It’s the whiskey I snatched from work the night I brought Daisy home with me.

  I stop and set it down on the counter.

  My senses tug me back and forth, growing from a spot in my gut. It’s something beyond instinct and science. Beyond what I’ve ever felt, and I haven’t been able to shake it off since I saw that article.

  Home Run Baby.

  I look at the photo attached to the fridge. The ultrasound. The first and last time I heard my kid’s heart beating. Beside it is a photo of my parent’s house. The one I took last year — exactly one year ago today on the Fourth of July. That was supposed to be the beginning of the end of my life as I knew it. How awfully right I was. I think of my parents. My biggest supporters. They don’t even know they’re about to have a grandchild. Somewhere out there.

  Daisy’s laugh echoes in my head. The two of us in the back of the bus. Laughing. Touching. Falling in love.

  My heart caves in. It’s been weeks since I’ve seen her face, heard her voice, or felt her touch. I wonder how big she’s gotten. I wonder what her life is like. How her job is going. I wonder if I even have the courage to ask if she calls me back.

  Or I could just go to her tonight and find out everything I want to know.

  I plop down on my couch, grabbing the television remote and hoping for something — anything — that will take my mind off the idea of going to see her right now.

  “We now return to our late-night movie: Ridley Scott’s Alien.”

  Dammit.

  I bolt off the couch and grab my jacket and keys.

  It’s long past midnight, but apparently the universe can’t let this wait.

  I take the stairs two at a time, navigating the unfamiliar building until I find the unit. Rose wasn’t home, but I found a listing for a Laura Hawthorne in Evanston. Worth a shot.

  There’s only two ways this can go. Either she’ll invite me in so we can talk or she’ll slam the door in my face. I’d prefer the former, but the latter should be enough to make these signs stop. Or I’ll have the cops called on me because this isn’t her mom’s place at all and I’m about to pound on the door of a complete stranger.

  I knock twice, hoping for the best.

  My mind flashes with imagery, picturing that blonde hair and those little blue eyes. Her adorable face smushed against my chest as she sleeps.

  I knock again.

  I press my ear against the door, hoping to hear some movement, but there’s nothing.

  Must have had Fourth of July plans.

  I groan, smacking the door with a few more open palm slaps before giving up. Why didn’t I think of that before driving all the way out here? I should just go back home and finish that whiskey.

  “Can I help you?”

  A woman down the hall glares at me, her head poking around her open door.

  “Sorry,” I say, holding up a hand. “I’m just… looking for a girl.”

  She furrows her brow.

  “Daisy,” I explain. “Her mom lives here, I think. Short, blonde—”

  “Pregnant?”

  My chest leaps. “Yes! You know her?”

  She nods, taking a step outside. “Ambulance picked her up an hour ago,” she says.

  “An ambulance?” I ask, my pulse stopping cold.

  “Yeah.”

  Daisy.

  My baby.

  “Which hospital?” I ask her.

  She shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

  I reach for my phone. “Thank you.”

  The woman closes her door, leaving me to panic alone.

  I call her. Please, Daisy, pick up this time.

  “Hey, this is Daisy Hawtho—”

  I hang up and call back, my heart pounding against my ribs.

  “Hey, this is Da—”

  “Dammit.” I call back again. “Daisy, come on—”

  “Hunter?”

  I exhale a hard breath, relieved to hear her sweet voice again. “Daisy, thank god! Are you—”

  “No,” she interrupts. “Hunter, it’s Rose.”

  I lean against the wall. “Rose, what happened?”

  “How did you know—”

  “Just tell me.”

  There’s a long pause. I brace myself for the worst.

  “She almost lost the baby.”

  I close my eyes, clinging to the one hopeful word in that sentence. “Almost?”

  “They aren’t out of the woods yet, but the doctor thinks they’ll be fine.”

  “So, she… they’re okay?”

  “A little freaked out, but okay.”

