers, and my dad plays third base. Oh, and my mom takes photos for the team,” Olivia babbles on, not picking up on the awkward moment.
This can’t be happening. How is it possible that he plays on the same team as my brother? I’ve been to a few games over the years, but I’ve never paid enough attention to who his teammates were.
I guess maybe I should’ve, and then I wouldn’t have slept with one of them, to avoid this disaster. Well, let’s hope it doesn’t turn into that.
“We met once,” Quentin tells her, making my eyes widen because I didn’t expect him to tell her that. “But she told me she was a figure skater.”
“Coach Teagan is an Olympic gymnast. She’s amazing and the best coach,” Olivia supplies, making me turn my attention to her as my chest warms from her praise.
Quentin’s eyebrows rise. “Holy sh—sheesh.” His eyes dart to Olivia, who looks like she knows exactly what word he was going to say. “That’s amazing.”
“Thanks,” I say dryly, and I want to berate myself for being so weird. “I lied to protect my privacy,” I blurt.
“Because you didn’t want to risk seeing me again. I get it. It was nice to see you again,” he says, but I don’t miss the hurt that flashes in his eyes. He looks back at his niece. “Let’s go, Liv.”
I watch them walk away when panic surges through my body, knowing that I need to tell him, but being terrified of doing it all the same.
It’s now or never, I remind myself.
“Quentin,” I call out just as he pushes the door open.
He pauses and looks over his shoulder, and God, why is he so devastatingly hot? If we’re going to co-parent, I need to not be affected by this man.
“Can we talk?”
“I can’t right now. I’m watching Liv for the night,” he replies, making my stomach sink. “But”—a spark of hope lights inside me—“I’ll give you my number. Reach out to me whenever you want.”
He repeats his number for me and leaves with Liv. As soon as the door closes, I bend over, hands on my knees as I let out a breath. Not just because of the fact that I randomly ran into the father of my child, but because of the realization that eventually, Ian will know.
Ian is…hard to read sometimes if you don’t know him well. And I know for a fact, he’s not going to be happy that the father of this baby is one of his teammates. I never cared to look up the teammate my brother has been bitching about since he joined the team, but maybe I should have.
Because now, he’s the father of my child.
This should be fun.
Me
I know we’re supposed to get together tomorrow, but can you guys come over tonight instead? Something came up.
Clara
Sure, no problem. Works for me :)
Kaya
Same here, tonight’s good. I’ll grab food, what do you all want?
Lately, I’ve been craving pita bread and hummus, so I suggest our all-time favorite takeout.
Me
Taste of Mediterranean?
Clara
YUM! I’m in. What can I bring?
Kaya
Not burnt cookies.
Clara
…it was one time!! I swear I’m a better baker now.
Me
Let’s not test that theory tonight.
Kaya
Agreed.
I’m pacing in my living room later that night as I await the arrival of Clara and Kaya, while the band Ghost plays on the speaker, trying to drown out my racing thoughts.
I texted Quentin when I got home, and we made plans to meet up for dinner tomorrow at a place he promises we won’t be spotted at. He surprised me with the ease that he agreed to meet up with me, considering how hurt he was at the realization that I lied to him on top of me rejecting him.
It probably means he’s a good guy, the opposite of me, because if a man rejected me, then I found out he lied to me and wanted to talk, I’d probably tell him to fuck off.
“Open the door!” Clara yells over the music from outside my door.
Shit. I rush toward it and fling it open.
“Sorry,” I shout as I turn down the volume from my phone. Clara waves me off and squeezes me in a hug. I squeeze her back when another pair of arms wraps around us, which I know to be Kaya’s.
“We were only knocking for a minute or two,” Kaya explains.
“The music was so loud. My bad. Thank you guys for coming over,” I say once we part. “I know how difficult it is this time of year with everyone’s schedules.”
“We’re exactly where we want to be. You needed us, so we’re here.” Kaya smiles as she sets down three takeout containers on the island from our favorite Mediterranean restaurant.
“Can we eat first? I’m starving, and you know if I start talking first, it’s game over for me,” Clara says as she plops down on my island stool.
“Of course,” I reply, sitting next to her as I open my container and dig into a grape leaf.
“Since you can’t multitask…” Kaya points her fork at Clara as she talks, then points it at me. “How’s ESA?”
“Honestly, it’s going better than I thought.
I don’t love managing their behaviors, but I’m actually enjoying the coaching part.
It keeps me in gymnastics and will hopefully help with the whole getting back on Team USA thing,” I answer, feeling uneasy at the thought because it’s now going to be even harder than before with taking time off to recover once the baby is born.
“I’m really happy for you,” Clara remarks with a mouthful. “Even if I want to punch your coach right in the dick.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Screw that guy and anyone else who had a part in that whole thing. Are you sure you don’t want to go to the media about it?” Kaya asks.
During my two weeks of wallowing in my condo, I wondered that so many times. But the fear of making the situation worse somehow and losing my chance for good kept me at bay.
“No,” I say on swallow. “It’s better to just leave it as it is, and I trust Nina’s methods.”
“She truly is the best,” Clara chimes in, seeing as Nina is also her agent.
“That’s true,” Kaya says, then adds, “By the way, I’m glad you’re happy in your new job too. I kind of miss ESA, so it’s cool that you’re back there. It was intense, don’t get me wrong. But that’s where we all met and I’ll cherish those memories forever.”
“I know, walking around campus every day brings back all the good times we had together there. Like two days ago, I was walking past the bench near the cafeteria where we all gushed about our first kisses in freshman year.”
“Oh, I remember that day. It was the Monday after our first high school party on the weekend,” Kaya says wistfully, as I’m sure the memories of our youth are playing out in her mind.
“Yup, and we were all so excited we had that first together,” Clara chimes in as she dabs her mouth with a napkin. “I hope we do all of life’s firsts together. Marriage, babies. Imagine our babies being best friends?”
I nearly drop my fork at the word babies, because how did we end up on this topic so soon into the night?
“I don’t want kids, remember?” Kaya points out.
“Still, you can be an aunty,” Clara replies as my heart pounds rapidly against my chest. How the hell did the conversation go from casual to this?
My palms sweat as my stomach twists with nerves. I wipe my hand on my sweats, my entire body warming up as my mind swirls at the prospect of telling them.
While I know they will be supportive, I think I’m scared because the more I tell people, the more real it seems, and I have no idea what I’m doing.
I feel like it’s the perfect time to tell them, and I’m about to when Clara speaks up again.
“Oh, by the way, tell your mom I said thank you for the new medication. I haven’t had an asthma flare-up in months,” Clara says to Kaya, who smiles softly, while I let out a low breath of relief at having a few more minutes to gather myself.
Kaya’s mom is a respiratory doctor, and Clara has been seeing her since she moved here for her asthma.
“I’m so glad to hear that. I’ll be sure to tell her once they’re back from visiting my Lola.”
We listen to Kaya as she tells us about her parents’ adventures in the Philippines, all the while I do my best to be present.
The room seems to be caving in as their words become distant and breathing grows more labored. I ground myself by rubbing my hands up and down my thighs while trying to control my breathing. It takes a few moments, but I’m able to slowly soothe myself all the while neither of them even noticed.
When I tune back into the conversation, Clara is going on about a potential trade rumor when I blurt out, “I’m pregnant.”
A fork clatters onto the granite counter, while two sets of wide eyes turn to me.