Coach was quiet for a second.
"Glad to see you finally pulled your head out of your ass, Spencer,” he growled. “Let's give it a week or two for things to settle down, and then I'd like to talk to you about what comes next for you and the team.”
I cleared my throat. "Actually, Coach, that's one of the things I wanted to mention to you. I'm going to be out of town for a little while.” I hadn't been sure how much I was going to share with him, but I found myself wanting to be completely honest. "The thing is, sir, I found out that . . . well, sir, I'm going to be a father."
"Holy fuck, Spencer. It's not Juliet, is it?" The level of panic in his voice almost made me want to smile.
"No, sir,” I answered. “Before—well, before I was in the hospital for my second surgery, I started dating a woman I’d known casually for a while, and it grew to be a little bit more. I didn't know about the baby until last week. That part’s all on me because I was being such a stubborn pain in the ass, but now that I know, I'm doing the right thing."
Coach blew out a long breath. "Spencer, when you decide to do something, you don't do it in half measures, do you?”
I pinched my lips together. "No sir,” I managed to say.
"Well, where are you going to be?" he inquired. “Back in Wisconsin?”
"No, sir. Not that far away. It’s a little town called Bayerton, just about half an hour outside of Tampa. So I’ll be in the neighborhood. I'm going to be staying there for a while. Alison—she's the baby's mother—she just had sort of a health scare. I’m at the hospital with her now, and she needs somebody to stay with her."
"All right, then,” Coach said. "Listen, keep in touch, okay? Once things settle down, I want to talk to you some more."
"Sir, if it's about the negotiations for my retirement, my agent –" I began.
"No, no, not about that. Don't worry about it now. We’re not going to let you down. I told you before that this team's family, and I meant it. But eventually, I want to talk to you about something else. About that second act we mentioned. You weren't ready to hear it then, but in a couple of months, it might be something interesting for you."
"I'll definitely stay in touch, sir," I promised. I glanced at my watch. "I'm sorry to cut you off, but I need to get back up to Alison's room. She’s going to be discharged today, and I'm afraid that if I'm not there, she might try to wheelchair it home."
Coach chuckled. "I remember what it's like, living with a pregnant woman," he remarked. “All I have to say to you is good luck.” He paused. “And don't forget that we’re here if you need us."
"I won't, sir. I'll talk to you soon.” I hung up the phone and turned back toward the lobby, suddenly feeling more at peace than I could remember being in a long time.
Chapter 8
Alison
When I’d bought my three-bedroom house in Bayerton, I’d wondered if I was crazy to choose a home with so many extra rooms. I had planned to use the extra bedrooms as an office and a guestroom respectively, although I'd been dubious about who’d be coming to visit me, making the guestroom necessary.
Now, of course, I planned to turn the small room near mine into the baby's nursery instead of an office. I'd long ago given up on the plan to make the bedroom into an office when I’d realized that I preferred to do any paperwork at home downstairs in my living room to be comfortable. I’d ended up buying a bed for the guestroom on a whim when I fell in love with a pretty fourposter at an antique fair. I’d bought a new mattress for it that remained wrapped in plastic, sitting on the bed frame without sheets or a quilt.
I explained all of this to Noah as we drove home from the hospital.
“At least you won't have to sleep on the sofa,” I told him, finishing my meandering story of bedrooms. I hoped he didn't see it as it was: my nervousness at the idea of having him in the house, day and night, so close that I could touch him whenever I wanted, and yet completely out of my reach, because I knew that getting involved with him would be an exercise in heartbreak.
Noah shrugged. “I figured if you didn't have enough space, I’d get an air mattress to toss on the floor,” he said easily. “Don't sweat this, Alison. It's going to be fine.”
“I'm not sweating anything,” I snapped back, folding my arms over my chest. I felt cranky and anxious, and I didn't like it a bit.
"You are very much sweating it,” Noah said, a note of amusement creeping into his voice. “I can practically feel you over there, coming up with a dozen different ways that this is never going to work."
"Well, can you blame me?" I burst out. "Noah, do you realize that this is the first time I've been in your car? The first time that you’ve driven me anywhere?"
Frowning, he slid a quick glance my way before turning his gaze back to the road. "Okay, I give up. What the hell is that supposed to mean? What significance does that have?"
I rolled my eyes. "I mean that that's how little we really know each other. That's how little time we spent together. Generally, two people have at least been in each other's cars before they conceive a child."
Noah smirked. "I'd like to see the statistics on that factoid," he remarked. "I have a feeling that more babies are conceived in one-night stands than what you think."
"Is that what we were? A one-night stand?"
“No, Alison," he said evenly. “We were not a one-night stand. We were in the very beginning stages of something that had the potential be… spectacular."
