Page 43 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

She nodded, deep in her own thoughts, my sarcasm lost on her. “We danced and it was fun. He was hot and he made me laugh. He kissed me on the dance floor and then bought me a drink.” She winced. “I'm not…I haven't dated that many guys and I thought…I guess I thought it was the start of something. Instead, he got us a table and whined about how amazing Carrie was and how lucky he'd been to date her and how he'd never find a woman as wonderful as her.” She bit her bottom lip and blew out a hard breath. “I was beyond annoyed with him, so I got up to leave. He grabbed my wrist and invited me to go home with him.” She rolled her eyes. “Like I'd go to his place after listening to him drone on about Carrie for twenty minutes. I told him I'd rather eat worms and he shrugged and said, 'see you around, Mary.'“ She growled. “He didn't even remember my damn name.”

I stared at her, shocked. I'd assumed she'd dated a lot of guys. She always seemed so confident, so sure of herself. “You really liked him.”

She curled in on herself so tight even her toes were curled. “I'm an idiot who makes a habit of picking the absolute worst guys to crush on.”

“Maybe he was just drunk,” I said. From everything I'd seen of George, he was a kind man and at the baby shower, even when Carrie had been around, his eyes had been on May. “Maybe you should talk to him about it.”

“Hey,” she said. “Great idea. I'll talk to George about what a dick he was when we met and you talk to Noah about this crazy idea of yours that he's only offering to date you because he feels obligated to take care of you.”

I stared at the salty wall. She had a point and I hated it. But I couldn't talk to Noah. If I called him out, he'd deny it and try even harder to do the right thing. No, it made more sense to push him away, to give him space to find what he really wanted.

I cleared my mind again, as best I could and focused on what I could control, my breathing. May snored softly beside me.

The forty-five minutes ended before I was quite ready and, when I sat up, I felt clear-headed and energized.

The receptionist and I had to shake May to wake her. She stretched and stood, smiling sheepishly. “I guess I was way more tired than I realized.”

We followed the receptionist back out, but the reception area was no longer empty. Oscar stood behind the desk. “Aubrey, May, it's so good to see you. What did you think?”

“It was wonderful,” I said.

“I slept through it,” May said. “But I feel great, so I'd say it was a success.”

“Great,” Oscar said. “I hope you got the friends and family discount.” He looked over at the woman behind the desk with him and she nodded.

“They told me they were friends of yours,” she said.

“We did,” I said. “Although free doesn't really seem like a fair discount.”

Oscar shrugged. “I'm sure I'll more than make up for it when you tell your guests how wonderful my spa is.”

“I will tell them. Thank you.”

“Sure,” he said. “What are you up to now? Want to get some dinner?”

I ended up back at my place for dinner with Oscar and May. They hit it off immediately and kept me laughing so much I almost forgot to miss Noah.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Noah

“Are you coming here this weekend?” My mother sounded annoyed. I was sorry I'd answered her call. The last thing I needed was a guilt trip. I'd been texting Aubrey and leaving messages, but she'd only responded that one time. It was driving me crazy wondering how she was and feeling that I'd lost her, again, for no good reason.

“I can't,” I said. “I've got meetings with two potential buyers for the Brantley properties and I'm working late tonight with our marketing team to try and come up with a way to drum up more business.” And I was giving Aubrey her space and myself enough time that I wouldn't beg her to give me another chance when I did see her.

My mother sighed. “I hope it all goes well, son, but I want you to know I'll be fine, we'll all be fine, even if it doesn't.”

I wasn't going to get into this with my mother again. “How is Aubrey?”

“She's great. If it weren't for that adorable baby bump, I wouldn't ever guess she's nine months pregnant. She's so energetic and has the most wonderful ideas for the bed and breakfast.”

“I'm glad.” I wanted to know more, but I didn't want to give my mother the wrong idea. “I'll call you—”

“She has a date tonight.”

My gut went cold and my heart flipped. “A date? I've been gone less than a week.”

“Is there some reason she shouldn't date? You two aren't together, right?”

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