Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jason
I awoke to a buzzing. My phone? I checked to find a couple of messages from Franky.
I’m outside.
Are you awake?
Then another buzzing sound, but this time my intercom.
My phone said 7:15am, which meant I’d been asleep for three hours.
The season was in full swing with five games behind us.
The last eight days had been a killer road trip—won two, lost one—and I was looking forward to pizza on the sofa, catching up on my shows, and icing my knee, which was playing up after the last game in LA.
But Franky was here.
Was this bad news? If she was pregnant, she would probably have texted after my last game. Showing up in person seemed like an ominous sign.
I bounded down the stairs and opened the door.
She had descended a couple of steps, evidently giving up on rousing my tired ass, but now she turned.
In her brown blazer over a cream turtleneck and a green corduroy knee-length skirt with tobacco-colored boots, she was what you would see in Merriam’s beside “liberal arts professor, subspecies: New England.”
She pushed back her glasses. “You’re awake.”
“Wasn’t that the point of the messages and the loud buzzing?” I stepped outside. “Are you okay?”
Her gaze dipped over my body. Color pinked her cheeks, but it might have been the chill in the air. “It’s thirty-five degrees, Jason. You’re going to freeze.”
So I was in my underwear. She was lucky I was even wearing that. Or maybe unlucky she’d missed out on the main event: a naked Jason Isner.
“Are we okay?”
Her lips curved, her smile spreading like golden butter across her face.
“We are.”
That big, and getting bigger by the second, grin could mean only one thing.
“Doc, are you … pregnant?”
“Yes!”
I’d imagined this moment. I had thought that maybe there would be smug satisfaction at having made a woman, this woman, pregnant. But that didn’t even enter the picture.
Okay, perhaps a little.
Mostly, I felt an overwhelming abundance of joy.
I picked her up and spun her around. “We’re havin’ a baby!”
She gasped a laugh and thumped my shoulder. “Jason, put me down!”
“Nope.”
“You’re going to put your back out.”
“Not a chance. I’m as limber as they come.” I could barely feel the throb in my knee. “Plus, this might be the last chance I can lift you because you’re about to get heav-y.”
That made her laugh, and she was still laughing as I brought her inside and kicked the door shut. I placed her down gently but kept my hands on her hips.
“How are you feeling? When did you find out? Have you seen a doctor? I mean, a real doctor, not a PhD. No offense, but you’re not really qualified to birth your own kid here, Doc, so don’t even think that’s an option.”
“Never said I was. To answer your questions, I’m feeling fine.
No morning sickness yet. I found out yesterday after I took six different brand pregnancy tests.
I’ve not seen a doctor, but I have an appointment the day after tomorrow.
And yes, she’s a real doctor, though she might have a PhD as well. Many medical professionals do.”
Wow. How had I gone from thinking this woman was an insufferable know-it-all to loving that she had all the answers?
She smiled up at me. “Your boys did well.”
“Told you spicing it up was a good option. My swimmers needed the freedom to roam.”
“I guess they did. You were right, but don’t get used to hearing it.”
That night in Detroit, almost three weeks ago, we had used that hotel bed well. Once more after dinner, and twice again overnight because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. We had stayed in touch by text, but nothing beat seeing her in person.
We were going to be parents.
I grinned. “Come into the kitchen and tell me all the details.”
“Sorry, I have a class to teach at eight, and then I have a call with a colleague in Philadelphia.”
Disappointment checked me. “Okay. You want to come over tonight and celebrate?”
“I have a prior appointment, I’m afraid. I wanted to give you the news in person, but there isn’t really anything more to tell.”
Hmm. Why did this feel like the kiss off? And more to the point, why was I trying to force her to play at happy families? Sure, I wanted to be involved, but this was her deal. We were not a couple.
“Okay, I should let you get on.”
She took a step back, then jumped forward, and gave me a hug.
“Thank you, Jason.”
Wrapping her up tight, I shut my eyes and touched my lips to her hair. It had been forever since I’d held her, and knowing the last time was the night we made a baby washed over me like a soft wave of lust mixed with pride and not a little sadness.
Because this also felt like goodbye.
Goodbye to our efforts to conceive. To sneaking around. To the fun times we had in bed—and out of it, if I was being honest.
She pulled back, though her fingers lingered on my chest. “I should let you get back to sleep. You played well this last week.”
I had something to play for, that sizzle of anticipation. Now I had even more on the line.
I was going to be a dad.
“Thanks to you, too, Francesca.” I kissed her forehead, inhaled her scent, let it buoy me. “We did it.”
She nodded, words seeming to fail her. I knew how she felt. Then she stepped outside to get on with her day without me.