Home Run Baby: A Sports Romance (6 page)

“I’m nothing special,” I say, waving a hand.

“That’s not what my husband would say!” she says. “He’s a big fan.”

The elevator opens on the second floor and we step off into the busy hospital hallway.

“Well, you be sure to tell him I said hi,” I smile.

She blushes again. “Oh, I will! And thank you for coming out here today. I’m sure she’ll really get a kick out of it.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

It’s also not my choice. Not that I wouldn’t have stopped by in the first place but, generally speaking, when a fan gets knocked out by your home run, you go visit them in the hospital to make sure they’re okay. That’s just good manners and good press, as the team manager was quick to point out.

The nurse pauses by a room and points inside. “This is it!”

“Thank you,” I tell her. “You wouldn’t happen to know her name, would you?”

“Daisy,” she answers.

I pause. “
Daisy?
Really?”

“Yep. I remember because it sounded so pretty.”

“Yeah, it does…”

“Have fun…” she giggles,
“Home Run Hunter!”

I chuckle as she walks off but my feet refuse to move inside. Quick flashes of memory pop into my head. Blonde hair, blue eyes hidden behind long lashes. Tongue as seductive and wild as a snake. I haven’t been back to this city since that night.

But there’s no way that this is the same Daisy.

I take a few steps in and those small details of her come roaring back as I see her face. She lies asleep with a large, white bandage wrapped around her head but I’d recognize those cheekbones anywhere. Her small, sharp nose. That thick, black eyeliner around her lids. Even my nose twitches, somehow detecting that intoxicating scent of her.

This is definitely the same Daisy I brought home with me that night.

I mean…
Jenny
.

“Hello?”

I flinch at the familiar voice and turn around to see her standing in the bathroom doorway, too.

“Hello…” I say, reaching up to slide my baseball cap off.

She looks at me through thick, brown frames. “Can I help you?”

I smile. That’s right. She did mention she had a twin sister. “I’m Hunter Novak,” I say, extending my hand to her. “I’m the ball player that hit the…” I point to my head and she nods.

“The home run,” she says. “The one that knocked my sister unconscious…”

I wince. “Yeah, that one.”

She shakes my hand. “I’m Rose.”

“Rose…” I smile, “and
Daisy
.”

Yeah,” she smirks with rolling eyes, “you can blame my dad for that crap.”

I laugh and turn towards the bed. “So, is she…?”

“She drifts in and out but that’s mostly just the pain meds she’s on. The doctor says she’ll be fine, but if the ball had hit her straight on instead of sliding off that guy’s glove first… she may not have been so lucky.”

I exhale hard. “Good.”

Christ, I nearly killed her.

“You’re welcome to stay until she comes around again,” she says. “It shouldn’t take too long and I’m sure she’d like to meet you. She’s a big baseball nerd.”

More details come roaring back to me. Daisy likes baseball — she wants to be a sports photographer. “Thanks. I will.”

Rose grabs her purse off the bedside table. “I’m going to find a vending machine somewhere. There’s only so many peanuts and crackerjacks a girl can take — no offense to your sport.”

“None taken,” I chuckle.

“I’ll be right back.”

She leaves us, taking one last glance at Daisy before disappearing out the door.

How weird is this?

I sit down in the chair beside her and stare at her, gently shaking my head at the absurdity of it all. Without thinking, I lay my hand beside hers on the bed, careful not to disturb the IV poking out of the back of her hand.

“Hmm…”

Daisy stirs and I pull my arm to my lap as her eyes flutter open and she glances around. I sit forward and smile, patiently waiting until she finally realizes I’m here.

“Hello,
Jenny
.”

She squints at me, sitting still for a long, strange moment. “What the fuck?” she hums.

“Yeah, I thought the same thing.”

She pushes up into a sitting position and I see the pain wash across her face.

“Hey, maybe you shouldn’t—”

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asks.

I grin. “Well… I hit the ball that… hit you…”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You’re a
bartender
,” she argues.

“In the
off-season,
yes.”

She pauses, blinking her bright eyes once per second. “Wait—”

“Oh, hey! You’re awake.” Rose returns with a soda and a few snack cakes in her hands. “I see you’ve met Hunter.”

“Hunter?”
Daisy repeats. She shakes her head but instantly regrets it. “You’re
Home Run Hunter
?”

“Yep.” I flash a wink at her but I think that just pisses her off a little more.

Her mouth sags. “You
lied
to me?”

“Hey, you lied to
me
first,” I point out. “I was just following your lead.”

“You little bastard!”

“Daisy, hey…
calm down
…” Rose lays a hand on her shoulder and chuckles awkwardly at me. “She must be a little confused right now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a damn baseball player?!” Daisy spits, ignoring Rose.

“You didn’t
ask
,” I answer.

“But I told
you
what
I
did.”

“Well,
I asked
…”

Rose blinks. “Okay, what’s going on?”

A man in a white coat barges in and smiles wide as he looks at Daisy. “Oh, good. You are awake.” He pauses by the foot of the bed with a chart in his hands. “How are we feeling right now, Daisy?”

“My fucking head hurts,” she says, her eyes firing daggers at me.

“Sorry,”
I whisper at her.

“That is to be expected,” the doctor says, “but I have some good news for you. You have a
slight
concussion but brain scans show nothing else out of the ordinary. No fractures, no permanent damage. You can go home as soon as you feel ready but you’ll want to take it easy for a few days. Use some sick days at work, if you can.”

“Sure.” Daisy keeps her rage pointed at me. “Sounds just peachy, Doc…”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Rose says, making up for her twin’s rudeness. “That’s really good news.”

