Page 275 of Vegas Heat

But who would I have brought with me?

Even if Cooper and I were still together, he’d be in Arizona. I’m not talking to Mia. My dad is out of town, and Joanie seems like she’s not an option right now. I wouldn’t even consider asking my mother. I haven’t spoken to my other friends inmonths thanks to spending my time working or naked with Cooper, and I don’t think Justin and I have asee each other nakedtype of friendship.

So it reallyisjust me and the baby.

Juliette shoves a long, freezing cold stick up my hoo-ha, and the screen shows what seems to be my uterus. There’s some fuzzy stuff, and she moves it all around to get a better view.

“There’s baby,” she announces, and I see what looks like a pinto bean with one side a little bigger than the other.

She uses a little dot on the screen as she talks. “There’s the head,” she says, and she moves the dot along the baby. “Body, arms, legs. I’m just going to take some quick measurements.”

As I watch, I hear a whooshing sound on the monitor.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“It’s your baby’s heartbeat.”

Tears fill my eyes.

Holy shit.

It’s real.

A little baby with a head and arms and legs and aheartbeatis growing inside me.

I listen to the whoosh-whoosh sound, and Juliette says, “Heartbeat is one-fifty-one, perfectly normal.” She studies the screen some more, and then she says, “You’re measuring right about nine weeks. Does that sound right?”

My mind is blank on what the date even is, let alone when nine weeks ago might have been.

“The week before Christmas,” she clarifies.

Right. That’s right around when I got over that awful virus and Cooper came over and ravaged me beneath the Christmas tree in my bedroom.

I open my mouth to say something, but instead of words, a soft little sob escapes. I force myself to pull it together. It’s not on this poor ultrasound tech to comfort me.

But she does it anyway.

“It’s an emotional time, being pregnant,” she says quietly. “Between hormones and being a first-time mom, you’ll feel everything more intensely than you normally would. It’s totally normal.” She offers a smile, and I feel a little better.

Maybe once I have the baby, the intense feelings I’m having about the end of Cooper and me won’t feel so intense.

It’s a nice sentiment to hold onto, but even I’m not naïve enough to believe it.

CHAPTER 9: COOPER

The last time I did this was over three years ago.

I was in a relationship back then with Stacy, but it was rocky at best even though we’d been together for several years by that point.

Still, I was a player without a care in the world, ready to tackle a new season with the same enthusiasm I had in my first.

Now I’m thirty-three. A little older, a little wearier, a little slower, and a whole lot more jaded.

We’re practicing at a training field near the park, and the fields are open to the public. Pitchers and catchers typically report first, but being that this is our inaugural season, everyone on the team was ready to start practicing. We’ve had plenty of time on our home field as practices got underway, but this is different. This is the first attempt at putting together our team as we face our first real opponent. The first taste of what to expect this season. The first time we’re all here and ready to put in the work.

Everyone else is having fun. Everyone else is laughing. Everyone else is enjoying their time as we stretch together, as we run sprints, as we warm up, as we throw balls and hit balls and field balls.

I’m not laughing. I’m not having fun.

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