This isn’t the place for me to push him to talk about it more, so I let it go. The last thing we need is Sally gossiping to her friends about us any more than she already will.
“What should we buy today? The stroller? Crib? I suppose we’ll need two of everything, but I was thinking—do you think you should stay for a while after the baby is born? I’ll be in the off season, so we can tackle it together.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him. “Plus, I might need more lessons.”
I draw back and look up at him. “First of all, I think your lesson days are drawing to a close. And you do know that after this baby comes out, I can’t have sex for at least six weeks, right?”
He looks down between us. “Really? I guess that makes sense. You’re pushing a baby out.”
I shudder. “Don’t remind me.”
I ignore the tug at the back of my mind that says that’s all he really wants from me.
We both look around the store and at one another. “Lunch?” we say at the same time.
Are we ignoring our future, the inevitable? Yeah. We tend to ignore a lot of things that are coming our way. There will be a day I’ll have no choice but to face it, but today isn’t that day.
Chapter
Fifty
Foster
* * *
It’s as though my mind can’t filter my thoughts before they come out of my mouth when I’m around Callie.
Telling her that I don’t want any baseball stuff is just waving another red flag in front of her. She didn’t push me this time though. She let it go, but I need to be prepared that she’ll ask me again.
We ate at a small Mexican restaurant that makes their own tortillas. I’ll definitely be back. The place was phenomenal.
Now we’re walking back to the condo, but she stops outside a white building that has big green letters saying The Last Chapter Book Shop.
“Want to do the very cliché thing of buying baby name books so we can each highlight our favorites and compare?” The way her entire face lights up, there’s no chance I can say no.
“Only for you.”
Her smile grows, and she preens before moving toward the door. I reach around her, opening the door for her to walk in.
“It’s adorable.” She moves to a display table, perusing the books there.
I’ve never been much of a reader. It wasn’t like my dad ever pushed me to be. Not even an inspirational athlete’s story. Academics were always secondary to baseball. Hell, everything was secondary to baseball.
“Hi, welcome to The Last Chapter.” An olive skinned woman with long dark hair and glasses greets us from where she’s shelving some books.
“Hi.” I follow Callie around as she says, “We’re looking for baby name books.” She runs her hands over her baby bump as though the woman wouldn’t have noticed that she’s pregnant.
“Oh, I’m sorry, this is a romance-only bookstore.”
“Romance only?” Callie asks and glances at me. “I didn’t realize there was even such a thing. Thanks, we’ll look around.”
“If you have any questions or want any suggestions, my name is Amanda.” She turns to me. “Sports romance is over there.” She points.
Callie turns toward the wall, where what looks like all the categories of romance are highlighted. She looks as though she’s trying to decide where to start. “Thanks. This is so fun.”
I decide to head to the sports section, figuring I’ll buy myself some time until she’s done.
“Don’t go falling for some fictional man when you have me at home,” I say to her.
She waves me off and ventures down the row.
