Chapter 7

Nausea was the absolute worst. She couldn’t even call it morning sickness because it just started in the morning and lasted until early in the evening. When she woke up in the morning, it kept her in bed an extra thirty minutes to actually get started. And forget about the smell of bacon, coffee, peanut butter, and sometimes even strong tea. They all made her stomach lurch, roil and turn over until it was completely empty.

That happened about five times a day. And especially when it came to fetching coffee for Brooks’. A task that normally took five minutes wound up taking fifteen with all the quick trips she made to dry heave in the toilet. Finally, the offending liquid sat in the cup and she sucked in a breath, hurrying to his office to sit it beside him and make a hasty exit.

“Nola.”

Damn these Corona men keeping me in their offices.“Yeah?” She thought maybe if she didn’t turn around he would see she was in a hurry. But eventually she did, staying by the door. Far, far away from the deadly coffee. “What do you need, Boss?”

He studied her from a distance, head tilted to the side as though trying to figure something out. “Can you come sit over here, please?”

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her waist protectively. “I’m good over here. What’s up?”

“We need to talk.”

Seriously? “What about?”

He gestured for her to sit and she shook her head. “This. This is what we need to talk about Nola. You can hardly stand to be around me anymore and I want to know why.” He stood, coffee in his hand, and came closer. Too close. “What did I do?”

She took another step back, shaking her head as the scent of coffee hit her nostrils and her nausea button. “Nothing Brooks. I swear.”

“No, Nola, that’s not good enough. For the past couple weeks you can’t wait to get out of my office. You barely look me in the eye and we haven’t hung out since before Thanksgiving.” One hand on his hip, he took a long gulp of the coffee and shook his head. “Explain, please.”

“I told you,” she started and clapped both hands over her mouth as the lurch began. Her head shook as she scanned the room in search of a wastebasket. She wouldn’t make it to the bathroom. Not this time.

“Nola, come on. I thought we were friends.”

Dammit, they were friends. How could he question that? Ah, there it is. She pushed past him a little too carelessly and sent a few drops of the black stuff over the edge and onto the floor as she ran to pick up the black mesh can with the fresh liner. And finally the emptying portion of this dance began. It went on and on. And on. When she finished, her face held a light sheen of sweat and felt chilled to the touch. But the nausea had passed. She glared at Brooks. “You think we’re not friends?”

His blue gaze darkened and he shrugged. “These days, I don’t know.”

Nola nodded, refusing to let him see how his words wounded her. She’d thought they were best friends. That he might understand she was going through a few things. But no. “Then that’s your answer,” she replied coolly, proud her voice hadn’t shaken as she’d basically confirmed the end of her friendship with Brooks.

“Nola, what’s wrong?”

Turning her back to him she tied off the trash bag and held it at arm’s length. “Nothing for you to concern yourself with. Apparently.” Keeping the bag as far from her as possible, she walked a straight line to the door, exiting his office without another word.

After disposing of the trash, she made her way to the bathroom for a short cry and plenty of cold water to clear up her blotchy tear-stained skin before sitting back at her desk like nothing had happened. In the grand scheme of things, she supposed nothing had happened. She’d been alone since Halloween when they finally laid Grammie to rest. Losing Brooks felt like a paper cut in comparison to the hemorrhage she felt then.

I have to quit. She knew she needed to move on. Without Grammie, she didn’t have to keep this job. Only now I really need a well-paid job with benefits. The problem was that she couldn’t stay, not with things as they were. She’d stayed because Brooks needed her. Because they were friends and she was damn good at her job. By the end of the day I’ll decide. It was the best she could do for now. Besides if she did quit, she needed to get ahead on things for the new hire.

She’d been working for hours when a shadow crossed her desk. “How can I help you, Brooks?” Should she call him Mr. Corona now?

He sighed and raked a hand through his perfectly coiffed hair. “Let’s grab lunch.”

Her stomach tightened. “No thanks. My stomach isn’t feeling all that great so I’m going to skip lunch.”

“What’s wrong, Nola?” His voice sounded so full of anguish, so tortured. “Are you seriously ill?”

“I’m fine.” Say it enough times and it just might be true. That was her philosophy going forward. “Don’t worry about me, Brooks.”

“How can I not,” he bit out, harshly. “You missed work, you puked in my trashbin.”

Ah so that was it. “Well, I’m sorry if my being under the weather inconvenienced you in any way. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

With a frustrated huff, Brooks stomped away.

Nola began typing up her resignation letter.

* * *

Bronx sat across from his brother inside the dimly lit Spanish restaurant, Alejandro’s. It was the best place to eat in Serendipity, offering up a Mediterranean fusion menu that he found refreshing and satisfying. The chef owned a dozen different restaurants around the country but had fallen in love with a local girl and stayed. But right now he didn’t want to think about love or commitment because the news Brooks had just told him. “She what? Did she say why?” Nola had put in her notice to leave the company. Two weeks and she would be gone. Or so she thought.

