I narrowed my gaze. “You gonna get squirrely now because of your control freak tendencies?”
“I’m not a squirrely kind of person, but you’re not the only option, Jason. I need to weigh this against the potential to have full parental rights with another candidate who doesn’t want to be involved. I also worry that we might not be compatible co-parents.”
For all her concerns, I felt like this was progress. No way did I think she’d go for this right off the bat. The doc was a thinker, so she needed time to square this away. I, on the other hand, was more instinctive. Witness my showing up half-cocked offering my valuable baby batter and more.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to think on it.” I took out my phone. “When are you ovulating next?”
“Excuse me?”
Now wasn’t the time to get prudish about the details. “I’m guessing time is an issue. My schedule is fairly tight with preseason games then the regular season going full blast. Lots of travel, so we’ll want to line up our calendars.”
She was staring at my phone. With a slender finger, she tipped it up, so the back faced her. “Why are there butterfly stickers on your phone case?”
“Tilly got a hold of it one day and went to town.” They made me smile every time I used my phone.
She frowned as if this was unwanted information.
“Francesca?”
She snapped to attention. “You’re right about syncing our calendars. However, first let me decide whether to move forward before we discuss how the sausage is made.”
Sausage. I couldn’t help my grin.
“You’re such a child,” she muttered, while her cheeks pinked adorably.
“Maybe so. But those are the playful instincts you want to pass onto your kid.”
Chapter Twelve
Franky
* * *
Rosie was twelve years younger than me and, if official labels mattered to you, was my stepsister. Violet had given birth to her as a surrogate for her best friend Cade, a former Rebels player, and Dante, a general manager of the team back in the day. Ever since, our two families had been joined at the hip. Cade and Dante were my bonus dads, and Rosie and I, despite our age difference, were sisters in all the ways that mattered, especially since Cat had moved to New York for college and stayed there after her marriage.
We were sitting on the well-worn sofa in Rosie’s apartment, she with a glass of wine and me with sparkling water.
“So he just offered?”
I was still reeling from Jason’s proposal. In four simple words, Rosie managed to convey all the skepticism I felt.
“What do you think his game is?”
Rosie shrugged. “Maybe he just wants a kid.”
“But … with me? It’s not like we’re friends and had some ancient pact to procreate if no one better came along.” That kind of thing happened only in romance novels. One of my favorite tropes, actually. “This is all so sudden. I don’t think I’ve spoken to him more than five times in the last ten years.”
“Because of your ancient beef.”
“I know you think it’s foolish. But we nerds carry the scars more deeply.”
She touched my arm and gave it a light squeeze. “I know. I don’t mean to make light of it. But it’s good you guys made peace, isn’t it? It’s opened things up between you.”
It was weird to say she was right. As soon as he apologized, I let it go. At least, the words, if not completely the feelings of being slighted. A twenty-three-year grudge was hard to hold onto in the face of Jason Isner’s smile.
In truth, that was what I was mostly worried about. That smile of his was dangerous. I needed the friction to keep my armor in place.
“But why do you think he’s willing to do it this way? It’s not as if he has problems attracting a woman to have his child.”
