for a second.
Had he miscommunicated that? Had his other regrets—the accident, the way he handled his recovery, the loss of his career—somehow told his daughter that she was the reason for his pain?
The music blared in his ears, and he swung the hammer furiously. His biceps and shoulders ached, but he kept going, determined to rid the yard of the ugly slab by sheer force. Who needed a jackhammer when he had angst and fury?
Jana had been one of those girls—the kind who appeared as if out of thin air—at the same bar as the team after a game. Hollis had been in a slump, and his mood was sour. In hindsight, he should’ve headed back to the hotel and gone to bed, but the guys had convinced him to go out.
Enter Jana. Long-legged, curvy, beautiful Jana—who wore too much makeup and had very few ambitions. That night, her only goal had been to land herself in the bed of a pro baseball player, and Hollis was just drunk enough to oblige.
Immediately he regretted sleeping with her. He didn’t even know her. The guys called it a “perk” of being a pro athlete, but even at his lowest, Hollis still knew what was right—and spending a night with a complete stranger was the exact opposite of that.
He vowed to do better. It wasn’t like Jana had been his first mistake—but weeks later when he found out she was pregnant, he decided to make sure she was his last.
The phone call had come after a game that proved his slump was over. A home run, two doubles, and a game-winning RBI had Hollis walking on air. The team went out to celebrate and Hollis actually had the thought that life couldn’t get much better than it was at that moment.
That’s when his phone rang. A number he didn’t recognize, so he didn’t answer. A beep signaled a new voice mail, which he decided to ignore.
The next morning, he woke up with a headache, slightly hungover. The night had gotten away from him as so many of them did. It wasn’t until he’d been up for an hour that he remembered the voice mail.
“Hollis, it’s Jana—the, uh, girl from the bar in Denver.” She sighed. “Do you even remember me? We, uh . . . I mean, I . . .” A pause. “I need you to call me back.”
Hollis groaned. He’d heard about girls becoming obsessed with pro athletes—one of his buddies had to file a restraining order on a girl who actually thought they were married—but it had been over a month, almost two, and Jana hadn’t done anything to make him think their one-night stand was anything more than that—one night.
She didn’t seem like a stalker, and while he’d said he’d call her (and hadn’t), she didn’t even sound angry in her message.
Maybe she had a disease. Had they used protection? He was usually so careful—and one-night stands weren’t his thing—but wouldn’t that just be his luck?
He dialed her number and listened as the phone rang, his insides turning over.
“Hey, Hollis,” she answered.
“Hey.”
“Bet you never thought you’d hear from me again.”
He hadn’t, but he didn’t say so. “What’s up?”
“I’m just going to come right out and say it, and I want you to know I don’t expect you to do anything.”
His stomach lurched, guessing what she was about to say. Oh no.
“I’m pregnant.”
He rubbed a hand over his messy hair, then covered his face. “You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was.”
He sighed. “And you’re sure it’s mine?”
The sound she made in response was so slight he almost didn’t hear it.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
“It’s yours,” she said coldly.
He stood and walked toward the window.
“You probably want me to get rid of it, but I—”
“No,” he said. “I don’t want that at all.”
“You don’t?”
He closed his eyes. This changed everything. And while you’d never know it by the way he was living, he still had a moral compass. “Of course I don’t.”
“Most guys . . .” She stopped. “I’m just surprised, I guess.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No,” she said. “I was calling to tell you because you have a right to know, but I’m keeping it. That’s not up for debate.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
The pause was every bit as pregnant as Jana, but probably more uncomfortable—at least at this stage.
“So we should maybe . . .” He looked around the stark hotel room, wishing for some flashing sign to tell him exactly what to do next. “Maybe we should get married?”
She