The Workaholic Down the Hall

by Katharine Sadler

Jill shook her head. “I'm not Aubrey's biggest fan, as you know, but if you aren't willing to be in this with her one hundred and ten percent, you should let her go.”

  “Did you not hear me? I told her I'd try. She's the one who pushed me away.”

  She shrugged. “Trying's not doing, Noah. Figure out what you want or walk away.” She slapped the door jamb. “I'm off. Have a good meeting.”

  I watched her go, feeling like the floor was sliding out from under me. She was right. I needed to figure out what I wanted and I needed to act on it, whatever it was.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Aubrey

  “How was your date last night?” May asked.

  I hadn't slept well at all, trying to figure out Noah and not able to get comfortable without his arms around me. He'd sent me a text right before I went to bed that said, I love the way you look when you wake up after a night in my arms, your hair a messy cloud around your head, your eyes sleepy, the way you smile at me like you're glad to see me. I'd replied by asking him not to text me again unless it was about our daughter. I couldn't handle him sweet, couldn't handle the unrealistic hope it gave me. “It wasn't a date,” I said. “Oscar is just a friend. We had a good time, though. You should have gone with us.”

  “Not a date.” She rolled her eyes. “Your non-dates are better than the real dates I've been going on and you're eight months pregnant.”

  George was passing through the room on his way to the kitchen when she spoke, and he grunted and glared at her. She smiled sweetly at him. “Hey Geronimo,” she cooed.

  He tripped over his own feet and just missed running into the wall.

  “So clumsy,” May tsked. She returned her attention to me and whispered, not at all quietly. “Mom's so nice to give him work when he's so clearly challenged.”

  George growled and stomped away.

  “When are you going to forgive him?” I asked.

  May gave me a carefully blank look. “I have no idea to what you are referring,” she said in a southern accent to rival Scarlett O’Hara’s. “Now, tell me about the rest of your evening. Did you do anything after dinner?”

  “We went bowling,” I said, unable to suppress a giggle. “He is hands-down the worst bowler I've ever seen.”

  May crinkled her nose. “Have you seen a lot of bowlers in your time?”

  I laughed at her disdain. “My grandfather, Mimi's father, was in a bowling league and I used to go with him sometimes. He taught me to bowl, though it was no challenge to beat Oscar.”

  “Good thing you aren't trying to impress him. Men don't like it when women beat them at sports.”

  “He was a really good sport about the whole thing. I don't think he ever believed he had a shot of winning.”

  “I don't know,” May said. “Maybe he was hoping to put his arms around you and give you a lesson in rolling the ball.”

  I snorted. “He wouldn't be able to get his arms around me in the state I'm in.”

  May smiled and wrapped her arms around me. “There's just more of you to love.” She hovered a hand over my belly. “Can I feel?”

  “Of course.” She laid her hand over my belly and cooed and talked to her niece. Almost immediately, the baby shifted and kicked right where May's hand was.

  May gasped. “Oh, my, she's a strong one.” She bent to my belly. “You're a strong one, baby. Yes, you are.”

  “Aubrey,” Nora said, walking in to join us. “We've just had another couple book on-line, can you make sure their room is ready?”

  “Sure,” I said. Maybe it should have bothered me, to be tasked with readying rooms when I had been a highly-paid executive assistant, but it didn't. I liked feeling like I had a hand in whether the business succeeded or failed. Nora might have been the owner on paper, but the bed and breakfast had come to feel like my baby as much as the actual baby in my belly. “I had some more ideas for how we can participate in the Catalpa Creek fall festival.”

  She frowned. “Isn't the festival the same day as your due date?”

  I shrugged. “Sure, but babies never arrive on time.”

  She looked worried and her smile seemed forced. “I'd love to hear your ideas. I also met the lovely woman who owns the bookstore in town and we talked about hosting book club meetings and readings here, since they don't have space at the store.”

  “That would be great.”

  I left her and May behind and headed upstairs to make sure the rooms we'd be renting that weekend were clean and ready. On the way up, my phone dinged with another text.

