Page 53 of How to Score Off Field

“I appreciate you saying that. But it’s hard not to feel responsible, you know?”

“I know,” I reply gently. “You know I’m not mad, and I don’t want you to feel guilty. We’re in this together, and we’ll face whatever comes our way as a team.”

“A team,” she repeats.

“Are you smilin’?”

She scoffs. “If I was, how would you be able to tell?”

“I just can.”

There’s a soft sigh on the other end, and I can imagine her nodding in understanding.

“Can I just say…I’m really glad that if anyone was going to knock me up, I’m glad it was you.”

“I’m really flattered.” I laugh.

“No, for real. If I was going to go through this shit with anyone, thank god it was you because I can’t imagine some asshole ghosting me. or blaming me, or telling me that it wasn’t his. You could have done all those things.” She sniffs again. “Even though you were probably planning on makin’ me get that paternity test.”

I let out a laugh. “I mean—not me, my mama.” And a few dozen other people.

Ha!

“Where do we go from here?” Tess’s words hang softly in the air, carrying a weight of uncertainty. I can hear the vulnerability in her voice, the unspoken question that lingers between us as she switches gears.

I pause for a moment, my thoughts racing as I search for the right words. “Tess,” I reply gently. “Just because we’re physically far apart doesn’t mean there’s no reason for us not to talk every day. If anything, our connection is more…” I search for the right word. “Important now than ever. We’re friends.”

“Friends.”

“That’s not what I meant. Not in that way, it wasn’t a slight. I meant—we’re freakin’ bonded now. You’re not getting rid of me just cause you’re no longer stuck with me for the next eighteen years.”

“I hope I’m not getting rid of ya.”

I worry my bottom lip as my brain goes off in ten different directions. “So what are you gonna tell your brother?”

“I’m not. I’m gonna have my mom tell him. Grady and I haven’t spoken, and I don’t think I’ll be ready to speak to him untilhecomes to apologize.”

I rub the spot on my face where my best friend hit me. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind an apology either, though I doubt he’s gonna give me one.”

“He will. You wait and see. He’s going to feel like total shit when he hears the news, you know? Deep down inside, they were all excited about having…a grandkid. A niece or nephew.”

She sounds so sad.

I pause, not sure if what I’m about to say is going to make things conversation worse or not, but it has to be said.

“Now you know you can get preggo. Who’s to say you can’t get pregnant again someday when the timing is right?”

“Or maybe you had super sperm.”

Super sperm. “I love the sound of that. Can I put that on a tee shirt?”

Tess can’t help but laughs. “Please don’t.”

Or maybe I will. “It’ll be one of those shirts with two thumbs on it, pointing inward, and it’ll say ‘Know who has super sperm? This guy.’”

“I would kill you.” She’s laughing when she says it.

“Come say that to my face.” I make a pffft sound. “Don’t make promises you ain’t gonna keep.”