Page 36 of Home Run

“I had to tell someone.” I shrugged.

“What did she say?”

“That she’s excited to go baby shopping. Whatever that means.”

“Wait, do your parents know?”

“Not yet. Millie has an ultrasound in a couple of weeks and everyone says wait until after to tell people.”

“You’ve already told people.”

“More people.”

“How are you feeling about it?”

Putting my spoon down, I took a deep breath. There were myriad emotions running through me right now, most of them the reason I was up way earlier than usual eating cereal and mainlining coffee. It was probably something I should get used to.

“I’m not freaking out about the baby. It sounds stupid but it feels like this was supposed to happen.” My eyes flicked to Ace, where his expression confirmed that, yes, it was stupid. “But now I need to work on my plan to get Millie to fall in love with me.”

“What d’you mean?”

My Millie plan, something I’d had cooking in the background for most of the year, was my strategy on how I would convince her I was a guy worth taking a shot with. I thought I’d nailed it, up to the point when she threw me out of her place. And while I figured being totally honest with her—as I had the other morning—was what needed to happen, I knew it wasn’tenough.

“You know how she is with me. How shewaswith me, I guess.”

“Like a less cuddly pit viper?”

I huffed a laugh, spooning in a mouthful of cereal. “Yeah, exactly. And for whatever reason, I like that. This baby gives me a legitimate reason to speak to her every day and spend as much time with her as she’ll let me.”

“You need to get her to fall in love with you, and see you as the awesome guy you are and not just the father of her kid.”

“Exactly.”

“We can totally do that.”

“You think?”

Ace put down his spoon and rounded the counter, and before I knew what was happening, he’d wrapped his arms around me in a hug. “Of course, man. This is the first Casa Grayskull baby. Your successes are our successes, and I’ll be damned if we don’t make Millie realize she’ll never get anyone better than you.”

“Well, isn’t this lovely,” boomed Lux, appearing in the archway leading down to his and Parker’s bedrooms. I wiped away the moisture in my eyes before anyone noticed. “Does this happen every morning before the rest of us are awake?”

“Yeah, you jealous?” Ace shot back with a grin, making Lux laugh. “Nah, I walked Payton to work, and when I got back here, I found our expectant father staring out of the window.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “I was waiting for you, I thought you’d have been awake.”

Lux paused mid-stride on his way to the kitchen. “Tan, buddy, one of these days you’re going to need to learn how to make breakfast yourself.” His eyes flicked to Ace. “You too.”

“Hey, I can make my own breakfast,” Ace grumbled.

“And so can I,” I replied, pointing directly to the half-eaten bowl of Cap’n Crunch I hadmademyself. “And that’s not what I wanted.”

“What did you want then?” Lux opened the fridge, pulled out a bottle of water, and stared at me expectantly. Ace was also staring at me, and I have to say I didn’t care for it. Far too much pressure. Oh,whatever.

Clearing my throat, I replied, “You know the bookstore you always go to? The one you met Radley in?”

“Brown’s? Yeah.”

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