  Noah: I'm an idiot.

  I was beyond curious to know what he was talking about, but I'd asked him not to text me and I wasn't going to enable him. The only way he was going to get over his false sense of duty toward me and the baby was if I made it clear I didn't need him, that we were just fine on our own.

  Noah: And I'm sorry.

  I sighed. I was curious to know what he was apologizing for, but I wasn't going to ask.

  I shoved my phone in my pocket and continued upstairs. I ignored it when it dinged with incoming texts twice more. I checked the room over, but I didn't enjoy the task as much as I'd hoped. It allowed me too much time to think, to question my decision to push Noah away. Finally, I pulled my phone out and read the two messages from him.

  Noah: I miss the sound of your laugh and your feet in my lap while I rub them.

  Noah: I miss the feel of your bare skin against mine.

  Tears welled in my eyes. Why was he making this so much harder than it had to be? It felt like he was taunting me, making me believe we had something we didn't. If he was really missing me so much, why hadn't he come to visit? Why had he left in the first place? I scrolled through my contacts and chose Jill.

  “Aubrey,” she said, sounding brisk and curt. It might have made me nervous, but I knew that's just the way she was. “What can I do for you?”

  “Jill, I don't want to put you in an awkward position, but I need to know if I'm overreacting.”

  “I'm not sure I'm the right person to talk to about this, Aubrey. I know it's the weekend, but surely your doctor has weekend hours, even my—”

  I almost laughed at Jill's habit of jumping to conclusions and missing the obvious. She was amazing with numbers and finance, but not so great with people. “I'm talking about Noah. Is the company really in crisis? Is it really necessary for him to work over the weekend?”

  She sighed. “His idea of necessary is not my idea of necessary. It's quite a subjective term. I wouldn't say my work is necessary because I take a great deal of pleasure in it. Noah, however, does not enjoy the work, but he's driven by a need, an imagined need in my opinion, to make sure he has left no stone unturned in his quest to save the company from ruin.”

  “So, the company is in danger of ruin?”

  “It's not doing great, Aubrey, but I sense your real concern is not with the company. Please, just ask your question, you know I'm not good with subtle nuances.”

  I knew there was a very good chance Jill would repeat whatever I said to Noah, but I needed to know or I was going to drive myself crazy. “In your opinion, is Noah working this weekend because he feels he has to work? Or is he there because he wants to be there?” What the hell was I doing? Was I really asking Noah's sister if he was avoiding me? I wished I'd never called her. But I waited for her answer, barely breathing, because I needed to know how far Noah's sense of duty extended. I needed to destroy the hope that crept in with every text from him.

  “I'm not sure how to answer your question and I'm not sure I should. Just trust me when I say Noah is trying to do the right thing, he's trying to make this right. You're the one who's pushing him away and hurting him. Again.”

  She sounded angry and I didn't blame her. She also hadn't confirmed that Noah was needed in Atlanta that weekend. It was what I needed to hear, to erase any doubts I might have had. “I know this might be hard to understand, but I'm doing this for him, Jill. You know him better than anyone. You know he and I woul
d never work.”

  “I know that you haven't even bothered to try,” she said. “You've given up on him.”

  It was better she thought the worst of me. She couldn't know the truth. “I broke it off as soon as I realized we'd never work. I was trying not to hurt him.”

  She was silent for a long moment. “I have another call coming in, Aubrey.” She hung up before I could even say goodbye.

  I reminded myself it didn't matter if Jill was angry at me as long as she was a good aunt to my daughter. She didn't have to like me. It was a sacrifice worth making to ensure Noah's freedom and happiness.

  Jill knew Noah better than anyone and, if she could have, unequivocally, said he had to be there for work, she would have said it. Which meant he didn't want to be in Catalpa Creek bad enough, didn't want me bad enough, to make me a priority.

  I didn't return Noah's texts until later that night. I'd considered my response carefully and tried to put emotion aside, because I had my own baggage, a past of being unwanted, and I didn't want to be so blinded by unrealistic expectations that I was unfair to Noah.

