The Baby Arrangement Read online

  “I thought I’d call in the morning and see what they suggest. With the change of plan, they might want to reschedule.”

  He met her gaze and held it. “So, I’m good. Are you?”

  Her smile rocked him more than the incoming wake. “I’m good.”

  He wanted to believe both of them.

  * * *

  Mallory didn’t contact Braden again until after she’d spoken with the clinic Monday morning. Because of the different procedure, they would need to reschedule if she took Braden up on his offer. Though they almost never sought each other during the business day, she took a quick break from The Bouncing Ball to ride the elevator up to the top floor. William, the receptionist who kept Braden Property Management running smoothly, looked surprised but not unhappy to see her.

  “Mrs. Harris!” He stood, coming around the built-in counter to take her hand. She’d kept Braden’s name. Her business had been established in that name. The hassle to change everything hadn’t seemed worth it. Particularly since she had no ties, emotional or otherwise, to her maiden name. But the Mrs... Most people just called her Mallory. Or Ms.

  “It’s so good to see you,” William’s smile was genuine and his pleasure at her sudden presence gave her pause.

  She shouldn’t have broken her and Braden’s unspoken protocol by showing up at his office suite. But the clinic only had a couple of openings. She had to call them back to let them know if she’d be keeping her afternoon appointment.

  And she’d needed to see Braden one more time, to make certain that he knew what he was getting into before they did something irrevocable.

  “Good to see you, too, William.” She smiled back at the man who’d been with Braden since college and was more of an office manager than a receptionist. William just liked to be out front, keeping an eye on everything that went on. From out here he knew which agents were present, which mortgage brokers were on time and which clients appeared nervous when they arrived.

  But he couldn’t know why Mallory was suddenly visiting her ex-husband.

  “Is he in?” she asked, nodding toward the hall that led to Braden’s huge, luxurious office suite.

  “An hour ago,” William confirmed.

  He didn’t ask her to wait while he let Braden know she was there, but she knew he’d call to inform him she was on her way back.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted as he opened his door just as she was approaching. “I shouldn’t be up here, but—”

  “Of course you should be up here,” he said, closing his door behind her as she entered the rooms she’d helped him decorate.

  They’d christened each one with lovemaking a long time before. An inappropriate memory to be having in that moment.

  He motioned toward the couch in the main room—which also housed a massive teak desk, an entertainment center with a large-screen TV and a wet bar.

  “I only need a second,” she said, shaking her head at his offer to sit. “I have to get back.”

  He slid his hands in his pockets, drawing her attention down there. To the part of him that he’d be using on her behalf if they did this.

  Oh, God.

  Could they really be considering such an asinine choice?

  Glancing up, she felt the heat rise up her neck to her face. He’d caught her looking.

  Of course he would. Braden missed very little.

  Unless it came to emotions. Then he managed to bypass pretty much everything.

  Or at least he seemed to.

  The man she’d married, the one with whom she’d shared the best years of her life, had shown her a different side. He’d been verbally reticent, not one to express emotion in words, but he’d definitely known them. And shown them. He’d also been able to sense even the slightest change in her, it had seemed.

  At least that was the way she remembered it, looking back. Who knew how it had really been?

  “I called the clinic,” she said, hoping she sounded as confident as she wanted him to think she was. About the procedure, there was no doubt.

  About using him, there was tons of it.

  But knowing her baby would have family if something happened to her simply meant too much to her to decline his offer.

  “And?” he prompted her.

  “If we... If I... I’d have to reschedule,” she found her point eventually. “The procedure is slightly different. They have one opening on Wednesday morning and one Thursday, late afternoon. They need an immediate call back if I’m going to cancel this afternoon’s appointment.”

  “‘If?’ Are you reconsidering again? I thought we’d been through all of that.”

  So much for her giving him time to change his mind. He wasn’t being open-minded enough to do so.

  “We have been. But I just don’t think you realize what you’re putting yourself in for. The possible ramifications. You’d have a child you could never acknowledge, Bray. Think about that. I mean, if we lived on opposite sides of the country, maybe that wouldn’t be such a critical consideration, but I’m right downstairs. My baby will be right downstairs. Every single day.”

  Right now they didn’t see each other on a daily basis. But knowing that he had a child so close and that he couldn’t be a part of its life might drive him over the edge.

  “Which brings me to the reason I called Friday’s meeting,” he said.

  For a second there she thought he was losing it. He hadn’t known her plans, nor made his offer when he’d called the meeting. What could one possibly have to do with the other?

  “I’m confused.”

  “I’m moving, Mallory. So, you see, I won’t be upstairs from the baby every day.”

  She went cold. From head to toe, everything about her was cold. She stared at him, trying to assimilate what he’d said.

  She headed for his couch and sat.

  “You’re moving.” It wasn’t a question, and yet...he was moving?

