Page 111 of Home Run

I never found out the answer because the buzzer from the concierge desk rang, and Radley answered it. I would have asked her what they wanted, but I managed to distract myself by reading Tanner’s note again. Andagain.

How was I going to be able to see him?

It was only when the elevator doors opened that I remembered the buzzer had gone in the first place, and in walked the person I wanted to see second most in the world right now.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

She dropped her bag on the floor and opened her arms. “Tanner called, he invited me up as a surprise for you. He thought you girls would like the company.”

Of course he did.

Predictably, my tears started up again. I needed to start walking around with a box of tissues.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” she asked, almost crushing me in a hug I desperately needed.

“I don’t know. I don’tknow.”

“It’s hormones, but also Tanner did something,” added Radley over the whirring of the KitchenAid.

“Okay,” my mom replied. “Well, I’m here and we can fix whatever needs fixing, but first go and get dressed.”

I glanced down at my sweatpants—black Lions ones that Tanner had gotten for me in a size that fit my bump.

“I am dressed. And I need to find my phone,” I replied, my eyes scanning the apartment again.

“Not for what I have in mind.” She smiled. “We’re going to do some shopping for my grandchild. Radley, are you coming?”

“Oh, thank you, but no. I’m going to stay and finish these cupcakes, then I have to study.”

“Okay, but join us if you change your mind.” My mom turned back to me and snapped her fingers. “Millie, go and get dressed. Hurry up.”

Radley might be baking to distract her from her annoyance, but I doubted there were enough clothes or money to distract me from mine.

“C’mon, tell me what’s happened?”

I’d thought perhaps she wasn’t going to ask.

We’d spent the last three hours buying every item ofbaby clothing she could find, in every size they came in. It was a good thing the furniture was arriving for the nursery next week, because we currently had nowhere to store anything.

I thought perhaps with all the shopping she might have forgotten I’d cried the second she arrived, and we would head home without having a conversation I wasn’t sure I wanted to have.

But then I decided I was too hungry to make it back to the apartment without eating, so here we were in a cute little restaurant not far from where Tanner was currently being held prisoner as we chomped on fries dipped in ketchup.

I sighed deeply. “Nothing…”

One of my mom’s eyebrows raised. “Nothing?”

“Tanner keeps telling me he loves me.” Yep. It sounded as dumb out loud as it did in my head.

She picked up her wine glass and took a long, slow sip. “Okay, and how do you feel?”

“About Tanner? Or about him telling me he loves me? I don’t know, is the answer to both.” I added before she could say anything.

She leaned back against the soft, burgundy leather booth we were sitting in and crossed her arms. I could tell from the way she was assessing me, her hazel eyes roaming over my face, that this wasn’t going to be a quick talk.

Maybe I should order a drink too.

“Your father…he was gone a lot. And when he was home, he couldn’t talk much about what he’d been doing…he made up stories…when you were little, it didn’t matter so much, like his story about being the star quarterback. But as youall got older and he’d return with scrapes and cuts, bruises oranything, you were paying attention more—” She glanced up at the waiter with a smile as he topped up her glass of wine.

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