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And if Nora leaves, I’m afraid she’ll never come back.
As if sensing my agitation, Otto starts to fuss in his sling.
“I know, buddy. I don’t want her to go, either.”
I don’t. And as much as I love this boy strapped to my chest, what I’m thinking isn’tbecauseof him. Yes, I want what’s best for him and I know down to my soul that Nora would be that. But if she left, Otto would be okay. Someone else would step in to fill her role for him. He’d learn to love and trust and rely on them.
He’d be okay. But I wouldn’t.
Because I’m in love with her.
I stop walking and stare down into my son’s curious eyes. “I love her.”
The second the words leave my mouth, it’s like some kind of vise comes off my heart, and the damn thing starts pounding like a drum. Like there’s some magic to saying the words out loud.
I fucking hope so, because I’m about to bellow them from the rooftops.
I’m going to give her every reason I have for her to stay. Leave nothing on the table. And then maybe… “Maybe she’ll stay.”
Otto’s little fist shoots up in a typical baby flail, but I take it as a sign and give it the bump it deserves.
“What do you say to some shopping, buddy?”
* * *
Two diapers,a bottle, and a change of clothes later, Otto and I are back at the building. Otto has a groggy seven-mile-stare thing going after the excitement of our downtown adventure, while I’m more amped up than I was in my first playoff game. I’ve got a light blue box in my pocket, the kind my sister tells me women lose their shit over. And while Nora tends to have her own priorities, I’m hoping, in this case, she’ll like what I picked. But if she doesn’t, I’ll get her anything she wants.
The elevator opens on our floor, and I stall halfway out, Otto’s carrier swinging in my hand. There’s a woman standing in front of my door I don’t recognize. Or do I?
She’s chewing her thumbnail, and there’s something about her posture—
It clicks.
“Caroline?”
The girl whirls around, takes a nervous step back… and then a hostile step forward, eyes blazing as she crosses her arms.
Oh yeah, this is definitely Nora’s sister. I can’t help but grin.
“That’s right. And you must be the guy trying to ruin my sister’s life.”
The grin falls, and I wonder if she can see the box in my pocket. If she knows what I’ve been doing today.
“Caroline, does Nora know you’re in town?”
“No. And you’re not going to tell her.”
“Umm, pretty sure that goes against the code of conduct.” Nora would kill me. I unlock the door. “Here, come on inside.”
She follows me in, animosity coming off her in waves as I unbuckle Otto like a boss.
“Which code is that? The employer/employee one? Or the one where you trap my sister into the kind of life she’s spent years trying to escape from?”
“Whoa, hold on a minute. First, I don’t keep things from your sister. But even if I wanted to, she’s going to be home soon, and—”
“Save it.” Caroline comes over, helping herself to Otto. She’s got the same confidence her sister does, the same tender touch for my son. And the same hostility toward me it took an eight-pound, two-ounce unexpected miracle for Nora and me to finally get past.
“You know she used to draw pictures of the Eiffel Tower when we were kids? She’d color with us, and because she was so good, we’d all want to watch to see what she made. She’d tell us about how, someday, she’d go to France and live there. That she’d travel the world.”