  When Braden sat next to her, closer than he’d ever been when alone with her since their divorce, she knew that his news was big.

  Serious.

  And it was coming at her whether she wanted it or not.

  Just as she knew that she did not, in any way, want him to leave.

  That one was as unequivocal as their divorce.

  Chapter Six

  “You own properties in several different cities now. Why would you have to move to purchase another?” she asked when he told her about buying the L.A. property.

  She’d gone white. Braden hadn’t expected that.

  He’d figured she’d be upset at first. Mallory wasn’t a huge fan of change. But she always saw reason. Always supported his choices. Encouraged them, even.

  Perhaps he should have been a bit more conscientious in telling her his big news.

  “I don’t have to move to buy the L.A. property,” he told her. “I want to move.” Maybe that was it. He’d misrepresented the plan. He’d come at it from the business end of things. “The other properties all were purchases of existing buildings, with tenants,” he explained. “The L.A. one is going to be like this one here, Mal. I’m going to make a second Braden Property Management building, starting from scratch. I’ll be using renditions of the same plans. To anyone just driving by, the properties will look pretty much identical. I’ll need to be on hand, much like I was here, during the entire process.” He heard himself and corrected, “I want to be there.”

  “This building is your baby.” She’d spoken softly, looking at him with that tender gaze that seemed to see more than was there. “And as such, you have my full support.”

  “I wouldn’t put it that way.”

  “I mean...the new project is you building your own life separate and apart from me. Braden Property Management in San Diego, with The Bouncing Ball on the ground floor, is us, Bray. You love this place, but you need to make
a life of your own. That’s as it should be.”

  He shook his head. She was making way more of this move than was there. Except for one key point.

  “I’m a developer,” he said. “The project will be a challenge and I look forward to that,” he agreed. “I also think maybe it’s time for us to live far enough apart that we aren’t in each other’s spheres all day every day.”

  Her lips pursed, she nodded, then stood.

  “That’s it? You’re just going to go?” he asked her.

  “I have to get back downstairs,” she reminded him. “I don’t like to be gone long, you know that. And I have to call the clinic.” She was walking toward the door. All he could see was her back.

  He had to let her go. This was their life.

  “Thursday afternoon would work better for me,” he shot out at her.

  She stopped, nodded, then reached for the door handle and was gone.

  Leaving him, once again, feeling like a jerk.

  Mallory was more excited than nervous—and eerily calm, too—for most of that week. Her plans were solid. Right. She had no doubt about that.

  Just as Bray’s new plans were right for him.

  She didn’t doubt that, either.

  Hence the calm. Three years ago they’d chosen to live life on individual paths, rather than one path together. It had been the right choice for both of them.

  No doubt on that score.

  So why was she so incredibly sad all of a sudden? Not overall. Not all day. Or every minute. But in bouts. Unexpectedly throughout the day, for a minute or two.

  L.A. was only two and a half hours away. Knowing Braden, he’d still be in San Diego at least once or twice a week. He wasn’t going to leave the San Diego headquarters hanging.

  Unless...

  Was he planning to sell the complex? Would the new owner raise her rates to something she couldn’t afford without passing on higher fees to her clients? Many of her clients worked in the building and couldn’t afford any higher fees. Would some of the smaller businesses be forced to move? Would she?

  She couldn’t believe he’d do such a thing.

  And yet, things were changing so drastically. She was taking very real steps to have a family again. To be a mother.

  Braden was not only supporting her, but doing everything he could to make the way easier for her.

  She had no business putting any kind of a guilt trip on him about his plans.

  But maybe she was a little more on edge than she might have been when they met in the parking lot of Braden Property Management Thursday after lunch. He’d suggested they drive to the clinic together. Considering the distance, she couldn’t come up with a reason why they shouldn’t. It made absolutely no sense to take two cars from San Diego all the way to Marie Cove.

  Coming from work, he was still in his suit, looking confident—and too sexy for her immediate peace of mind. She’d changed from jeans and a Bouncing Ball polo shirt to a calf-length, colorful, flowing skirt and a short-sleeved, figure-hugging purple shirt with sandals.

  The ladies who worked for her knew she had a doctor’s appointment. They didn’t know why. No one did. Not even Tamara.

  When she was pregnant, she’d share her news. Until then, she needed to keep things low key.

  They got in Braden’s dark blue luxury SUV without discussing whose car they’d take. The vehicle was new since their divorce. She’d ridden in it a handful of times. The tissue holder attached to the passenger-side sun visor was one she’d purchased for him years before.

  Kind of ironic, considering that her crying—and thus needing tissues—had contributed to the reasons for their divorce.

  “Thank you for doing this,” she said as he maneuvered through traffic and pulled onto the highway heading north.

  The appointment ahead was bound to be awkward for him, going into a room with the express purpose of...