  “Which hospital are you at?”

  She hesitates. “I’m not sure, exactly. I can find out.”

  “Text me the address. I’m on my way.”

  I hang up and bolt down the stairs.

  I knew it. I knew something was wrong. There were too many coincidences, too many signs pointing me back to her for a reason tonight.

  Daisy needs me. She won’t say it, but she won’t need to.

  Never again.

  CHAPTER 36

  DAISY

  Is there any word in the English language more unpleasant than placenta?

  I mean, I’m sure I can flip open a dictionary and find one that’s worse if I skimmed long enough, but right now, sitting in a hospital bed — yet again — I can’t quite think of any other word that grates my senses as much as placenta.

  Placental abruption. There’s no way to be sure until after the birth, but that’s what Dr. Jones said it might be. Partially detached placenta.

  Ew.

  “I’ll take some time off from work,” my mother says, walking back and forth at the foot of the bed.

  “Mom, you can’t do that. Your name is on the sign,” I say.

  “Exactly. My name is on the sign, so I can do what I want,” she says. “I could shut down the firm for a while, recommend my clients to colleagues—”

  “Mom. Stop.”

  “Someone has to take care of you until the baby is born.”

  “Mom.” I close my eyes. “Please stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy.”

  She pauses and rests her hands on the bed frame. “Bed rest isn’t something you fuck around with, Daisy.”

  “Uh-oh.” I chuckle. “Whipping out the F-word now.”

  “There are very few situations I let it slip,” she says. “This is one of them. My daughter needs my help, so I am going to stay home with her in case she needs me. Twenty-four seven. I will be there.”

  “Well, fuck.”

  “Watch your mouth.”

  I laugh and shake my head, hoping Rose will come back and help me talk some sense into her.

  “Rose, where is she?”

  My ears twitch. Was that—?

  “Hunter?” I whisper.

  “She’s in there,” I hear Rose say, “but—”

  “Daisy—!”

  “Hunter!” I say.

  “Hey, you can’t go in there, buddy,” a third voice barks.

  “Get out of my way, Kirby,” Hunter says.

  “Okay, guys,” Rose says. “Let’s just calm down—”

  “She needs to rest,” John says.

  “I need to see her,” Hunter says.

  “Not gonna happen, pal.”

  “Oh, my god!” I shout. “Just let him through!”

  Hunter slips past them, his face full of concern as he looks at me. Rose and John linger near the doorway, her hand resting on his muscular arm, but they aren’t his only obstacle here.

  My mother blocks his path to me. She stares at him with a knowing glare, folding her arms across her chest and standing like a damn wall.

  “Mom,” I say. “This is—”

  “Oh, I know who this is,” she says, still leering at him.

  I hold my breath. “Hunter, this is my mom.”

  Hunter gulps. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” he says, throwing every bit of sincerity he can into it.

  She doesn’t budge from her spot.

  “Mom, it’s okay,” I say, motioning for her to step aside. “He can come in.”

  Rose moves forward. “Let’s go see if we can find some decent coffee,” she says. “Hm? Mom, John? Let’s go.”

  Mom squints with hesitation before slowly shifting around Hunter to join her. John stays in the doorway, refusing to leave until Rose tugs twice on his arm.

  “I’m watching you, buddy,” he says to Hunter.

  “Come on.” Rose guides him, her voice soothing. “They’ll be okay.”

  I mouth a silent thank you to Rose as she guides them out with one hand and closes the door behind them with the other.

  “What’s his deal?” Hunter asks.

  I wave a hand. “He’s going through a thing. Just don’t worry about it.”

  He falls to his knees beside the bed. “Daisy, are you okay?” he asks, his face pure white other than the thick shadow of hair growing on his cheeks and chin.

  “I’m all right,” I answer. “How did you know I was here?”

  “I just knew.”

  “You just knew?”

  “Jordan Kirby was there and Jenny ordered a whiskey sour.”

