“Well, shit,” Aubrey muttered, her heart doing a slow capsize. “Definitely did not see that one coming.”
16.
Nick’s mind whirled. There sat Aubrey, porcelain-pale, her throat working against a painful-looking swallow.
Paige pulled out of their hug. “Come on, come meet our float-building partner.”
He forced his muscles to unlock and let himself be towed by the hand, because what choice did he have?No thanks, Peanut, let’s skip the part where you introduce me to the woman I’ve loved since before you were born.
“Soooo this is Aubrey,” Paige chirped. “But not just any Aubrey. AubreyMacLean. The record-holder for trophies in math club. Although Iamabout to dethrone her, which maybe makes us bitter enemies, except I like her a lot, and. . .”
He resisted the urge to drag a hand down his face. Hearing Paige shape the same name that forever echoed inside his head had him questioning whether he’d wandered into some kind of upside-down reality. As did the fact that his daughter apparently knew Aubrey’s name already.
“...but, wait, didn’t you two go to school together? The years on those trophies. . .” Paige smacked her forehead with an open palm. “Right. I’m being dumb. You’ve probably already met.”
“Yeah,” Nick choked out. “We’ve met.”
“Wow, what’re the chances Megan would pair us up with your old classmate?”
He almost groaned. Whatwerethe chances? Well, one hundred percent, probably. Fucking Megan Shimamoto, meddling again. The woman barely knew how to do anything else.
“And I can’t believe you’ve never told me you went to school with a real live mathematician,” Paige continued. “How could you just not mention that?Ever?”
Aaaand there was a question he had no desire to answer. Even so, he couldn’t wrench his eyes from Aubrey’s. Amid the cool blue shadows of the barn, her hair shimmered like it had been spun from jewels. He just stood there, in some kind of thrall, his heart a painful thump inside his chest.
Thankfully, Aubrey saved him from a response by sliding from her seat. “Excuse me. I think I need to... clarify something. I’ll be right back.” She bustled away. A moment later, she appeared outside the window, huddled in a conference with Megan.
Nick tried to shake off his stupor. Get it together. He’d only come to help Paige out, and if Aubrey didn’t want him near her, he’d respect that. He’dbeenrespecting it.
“I wonder what that was about,” Paige said.
When he forced a shrug, she hauled him over to a stack of rebar, where she fired off a string of numbers that went over his head. Something about polygons and the sum of interior angles. He eventually gleaned that he had to cut the rods into pieces and weld them back together into a circle. No, four circles.
Which would probably take all damn day.
He sighed, but went to work with minimal grumbling. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could leave. His morning workout with Jackson had granted him some measure of calm,and he clung to it now, though it felt like trying to hang on to a bar of soap while standing under a roaring waterfall.
A pair of bolt-cutters lay beside the rebar, so he planted one handle against the floor, set a rod between the blades, and clamped the other handle down by leveraging all his strength. The cut pieces pinged onto the weathered floorboards. Paige nodded her encouragement and bounded away to “do more calculating.”
Five minutes later, Aubrey reentered the barn, her cheeks pink with cold. Or maybe with being strenuously opposed to his existence. She strolled over and braced her hands on her hips, her brows raised, as if this had all been his idea.
“Well?” He tried to sound casual. “What’d Megan say?”
Aubrey glanced sidelong at Paige, who sat hunched over her notebook, her tongue peeking from the side of her mouth. She wouldn’t be rejoining them anytime soon.
“She said she needs me here.” Aubrey kept her tone hushed. “Doing math. And shedidpromise to put me where I fit best, regardless of who with. I guess I just misinterpreted what that meant.”
He snorted. “You didn’t misinterpret shit.”
Aubrey’s mouth pinched. “You’re saying she paired me up with your daughter on purpose? Paired me up withyou?”
He shrugged. No point trying to convince her of Megan’s machinations if she didn’t already know. “Just pick some other job, if this bothers you.”
Aubrey hesitated. “I’m not going to... run away from you, if that’s what you mean. I don’t need to.”
His heart thrummed a discordant note. No, of course she didn’t. That night at her house—when he’d stupidly told her he didn’t regret—had been the end of it for her. Case closed.
“Besides,” she said. “That’d send everyone the wrong message.”
