Page 73 of Draft Pick

I looked at my mom with a tentative but surprised sense of relief. Still, my mom had her quirks, too. I didn't want my mom to make Starlie feel bad for not being a size zero. "I want you to meet her. But I need you to understand that Starlie isn't like the woman you might have envisioned for me. She's... different. And that's a big part of why I love her."

"What does that mean?" my mom asked, confused.

"She's not like the sorority girls I've hung around in the past," I said, unsure how else to put it. "Or any of the girls you've introduced me to over the years." The last girl my mom introduced me to had been unhealthy about her food intake, proud that she kept her daily caloric intake at seven hundred calories. All she'd talked about was how she would have to work out for another two hours to eat three hundred more calories that day. That was the last time I let my mom talk me into going on a date with the daughter of one of her country club friends. "And I absolutely love that about her."

My dad looked like he was about to protest, but my mom's hand on his arm stopped him. "Darling, we only want you to be happy," she said, trying to make amends. "It was just a shock and we knee-jerk reacted badly. Of course, we're excited to meet your girlfriend."

I didn't correct my mom — it was hard enough for them to swallow that I was going to be a father. I wasn't going to add gas to the fire by admitting that me and Starlie weren't together.

I'd take the "W" and worry about the details later.

Plus, the reality was, if everything went to plan, Starlie would be my girl and not just my baby mama.

"I really do love her, Mom, Dad," I continued, my voice filled with emotion. "I want to build a life with her, not just co-parent. I want... I need your support. But I'm prepared to do this with or without it."

There was a heavy silence as they processed my words. My mom finally nodded, her eyes still glistening. "You always have our support. Isn't that right, Dan?"

My dad remained silent, his expression hard to read, but I knew I'd laid my cards on the table. I was ready to move forward, with or without their approval — but it would feel like a stab to the heart if they made me do this alone.

My dad looked like he'd been forced to eat a lemon, but he jerked a short nod. I had no doubt there would be more conversation later, but I'd scored on this critical play for now.

Now, I had to convince Starlie we could do this together. I'd cleared the path for us, but something else was stopping her, something that I had the feeling had nothing to do with me but everything to do with her.

And I had to figure out how to unlock her heart before the time clock ran out.

The faint humof evening traffic filtered through the open window of our apartment as I slumped onto the couch, a heavy sigh escaping my lips.

"That's the third long-winded, exaggerated sigh in under an hour and it's really distracting," Danielle said, dropping her phone in her lap with a pointed stare my way. "Spill it, girl, before I fire up some cabbage on the stove."

I grimaced at the threat. She knew the smell of cabbage made me barf. "Fine," I said, coming clean. "It's Cason,"

"Isn't it always?" Danielle returned dryly. "What about Cason?"

Where to start? "He's... he's been amazing, Dani. He brought me flowers, bought me maternity jeans, he's talking about us being a thing, like a real couple, and he's said all the right things and yet…I don't know what I'm doing right now."

"Aside from making an already complicated situation into a Calculus equation? Starlie, I know we've only been roommates for less than a year but I'm pretty good at figuring people out. Call it a gift, but people don't often leave me scratching my head…and you're no exception."

"I think I'm a pretty complex person," I said stiffly, taking odd offense at being labeled easy to figure out.

"Most people do, and most people aren't, but that's okay, don't take it as a bad thing. I'm easy to figure out, too, but I know who I am and what I need in life so it doesn't bother me. You, on the other hand, keep clinging to some quixotic thinking that keeps you locked in a grinding sense of unfilled potential and you need to knock that shit off, girl. You have a baby coming — a daughter — and it's your job to teach her to go after what she wants and not let anyone get in her way. But how can you teach her that lesson if you haven't learned it yourself?"

Huh? If my astonished stare didn't give away my shock, my dropped jaw certainly had. Recovering, I stuttered a protest. "What do you mean I haven't learned the lesson myself? What do you think I'm not going after?"

"Cason, duh."

Clearly, Danielle had gotten her facts mixed up. "I don't think you heard me correctly, I don't know ifIwant Cason in that way and it seems I ought to be really sure before I open myself up to that possibility."

Danielle barked a short laugh. "Bullshit. You're dancing around the real issue and I can't believe Darby hasn't called you out on it yet."

"Darby understands what I'm going through," I said, a bit more sharply than I intended, but my defenses were activated, and I felt like a prickly pear. "She knows I can't afford to make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion. It's the responsible thing to examine the possibilities from all angles. It would be irresponsible to jump feet-first into a relationship with Cason just because I'm pregnant. It's clinically proven that pregnant women?—"

But Danielle wasn't buying it. "Just admit it — you're fucking terrified of trusting someone with your heart and it doesn't matter how much Cason steps up to the plate to deliver, you're going to find a reason to run away because if you leave first, you can't get burned."

My eyes felt hot and scratchy. "Need I remind you,heghostedme? Not the other way around. I was willing to see where things could go but he bailed before that could happen."

"Yeah, that was his fuck-up, definitely, but from my point of view, he's gone out of his way to show you that he's capable of being better and I think you're using his ghosting you as a justification to protect yourself from being hurt."

"Yeah? And you're not using men for their money soyoudon't get hurt?" I shot back, feeling attacked and going on the defensive. "You're in a glass house, Danielle."

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