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Chapter 18
SADIE
Noah had already thought of everything, having had two cribs, changing tables, and dressers delivered to his home. He’d been more prepared in four days than I had been in eight months.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand right as I put Emmy down.
I knew it was from Cammy, and part of me didn’t even want to read it. The argument between Noah and Dad was still fresh, my parents having left about half an hour ago.
I’d weighed the idea of messaging Cammy and telling her that tonight wasn’t a good night – we could reschedule tomorrow, after all.
I’d even run the idea by Noah. He’d shot it down without even a thought, shaking his head while holding Andy and stating in no uncertain terms that we were going to do this tonight.
He was right, of course. But I was sick at the idea of having another knock-down-drag-out conversation with someone I cared about.
I took one more look at Emmy, both to make sure she was down, and to remind myself of why I was doing this. When I felt ready, I stepped over to the dresser and picked up the phone to check the message. Sure enough, it was from Cammy.
Hey! Sorry, still running behind. Please don’t wait for me to start eating. I don’t want you four starving while I’m stuck in traffic. Give me 45.
I messaged back with a heart. What else could I even say to her? After all, she was totally oblivious to the fact that she was about to walk into the middle of a night that would literally change her life forever.
She was going to find out not only what had happened between her dad and me, but that she now had a brother and a sister.
I was an only child too, and I could only imagine what it would be like to suddenly learn that I had not one, buttwosiblings.
I sighed, checking myself in the mirror. Yoga pants and an oversized, gray sweatshirt were my outfit for the evening, the words “Johns Hopkins” written on the front in big blue letters – a souvenir from Noah’s med school days after Andy had spit up all over my original shirt.
After one more check on Emmy, I left the bedroom and went out into the hallway.
Noah hadn’t been kidding – his house was huge. I knew Cherry Creek homes were nice, having heard tons of stories in my childhood about this very ritzy neighborhood. But I hadn’t been ready for seeing one up close and personal.
The house was three stories, with towering ceilings and gorgeous solid-wood floors, hand-made rugs placed here and there. The room I was in with Emmy had been one of the many spare bedrooms. As Noah gave me the tour, I’d found myself wondering what the hell a single man like him was going to do with so much space.
He hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d told me that I would have lots of space to myself if I were to live with him. It’d be easy for the babies and me to take one whole floor and him to have the rest. We could go for entire days without seeing one another.
Still, I wasn’t sold on the whole moving-in thing. Then again, after the fight I’d had with Mom and Dad, going back to that little apartment over the garage knowing they were only a few dozen feet away didn’t sound appealing in the slightest.
I’d decided that I’d wait until after the Cammy conversation to come down on the matter one way or another. Telling the news to my best friend was a task enough already; I didn’t want to add the trouble of weighing the pros and cons of moving on top of that.
I spotted Noah in another bedroom a few doors down. We’d decided to put the kids into separate rooms so they could sleep without one crying and waking up the other. I approached the door quietly in the event that Andy was sleeping.
Noah was inside with the windows closed and the room nice and dark. Even in the low light, I could make out his huge frame, the outline of his big shoulders against the window.
I could see Andy in his arms, the baby so small in comparison to him. The contrast in size between Noah and the twins was striking and only made how sweet, how gentle he was with them stand out all the more.
“Time for sleep, big guy,” he said, his voice deep and soft all at once, Andy curled up into his chest. “Ma and Da will be right here.”
He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Andy’s forehead, then eased him into his crib. He stepped over to a small electronic machine and pressed a button, soft white noise coming out.
“Always helps me sleep when I’m restless,” he said as he came over to me. “I think Andy can feel the tension in the air tonight.”
Noah placed his hand on my hip and guided me out of the room, shutting the door most of the way behind him, leaving it slightly open. Once out in the hallway, the two of us listened carefully for any noises coming from either of the babies.
As he stood before me, it was impossible not to notice how damn handsome he was. The fact that he was so good, so gentle, with the children only added to the attraction I felt toward him.
Noah was strong and capable and aggressive when he needed to be. But there was another side to him, loving and tender, that came out with the children – and with me.
It made me realize another reason why I wasn’t sure if I could live with him – would it even be possible to keep my hands off a man to whom I was that attracted to?