Brooks shook his head, looking as bewildered as Bronx felt. “Nope. But I know why and it’s my fault. She’s been acting so damn odd lately and I threw it in her face, questioned our friendship.”

He hated that his brother felt responsible but Bronx knew he couldn’t tell him the truth. That he was the reason Nola quit, at least he felt pretty sure he was. But he might be able to fix it. “She has to give two months just like every other executive level employee, did you tell her that?” She would get no special treatment in that regard, but it might give him time to let her see what a mistake it would be to quit.

“Of course, I did. Her response was a new resignation later with the updated last day and that was it. Then she called in sick for two days.” He shook his head and Bronx knew his brother had his doubts too. Nola never called in sick.

“Sounds like a crock of shit to me. What do you plan to do about it?” Nola and Brooks were too close for him to let it go at that.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I think something must be really wrong with her. Nola is never sick and she puked in my office the day she resigned. I’m worried about her.” Blue eyes squinted at him, studied him closely before asking the question. “Did something happen between you in D.C.?”

He didn’t want to lie but he knew if he told Brooks the truth he would assume the worst. The worst might be true but he didn’t want any shit about it when nothing could be changed. “Plenty happened, we were there for a full week. Care to specify?”

“That was all the answer I needed. Dammit Bronx, is this your fault?”

He wasn’t touching that shit with a ten foot pole. “Did you stop by her house, try talking to her away from the office?”

He nodded. “On my way here, no answer.”

His eyes said exactly what Bronx had been thinking. Nola had been home and just didn’t answer the door. “Let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Now Brooks. Come on.” Nola might still be upset about the way things had gone down between them, the way he’d treated her afterwards but that was no damn reason to take it out on Brooks. Her supposed friend. He tossed out a few bills to pay for their dinner, left the young waitress a hefty tip, and stalked through the restaurant and out into the chilly early evening air.

Brooks fell in step beside him. “I don’t want to ambush her, Bronx.She won’t respond well.”

“I don’t give a damn! She can’t just act this way and think it’s okay.” He had to reconsider what he thought about Nola because she certainly wasn’t acting like the goody two shoes he’d gotten to know. Anger building, he made it to her porch in two long-legged strides, smashing his hand loudly against the door. “Nola, open up!”

They waited, staring at each other, thoughts distracted by the odd turn of events. Finally a deadbolt sounded, a chain and the knob turned. Nola pulled open the door and Bronx gasped. She was pale with dark circles under her eyes and hair standing up all over her head. She still looked beautiful but clearly she wasn’t feeling well. “What the hell is wrong with you guys? I told you I was sick so you ambush me on a Saturday night?”

“We were worried,” Brooks told her, brows furrowed and eyes filled with concern. “Can we come in?”

“No.”

Bronx didn’t like that answer and stepped forward into her space with every intention on pushing his way in. “Come on, Nola.”

“No!” She shoved him back. “This is my home and you don’t have the right to show up like this. I work for you but you don’t own me or my personal time. Neither of you!”

Her words had shocked them both but Bronx felt the hurt radiating off his brother and he wanted to lash out at her. But Brooks put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Come on, Nola, I thought we were friends.”

“Are we? Because last I heard you weren’t sure of even that.” Her green eyes were at odds with her harsh words. They were blank. Emotionless, and Bronx didn’t know why. What happened to the always light, constantly smiling nice girl he’d always both wanted, and wanted nothing to do with? The answer came from his conscience. You did this to her.

“I just want to know that you’re all right, Nola. You’ve been acting out of character and now you’re sick. You’re never sick.”

“I said I’m fine and you’ll just have to accept that. Both of you.” Her gaze darted between them both, bouncing like a pinball before stepping back and slamming the door on them.

“Well, that went well,” Brooks said, accusingly.

Bronx shrugged with a nonchalance he didn’t feel. “She wants to be left alone so let’s give her what she wants.” He didn’t coddle anyone. They were all adults and he took adults at their word. “Come on, I’ll buy you a drink.” Or ten, because that was the only way he could possibly forget the vacant look she wore.

* * *

“I need you to coordinate with Bronx on the pre-release blitz for Galactic Warriors while I focus on finishing contracts for the predictive software.” Brooks barely looked at her as he gave her the orders and Nola knew this would be the hardest two months of her life.

Brooks would never pawn her off on his brother unless he hated her. She didn’t know why he did but it became obvious he didn’t want to see her at all to do this. Feeling rejected again by yet another Corona brother, she stood on shaky legs and nodded. “Okay.” Normally she would have argued, given valid reasons why she shouldn’t have to work with his pigheaded, manwhore brother. Today all she did was accept her fate. Brooks wanted her out of his sight and she loved him enough to give him that.

