The Baby Arrangement (The Daycare Chronicles 3)

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.