“Come on, Mel, are you serious? She is the only person I’ve been with in months,” came his retort. As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Because the reason he hadn’t hooked up with another woman in way too long, was sitting across from him, staring at him as if he were pulling her leg.
“Come on, Noah, I see you flirting with girls at the bar all the time. You’re honestly trying to tell me, in all the time we’ve known each other, you’ve only taken one of them home for the night?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t been interested in any of them. Hell, I’m embarrassed to admit I wasn’t even that interested in Gigi, just drunk and horny.” He ran his free hand through his hair and couldn’t bring himself to meet Mel’s stare.
“You’re a man, not a robot, how could you not be interested in any of them?” She still sounded so disbelieving Noah’s restraint snapped.
“Because I’ve only been attracted to one woman in over a year, and she happens to be my best friend and completely uninterested in anything more.”
He forced his eyes up to meet hers, and was surprised to see heat mixed with longing there. Could he be wrong? Could Mel be ready to explore something more? Before he could form any more words, she spoke, instantly eliminating his tiny thread of hope.
“Noah, I, I don’t know what to say. I care about you so much, you’re my best friend too. But I can’t fall in love again. Not with anyone. You mean too much to me, I couldn’t risk losing you. I’m sorry.” She stood up abruptly, and all but ran into her bedroom and shut the door.
“Shit,” Noah muttered to himself. He certainly had made a mess of things by opening his big mouth. The only question was, could he fix it?
Chapter 5
Noah busied himself with the baby, trying to distract his thoughts away from the pain of what Melanie had said, by brainstorming baby names.
“Parker… Mason… Brayden… None of those work. They’re too preppy for you, little dude,” he murmured to the infant, who for once was laying quietly in his arms, eyes open staring up at him. Eyes that were so similar to his own. So much of the baby looked like Noah, it was awe-inspiring. But there were little things, like the dimples in his cheeks that Noah had to reluctantly admit must have come from Gigi. It was still insane to him that she had given up her own son.
“What about Connor?”
Noah startled, unaware that Melanie had left her bedroom and was standing close by, watching him.
“Connor? Connor Carlisle. Sounds good, Mel. Where did you come up with that?”
He noticed a faint blush come over Mel’s face as she replied, “It was my grandfather’s name. He was really cool, taught me how to throw a baseball. I, uhhh, well it was the name I would have used if I ever had a baby boy.” Her eyes turned down, and Noah’s heart ached at the soft pain behind her words. And he was honored that she would offer the name to him.
“I like it. Thank you.”
“Oh, okay. So, we’ll call him Connor?”
Noah tried not to read too much into the fact that she said ‘we’ again. “Yeah. We’ll call him Connor.”
Mel stood up straight from where she had been leaning against her bedroom doorway, and brushed imaginary lint off her pants, as if she were uncomfortable with the emotion swirling in the air.
“Great. Good. I’m glad he has a name. I’m going to head out for a bit, the gym, errands, that kind of thing. I’ll be back in time for dinner, okay?”
Noah nodded, even though the idea of being left alone with the baby filled him with panic. “Yeah, that’s fine. I need to take Connor to meet my mom and try to explain all of this. I’ll see you later.”
Melanie stopped at the front door and turned back to him, uncertainty painted on her face. “Are you sure you’ll be okay with him alone all day?”
He knew he had to reassure her, and not let her see how nervous he really was. With a forced chuckle, he said, “Yeah, Mel, I’ll be fine. I’m betting that once Molly Carlisle gets over the shock and finishes smacking my head, she won’t want to let him out of her arms for a second. I might even get a nap in.”
Mel grinned, and when she spoke next, he knew that the awkwardness of earlier had mostly passed. “You have got to be the most spoiled new dad out there. Try not to let her do everything, you need the practice, buddy. That poopsplosion I dealt with last night was because you suck at putting on a diaper.”
“Hey, it was dark!” he protested.
“Uh huh, and I had to deal with the mess!” came her retort.
He had the decency to look sheepish, because it was true. Mel had dealt with the diaper blowout like a champ, silently enduring the stinky torture to let Noah sleep.
“Okay, fair enough. I won’t let my mom change him, and tonight you can wake me up for any diaper changes.”
