Coach Watson shouts my name as I’m hurrying toward the players’ parking garage.
Goddammit.
My heart is pounding, and my brain is racing with a million thoughts about Ellie and the kid. The kid I never planned on, but now I’m absolutely terrified of losing.
“I just got a call, Coach.” I catch my breath and level my gaze with his as he walks toward me with a confused expression on his face. “I have a…family emergency.”
He furrows his brow. “Super Bowl is in less than two weeks,” he grunts. “You’re the quarterback.”
“I know, I’m…” I glance at the door to the garage, praying that my phone doesn’t ring with another call that something more is wrong with Ellie or the baby. “I’m sorry. I’ll be here every day until the game. I just…” I take a deep breath. “I have to go right now.”
Coach Watson narrows his eyes and crosses his arms around the trusty tablet he’s holding against his chest. “All right, McKenzie.” He practically spits my name.
Doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with Coach later. I’ll deal with all of it later. The only thing that matters in the entire world right now is getting my ass to the hospital.
Twenty-two
Ellie
I know I told him he didn’t have to come. I told him he shouldn’t be here. Because he shouldn’t. The Super Bowl is in less than two weeks, and I’m sure everything will be fine, and…even if it’s not, it’s not like he’s my husband or my boyfriend or my…anything.
I can’t expect him to be here. I can’t keep glancing at the glass entrance to this room every ten seconds, hoping to see those broad shoulders and blue eyes and sandy-blond hair.
“How are the cramps? Any better?” Noah hands me a glass of water and sits in the stiff metal chair next to the hospital bed.
“A little.” I cringe and swallow, pushing away both the physical pain and the emotion and the raging, screaming, begging need for Matt to be here for this.
I sip the water and take a deep breath.
Why does it matter so much? It really shouldn’t. I was prepared to do this whole single-mom thing entirely by myself and with my family. That’s what I had planned, and that’s what I wanted…right?
So why, then, am I so desperate for him to come flying to my side in shining armor at the very first truly difficult moment of this pregnancy?
“The doctor will be back with the test results any minute.” Noah nervously checks his watch, and I notice his foot bouncing up and down.
I swallow and rub my stomach softly, emotion and fear gripping my throat. I fight it as hard as I can.
“El.” Noah looks at me.
“Yeah?”
“You wish he was here, don’t you?”
“Oh, no. Well—” Yes. More than life itself. “I told him not to come. It’s obviously, like, a crazy-important week for the team, and there’s nothing he can do by being here. Besides, it’s not like he’s my…anything.”
“He’s the father, Ellie. And he’s definitely your something. Even if you don’t know what that something is just yet.”
I sigh and process this, feeling another cramp tighten in my lower abdomen, thankfully not as bad as the earlier ones that sent me to the hospital.
I resist the urge to google sharp pains at this point in a pregnancy, because I don’t even want to read the words of what that could mean. In the worst-case scenario.
I didn’t plan this baby. I certainly wasn’t trying to have this baby. But my heart absolutely rips at the possibility of something going wrong. I’ve gotten attached…to the little pea-sized thing, to the idea of being a mom and to…
“Ellie!”
I blink in shock, and my heart does a somersault.
It’s him. He’s here. It’s the most insanely important time in his entire career, and…he’s here.
“Matt…you’re…” I stammer, breathless as I practically drown in the tsunami of relief and joy that washes over me. “Hi.” I laugh a little.
He’s slightly winded, obviously having run through the maze of hospital corridors after driving here in…wow. Record time.
“How are you? How’s the baby?” He rushes to my side and takes my hand in his, sending spirals of blissful peace through my body.
“What’s up, man?” Noah greets Matt, giving him a dude-hug and a pat on the back.
“Hey, Noah. Do you guys know anything yet? What’s causing the pain?”
I can tell Matt is trying to keep cool. He holds my hand tightly, somehow steadying the entire twisting, turning world in one easy second.
“Not sure,” I say, my voice