I nodded and followed, but not before catching the signature—PW with a heart around it in the corner of all the photos. Interesting.
Miles pointed out his bedroom, guest room, and gym on the way to his office that honestly blew me away. The entireback wall was a window with the most gorgeous view of the nearby meadow. Not to take anything away from the beautiful landscape, but it had nothing on the large free-standing white board filled with the outline of his book. I tried not to stare, but Isabella’s name and her being held captive jumped out at me. I knew it.
Miles flipped the whiteboard around. “Sorry, I’m not ready to share her story with anyone yet. And I’ll need you to sign an NDA before I do.”
I found it intriguing that he called itherstory. It sounded almost as if he were talking about a loved one. “Of course.” I turned my gaze back to the window. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Not to worry. I shouldn’t have been so careless. I’m not used to sharing my space.”
My head drifted in his direction. He was laying out what I assumed was my contract on his desk. “Are you sure you want Chloe and me living here?”
He set the papers down and, instead of looking directly at me, his eyes roved down the length of me. I looked down at my long sleeve tunic and leggings wondering if maybe I’d dripped food on them. I would have hoped my daughter would have mentioned that. I didn’t see any stains. So why was he staring at me so intensely? And why wasn’t he answering my question?
“Aspen,” he did that name whispering thing again that made my senses go into overload. “I . . .” he looked between me and the contract and back to me again. He clenched his fists and inhaled and exhaled enough to make his shoulders rise and fall. “The answer to your question is yes, Henry needs you.” He sounded determined. But he asked me in return, “Are you having second thoughts?” Did he want me tosay yes? I swore his eyes were half pleading with me to say exactly that while the other half begged me not to change my mind.
My thoughts, as always, turned to Chloe and what this job meant for her. It didn’t matter that I would have to bury deep any stirrings for Miles I might have. Or that for the first time in several years I could picture myself searching for the key to unlock the bolt on the door to my heart. Once again, the key would remain safely hidden.
“No.” No second thoughts here.
Chapter Eight
Iwasgettingalot of strange stares from my coworkers—my soon-to-be ex-coworkers—when I walked into the bank Monday morning, late, with the cutest three-year-old boy dressed in shorts. I really needed to talk to Miles about getting this little man some pants. I didn’t see any in his drawers when I got him ready. The autumn days and nights could get downright cold here. It could even snow. But then again, it was Colorado, so there could be days where it was warm enough to swim outside. You just never knew.
Today was the perfect day, though-sunny, light jacket weather, and I was quitting. Yep, I wasn’t even giving two weeks’ notice. It was the first rebellious thing I had done in years, and it felt oh so good. Almost as good as that spring break trip to Florida where I inherited the tiny heart tattoo on my butt. Well, maybe. Miles gave me a hefty signing bonus for starting right away and the balance in my bank account did make me feel pretty euphoric.
I headed straight for my cubicle and set Henry on my desk while I filled my bag with the few personal items I’d kept there. The framed picture of Chloe and me doing our bestduck faces was really all I cared about. Henry took the picture from me and pointed to Chloe. “I love Co-ee.”
Chloe was already in love with him too. He was seriously adorable. He cried yesterday when we left. And this morning when I showed up early to start my duties as his nanny, he was all smiles and full of hugs and kisses. His uncle, on the other hand, was relieved to finally get some time to write. I had to say I was happy to give it to him. I needed that book.
“Do you want to hold the picture for me?” I asked Henry.
He hugged it to his chest.
I had just placed my stash of protein bars in my bag when overly shiny Stephen appeared in my cubicle. His comb-over this morning looked more like a swirly Q plastered to his forehead with gel. I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t bust out laughing. I was so going to snap a picture of it and send it to my friends.
Stephen smacked his lips, making a sound that made me want to wretch. “You’re late,” he said with way too much satisfaction. “And,” his beady eyes landed on Henry, “this isn’t bring-your-child-to-work day.”
The idiot didn’t even realize Henry wasn’t mine, though I would claim him in a heartbeat, especially after he pointed at Stephen and said, “You have a tail on your head.”
There was no holding back my laugh. Henry joined in and giggled too, repeating to me, “He has a tail on his head.” He was right. It did look like a rat tail.
Stephen turned so red he almost looked purple. He ran his hand over his hair, which only made it worse. He had used so much gel it made his hair stick straight up. While he tried to smooth his hair down, he spluttered, “I’m going to have to write you up for this.”
“You do that. I quit.” Wow, did that feel amazing to say.
Stephen’s jaw dropped. “Is this some sort of practical joke?”
I picked up Henry and gave him a squeeze. “Looks like the joke’s on you. You may have to do some actual work until you can find my replacement. Good luck with that.” I grabbed my bag and strode right past Stephen. “By the way, you have spinach in your teeth . . . again.”
He covered his mouth with his hand and muttered, “I hope you don’t expect a good reference.”
I laughed as I walked away. “Believe me, I would have never asked you for one. In your last email, you spelled absencesabscesses. And no, I won’t be ‘comming’ to the training meeting. You might want to invest in a spell checker.” How he graduated from college I had no idea.
“For that, you’re fired,” he yelled.
I waved to him from behind while two of the other personal bankers stood, envious, and silently clapped for me. We all hated him. I bowed as best I could with Henry in my arms.
After I was done grandstanding, I kissed Henry’s head. “Let’s go say goodbye to Evelyn.” She was the one person I would miss. We hopped on the elevator and Henry insisted on pushing the button for the second floor. I never quite understood why kids loved to push the elevator’s buttons, but Chloe had as well. She’d had a meltdown when she was four at the doctor’s office because I accidentally forgot and did it myself. After her exorcist event, I never touched another button until she was ten.
