Page 2 of Attached At Heart
Usually, he only smiled like that at?—
“Do you think you’ll get Noah into the boxing ring some more?”
Boxing? Noah?
I straightened at the woman’s voice as she asked Blake about his brother, otherwise known as the New England Knights’ quarterback and the hottest football player in Boston. According to the internet, of course. If tattoos and muscles were your thing, he’d be considered objectively attractive. And considering the way this woman’s eyes lit up at the mention of Blake’s brother, tattoos and muscles were definitely her thing.
I gritted my teeth, crossing my arms over my chest. I’d had to watch more than one woman use Blake to try to get to his brother, and if this?—
“I’ll force him, even if he doesn’t want to.”
Blake’s voice soothed my raising hackles, making me forget all about the woman opposite him. I’d needed to hear that voice in the past few months. Needed to hear that calm cadence, needed him to give me some of his no-nonsense advice, but he’d left.
He said his family in Boston needed him. He didn’t tell me anything. After ten years of friendship,ten yearswhere we’d navigated medical school together in Chicago, supported each other long distance through residency, and reunited at Mayo for our fellowship, he’d simply left me. Without even telling me the details of the hospital he planned to work at as an attending physician. The very thing we worked for so many years to do. Together. He didn’t tell me it was this one. And definitely didn’t tell me he had ababy.
How had we not run into each other until today? How had I not known about any of this?
Seeing the scene before me shouldn’t have made me feel sick to my stomach, but it did. When Blake told me his family needed him, I’d assumed he meant his brother and single-mom sister. They both lived out here in Boston, too. I never could have imagined that he’d meant a completely different kind of family.
“Good. You should because I’m just a little worried about him,” the woman replied to Blake before dropping her voice, clearly wanting whatever she had to say about Noah London to be private.
My frown deepened as I studied Blake’s expression. His brows furrowed as he listened. He reached out, squeezing the woman’s arm affectionately, and I wondered ifhewas worriedfor his brother or if he was worried about how worriedshewas about his brother.
I didn’t like it either way.
I continued to watch as Blake rocked the baby up close to his chest. Then he cocked his head to the side, brushing an absent-minded, tender kiss over the top of the baby’s head like it was the most natural thing in the world.
My stomach did a weird flip.
When the woman stood a moment later, Blake leaned in for a brief hug before passing the baby to her. She was tall, I realized. About as tall as me with blue eyes and fair skin that wasn’t so different from my own. But that was where our similarities ended; her pretty face hosted a smattering of freckles, and her copper hair draped around her shoulders in lovely, loose waves. My blonde hair, on the other hand, hung in a limp braid down my back.
The woman tucked her baby girl into a carrier, chatting softly to Blake as she gathered her things. And then she walked the other way with a little wave.
Odd.
The whole thing was odd, and I tried to make sense of it as I turned to watch Blake’s girlfriend, or whoever she was, walk away with such an offhand goodbye.
“Delaney?”
I froze at the sound of Blake’s voice.
On a scale of one to ten, how obvious was it that I’d been standing here the entire time? Probably atleasta seven.Shit.
“What are you…Delaney?” He said my name again, his voice growing louder, closer, infused with confusion, and touched with disbelief. He was trying to figure out why I hadn’t responded. Or why I was here.
I should have told him, my best friend, that I’d moved to the East Coast, to the same city he’d moved to. But after the way he’dleft, I hadn’t even been sure wewerebest friends anymore. And the last thing I wanted him to think was that I’dfollowedhim here. Especially considering the emotional distance he’d placed between us that far rivaled the physical separation.
Attempting to gather myself, I waited a beat longer before turning to face him.
“Blake,” I said breathlessly, hoping that maybe I sounded more surprised and less like I’d been spying on him for the last five minutes.
I mean, Iwassurprised. Surprised to see him here, probably on a break between rounds. Surprised we hadn’t crossed paths before. Surprised to see him with a baby in his lap.
“What’s—what’s going on?” Blake was standing in front of me now, his intense gaze scrutinizing my presence. His eyes swept over me, taking in every inch of my being here, standing right in front of him. When his attention flicked back to my face, he reached out like he was going to touch me, maybe pull me in for a hug, but then he seemed to remember that he’d put distance between us and stopped. “Why are you here? How long have you been standing there?”
That last question grabbed my attention, sounding an awful lot like Blake was worried he’d just been caught.
I lifted a brow. “Long enough that I have some questions of my own, Dr. London.”