“And… even
better
news,” he continues, “the fetus appears to be healthy and intact.”

We both twitch and Daisy breaks her eye contact with me to gawk at him instead.

“What
fetus?”
she asks.

Chapter 7

Daisy

“
Your
fetus,” Dr. Whatever repeats.

The word echoes off the walls of my brain, bouncing around so much it makes me want to vomit.

“I don’t have a
fetus
.”

He pauses. “You didn’t know about the baby?”

“What
baby
?” I ask, looking at Rose.

She holds up her hands and chuckles. “Don’t look at me.”

Hunter stands up from his chair. “I should go…”

I point a stiff finger at him.
“Don’t you move!”
He freezes and I look at the doctor again. “What
baby
?”

Rose rubs my shoulder. “Honey, I think he’s telling you that
you
are pregnant…”

“No, I’m not!”

The doctor grins at me like a moron. “Blood work like this doesn’t lie. It seems congratulations are in order.”

My eyes drift back to Hunter and he shakes his head.

“Daisy, no—”

“You knocked me up?!”

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did!”

“Daisy…” Rose says, “you know you can’t get pregnant by being hit in the head with a baseball, right?”

I exhale.
“Gee
, Hermione,
just how did Harry and Ron survive without you?”

Hunter points at me with panic in his eyes. “I didn’t do this! There were condoms.
Lots
of condoms!”

“Well…” the doctor says, “condoms aren’t one-hundred percent effective—”

“Shut up!”
Hunter and I shout back at him.

Rose scratches her head. “Okay, I’m really missing something here…”

I look at Hunter, ignoring the screaming and throbbing between my ears. “It couldn’t be anyone else.”

He opens his mouth to argue but stops. His eyes soften, slowly falling for a second before he finally speaks. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “I’m sure.”

He stands there for a few moments, barely breathing, before collapsing back onto his chair.

“Okay…” the doctor says, still grinning. “Daisy, before you leave, I’d like to perform an ultrasound upstairs. Just a quick peek inside to be sure everything is going well in there.”

I stare at my hands. “Yeah, sure.”

He spins on his shiny heels and bolts out of the room.

“Rose,” I begin, watching her fidget beside me, “can you give us a minute, please?”

Her eyes flick between us. “Okay…”

“We’ll be fine,” I assure her.

She steps backward towards the door, her face contorted with as much confusion as I feel.

I’m pregnant. I’m having a baby. I’m having
his
baby.

I look at Hunter. He’s leaning forward with his head between his knees, no doubt just as shocked as I am.

How weird is this?

I sit in silence, listening to the harsh sounds of his breathing in and out with quick, controlled bursts.

Finally, he sits back and looks at me.

“Are you
sure
?” he asks.

I roll my eyes. “Did I mention
the headache
?”

“I’m sorry — I just…” He shakes his head. “This is
crazy
.”

“I know.”

“I mean… I never thought that…”

“That
what
?”

“That I’d ever see you again,” he says.

I pause. It’s not the first reaction I expected. “Did you even want to?”

“It wouldn’t have been the worst thing… right?”

“No, I guess not.” We stare at each other. “So… I’m pregnant…”

“Yeah.”

“And you are a baseball player.”

He sits forward and extends his hand to me. “Hunter Novak.”

I smile, exhaling hard. It feels a little absurd to shake the hand of the man that’s already knocked me up. “Daisy Hawthorne,” I say.

He holds onto me and I feel his body heat filling my fingers.
Crazy
doesn’t quite cover it. I never thought I’d see this guy again but now I’m pregnant with his kid?
How the hell did I miss that?

“How did you know?” I ask, dropping his hand. “That I lied to you and gave you that fake name.”

He grins. “Your ID.”

I close my eyes, slightly embarrassed. “You mean bartenders actually read those things?”

“They do,” he nods.

“Noted. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I figured you had your reasons,” he says. “And if I had said something, would you have left with me?”

“Probably not,” I chuckle. “It was a good night.”

“But now you’re pregnant.”

“Yeah.” My smile fades. “I guess I am.”

He takes a deep breath. “So, what do we do?”

The question lingers between us for a long moment but it’s not the unanswerable question that keeps me quiet.

It’s the way he said
‘we.’

We. Him and me.

“Hunter… you don’t have to…” I sigh, stumbling over my words. “You don’t have to be involved. You’re
Home Run Hunter
. Your career is taking off and this would just…”

“Daisy,” he says, “I’m not one of those guys. If this is really my kid then I’m responsible for it. I’m responsible for
you
.”

“I can take care of myself, Hunter.”

“I never said you couldn’t. But I can’t just—”

“It’s okay,”
I say. “Really. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I’ll be fine.”

He scoffs. “No, you won’t be.”

I sit back. “What would you know? You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough,” he says. “Uneducated. A buck over minimum wage, if I recall…”

“Well, maybe I was lying about
that
, too. Have you considered that?”

“You weren’t.”

I frown. “Wow, you’re cocky.”

“And you’re
stubborn
. Daisy, let me help you.”

“You know, I probably won’t even keep it, Hunter. I think it’s better if we go our separate ways, okay?”

He stares at me, blinking slowly. “If that’s what you want…”

“It is.”

Hunter stands from his chair. “Look… we obviously need some time to let this sink in.” He grabs a notepad on the bedside table and finds a pen. “If you change your mind or if you want to talk about it some more, I’m staying at the Downtown Inn, Room 2-1-7. We’re leaving tomorrow around noon but you can call me anytime before then.”