  I squint. “Okay.”

  He twitches with excitement. “And then Dennis showed up at the bar and gave me Trisha’s article.”

  “Ah, jeez.” I exhale hard. It’s probably online by now. “I forgot about that thing.”

  “And I saw Alien!”

  “You saw an alien?”

  “And the drunk girl handed me a daisy, and I just knew there was something wrong.”

  I rub my eyes. “You’re losing me here, Hunter.”

  He reaches for my hands. “They were signs, Daisy. Signs pulling me back to you. So, I went to find you. I had to see you.”

  My fingers tingle with warmth. “You did?”

  “You weren’t at Rose’s, so I looked up your mom in the white pages.”

  “You can still do that?”

  “A neighbor told me an ambulance picked you up, and I got so scared, Daisy.” He squeezes my hand. “I’ve never been that scared before.”

  I smile. “Hunter, calm down. We’re okay.”

  “No, none of this is okay,” he says. “I should have been there. I should have… I never should have let you out of my sight and I won’t let you go again. Ever again.”

  “Okay, Hunter, come on.” I pull on his jacket sleeve. “Just relax and get off the floor. Sit down. In a chair.”

  Hunter pushes off his knees and pulls up the nearest chair, never once dropping his grip on my hand. “Daisy, this—”

  “Shh,” I stop him. “Take a deep breath, Hunter.”

  “But I—”

  “Shhh.”

  I inhale and hold my breath, waiting for him to do the same.

  Finally, he takes a long breath and we both exhale together.

  “Good?” I ask. “Feel better?”

  “Yeah.” He nods, dropping his eyes to my stomach. “Rose told me you almost…”

  “I almost.”

  “How? What happened?”

  I roll my eyes with annoyance. “Can’t say for sure, but it’s likely a partially detached placenta.”

  He winces. “That sounds unpleasant.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. Anyway, Dr. Jones has put me on bed rest for the next few weeks — or for however long it takes for her to come out. If it gets any worse, I’ll have to induce early. I can’t do anything on my own. I can’t work either, so I don’t know how I’m—” I look up to see tears in Hunter’s eyes. “What?”

  “Her?” he asks.

  I smile at his ecstatic expression. “Yeah, it’s a girl.”

  Hunter takes another breath, this one short and shallow, before bringing my hand to his lips. “We’re having a girl?”

  “Well, yeah, but—”

  He kisses me. I think to stop him, but the feel of his lips on mine again is far too comforting to break out of. I’ve forgotten how good it feels. How right.

  But it doesn’t matter how compatible we are if we’re living incompatible lives.

  He pulls away and looks at me, still holding my face. “We’re having a little girl,” he says again.

  “Hunter.” I sigh as the feeling fades from my lips. “We agreed we weren’t.”

  “Well, I’m un-agreeing to that.”

  “You can’t just—”

  “Yes, I can.” He releases me and sits back. “Daisy, I was wrong before. We were wrong. There’s nothing out there stopping us from making this work except you and me.”

  “Exactly,” I say. “You and me. You have your life, I have mine. Neither of which makes raising a baby together easy.”

  “So, it’ll be hard. We can do hard.”

  “Hunter, we’ve already been through this once.”

  “I want to go through it again,” he says.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  I close my eyes. I flex my jaw. I do everything I can to keep that sob from taking over me. “You should go.”

  “I’m not leaving you again, Daisy.”

  “Hunter, please,” I beg. “Don’t make this harder than it already is. Just go.”

  He sits there in silent frustration. Finally, he stands up and walks toward the door, halting to linger with his hand on the doorknob.

  “No,” he says, dropping it.

  “No?”

  “No.” He faces me again. “I have something to say to you.”

  “Hunter—”

  “Just give me three minutes,” he says, his voice calm and steady. “A lot can happen in three minutes. You owe me that.”

  I furrow my brow. Three minutes? I should just kick him out. Nothing he can say in three minutes is going to change the facts. I don’t want to keep putting us through this over and over again.

