She crawled back under the covers and closed her eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come. Whipping back the blankets, she rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen for something to help her relax.
Familiar with the cabinets, she walked directly to the one housing the cocoa, pulled the syrup from the cupboard and went in search of a microwave-safe mug. Just as she hit the start button to heat the milk and chocolate she’d mixed, the kitchen door swung open and Dominic burst in, his chiseled face drawn in serious lines, looking like a guy about to confront an intruder.
“Oh, it’s you.”
He was so sexy in a tux that no matter how angry she was with him, the female in her simply couldn’t stifle the flutter in her tummy. She allowed herself the small tingle of appreciation just looking at him gave her. Then she realized he’d heard her noise and investigated, and she laughed. “You thought a burglar got thirsty, didn’t you?”
His confront-the-intruder tension now gone, he strolled into the room. “I don’t know what I thought. I heard a noise as I entered the foyer. I’m not accustomed to having someone in the house prowling around in the middle of the night.”
“Because you haven’t yet become accustomed to having a baby. If you’d spent more time with Joshua, you’d remember you hired a nanny and that said nanny will be prowling around at all hours.”
He snorted a laugh. “Right. As if it’s that simple to unlearn thirty-six years of behavior.”
“You could if you tried,” Audra insisted, though her mother’s words about Dominic only living what he knew haunted her.
“I don’t think so,” he said equally confident. “I wasn’t the one who prepared for this baby for nine months. I wasn’t even supposed to be the one who raised him when his parents died. Marsha’s mother was.”
“Maybe you haven’t been prepping for this, but you were learning. Yet you didn’t even come into the nursery to say hello today.”
The microwave buzzer sounded. Audra reached in for her cocoa. Slamming the door closed she added, “Even if you never change a diaper or dress him again. You still need to come in and say hello in the morning and good night in the evening.”
“When I’m home and not busy, yes, I will do that.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t a matter of doing things when convenient. This is important. My dad died when I was a little girl and I grew up understanding that my mom didn’t have a lot of time for me, but she still made some time. And I’ll bet your busy dad made some time for you, too. Maybe not entire days. Maybe not hours at a clip. But I’m sure he said hello and goodbye. Asked about your grades and baseball games. Checked in with you every day.”
“He did, but any real time he had went to Peter. Peter was the one being groomed to take over the business.” He caught her gaze. “And before you start overanalyzing that, I’ll tell you that I accepted that, too. I respond very well to reason and logic.”
“You just made my point. You’re looking at your relationship as if Joshua is you in your dad’s life. But he’s not. He’s Peter. Joshua’s the one who’s going to take over the family business. You have to treat him the way your dad treated Peter.”
The expression on Dominic’s face crumbled into one of confusion. “The kid is six months old.”
“Doesn’t matter. The bonding starts now.”
He groaned.
Audra grinned triumphantly and issued the challenge. “If you really take your role seriously, you have to raise Joshua the way Peter was raised.”
He stared at her, clearly confronted by something he couldn’t explain away, not even to himself. After a few seconds he half laughed. “Even though my dad was fairly decent with Peter, he’s not the kind of dad a smart guy copies.”
“Then just do what comes naturally.”
“Right.” He shook his head. “What has always come naturally to me is schmoozing.” He glanced around the kitchen, as if disoriented. “But I’m even losing that. I’m so focused on spreadsheets and expansion plans that I sometimes forget how to make simple conversation. I had a miserable time tonight. I can’t even remember what fun feels like.”
“The world is sort of turned upside down?”
He caught her gaze. “Yes.”
She opened her arms and spread her hands. “Look who you’re talking to. I can’t remember what it feels like to be happy. You want to hear about a world turned upside down? I stood in the back of a church, sequins sparkling and bouquet in hand, ready to commit to someone who didn’t even have the courtesy to call my cell and tell me he’d changed his mind. In one short hour I went from believing my life was perfect to being rejected and wondering how I’d get through the next day.”