  I curled up on the couch, under a throw blanket and I chose my words carefully.

  Me: You need to stop feeling guilty, Noah. I'm fine. Our daughter is fine. Please stop texting and calling.

  I turned my phone off and went to bed.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Noah

  When I read Aubrey's text, I was in my home office, going over paperwork, and trying to figure out how to save the company. The meetings I'd planned for that day, meetings with Alex Owings and two other potential buyers had all been canceled at the last minute. It seemed like some sort of sick joke and I considered getting in my car and making the trip to Catalpa Creek to see Aubrey and tell her…But I didn't know what to tell her. I didn't want to just show up at the last minute, tired and grumpy. I wanted to show up with a plan, bright and ready to win her over, to convince her I wanted to be with her.

  Except now, in my empty, silent condo, I regretted my choice not to go to her. I regretted not doing whatever I had to do to see her, to hold her. I knew I was screwing this up, knew I was going to lose her if I didn't step up my game, but I wasn't sure I shouldn't lose her. I had this company like an albatross around my neck and I couldn't be who she wanted, couldn't give her what she needed until I eased its weight, its stress.

  Not to mention that I didn't love her the way she wanted. The thought made my jaw clench tight. What the hell was I doing? She was right, I needed to give her some space, needed to let both of us move on. My hands fisted as though my body was rebelling against my thoughts. Which was ridiculous. Of course, I didn't love her. Just because I thought of her every minute of every day and missed her so hard I thought I might literally explode didn't mean I loved her. I just lusted after her really hard. I just…Shit.

  I picked up my phone and dialed my brother.

  “Do you have any idea what time it is?” Cody asked.

  “It's just past ten,” I said. “Don't tell me you were already in bed.”

  “Actually, I was just about to go to bed. I've been up since…Shit, I've been up since four. When did my life get so off track?”

  “I think it was the day Mom's water broke for the fourth time.”

  “Fuck you, man,” he said, but he didn't sound angry. Cody hardly ever got truly angry about anything anymore as far as I could tell. “What are you calling for?”

  “How did you know you were in love with Carrie?”

  He was silent for a long while. Then he laughed. “You're finally realizing you're in love with Aubrey? It's about damn time, asshole. I thought I was going to have to drive up there and—”

  “Just tell me how you knew.” My head was starting to ache. I really needed to get some sleep.

  “I wanted to be around her all the time, I thought about her when she wasn't with me, my favorite sound was her voice.” He drummed something against something else and hummed. “I guess the moment I absolutely knew was when I realized I was willing to give up my dream, everything I'd worked for to get her back. I realized nothing was worthwhile if she wasn't with me.”

  Shit. Could I actually be in love with Aubrey? When had that started? And how had I not seen it sooner? “What if I don't have a dream to give up?”

  “Then she becomes your dream. That happens, you know she's it for you.”

  I hung up with Cody and thought about all the times I'd pictured my future since I'd found out Aubrey was having our baby. Every damn time, she'd been there with me. “Fuck,” I said, in complete and utter disbelief. I loved Aubrey. I was in fucking love with Aubrey. That realization didn't scare me or make me woozy, it was as though everything finally clicked into place.

  I slid open the screen on my phone, trying to think of what to say to her, but I couldn't think of the right words. The truth was that I had nothing to offer her except more sentimental crap about how much I missed her. She deserved more than that. She deserved to be wooed like a queen, the way I should have been pursuing her from the first time I met her.

  I should call her, explain my plan, but I didn't trust my plan. Too often, I'd thought I could get the company back in the black and relax and something new always went wrong. New problems cropped up and my promises became lies. At least, that's how it had gone for me in the past. I wanted to do things differently this time, wanted to start fresh with Aubrey, to really be able to offer her and our baby my time.

  So, I didn't text her and I didn't call her. I sat down at my desk and started mapping out a plan, a foolproof plan, to get the company back in good stead and to be able to work fewer hours and give Aubrey and our baby the time and attention they deserved.

