Page 86 of Wild Pitch
“Not yet. But I don’t think the traveling and stress are helping. Hopefully, this month it works out, because we’ll be too close to spring training if it doesn’t.”
I noticed Sam as he took his wife’s hand and squeezed it.
“Are you trying for another baby?” I asked. This was not my business, but I couldn’t let it go.
Kelsey nodded. “And trying to time it so Sam will have some time with them before next season. I guess I assumed that it would happen right away. I’m just getting a little impatient.”
“My ex and I divorced because I couldn’t have kids,” I said. The attention of the rest of the table had shifted, and Kelsey and I continued to talk. Only a slight raise of his eyebrows confirmed that Jake had heard me. It felt good to say the words out loud.
“Oh, huh? I’m sorry.”
Kelsey searched my face for something before speaking again. “But I had wondered if it was you.”
“If what was me?”
She looked at Sam, confirming that he wasn’t listening, before she continued.
“I knew that Kylie and you had a moment the night of our wedding—I think I might have encouraged it,” she said with a wink. “So, in the back of my head, I wondered ifyouwere the father of Kylie’s baby.”
Pain lanced through my chest. Kylie had moved on. Kelsey continued to speak, and I heard only every other word. The father wasn’t in the picture; that much I understood. Jake had stopped talking, and I felt his stare on me.
I shook my head, a gesture only Kelsey caught.
“I don’t get it,” Sam said. His grip had tightened on his silverware, and his jaw tightened. “If I had a kid out there, I would want to know. I’d be there.”
Fuck. I would have given up everything to have this with Kylie. I gave her up so shecouldhave it, and now some dickhead got her pregnant and left her.
I barely recalled the rest of our meal. Jake attempted to follow me back to my hotel room, and I shook my head, shutting him out.
When I found out Sky was pregnant, it was a different ache, more so a confirmation that I was the issue. But Jesus. I felt my world closing in on me with the news about Kylie.
Could I do what Sam did? Could I raise another man’s child as my own? With Kylie? Fuck yes.
Jake: Are you sure it’s not yours?
Me: There’s no way.
Jake: You’re going to call her, yeah?
Me: What the fuck am I going to say?
Jake: Start by asking her how she’s doing.
It was too late to call tonight, and she had work early in the morning. Outside of her general Monday through Friday schedule, I was unsure what she did with her free time. Until I fucked everything up, I knew every single one of those details.
CHAPTER 43
KYLIE
Both of my sisters had given up their pressure campaign for me to call the baby’s father. To Kelsey, Luc didn’t have a name. Luc was no more than a one-night stand, but I don’t think she suspected he was the father. Or if she did, she kept it to herself when I refused to give her any details. Kendra knew, and while she disapproved, she’d become more reserved in sharing her opinions about our lives.
Quiet support. I appreciated that more than she’d ever know.
My parents had cried the night I told them. Kelsey had already pushed them into being grandparents earlier than any of us had planned, but they loved Crew and would love my baby, too.
Even though Kelsey’s financial situation today far surpassed anything that my family knew, my financial situation was much more stable than hers when Crew was born.
Lily had told me I could stay in the apartment with the baby, but it wasn’t fair to her to have to deal with the crying of an infant. As a single woman, she should have freedom and not worry about whether her guests would interrupt my baby.
