“Can you call and get the address from one of them?”
“I’ll try Mrs. Lambert after dinner.”
Clearly, his sister wanted to punish him tonight. “Candace, come on. Please call one of them now.”
“It’s already five-thirty, and it’s at least a six-hour drive to New York. Even if you left now, by the time you got there, Juliette might be in bed. If you’re hoping to get her forgiveness, you shouldn’t start by waking her up in the middle of the night.”
Candace had a point, but he wouldn’t admit it to her. “But if I go tonight, I can check into a hotel and be at Juliette’s place first thing in the morning.”
She picked up her cell phone on the counter and opened her contact list. “Whatever.”
Perhaps he deserved it for being such a jerk on Saturday, but neither Mrs. Lambert nor Holly answered his sister’s calls before dinner. Thankfully, Tiegan distracted him enough that he could sit at the table and eat rather than pace around the kitchen. Candace’s second call to Mrs. Lambert after they cleared the table and their mom left went unanswered as well, but she got through to Holly. Of course, she made him sit and suffer while they chatted about Juliette’s new dance school and the classes Candace would be teaching in the fall. And the next time Candace asked him for a favor, he’d repay her just enough for the torture she put him through since she got him the information.
By the time he had the address and packed an overnight bag, it was almost seven o’clock. He briefly considered waiting until the morning to leave. If he left now, it’d be well after midnight when he reached the city, but he’d avoid any traffic. More importantly, however, he could be on Juliette’s doorstep before breakfast. If he left in the morning, there was no telling how much time the traffic would add to the trip, forcing him to wait even longer to speak with her. In the end, it was a simple decision to make.
“Is this your first time in Manhattan, Mr. Wright?” the gentleman at the desk asked when Aaron arrived at his hotel sometime after one o’clock in the morning.
On Saturday, when she arrived in the city, she’d gone straight to the hospital where she met her two identical twin nieces. Afterward, she’d gone to Scott’s condo to relieve her cousin Callie, who’d come by to watch Cooper while Scott and Paige were at the hospital. She’d stayed there until her parents as well as Paige’s mom and dad arrived much later that night. She’d had a similar routine for the past three days. She saw today going much the same way.
Carrying her second cup of coffee and a cinnamon-raisin bagel to the table, she joined her sister and brother-in-law. Courtney and Josh had arrived yesterday. Since Paige had stopped working in the middle of April and they didn’t expect her to have the babies until next month, Cooper’s nanny, who usually watched him while Scott and Paige were gone, had taken a three-week vacation. Since the woman would be away for another week, Courtney and Josh planned to stay and help out until she came back. If Juliette didn’t have the closing on Monday and so much to do if she wanted to open the dance school in the fall, she would have remained in the city and helped her brother and sister-in-law too.
“Do you want to relieve Mom and Dad or go to the hospital first?” Courtney asked.
If Scott could split himself in half and be at the hospital and with Cooper at the same time, he would. Since he couldn’t, he went to the hospital as early as he could. Usually well before Cooper woke up, and he came home sometime in the late afternoon. Her brother stayed with his son until Cooper went to bed, and then he headed back to the hospital for another brief visit. All that meant that by now, Scott had left, and their parents were watching Cooper.
She adored her nephew and enjoyed spending time with him. Plus, it was impossible to be unhappy around him, a state she’d found herself in often since Saturday. “I’ll go over this morning. You’ll be with him all next week. Once I go back to Avon, I’m not sure when I’ll see him again.”
“Sounds good. And before I forget again, has Addie started on the designs for your house?”
Since she could live in the house as it was and she knew Addie had other clients, she’d told Addie to work on the plans when she had the time. Of course, Addie being Addie, she’d started on the plans anyway. “She sent me her ideas for the kitchen. I’ll grab my laptop and show you.” She took another sip of coffee and stood as her doorbell rang.
“Holly?” Courtney asked.
She shrugged. Holly had stopped by for a little while yesterday.
Juliette opened the door, expecting either Holly or a relative because for anyone else security would ha
ve called before allowing them up.
Aaron? Jake’s prediction on Saturday replayed in her head, and hope exploded around her heart. It didn’t make any sense that he’d drive well over six hours just to tell her he’d decided he didn’t want anything else to do with her. Delivering the news over the phone or when she returned to town would be so much easier. Afraid to learn she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion, she asked the second most pressing question she had.
“How did you get in?” And how did you know where I live?
“Holly gave my name to security and told them she was expecting me today. She gave Candace your address too.”
Had Holly passed along the information before or after her visit? If she’d done it before, she should have told her Aaron planned to come here.
“Can I come in?”
“Yes, of course.” She took several steps back so he could enter. “When did you get to Manhattan?” She walked alongside him toward the living room, careful not to let any part of her body touch him, because if even her fingers brushed against his skin, she would be tempted to hug him. And she didn’t want to risk being rejected by him.
“Early this morning. I don’t know exactly. Maybe around one-thirty or two.”
The hope in her chest spread through her body.
“I didn’t know you never came back from Boston, and I went down to the cottage twice yesterday to see you. After the second time, I asked Candace if she knew where you were.”
“Paige went into labor Saturday afternoon, so I came here.” She considered her options of places to sit before picking the sofa.