Page 3 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

“That happens,” I said.

He nodded. “It does.” He bent his head over his computer, conversation over.

“Do you have anything for me to work on? I'm all caught up and bored out of my mind.”

“Nah,” he said. “I've got something percolating, but nothing you can help me with, yet. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?” He glanced at his watch. “It's after three anyway.”

I sighed. I did not want to go back to my condo and think about Noah and the baby and single motherhood. “Maybe one of the other departments could use some help?” I already knew they didn't, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

“Nope. Go on home. I'll pay you like you were here.” He waved me off, but then stopped, his hand still in the air. “Don't forget we're flying out on Saturday to visit that Florida property.”

“I told you I'm not going,” I said. “I don't want to be that far from home with my due date only a month away.”

He looked down at my round belly and grimaced. “You told me that?”

I nodded. “I also told you we need to look for someone to fill in while I'm on maternity leave.”

He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “You're serious about that?”

Again, I just stared at him.

“Right. I'll talk to HR. Please tell me you'll at least be on call during your maternity leave?”

Another perk of my job was the fact that I felt not just needed, but entirely vital to the survival of the company and to the survival of Alex Owings. Still, I wanted my maternity leave without having to deal with his crises. I'd have enough of those myself figuring out how to be a single mother. “I'll change my number if I have to,” I said. “I earned this leave.”

“Fine. Get the hell out of here, you heartless woman.”

I laughed and left, feeling lighter somehow. I'd kept Alex Owings alive, I could handle a baby. Probably.

***

“What happened? How'd it go?” my aunt Mimi asked over the phone. She had some sort of spidey sense for when I'd just walked in the door to my place, and for when I needed a friend.

I kicked off my heels and sat on my couch. ““You know how worried I was? All the worst case scenarios I ran through?”

“Sure. Yes.”

“It was worse.”

“I'll be there in an hour.”

“You don't have to, I know how stressed you've been over the Blackwell case. You need to work.”

“I need a break,” she said. “I need to be there for my favorite niece.”

Tears welled in my eyes and I swallowed hard to keep the dam from breaking. “Okay, Mi. Thank you.”

“We'll make this right, sugar. I will destroy that man.”

I smiled, even as a tear slipped down my cheek. “I don't want him destroyed.”

“We'll talk when I get there.”

I hung up and tossed the phone onto the couch next to me. I rested my head against the couch back and rubbed my belly. Everything ached, my back especially, and I wished I could have a glass of wine to ease the pain and the stress of my horrible day. I loved that my aunt wanted to be there for me, but I was exhausted and I just wanted to sink into the couch and escape into a cheesy movie. I allowed myself ten minutes to cry and feel sorry for myself about Noah's rejection, and then I pushed to my feet and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

I was in my fleece pajamas and toweling my hair dry when I heard the front door open. Mimi's heels clicked over my laminate floors and I smiled. She really was my favorite person.

“I'm shocked you still fit in that tiny shower,” she said, leaning against the door frame of the bathroom. Mimi was my mother's youngest sister, but she was only five years older than me. After my parents had died when I was six, I'd been shuffled around to the homes of each of my extended family members in turn, and Mimi had been the only constant. Even at eleven, she'd been a force of nature, and she'd insisted her parents bring her to see me wherever I happened to be. She'd wanted me to live with them, but they were not in a place to add another child to the family for many reasons, not the least of which was that Mimi was the last of five and the youngest by ten years.

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