The Workaholic Down the Hall

by Katharine Sadler

  “How about we leave that stuff for after lunch, and hit the shops first? I can always use more business contacts.”

  ***

  Oscar dropped me back at the house after seven that evening. We'd had dinner in town, and it was dark out. Interior lights from the house let me know that Noah was home. I was both glad he was still there and sorry he hadn't convinced Nora to let him go home. It was hard to be happy to be sharing a house with someone who didn't really want to be there.

  He was on the couch, a book in his hands. “How was your date?” he asked.

  It wasn't a date, but I was in no mood to nitpick his word choice. “It was a lot of fun. I think I found some more business connections for Nora's Inn.”

  “That's great.” His smile seemed genuine, but I doubted my ability to read him. “Mom will be glad. She really seems to want to be a part of the community here.”

  “I know the bed and breakfast isn't her dream, but it could be a great spot for her to have her horse farm someday.”

  He nodded.

  “I take it she didn't give you your keys.” I sat on the couch next to him and he closed his book.

  “Yep. Mom called her henchman, some guy named George, and he dragged me back here.”

  “Did you have a nice visit with your mother, at least?”

  He grimaced. “She was pretty busy. There are a lot of guests at the house and she was fixing her usual Sunday brunch. I spent most of the time trying to convince her to hand over my keys and she spent the time telling me about her business.”

  “I'm sorry you're stuck here. I was sure she'd get you back in time to go to work on Monday.”

  He shrugged like it didn't matter, but his jaw was tense, his gray eyes clouded. “I talked to Jill and she says everything is under control. Mom has decided you and I need to spend a week together. She won't change her mind, even when I told her I have every intention of helping you and the baby every way I can.”

  I cleared my throat. I should just head up to bed and let him wonder, but that wasn't fair. “This is a matchmaking scheme, Noah. She wants the two of us to be a couple.”

  His eyes widened. “Are you serious? Does she know about you and Oscar?”

  The disbelief on his face at the idea of us being a couple was enough to make me want to continue the charade that Oscar and I were dating. It made all this hurt just a tiny bit less. “I don't think it would make any difference to her. She wants the two of us together. I've told her repeatedly you and I are just friends and will always be just friends, but she doesn't want to hear that. You know how she can be.”

  “Right. Just friends,” he said, his brow creased, his frown severe. “So, we'll do our own thing here for a week and then go back to our own lives.”

  “Exactly.” I did my best to keep my voice even and firm. “You'll go back to Atlanta and I'll stay here.”

  “Exactly.”

  We sat in silence for several long moments and I mourned the peace and the laughter we'd had the night before. For a little while, I'd thought we could be friends again, that he really would be around for me and our baby, but I was beginning to think I'd been wrong to trust him. I'd put too much stock in his empty promises. He'd been there for me before when it had been easy, when I'd been working for him, in the same city as him. But now, everything had changed and I couldn't risk my security and our baby's security on what-ifs and empty promises.

  I'd lived that life, believing the promises of relatives who'd offered me a forever home, who'd vowed to take care of me, but who'd failed me when money got too tight or raising another child, a child who had nightmares and missed her parents, got too hard. I'd learned long ago that the only person I could trust, could depend on, was myself. I needed to remember that with Noah.

  “Want to watch a movie or play a game?” he asked, but his tone was flat, like he didn't care one way or the other what I chose.

  “I'm exhausted. I'm going to head up to bed.”

  I walked back to my room and he didn't stop me or even wish me goodnight. I closed my door, changed into my pajamas, and fell into bed. Oscar and I had done a lot of walking and I'd been up early. I should have fallen right to sleep. Instead, I lay in bed, tossing and turning trying to get comfortable and thinking of Noah's face, his thin-lipped frown, his tense shoulders. He didn't want to be here and it hurt to have him here when I knew how badly he wanted to get away from me. I couldn't handle a week with him, watching him pulling farther away from me, maybe even resenting me and our daughter because he felt trapped.

  That afternoon, I should have offered to drive him home. I didn't have my car keys, but surely Nora would hand them over if I insisted. I would get the keys and I'd take Noah back to Atlanta myself.

  That decided, I should have been able to fall asleep, but I still couldn't settle. I stared at the ceiling and thought of all the things I wished I'd done differently, all the ways I could have guarded my heart against Noah and never landed in this position in the first place.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Aubrey

  I was seated at the kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of me, battling a yawn, when Noah walked into the room. He stopped when he saw me, his brow creasing. “Didn't sleep well?”

  I gave him a weak smile. “I couldn't get comfortable. Listen, I want to drive you back to Atlanta. My car is at the inn and Nora has the keys, but I'm sure she'll—”

  Noah ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “I spent over an hour yesterday trying to convince her to give me my keys. She's not just going to hand over yours.”

  “Maybe the two of us together can convince her. We'll get May to help us. She can find my keys and—”

  “You can barely stay awake to eat breakfast,” he said. “How will you stay awake to drive back here alone after you drop me off in Atlanta?”

  “I'll be fine. I just haven't woken up, yet. But if you're worried, we could try for your keys. Maybe May would steal them.”

