Page 80 of Pieces

Chapter thirty-four

Hudson

Thelibrarysmellslikeold books and polished floors, and every step I take feels absurdly loud. Daphne’s walking ahead of me, leading the way, swaying those perfectly curved hips and that peachy butt right in my face. Seriously taunting me while my shoes cause a ruckus.

“Great,” I mutter as my sneakers squeak again. “I’m the loudest guy in the quietest place. This is going well.”

Daphne glances back, smirking. Her hair is loose today, tumbling down her back. “Relax, Hudson, you’re full of energy.”

“That’s because I haven’t been to the gym yet.”And your ass won’t quit.

She doesn’t look back again, but I hear her. “Not feeling it?”

“Well, we have a game tonight, so we don’t hit it hard at the gym. We focus on warming up later.”

“Oh right.” She stops and turns to me, biting the side of her lip. I can tell she wants to say something else, probably something about her dad. But when she stops herself, I decide not to push.

Instead, I settle on. “I’m ready for whatever happens, though.” I’ve only lost, like, two nights of sleep over it so far. I wake up in a sweat with images from my nightmare of her dad shouting at me on the field, in front of the whole team and benching me…but I’m sure that won’t happen. I fucking hope I just get the silent treatment.

“God, I’m sorry,” she says with a pinched brow. I don’t like her being worried.

“Nothing to apologize for. It’ll take time, but everything will be fine.”

She seems to buy what I say, even though I partly don’t believe Coach will ever forgive me. No, that’s negative thinking. He will, right? Maybe the day the baby is born, he might. He’ll arrive at the hospital with a sorrow-filled face and a whole basket of chocolate chip muffins just for me and say I’m the best dad for his grandchild.Yeah, okay, even I know I’m delusional.

We reach the parenting section, and I stop to take in the packed shelves. It’s like someone took every question I’ve ever had, and a million I didn’t, and stuffed them into a thousand books. Daphne grabs one without hesitation, flipping it open to a random page.

“This one’s about breastfeeding,” she says, grinning as she holds it out to me. “Want to learn about milk ducts?”

I stare at the page she’s pointing to, complete with a detailed diagram, and my brain short-circuits. “Nope. That one’s for you. But give me the rundown if I need to help in any way.” I grab a different book at random, desperate to change the subject. “What about this?Diapering 101.This seems more my speed.”

“Sure,” she agrees, pulling another book down. “Or this one?”

The front reads1,000 Baby Names. I grin because I might have already gone down that rabbit hole.

Her eyes narrow. “What’s that smile?”

“Nothing.” I shrug. “I may have thought about names already.”

Her jaw drops. “And you didn’t tell me?”

Another shrug, but I can’t keep the smirk from my face.

“Hudson,” she says, stepping in front of me. “Tell me what names you found. I need to know.”

Letting her squirm for a second, I chuckle. “Okay, so…I kinda liked Jude for a boy.”

She pauses, her lips curving up. “I like it. And a girl?”

I don’t hesitate. “Rosie.”

Her smile shifts, becomes bigger. “Rosie,” she echoes. “I like that too.”

My chest warms that she likes my ideas. “Do you have any you like?” I ask.

She bites the corner of her mouth. “I actually like Emery and Wren.”

“I like both of those.”

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