Working with Bronx might be hard but she’d lived through worse. Hell, she currently dealt with worse every day. Though her morning sickness hadn’t lessened, she did have it under control thanks to ginger tablets from the homeopathic shop on the main drag in town. Drop two tablets in water and nibble butter crackers all day long and she could make it through most of her workday without tossing her cookies. Even the scent of bland soup made her sick so she lived on sandwiches. Cold, boring sandwiches. She felt awful from the time she woke up and went to bed so adding him to the mix couldn’t make things worse.

“Nola, I’m here if you ever want to talk. Despite what you think now, you are my friend and I do care about you.”

She tried for a smile but she knew she failed. “Thank you, Brooks.” He felt bad that’s all, so she wouldn’t burden him with her problems. Nola returned to her desk with a renewed focus on work. If she only worried about the task at hand nothing else would seep into her thoughts to distract her, to make her emotional. With emails answered and tasks scratched off her to do list, she grabbed her tablet, notebook filled with notes and a pen and went to tangle with the devil. “I need to see Bronx,” she told Gabriella who laughed into the phone while filing her nails, an absolute cliché.

She looked up and frowned. “Not looking so good Nola, maybe you ought to enjoy more beauty rest,” she flashed a sickly grin.

I will not let her get to me. “Just tell him I’m here.”

“Sorry, he’s busy,” she answered, not sounding sorry at all.

She’d been about to open her mouth and tear the damn woman apart when the door to Bronx’s office opened, revealing a leggy brown-skinned woman in skintight jeans and a crop top. In winter! She stuck close to Bronx, so close they might have been conjoined. And he ate it up, looking at her like she was a chocolate sundae drenched in caramel. “Thanks for stopping by, Jasmine. We’ll talk soon.”

She, Jasmine, kissed the corner of his mouth slowly. Very slowly and pulled back with bedroom eyes. “Very soon, I hope.”

Give me a damn break! She wanted to puke, and for once it had nothing to do with the life growing inside of her. The man had no damn scruples, sleeping with anything that walks. Why do you care? That question brought her up short and she realized her conscience was right. She didn’t care. Didn’t give a damn. Mostly. Bronx could sleep with whomever he wanted. She’d never had any control over it and there was no reason for that to change, especially when he had no reason to.

Finally, he tore his gaze from Jasmine’s firm round backside and glared at her. “What is it?”

She stood, stiff and formal. “Bronx said I’m to coordinate with you on the GW release.”

“Right. Come on, then.” She followed him inside the office and took a seat, pushing the chair further away from his desk at the sight of the giant sub with onions spilling over. Her belly flipped at the smell and she held her breath for as long as she could.

“I have already sent you a spreadsheet of what tasks have been done and which ones still need to be done. If you tell me what you want me to handle, I’ll get started.”

He frowned but didn’t look at her. “Gabriela can do it.”

Of course, she couldn’t and they both knew it but Nola didn’t bother saying so. She would be gone soon and much of the work would fall on Gabriela’s shoulders. She would fail or succeed on her own. “All right.” She stood and smoothed her skirt. “You have everything you’ll need to complete the tasks.” One less task and less time with Bronx, it was all a win in her book.

“That’s it?” His words were angry, dark and confused. When she turned to him in confusion, his look darkened. “You constantly object to Gabriela doing anything but now you don’t seem to give a damn.”

It wasn’t a question but she answered anyway. “It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m just an assistant.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it Nola! I don’t know what the hell is going on with you and honestly I don’t give a shit, but you need to get over yourself. Brooks is worried and your selfishness is hurting him. I don’t take too well to people hurting my family.”

She heard the threat and stared at his features, twisted in a dark hateful scowl and wondered, why had her body, her heart chosen him and not Brooks? Why did it have to be him who made her heart race, her body sing? Why had she stupidly had sex with him thinking she could keep it casual when she’d never felt casual towards him? Because I’m an idiot.That had to be it because it was the only reasonable explanation. Spine stiff, she clenched her jaws so he wouldn’t see how his words had split her apart. If he had even an inkling of how she felt about him, how much she loved him, Bronx would skewer her and her heart. “Got it. You don’t give a shit. Anything else?”

Bronx dismissed her with a wave of his hand and she turned, quickly exiting the office, biting down on the inside of her cheek to stop the tears she felt stinging the back of her eyes. She wanted to leave B&B which would probably mean leaving Serendipity but she had to be realistic. She was pregnant and alone, and leaving a good paying job was stupid. Her grandma hadn’t raised her to be stupid, she raised her to be strong, independent and that’s what she had to be.

So she wouldn’t leave town or her home but she would start looking for a new job as soon as she got home. Suck it up, she told herself. She wasn’t the first woman to have to deal with former lovers and friends at the workplace and she wouldn’t be the last.

With that loving pep talk, Nola settled in and got back to work. The day would be over soon enough.