Page 52 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

“No, I'm not going back to Atlanta with you. I've made a home here.”

“I'm not asking you to move back permanently, just until I get a few things figured out.”

“How long will that take? How long will I have to put my life on hold before you get things figured out?”

He leaned forward, his mouth set in a hard line. “I don't know how long it will take, Aubrey. There are a lot of unknowns involved and I don't want to make any promises until I'm sure how it's all going to work. What I am sure of is that I want you with me. Aubrey, I—”

A hard lump had lodged in my throat, making it hard to speak. “I want to believe you, Noah. I really do, but I'm not in a place in my life where I can take risks. It's not just about me anymore. I have to think about our daughter. I need to do what's right for her.”

He leaned back in his seat, his shock obvious. “And I'm not part of what's right for her?”

“Think about this seriously, Noah. You've been so busy the past few weeks, you've barely had time to talk to me, much less visit. Do you think that's going to change just because we live in the same city? Here, if anything happens, anything at all, I've got Nora and May and Cody and Carrie and Oscar and even George on speed dial and any one of them will be able to drop what they're doing and come help me out. Can you offer me that same security?”

He stood, his expression grim. “I'm offering you everything I am and everything I have, Aubrey. I can't possibly offer more than that.”

I hated myself in that moment, but I knew I wasn't wrong. “It's not enough, Noah. I'm so sorry, but it's just not.”

His eyes widened and he stared at me like he didn't know me at all. “I might not have called as often as I should, but I'm changing my entire life—” He stopped himself and scrubbed a hand down his face. “You can't keep me away from my daughter.”

“I would never—”

“I have the best lawyers and if you—”

And I'd had enough. “Get the fuck out of my house.”

His eyes widened, probably because he'd never heard me growl like that before. I'd never growled like that before. “Shit. I'm fucking this up. Aubrey, if you'd just—”

“I'm done just doing anything for you, Noah Reynolds. Get out of my house or I'm calling the police and then I'm calling your mother.”

He dropped his chin to his chest, his hands to his side, and turned and walked out of my house. It took me ten deep breaths and several long moments to calm down. I didn't believe Noah would take my child from me. I was pretty sure I didn't believe it. I knew him well enough to know he'd been speaking out of anger and fear and, judging by the bags under his eyes, exhaustion, but it didn't change the fact that he'd gone there. He'd threatened to bring lawyers in the first time he didn't get his way.

Anger still warmed me, but sorrow and fear worked their way into the mix until my lungs felt tight and I was having trouble breathing. I straightened, shifting so that the baby wasn't laying on me quite so much and took in several deep breaths. He had spoken in anger, I reminded myself. It wasn't proof of how the future would go with him. It would be okay. I told myself that over and over, but it didn't help.

Without realizing it, he'd tapped into my biggest fear, that my daughter might be taken from me, might grow up knowing the instability that I'd grown up with. Might grow up unsure that she was wanted anywhere. I didn't want that for her and, yet, if Noah wanted…No, I sniffled back tears and straightened. He had lawyers, well I had better. I would do everything it took to make sure my daughter was safe, even if that meant she never got to know her father at all.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Noah

“You look like shit,” Jill said. She walked into my office, dressed in a black pantsuit and black heels, her blond hair in a tight knot on top of her head.

“You look like you're going to a funeral.”

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. For her, I imagined, this did feel like a funeral, like our father's funeral all over again. It felt more than a little bit that way to me. “How did it go with Aubrey? Is she back in the city?”

“No. She's decided to stay in Catalpa Creek, at least until after the baby is born.”

Jill studied me for several long moments, her shrewd gaze relentlessly assessing me. She must have decided we had enough on our plates, because she gave me a small nod. “Right. I've got all the financials in order, are you ready to make that horrid man an offer he can't refuse.”

“Horrid?” Alex Owings said, walking into my office without being announced. Again. “That's not what you said last week when I ran into you at that new club on Vineyard.”

To my complete shock, my impervious, stoic sister's cheeks pinked and she dropped her gaze to her lap. She swallowed hard before she lifted her head, flint flashing in her blue eyes. “Didn't I? Must have been the whiskey goggles.”

Alex grinned like she'd given him a compliment of the highest order. “Of course it was, Ms. Reynolds.” He took a seat next to her.

“Please,” I said. “Come in unannounced and sit wherever you like. Don't mind us.”

“Mind?” Alex said, getting comfortable in his seat, one ankle on one knee. “I don't mind a bit. I hope you insisted I come all the way out here for a decent offer on the Brantley properties.”

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