The Baby Arrangement (The Daycare Chronicles 3)

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.”