  He sighed. “Thanks for the offer, but I don't want to involve May. She's more likely to tell Mom exactly what she's doing and end up stuck here with us. I'll figure out a way home, it's not your responsibility.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but a knock at the door stopped me. Noah's expression brightened with something like hope and he hurried to the front door. I couldn't see the door from my seat in the kitchen, but I could hear everything.

  “Mom,” he said. “Are you here to release us?”

  “I'm just here to pick up Aubrey for her doctor's appointment,” Nora said. “Like I explained yesterday, you aren't due for release for another week.”

  “Doctor?” Noah asked. “Is everything okay?”

  “It's just a routine check-up,” I said, making my way to the front door and standing next to Noah. “Everything is fine.”

  “There's a birthing class, too,” Nora said. She was still standing on the porch, since Noah hadn't moved to let her in. She was dressed in pressed, gray slacks and a puffy winter coat. “I want to be fully prepared to help Aubrey through the delivery.”

  “I should go with you,” Noah said.

  The reluctance in his voice hurt. God, how it hurt. But it was unfair to expect him to be one hundred percent in this with me after just a few days. I needed to remember to keep my distance, to not expect more than he could reasonably give. “You don't have to go. It'll be really—”

  “Of course, you will go with us, Noah,” Nora said. “But we have to leave in five minutes, so hurry up and get dressed and, for god's sake, run a comb through that rat's nest on your head.”

  Noah nodded and ran a hand through his tangled hair, before turning and heading up the stairs to his room.

  Nora looked around the cabin. “How's everything, dear? Do you have everything you need?”

  “I could use more to do and my laptop.”

  “So that you can ignore my son? That would defeat the whole point of my risking jail time for kidnapping.” Her eyes twinkled as she spoke.

&
nbsp; “He knows about the baby, now. Wasn't that the whole point of kidnapping him?” I knew there was more to it than that, but I hoped getting her to say the words aloud would make her realize how silly this was.

  Her eyes widened and she frowned. “My son is so miserable, so caught up in what he should do that he couldn't see his soul mate was right in front of him for three years.” She looked over my shoulder at the windows and the forest beyond. “Honestly, I feel responsible. I saw it happening, saw him taking on more than he should, and I didn't do anything about it. I didn't see how unhappy he was.”

  “And you think kidnapping him will make him happy?”

  She smiled and gripped my chin in one hand. Nora had always been so kind, so classy, and so down-to-earth. I'd totally missed that she was also batshit crazy. “I know you will make him happy, Aubrey.”

  “You think we're soul mates, Nora, but we aren't. We're barely even friends anymore.”

  She was still holding my chin. “I've seen the way he looks at you. I know how miserable he was after you left.”

  I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand from my face. “He's attracted to me, Nora. That's all.” I needed to squash down that nasty beast hope that appeared at her words. I needed to accept reality and so did she.

  “Argh,” she growled, losing a bit of her cool. “If you are both blind and stubborn this won't work. You have to make him see—”

  “No,” I said. “I don't want a man I have to persuade to love me. I want a man who can't stand to be away from me, who loves me with his whole heart. I won't settle for less.”

  Nora's frown deepened and a worry line appeared between her eyes. “Aubrey, dear, I—”

  “Ready to go?” Noah asked. He skipped down the last couple of steps, his expression serious.

  “Of course, dear,” Nora said. She led us out to the car where George waited in the passenger seat.

  Noah and I took our seats in the back. “You're going with us to the obstetrician's office?” I asked George.

  “I'm the muscle,” he said, flexing for us. “In case you two try to escape.”

  “Don't you have a job that expects you to show up?” I asked. George was an English professor at the university and he'd told me before he had a flexible schedule, but I couldn't help poking him. I felt Noah's gaze on my cheek, but I ignored him.

  “No classes today.” George cupped a hand around his mouth and mock whispered, “I owe a lot of favors.”

  “Or you just enjoy kidnapping people.”

  George winked and I couldn't help smiling back. Maybe I was developing Stockholm syndrome.

  Nora backed the car around and drove away from the house. George stayed turned toward us and flashed two cell phones. “You are authorized to check your emails and make necessary phone calls. If either of you try to call the police or some muscle of your own, there will be unpleasant consequences.”

  “What kind of consequences?” Noah asked. “How far are you willing to take this?”

  George's smile widened. “I won't be dishing out the consequences, your mother will handle that.”

  Noah shook his head, but I saw his mouth twitch like he was holding back a smile.

  George handed over the cell phones and spun back around to chat with Nora like they were old friends. Since he was chatting about us and how likely we were to make a run for it, I chose to tune him out. Instead, I dropped my attention to my phone.

  I had surprisingly few emails and voice mails, Nora really had been taking care of everything for me, so I was able to resolve every issue in the time it took to get to the doctor's office.

  “Problem at your condo?” Noah asked as Nora circled the parking lot, looking for a spot close to the main doors.

  “What?”

  “You were talking about plumbing.”

  “Oh,” I said. “No, that was about one of my rental properties. My tenants had a leak, but I work with an amazing management service that put them in touch with a plumber I trust. I was just following up.”

