After Anna(74)

Noah remembered every detail of her, in bed. They had spent so much time there, her with the rowdy enthusiasm of a healthy young girl, and him trying to remember pleasure, laughter, and light, trying to find a way back into life itself. Somehow her youth had been all of that for him, and Jordan hadn’t been looking for marriage or kids. At least that was what she’d said in the beginning.

Noah remembered she’d wanted to meet Caleb, but he’d kept putting it off. His partners had found out about her when she’d dropped by the office in her Miata, with its WE ARE PENN STATE bumper sticker. She’d brought him his phone, which he’d left at her apartment, and when he’d introduced her around the office, he’d been kidded later. (She might not be wife material, but she sure as hell is babysitter material.)

Noah thought back to the breakup, which he’d felt terrible about. He hadn’t seen Jordan as a stepmother for Caleb, given that she’d had a brother the same age, and by then Noah had realized that their fling was all about him – his conversation, his schedule, his plans. For a while it hadn’t been the worst thing, because nothing had been about him since Karen had gotten sick. He hadn’t known what he had been missing until he met Jordan, and he was grateful to her, but that didn’t mean that they should be, or could be, married.

Then Noah had met Maggie at the gym, a funny, curvy, curly-headed woman who was always joking with the trainers at the sign-in counter, and he’d found himself on the treadmill next to her. She’d engaged him in nonstop chatter that drew him out by sheer force of will. He’d known that if they started dating, it would matter, so he’d broken up with Jordan.

Noah thought back with regret for how he had handled things. Jordan had taken the breakup hard, so he’d been surprised when she’d been so friendly to him at the NAAAI in Miami, last May. And after what had happened there, it didn’t make sense that she’d come to his trial. He wondered how long she had been here. How had he missed her? And what if Maggie came?

Noah didn’t have time to worry because Linda was signaling for a new exhibit, and he knew what it had to be.

He braced himself.





Chapter Fifty-two


Maggie, Before

Monday morning, Maggie walked the grassy track at the Nature Preserve next to Kathy, filling her in on what had happened with Anna and Noah. The air was filled with the chirping of crickets and birds, which usually calmed Maggie down, but not today.

Kathy looked over, her brow knitted. ‘So what do you think happened on the driving lesson?’

‘He’s not the most patient teacher, and it made her nervous.’

‘I hear you.’ Kathy huffed and puffed, carrying her foam-covered hand weights.

‘And now he’s gone to a conference, and you know who’s going to be there? Jordan.’

‘The fetus?’

‘Yep.’ Maggie smiled at Kathy’s nickname for Noah’s old girlfriend, Jordan Nowicki, a young rep who was drop-dead gorgeous. ‘She’s not a fetus anymore.’

‘So she’s crowning.’

‘I wonder if she’s still single.’

‘Nah, I bet she got herself a hubby. Her biological clock is ticking.’ Kathy matched Maggie stride for stride. ‘My biological clock is a Casio. That’s how old I am.’

‘If she’s there, she’ll find him. I swear she was a stalker. He never saw it, though.’

‘Men are dumb. Even smart men are dumb.’

‘He told me they started dating when she ran into him at the elevator by accident. What are the odds?’

Kathy snorted. ‘She probably rode the elevator all damn day.’

‘I met her when she came to the office to drop off his tie. She said he’d left it at her place a year ago.’

‘What, knotted to the bedpost?’

‘Yeah, right.’ Maggie laughed. Noah had no interest in anything kinky in bed, which was fine with her. Sex was great, and she could never understand why people couldn’t leave well enough alone.

‘She brought him his tie, after a year? Obsess much?’

‘Totally.’ Maggie warmed to the story. ‘She goes to the front desk and asks if she can see Noah. In the middle of the day, mind you. He has appointments all afternoon. And she’s so gorgeous that every mom in the waiting room hates her on sight.’

‘What is it with these reps? Do you think they have a beauty contest?’

‘Anyway she made a big thing that she couldn’t just leave the tie at the desk, then the receptionist called me over and introduced me as Noah’s fiancée.’

‘Oh, burn!’

‘It was sad, truly.’

‘Boo-hoo, bitch. Call me after gestation.’

‘She was hurt, but she tried to cover it up.’

‘She’s too young to hide her emotions. She’ll learn.’

‘Kath, I have to admit, when I met her, she looked so damn young. I didn’t think he was like that.’

‘Oh please. Men love young things. It’s fresh eggs. They can smell them.’

‘She even asked to see my engagement ring.’

‘Did you stick it in her face?’

‘No. She called me later, to say it was nice to meet me. The temp had given her my cell number because she was a rep.’ Maggie thought back to how happy she and Noah had been, in the beginning. They’d gotten engaged only six months after they had met. She’d known it was right, or at least she’d thought it was. ‘Marriage is a funny thing, isn’t it?’