  I worked until two AM, but even work couldn't quiet the longing I felt for Aubrey. When she was my assistant, she'd often helped me brainstorm ideas for changes to the company. She'd come up with goofy, way, way out of the box ideas and they'd push me past my limits to come up with realistic solutions I wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

  Once I'd compiled a decent game plan for the company, I found myself on Amazon, looking at parenting books. I ordered five and searched the Internet for information about babies in the meantime.

  ***

  I was woken at seven Monday morning by the ringing of my phone. My face was pressed into the keyboard and I had drooled all over the keys. I'd been up most of the night, trying to find a way to get the family business back in the black, trying to figure out a way for me to not have to devote my whole life to it, but I'd come up empty. I slid my phone up and answered the call.

  “Noah,” a familiar male voice said. “Alex Owings here. Sorry I missed our meeting. A friend surprised me with Falcons tickets.”

  I suppressed a groan of annoyance. “Our meeting was Saturday. The Falcons played yesterday.”

  “Yeah, man, sure. Anyway, I'm bummed I missed our meeting, but I could meet up with you today if you've got a minute.”

  I scrubbed a hand over my face and clicked open the calendar on my computer. “I'm slammed today, Alex. How about tomorrow?”

  “Nah, man. I'm heading out of town for a couple weeks starting tomorrow. I'm looking at buying out a hotel up the coast a bit. You sure you can't fit me in today?”

  I hated to do it, because he was likely to cancel, but I needed to sell those Brantley properties. “I'll move some things around. What time did you want to meet?”

  “Now. I'm in the lobby of your building.”

  Someday, I wasn't going to need anything from Alex Owings and I'd be free to punch him in the nose. “I'm not at work, yet. I just woke up.”

  Alex chuckled. “No wonder your company is struggling, dude. Early bird gets the worm and all that.”

  Nah, punching was too good for him, I was going to stretch him on the rack or spill coffee on his fancy bespoke suit. “Look, I can meet you halfway. There's a great coffee shop—”

  “Just meet me at your office, man. I've got about an hour to kill. I can wait.”

>   “I'll see you—” But he'd already hung up, the douche nozzle.

  I wished I didn't need Alex Owings, wished I wasn't in this position, but I had no choice. There wasn't time to shower, so I changed, put on deodorant and drank about a gallon of coffee as I drove to the office.

  Alex was already in my office, of course, since my assistant seemed to have been charmed by his good looks and flirting. Which meant I had no time to get myself situated at my desk.

  He stood when I walked in and reached for my hand. “Hey, man,” he said. “Glad you could make it.”

  I shook his hand, somehow managing not to tell him to get the fuck out of my office, and took a seat at my desk. “Good morning, Owings. I see you charmed my assistant.”

  “Charmed your last one, too,” he said, a wry smirk twisting his face. “Thought I might charm myself all the way into her pants, but she was knocked up and I am not ready to be anybody's daddy.”

  I clenched my teeth and blew out a breath. The only reason I wasn't angrier was because I knew there was no way on earth Aubrey would have given that asswipe a second look. “Let's focus on the property, Owings.”

  He grinned and leaned forward, like a shark scenting blood in the water. “Did I hit a nerve, Reynolds? You know, I wondered if you might be the one who knocked her up.” He shook his head. “Didn't think you had it in you to knock a chick up and then kick her to curb like that.”

  I clenched my hands into tight fists. “The Brantley property, Owings. Jill said you want us to drop the price another thirty percent but that's not even a realistic offer. I'd hoped if we met face to face—”

  His grin widened. “How was she in bed? I bet she was a real wildcat. She was always so serious and strait-laced, so put together, she had to be a full-on porn star in the sack.”

  I was across the desk, his neck in my hand and my fist raised to punch him before I'd realized what I was going to do. He laughed, fucking laughed in my face. “You don't want to hurt me, man. I will sue you so hard you'll lose everything.” He paused, raising his eyes to the ceiling. “Although, that could work out really fucking well for me. Go ahead, punch me.”