Page 47 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

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?”

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