That will give me time to show you where everything is before Beth picks me up.”
“I can do that.”
“I don’t know what you’re doing tonight, but Max and I were going to decorate the tree around seven.”
With a dinner meeting scheduled for six-thirty with his team, there was no way he was getting out of work before eight tonight. So he might see him for ten minutes before he went to bed. Meaning he would be going over there to see her, not Max, which he didn’t think was a good idea after last night.
“I just can’t swing it tonight, but maybe I can stop by around lunchtime tomorrow.”
“Sure. That would be great.” She paused, then asked, “By the way, did you get anything in the mail from Beth and Leo yet?”
“I don’t know.” He’d brought a pile of mail with him to work this morning but hadn’t had time to go through it yet. “Hold on, let me look.”
He grabbed the pile and rifled through it until he saw the greeting-card-sized envelope with Beth and Leo’s return address. He tore it open, but it wasn’t a card. It was an invitation to their annual New Years Eve party. Nathan went every year, except last year, and only because he figured he would run into Ana there. He’d known she was expecting, and the idea of seeing her, pregnant with another man’s baby…hell, for all he knew she would bring the father with her. Had he known it was his kid, he might have felt differently.
“I take it you got an invitation too?” Nathan said.
“Yeah. I wondered if you were planning to go. I wanted to, but with us both there…well, it might be a little weird having to pretend we don’t like each other.”
“We can’t stop socializing just because we’ll run into each other. That’s not fair to either of us.”
“I guess not. So you’re going to go?”
If only to prove that this thing between them didn’t have to be a big deal. “Yeah, I’m going.”
“Then I am too,” she said.
They talked for a few more minutes about Max, and though Ana never once mentioned what had happened last night, it hung between them unspoken. He could hardly believe he was thinking this, but maybe not talking about it hadn’t been such a hot idea after all. Not if it was going to make things awkward. He would probably feel worse if he had been the one to make the first move. Not that he couldn’t have told her no. But that would have left her feeling dejected and hurt.
In other words, he slept with her to spare her feelings? How philanthropic of him. Why couldn’t he just be honest with himself and admit that he slept with Ana because he wanted to? He still wanted to. It would take a hell of a lot more than one night to get her out of his system. Maybe a lifetime of nights. And if she came on to him again, good idea or not, he wouldn’t be pushing her away.
He would just have to hope that she didn’t.
Only after he’d hung up with Ana, and checked his schedule for his next meeting, did Nathan realize the mistake he’d just made. He was supposed to go to Adam and Katy’s holiday get-together Saturday evening. That was what he got for not checking his schedule before committing himself. He’d been so enticed by the idea of spending some real quality time with his son, he hadn’t even considered he might have another obligation.
Damn it. Emilio and his fiancée would be there, and he knew his brother would never miss an opportunity to score a few brownie points. Leaving him the odd man out. He could call Ana back and tell her he couldn’t make it, but something told him that wouldn’t go over really well.
He knew going into this that being a parent would require sacrifice. Besides, Adam had assured him it was okay if he didn’t come, that he knew it was last-minute.
Nathan just hoped he meant it. He’d come too far, was too close to getting everything he wanted to throw it all away.
Everything was going to be fine.
Ana sat on the couch, one eye on Max in his exersaucer and one on the clock. Nathan was due there any minute to babysit. And though she was maybe a tiny bit nervous about leaving him and Max alone for the first time, she was crazy nervous about Nathan being here.