Page 37 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

May waved a hand. “Close enough. So, do you need us to rescue you? You can hide out at my place until Mom releases Noah.”

“Thanks. Noah might take you up on a ride back to Atlanta, but…Actually, Noah said he'd like to try and see if we could have a real relationship.”

Carrie hooted. May's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened, before they got glossy with unshed tears. “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. “Mom was talking about hitting him over the head until she knocked some sense into him.”

“Yeah, that might be a bit extreme. Don't get too excited. He said he'd try, but that doesn't mean it'll work. There might be too much history with us.”

May sighed. “I said the same thing to Mom, actually, but she said…”

“May,” Carrie said. “The idea is to support Aubrey and cheer her up.”

“You're right,” May said. “Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving.”

“May,” I said. “What did Nora say?”

“We'll go in and get seats,” Dilly said with a cheery grin. She got out and, when Carrie didn't immediately follow, she walked around the front of the car, opened Carrie's door, and pulled her out.

“Be supportive,” Carrie called back.

The car door shut behind her and we were encased in silence. May rolled her eyes. “She's such a worrier.”

“I take it I've been a topic of conversation lately?”

She nodded and stared out the window for a long moment. “I've never been all that close to Noah. He…I was just so much younger and I've always been so different from him…it's like I grew up in a different family than he did. By the time I was old enough to pay attention, Dad was making good money and Mom was around more. Moving to the city is one of my earliest memories, and I never remember not having enough to eat.”

“But Noah does.” I'd never asked about Noah's past, because I hadn't wanted to talk about mine. I didn't like to think about all the times I'd been rejected, pushed off to someone else. The wound was still raw and painful. I'd never considered he might want to tell me about his childhood.

“Yeah. When Noah was a kid, Mom worked as a cleaning lady at a chain hotel and Dad was the handy man. There wasn't a lot of money and they had a lot of kids in pretty quick succession. I don't know how they managed before Noah was old enough to help out, but I know he and Jill started taking on responsibilities way too early. The sort of responsibilities I've still managed to avoid.” She shook her head. “I totally get now why he's always treated me like a helpless brat, but I hated him for a really long time.”

“What sort of responsibilities did he have?”

“He took care of the younger kids. He's never been a good cook, but he and Jill would manage to get some edible food together for everyone. He made sure Jared and Jenna and Cody got on the school bus and did their homework. As soon as he was old enough, he started doing whatever work he could to bring in extra money.” She sighed. “I guess he never stopped taking care of us. Mom thinks that's why he went to work for Dad in the first place. He knew Jenna and Jared didn't want to do it, and Cody was always the rebel of the family, determined to set his own course. Jill loves working for the company and I always thought Noah did, too, but Mom thinks…Mom thinks stepping into the role of the CEO, even getting his business degree, was his way of taking care of us all. He's working to preserve Dad's legacy.”

“But Noah's devoted his whole life to the company.” Was he unhappy running his dad's company? And why had I never noticed that before? I guess it was because he was so entirely devoted to it, because he never complained.

“Noah is a giver, Aubrey. Mom thinks he's been giving so much of himself for so long, taking care of other people, that he's forgotten to consider what he wants. He's forgotten to think about himself at all.”

That fit. It made so much sense, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before. It was why he wanted to try with me, he wanted to take care of me and our daughter, even if it meant sacrificing himself and his own chance at love. I couldn't let him do that, I wouldn't. Tears burned my eyes, but I held them back. If I was going to do this for Noah, if I was going to push him away, I had to convince him that it was what I wanted, that it was the best thing he could do for me and for our daughter. “So, your mom kidnapped him to force him to take care of someone else?”

May frowned. “No. She thinks you can make him happy, Aubrey. She thinks if he took a moment to think about what he wants, he'd realize you're what he wants. This week away from Atlanta is as much about him taking time for himself and re-evaluating his life choices as it is about match-making.”

“Because Nora blames herself,” I said, realization dawning.

“She hasn't come right out and said it, but yeah, she blames herself. She and Dad worked so hard to make a better life for us kids, they didn't see the burden they were placing on Noah, didn't see that he was the kind of kid who took the expectations laid on him far more seriously than he should have. Nora feels she took advantage of his kind nature.”

And I wasn't going to take advantage of him the same way. I wouldn't do it, no matter how much it hurt to let him go, to push him away. “I get why she wants to do this, but maybe she should have kidnapped him to an island retreat instead.”

She grinned. “She thought he'd prefer you to an island retreat, and she was right. I've never seen him smile as much as he did at that baby shower. You make him happy.”

I wished with every fiber of my being that she was right, but I wouldn't delude myself. Noah had been happy to be with his family, he might even be happy about our daughter, but I wasn't the one who made him happy. I wasn't the one he could love. “We should probably get inside.”

She gave me a quick hug before opening her door. “Stay there and I'll run around and help you out.”

She was at my door before I'd taken two breaths. She seemed so happy, like she'd done something good for Noah, like she was sure he'd be happier now. I wished she was right. I hoped he found the woman who could make him happy someday, but that woman wasn't me.

Inside, I was relieved to see Carrie and Dilly were already seated, chatting and laughing. It would feel good to talk about something other than Noah or babies.

I sat with them and found I was able to get caught up on their conversation pretty quickly. It wasn't long before I was laughing and chatting with them. After lunch, they took me out for a spa day and I felt so relaxed on the drive home I almost fell asleep. The day had been so relaxing I almost forgot what I was going to have to do. I almost forgot the heartache waiting for me at home.

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