  And yet…

  “Fine,” I say. “You have three minutes.”

  Hunter comes back to the bed, his face hard and full of purpose as he sits down. “Daisy,” he says. “You’re a selfish, rotten brat.”

  “Wow.” I blink. “You’re off to a real good start here, Hunter.”

  “And I’m a massive fucking jerk,” he continues, shaking his head. “I didn’t want this. You didn’t want this. We…” He chuckles. “We have no business starting a family together and this baby will probably be better off with people who wanted her from the start.”

  “A logical statement of facts, yes.”

  “Giving her up makes perfect sense,” he says. “It’s what I would tell anyone else in our situation to do. But then, I look at you and… the logical thing isn’t always the best thing, you know?”

  “So, what are you saying, Hunter?” I ask.

  “I think we should get married.”

  I sit back. “Get married?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because my heart doesn’t care about what’s logical. I can’t sleep without feeling you next to me. I can’t close my eyes without knowing you’re safe. Without…” He lays his hand on my belly. “Without whispering goodnight to your stomach after you fall asleep.”

  I stare at him. “You did that?”

  He nods. “I don’t want you to give up our baby, Daisy. I want you, I want our daughter, and I want our family. I don’t care if I never hit another home run again.”

  “Hunter, that’s not what you want. You want to play baseball.”

  “I don’t have to.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “I’ll play in the minors, then. Stay close to home, just like you said.”

  “Don’t you dare,” I say. “You deserve to be in the major leagues. That’s not fair to you. And what about my job?” I ask. “I’m going to Los Angeles.”

  “Then, I’ll sign with Los Angeles,” he says.

  “Do you want to play for LA?”

  “I want to be with you. That’s all I want. I don’t care about anything else.”

  Still, I doubt. “Hunter…”

  “I’ll have to travel, but so will you. We’ll go together. We’ll work together. We’ll live in hotel rooms. You’ll take photos. I’ll hit homers. I’ll spend every dime I make on nannies to make it easier. Just…” He kisses my knuckles. “Please don’t say it isn’t possible, because it is. I know it is. It has to be.” He slides onto the floor again and balances on one knee by the bed. “Any life you and I share is far better than what we can do alone.”

  He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out an old baseball, presenting it to me on his fingertips. I recognize it, of course, from the night we found each other on campus. The day we found out I was pregnant and we started from the beginning together.

  “I think the universe really did smack you in the head with that ball, and I’m happy it did. Life is a team sport, Daisy Hawthorne. I want you on my team for the rest of my life.”

  I stare at the ball. “Hunter.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you just propose to me with a baseball?”

  “It’s the only thing I had in my car,” he says. “I know it’s not nearly as impressive as four home runs and a double play, but I can redo it later with a ring if you want.”

  I smile. “No, I think you’re good.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  I burst with every emotion. He’s right. I never wanted this kind of life at all, but this is Hunter Novak. For him, I’ll make the exception. For him, I’ll go wherever life wants to take us and whatever it wants to give us. It won’t matter because I won’t have to be alone anymore.

  “It’s a shut the hell up and kiss me,” I say.

  He grins and leans forward, gently sliding over me until our lips touch.

  I pull back an inch. “I’m still gonna need a ring, though.”

  “You can pick it out tomorrow,” he says.

  “God, you’re perfect.”

  He laughs and kisses me again.

  The door opens. We pull apart as Mom, Rose, and John step inside with paper cups of coffee in their hands. My sister grins with wide doe-like eyes behind her glasses, but my mother and John look just as stern and protective as before.

  Hunter clears his throat and sits back in his chair, but he keeps hold of my hand. Keeping his promise to never let go of me again, I suppose.

  “Hunter and I have some news,” I say.

  Rose can barely stop the squeal from shooting out of her throat. She’s been our greatest cheerleader since the beginning, after all.