Declan gave him a rueful smile, saying, “I’ve tried, but she is craving all this stuff right now that is beyond both our skill levels. I usually just have her call in what she wants and I pick it up on the way home. She thinks on the nights that Evan is there, though, that he should have home cooking. I finally had to tell her last night that the kid is better off with McDonald’s than smoke inhalation.” Looking down at his watch, Declan stood, saying, “Man, I got sidetracked, but I came by to tell you that Jason has called a meeting for ten this morning. He has his eye on another company that he is thinking of acquiring. We need to head out to the fifth-floor conference room.”

He followed his brother out on their way to the conference room, with Emma refusing to make eye contact, but Brant heard Declan chuckle under his breath when she called him Mr. Stone on the way out the door. He would take her to lunch today and explain as much as he could without breaking his promise to Alexia. He wished for a moment that they were still in Florida without the stress and interruptions of their everyday life. Things had been simpler then. How could a morning that had seemed so promising only hours ago have gotten off course so fast? Playing the love-struck boyfriend had been like second nature when they were together in Florida. A large part of him knew that it hadn’t been acting at all; it had been acceptance of what had always been between them.

Chapter Thirteen

Emma sagged back against her chair as Brant followed his brother out the door. She was extremely grateful to have a moment to herself. In her eagerness to see Brant, she had made it to work ten minutes early, knowing he would already be there. She had burst through the door of his office only to come to an abrupt standstill at the sight of him standing there with a beautiful woman wrapped in his arms. At first, she thought she must have been imagining it. In all the time she had worked for him, Brant had never had a woman in his office who wasn’t a business colleague. But something about the familiar way he held this woman had signaled something very different between them.

The woman had been friendly enough. There had been only curiosity in her gaze as she greeted Emma. Brant, though, had looked decidedly uncomfortable. Declan had walked in only minutes later, supplying the missing piece to the puzzle. This woman was Brant’s ex. The only question was his ex what? Girlfriend or wife? Had he been married before? She had never heard anything along those lines. Suddenly, though, her position in Brant’s life seemed very precarious. Was their time together in Florida truly just a weekend fling? She had always assumed that Brant didn’t have a life other than work, but now she knew that he had been involved and that the woman was very much in his life.

She realized there was only one thing you could do when you were in this much turmoil: Call the girls.

Emma walked from the elevator toward the lobby of the main floor of the Danvers building. She was relieved to be meeting her friends for lunch but depressed that Brant hadn’t returned before she left. Suzy, ever punctual, was the first to arrive. She embraced her, glad to have a moment alone with her before the others arrived. She pulled back, still holding Suzy’s hand while she asked, “How are you? I wanted to call and see how everything went for you with your . . . procedure, but I didn’t want to pry. So, yeah, now I’m obviously prying.”

Suzy gave a small laugh, squeezing her hand. “Things went just fine. Gray was proud to have thousands of swimmers who had the speed of Olympic champions.”

Emma could only imagine that the very suave and handsome Grayson Merimon would have been absolutely appalled to have his sperm count discussed in the lobby of their workplace. Luckily for him, though, they were in a deserted corner with no one in sight.

Emma grinned. “Hey, I wouldn’t have expected less. I don’t think there could be anything to do with his body that isn’t perfect.” Emma wanted to groan as she realized what she had just said. Her friend probably didn’t need to know that she had checked out her husband so thoroughly. “Er . . . I mean, he seems to stay in shape.”

With a wink, Suzy said, “I gotcha and you are quite right.”

Curious, Emma asked, “So when will you know if it worked?”

Suzy looked down, fidgeting with the strap on her purse. “I’m not sure, probably soon. You never know about these things.”

Emma was sure that it took only a few weeks to find out if you were pregnant the normal way, but maybe things were different when you went another route. God, she hoped Suzy hadn’t had bad news already. She was acting a little evasive about the whole thing. When Claire walked in the door, Emma was grateful to let the subject drop. Better to let Suzy talk if she wanted to and not because she was being badgered.

Claire pulled them both in for a hug. “I’m so glad to see you! I love my daughter, but it’s great to escape potty training hell for a few hours. Our washing machine has been running around the clock since I started trying to train Chrissy. Jason says we should just buy stock in Pull-Ups and admit defeat.”

As they were laughing, Beth and Ella stepped from the elevator and started waving. They had decided to walk next door to the sandwich shop and avoid having to drive in the Myrtle Beach lunch rush hour. When they settled into their table, Emma noticed Beth pull out an iPad and start watching what appeared to be a video.

“Oh good grief,” Suzy grumbled. “Give me that thing. How can we talk about men, sex and whatever else while you’re over there stalking your nanny.”

Beth held on to the iPad for a moment before grudgingly giving it to her sister. “I can’t help it. I’m not used to leaving him at home all day. Janice is great, really. Nick’s parents know her family and she comes highly recommended, but still . . .”

Claire put her hand over Beth’s in sympathy. “Trust me, honey, I understand. There are times that I’m so ready for a mommy break that I’m standing at the door waiting to hand Chrissy off to the paperboy if it will get me five minutes of peace, but when I do have a sitter other than my mom and Louise, I’m a nervous wreck.”

“So wait a minute,” Emma asked. “You have a nanny cam?”

“Well, it’s not really a nanny cam, since she knows about it. Nick had it installed because we hated to miss so much with Henry while we were gone each day.”

“I think the thought was that you would check in occasionally to see what Hermie was up to, not stalk poor Janice every hour of the day,” Suzy added. Everyone laughed at Suzy’s continued insistence on calling Henry by his nickname of Hermie. Beth and Nick had long ago given up the battle to change it. Emma had even caught Beth calling him that on occasion. Turning to her sister, Beth said, “You just wait until you decide to have one of your own. You will probably terrorize your sitter.”