  Yes, well, she wouldn’t be there and needed to steer her mind away from that thought. He’d be having a somewhat personal medical procedure. Administered by himself.

  Details not her concern. But she couldn’t help thinking about that particular part of his anatomy. She knew it well. Had loved it well.

  Again, not her business.

  Her business came immediately after his. A short procedure. And then, by the time she was on the opposite side of that very highway later that afternoon, she could be pregnant!

  She wouldn’t know, of course. It would take a couple of weeks before she could hope for accurate results from a home pregnancy test.

  “You nervous?” Braden asked as he set the cruise control and settled back.

  “A little.” Not as much as she’d have thought. She was creating her future, one step at a time. Just one step. That’s all she was facing that day. That’s all she’d ever have to face. One step. Before she’d have to deal with the next.

  Or get to celebrate the next.

  One thing she’d learned from losing Tucker, from the grief counseling, was to live in the moment. To enjoy every single moment as best she could. The moment was all anyone ever had at any given time. And then, God willing, they’d have another one moment.

  They’d been on the road half an hour and said two words a piece.

  “This isn’t a bad drive,” she offered. She’d made it a few times in recent months.

  “No, it’s not.”

  He’d obviously been making the trip, too, adding on the extra forty-five minutes further north to L.A. At least, enough to pick the property he was considering for his new venture.

  Odd how their attempts to get on with their lives apart from each other had led them both to the L.A. area.

  Difference being, of course, that she only visited. He was moving.

  “Maybe we could drive by your new property,” she offered, hoping he never knew how difficult it was for her to support him. She was being selfish and wasn’t proud of that. “You know, when we’re finished at the clinic. We’d be almost there and I’d like to see it.”

  More like she needed to know where he was going to be. Just so she could relax and let go.

  He glanced at her. She could tell but didn’t look over at him.

  “I’d like that, actually, if you’re up for it,” he told her. “I’d like your input.”

  Warmth flooded her.

  All of these changes were a good thing.

  Maybe everything really would be okay.

  * * *

  Braden didn’t need the magazine. He’d been apprised of its availability. Knew exactly where and how to access it, but didn’t. All he had to do was picture Mallory their last night together, naked and wild in that hotel room, as hot for him as he had been for her.

  The whole thing was over in less than a minute.

  Which was a good thing, considering the night that did it for him was also the night their son had died.

  She couldn’t have sex again after that.

  The memory of their time together that night turned him on. If that made him a sick bastard, then, he supposed it did.

  For Mallory, the two were indelibly tied into one.

  For him, they were two completely different things. For her, losing one meant losing both. In his mind, their togetherness as a couple could have been something that saw them through the loss.

  But then, his tendency to live in his mind had been a big part of their problem.

  He made business calls and answered email from his phone while he waited out in his vehicle for Mallory. He’d been told it could take six or more tries for her procedure to take. This was the only time he’d need to be present. He hoped it worked out for her quickly.

  If this was what she really wanted.

  Maybe after trying, she’d have second thoughts. This attempt wouldn’t take, and she’d forgo another.

  Maybe.


  Staring at email he wasn’t comprehending, Braden had to stop himself a second. Was he hoping Mallory didn’t get pregnant?

  Did he want this venture to fail?

  He wanted her happy. That answer came to him quite succinctly and he recognized the absolute truth of it.

  And if it took a baby to make her so?

  He wished it didn’t.

  But if it did?

  He wanted her happy.

  Satisfied with where his internal dialogue ended, he answered three emails in as many minutes. One from an investor. Two from contractors regarding the L.A. property.

  Mallory was making her new life.

  He was making his.

  * * *

  She didn’t look any different. Logically he’d known she wouldn’t and yet, as Mallory climbed back into the passenger seat next to him just as the sun was starting to set, he was struck by how normal she looked.

  As though he’d expected her to sprout horns or a baby rattle or something.

  She strapped herself in and as the seat belt crossed over the front of her body, he remembered another time, another doctor’s office parking lot. They’d just come from her thirty-nine-week checkup. She’d begun to dilate. They’d had an ultrasound and Tucker had been head down and in position. Mallory had been talking nonstop as she’d guided the seat belt beneath her belly bulge and clicked it closed.

  He’d looked at the huge belly sticking out there and for the first time had had a sense that there was going to be another human being in his family. That stomach wasn’t just Mallory’s thing. Just something she wanted and would be great at. It was a human being, ready to join them.

  Them, not her.

  He’d been scared to death. Afraid of what the change would do to the “them” that worked so perfectly, in his opinion.

  And afraid that he wouldn’t be as great a dad as she’d be a mom. Afraid that he’d disappoint her.

  He’d also been strangely elated. And uncomfortably moved. That bulge was about to become his son. Having never had a dad or a brother, that new male advent into his family had suddenly been huge. Visions of fishing and sports and doing business together had started to pop up at the most unexpected times.