Page 65 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

“Good night, dear. Sleep well.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Noah

I let myself into Aubrey's house, the next morning, because it was before eight and I didn't want to wake her. I probably should have planned my visit for later in the morning, but I needed to be there, needed to be around to help with Sophie. Hell, I just needed to be close to Aubrey.

I closed the door softly behind myself and tiptoed into the kitchen. Aubrey was sitting at the kitchen island, her laptop in front of her. Sophie was in her baby rocker, watching her toys dangle over her head. Aubrey jumped and let out a squeak of surprise when I walked past her. She placed a hand over her heart and caught her breath. “Noah. I didn't hear Nora let you in. I didn't even know she was up.”

Shit. I hadn't thought this through. “I let myself in. I haven't seen Mom.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Did I leave the door unlocked last night? I could have sworn I locked it after you left.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Lack of sleep must be getting to my brain.” There were dark circles under her eyes and she looked a bit pale.

I didn't want her to think she was crazy, but I had a feeling I was about to lose every bit of ground I'd gained with her. “May gave me a key. I let myself in because I didn't want to wake you.”

She spoke through gritted teeth. “Why would May give you a key tomyplace without telling me?”

I took a step back from the island. I wasn't chicken, but I wasn't stupid either. “She thought I should have it in case of an emergency.”

Aubrey held out her hand. “If there's an emergency, I'll call 911. Please give me back my key.”

I dropped the key in her hand. “Don't you think it makes sense for me to have a key? I'm here all the time.”

“No.” She placed the key on the counter next to her laptop. “You don't live here.”

“I'm here often enough that—”

“Look,” she said. “This isn't easy.” She gestured between the two of us. “If we're going to make this co-parenting as friends work, we need to have boundaries, firm boundaries.”

“If you only think of me as a friend, it shouldn't be a problem to give me a key. You gave May a key.” I knew the words were the wrong ones as soon as her expression hardened and shut down.

“I never had sex with May. There was once a physical attraction between us and the lines, the friendship lines got muddied. I want to make sure they don't get muddied again.”

“I'm still attracted to you.” I needed her to know how I felt, even as I suspected I was sinking my own ship. “I still think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I still want to touch you and hold you every time I see you. I still think of you, even when you aren't around. I—”

“No.” She held up a hand to shut me up. “I can't do this if you talk like that. We need to remember the boundaries. I don't want Sophie to grow up with a judge dictating her visitation with her father.”

A judge? Visitation? I sucked in a breath, feeling like she'd just reached into my chest and ripped off a piece of my heart. How did we go from me telling her I still wanted her to talking about judges and scheduled visits with my daughter? “Aubrey, I—”

She faced me, the pain on her face causing my own chest to ache. “Please,” she said. “I can't handle this right now. I can't handle any more complications or anyone else wanting something from me. Just be my friend. Knock when you want to come in and leave at the end of the day.”

I couldn't deny her anything when she looked at me that way. “Okay.” I would do what she asked. For now.

“Thank you.” She sighed. “I was just doing a little Christmas shopping for Sophie. I was thinking about getting her a doll, but I don't want to place societal gender expectations on her before she's even crawling.”

I accepted her subject change as the olive branch it was. I sat on a stool next to her. “So, just get her a teddy bear. At this age, she's not going to notice what it is as long as it's soft and cuddly.”

She nodded and typed in a new search. We picked out a cute, neutral-colored teddy bear and Aubrey added it to her shopping cart. A shopping cart with twenty-six items. “What else are you buying her?”

She smiled and clicked over to her cart. “I might have gotten a bit carried away. I ordered some more board books for her. I've tried reading to her, but she doesn't like the books I have, so I thought I'd try some with more colorful pictures.” She showed me five cute picture books.

“Looks good to me,” I said. “If she doesn't like them now, she'll love them when she gets a bit older.”

“That's what I thought.” Sophie fussed and Aubrey reached over and rocked her chair a bit. “Then, I started looking at baby clothes, just for fun, and I got really carried away.”

She scrolled through a long line of fluffy, pink infant and toddler dresses. “It's ridiculous, because your mom has gotten her more clothes than she can wear in one lifetime, but they're just so cute.”

I looked at all the pink and the flouncy and the bows. “Talk about forcing a gender identity on her,” I said without thinking.

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