She set the thermos lid on the desk, gave Stella two light pats on the cheek. "Well, I'm going to scoot home and clean up a bit. "
"Thanks, Roz. Really. If Hayley's doing all right once I get them home, I'll leave David in charge. I know we're shorthanded around here today. "
"No, you stay home with her and Lily. Harper can handle things here. It's not every day you bring a new baby home. "
* * *
And that was something Roz considered as she hunted for parking near Mitchell Carnegie's downtown apartment. It had been a good many years since there had been an infant in Harper House. Just how would the Harper Bride deal with that?
How would they all deal with it?
How would she herself handle the idea of her firstborn falling for that sweet single mother and her tiny girl? She doubted that Harper knew he was sliding in that direction, and surely Hayley was clueless. But a mother knew such things; a mother could read them on her son's face.
Something else to think about some other time, she decided, and cursed ripely at the lack of parking.
She had to hoof it nearly three blocks and cursed again because she'd felt obliged to wear heels. Now her feet were going to hurt, and she'd have to waste more time changing into comfortable clothes once this meeting was done.
She was going to be late, which she deplored, and she was going to arrive hot and sweaty.
She would have loved to have passed the meeting on to Stella. But it wasn't the sort of thing she could ask a manager to do. It dealt with her home, her family. She'd taken this particular aspect of it for granted for far too long.
She paused at the comer to wait for the light.
"Roz!"
The voice on the single syllable had her hackles rising. Her face was cold as hell frozen over as she turned and stared at - stared through - the slim, handsome man striding quickly toward her in glossy Ferragamos.
"I thought that was you. Nobody else could look so lovely and cool on a hot afternoon. "
He reached out, this man she'd once been foolish enough to marry, and gripped her hand in both of his. "Don't you look gorgeous!"
"You're going to want to let go of my hand, Bryce, or you're going to find yourself facedown and eating sidewalk. The only one who'll be embarrassed by that eventuality is yourself. "
His face, with its smooth tan and clear features, hardened. "I'd hoped, after all this time, we could be friends. "
"We're not friends, and never will be. " Quite deliberately, she took a tissue out of her purse and wiped the hand he'd touched. "I don't count lying, cheating sons of bitches among my friends. "
"A man just can't make a mistake or find forgiveness with a woman like you. "
"That's exactly right. I believe that's the first time you've been exactly right in your whole miserable life. "
She started across the street, more resigned than surprised when he fell into step beside her. He wore a pale gray suit, Italian in cut. Canali, if she wasn't mistaken. At least that had been his designer of the moment when she'd been footing the bills.
"I don't see why you're still upset, Roz, honey. Unless there are still feelings inside you for me. "
"Oh, there are, Bryce, there are. Disgust being paramount. Go away before I call a cop and have you arrested for being a personal annoyance. "
"I'd just like another chance to - "
She stopped then. "That will never happen in this lifetime, or a thousand others. Be grateful you're able to walk the streets in your expensive shoes, Bryce, and that you're wearing a tailored suit instead of a prison jumpsuit. "
"There's no cause to talk to me that way. You got what you wanted, Roz. You cut me off without a dime. "
"Would that include the fifteen thousand, six hundred and fifty-eight dollars and twenty-two cents you transferred out of my account the week before I kicked your sorry ass out of my house? Oh, I knew about that one, too," she said when his face went carefully blank. "But I let that one go, because I decided I deserved to pay something for my own stupidity. Now you go on, and you stay out of my way, you stay out of my sight, and you stay out of my hearing, or I promise you, you'll regret it. "
She clipped down the sidewalk, and even the "Frigid bitch" he hurled at her back didn't break her stride.
But she was shaking. By the time she'd reached the right address her knees and hands were trembling. She hated that she'd allowed him to upset her. Hated that the sight of him brought any reaction at all, even if it was rage.