  “You own a rental property?” he asked, disbelief clear in his tone. His disbelief annoyed me on every level.

  “Three, actually. Two condos and a duplex.”

  Nora parked and I got out of the car before he asked me any other questions that annoyed me, like how a girl like me had managed to get into the rental property business. I'd never known Noah to have sexist tendencies, so I took his disbelief one hundred percent personally.

  He walked around the back of the car and met me so we could walk inside together. “How have you managed three properties without me knowing about it?”

  I glared at him. “Seriously?”

  “I'm just curious. You worked fifty hours a week for me, at least. I don't know how you found the time.” He smiled. “And before you accuse me of misogyny, I believe you more than capable of being a landlord and a damn good one.”

  “Managing my rental properties is more like a hobby for me. It brings in extra cash and keeps me busy. It's fun.” I smiled sweetly at him. “And it lacks all the headaches working for you caused me.”

  He walked into the building with me. “I was a hell of a lot better to work for than Alex Owings.”

  I rolled my eyes, in the mood to press his buttons. “At least he didn't force me to eat lunch with him in his office causing me to smell like his tuna fish sandwiches the rest of the day.”

  “That was one time.”

  I ignored him and went to the window to sign in. When I turned, I saw Noah slumped in a seat in the waiting room, an annoyed glower on his face.

  I sat next to him and folded my hands in my lap, cool, calm, and collected. “And Alex never forgot my birthday.” He'd never remembered it to begin with, but I was having too much fun picking on Noah to care about facts.

  “I was a couple hours late wishing you happy birthday. I didn't forget.”

  “You're a liar,” I said.

  “And I've met rocks smarter than Alex Owings, not to mention the way he talks about women.” He sat up a bit straighter. “Did he touch you?”

  His concern was adorable and I melted a bit. I gestured to my buddha belly. “I'm pretty sure this was a deterrent to his attentions, though judging by the women he brought around, his standards weren't very much higher than not dating pregnant women.”

  Noah grimaced. “God, that guy is an asshole.”

  “He actually wasn't so bad. He was fair and he worked harder than anyone else on staff. He wasn't the sort of CEO who golfed every other day.”

  My praise of Alex Owings made Noah frown harder, but his dislike of my previous boss had nothing to do with me so he could frown all he wanted.

  I relaxed in my seat a bit and grabbed a parenting magazine from a nearby table. “Wait, where's your mother?”

  Noah sat up a bit straighter and looked around. He stood and stalked to the windows overlooking the parking lot. “She's gone. Think that means we're free?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Call an Uber, get back to Atlanta.” I hadn't meant for my words to come out as snarky as they had.

  “Aubrey, that's not—”

  “This is just a routine check-up. It will seriously be boring. Get out of here while you can.”

  He sat next to me and put a hand on my arm. “I'm not trying to escape you. I'll come back. There's just a lot going on with the company right now and I hate not being there. What if something goes wrong? I wouldn't be able to get back to help Jill in any kind of hurry.”

  I met his gaze and put my hand over his where it still rested on my arm. “Seriously, Noah, it's fine. Go.”

  He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and cursed. “Shit. There's no battery. Check yours.”

  I pulled out my phone and showed him the blank screen. “Dead.”

  He sighed and leaned back in the chair.

  “You can still escape,” I said. “Main street is only a block away. I bet you could find some way back to Atlanta.”

  “I'm here now. I might as well stick around
for the appointment.”

  Wow, color me honored.

  ***

  “What happens next?” Noah asked. We were in a small room waiting for the doctor. I had already been weighed and had peed in a cup. I was sitting on the exam table, still dressed. “Don't you need to get naked?” There was no suggestive tone to his question, just matter-of-fact interest.

  “Not today. The doctor will probably just measure me and listen to the heartbeat.”

  He paled a bit and swallowed hard. I imagined this couldn't be easy for him. I remembered the first time I'd heard our baby's heartbeat. It had been the moment I'd realized the baby was really going to be part of my life for the rest of my life.

  The doctor knocked and walked in. Noah pulled in three or ten or fifteen deep breaths. He was really freaking out and I felt bad for him. I wished I was next to him, so I could convince him it would all be okay. He had the easy job, he could get away with just showing up for holidays and birthdays and still be considered a decent dad.

  The doctor was a kind woman, maybe ten years older than me, and she told me everything she was doing and why she was doing it as she examined me. It was all the same stuff I'd heard from my previous OB, until she said, “We're a bit worried about the baby's growth, so we want to do an ultrasound. Just to check in and see how she's doing.”

  “What do you mean you're worried about the baby's growth?” Noah asked.

  The doctor turned to him, eyebrows high. “I'm sorry, sir. I'm Doctor Wittier.” She stuck out a hand and he shook it.

  “Noah. Noah Reynolds. The baby's father.”

  “It's nice to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I don't think the slow growth is anything to be worried about. Clearly, Ms. Fletcher's prior OB wasn't concerned. Even so, since Ms. Fletcher is a new patient for me, I'd like to take a few pictures and get a look at your little one to see exactly what's going on.”