As soon as I enter, my eyes instantly land on Liv, who’s standing in front of a girl with her back to me, who I assume is her teacher.
“Uncle Q!” she squeals as her face lights up and she takes off toward me.
I bend down, ready for one of her Liv hugs, when the breath is stolen right out of my lungs.
My niece’s teacher turns around and it’s none other than the girl I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
Chapter 12
Teagan
No. Fucking. Way.
This has to be some sort of joke the universe is playing on me, right?
Because while Iwastrying 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.”
