“You’re still here,” he said. His tie was gone, and the top two buttons of his shirt were open.
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you about this weekend. If you wanted me to come in regular time or later? I wasn’t sure of your schedule.”
“You’re off this weekend. I made sure I had it free to spend time with Gina.”
“Oh, that’s good,” I said. Then I thought of Gina’s conversation with me earlier. “Gina does miss you. She talks about all the time you spend together.”
He si
ghed. “I wish it could be more.”
“You’re a busy single father, she understands,” I said. “At least I try and remind her of that when I can.”
“Thank you.”
“Speaking of busy,” I said. “She did mention today that she thinks you would be happy with another woman in your life.”
“She did?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I wanted you to know what she thought of the idea, in case you were dating anyone.”
He chuckled. “I’m not dating anyone.”
“Well, so that you know,” I said. “I don’t mind working weekends or weekend nights if you need a sitter.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said and glanced at the clock.
I took that as a sign to leave. “Have a good night, and thanks for the pizza.”
“See you Monday.”
“See you.” I walked out of the house feeling quite flushed. Thankfully, the air had cooled, and it felt amazing against my heated cheeks. Even if Noah wasn’t willing to move forward with dating, I wondered what I could do to help Gina and Noah in finding him a wife.
Chapter Nine
Noah
The transition from Layla to Jess went smoother than I anticipated. Two weeks after hiring her, my life had completely reverted to the time before Layla quit. I was able to leave for work on time every morning and not worry about Gina all day. Sure, I thought about her, but I didn’t worry that her nanny couldn’t keep up with her. And as if Jess knew I thought about Gina often, she sent me at least one photo a day of Gina doing some activity. I wanted to tell Jess that she didn’t need to check-in, but I didn’t want the pictures to stop either.
Sometimes the photos would have Jess and Gina together, and if anyone else didn’t know their relationship, the two could have been mother and daughter.
The highlight of my day was getting home to both of them each night. How did I ever get so lucky?
My office phone rang. Allison’s name scrolled across the caller ID. I picked it up.
“Noah, Brandon is here to see you,” she said.
“Send him in,” I said. I stood and buttoned my suit jacket to greet my best friend.
Brandon walked in. He was bundled up in a heavy coat and scarf.
I crossed the room and shook his hand. “It’s not that cold out.”
“Dude,” Brandon said. “I was near the equator for a month. This weather is taking a little getting used to.”
“Do you want me to turn up the heat in here?” I asked.
He pulled a face and stripped off his jacket, but left the scarf. “I think I’ll be fine.” He went over to the window and sat on the couch. “Dude, this vacation was one of our best ones.”