27. Noah

CHAPTER 27

NOAH

T he elevator dinged, signaling Sophie's return from dinner with her parents. Noah laid in bed as he listened to her get ready for bed.

He hadn't meant to be rude when he'd told Sophie he couldn't come to dinner; he just knew that if he went once, her parents would grow to expect it. And Noah had a bad habit lately of creating expectations for himself just to disappoint them.

They still hadn't talked about the night they had spent together. It seemed that Sophie understood that it didn't mean anything because she was acting like nothing had changed between them. They carried on as normal with their odd half-roommate, half-coworker relationship.

He had lied to Sophie today; he had never told the office his reasons for not coming in. Noah told himself it was his way of keeping his promise but in truth, he wanted to be there. Something about missing that appointment felt like a line he didn't want to cross.

They were having a boy. Noah was going to have a son. It felt fitting that Noah would have a boy, seeing as he was now following perfectly in his father's footsteps.

He wondered if his father had attended those appointments with his mother. If, when he saw that little baby on the screen, he was overcome with emotions. Joy. Guilt. It was highly unlikely that he ever did. Still, it didn't make Noah feel any better.

Just because he had experienced emotions after seeing his baby, that didn't make him any better than his father. If anything, it probably made him worse.

Noah would be a terrible father; he didn't even know what their role in the household was besides financial support. His nanny had raised him.

Richard only started paying Noah any mind once he began to mature, once he could mold his mind into his legacy for Birch Industries. It seemed he had done a good job.

That night, Noah dreamed about a son.

About holding a newborn in his arms. Teaching a child to dribble a basketball. Watching him hug his mother before he left for college.

The mother was Sophie and the boy was his son.

Noah felt groggy the next morning as he dressed for work. His dreams had been chaotic ever since he and Sophie slept together again. It was like his subconscious was haunting him.

"You look exhausted," Sophie noted. "You're working today too, I'm assuming?"

"I am, yeah. Do you want a ride?" he asked.

Sophie shook her head. "I have to get my hair and makeup done after work. Thanks, though."

"Makeup?"

"Yeah, for the wedding."

"Bit early, don't you think?" He poured himself a cup of coffee. There was still another week and half before the wedding.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "It's a practice run. To make sure that it will look good for the actual wedding."

"I didn't realize that was a thing."

"Yeah, well, neither did I. So let's hope I like it because it might be hard to find another stylist so quickly."

"All right. Well, I'll see you at work, then."

Sophie set her empty mug in the sink. "Bye."

Noah took his time as he waited for the coffee to kick in. Unfortunately, it still hadn't by the time he arrived at work.

He called down to the desk and had Olivia order some coffees for the office, choosing from one of Sophie's favorite coffee shops. It would be a nice surprise, and hopefully something to melt her colder attitude towards him.

He went back to his work but had hardly finished a single task before it was time for his meeting.

When the meeting finally finished, Sophie appeared in the doorway, two coffees in hand.

"Did you do this?" she asked, smirking.

"What? Order coffee?" he replied, taking the one she offered him.

"Yeah, but from Annie's Cafe?"

Noah shrugged. "What? Do you not like that place?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Hate it," she said sarcastically.

He didn't know why he was pretending not to have ordered it for her when Sophie clearly knew. What was so wrong about doing something nice for his pregnant fiancée?

She was smiling at him with those playful eyes again. It was a small rainfall in their recent drought, refreshing and gone too soon. Scorched before the ground had the ability to fully absorb it.

"I also got a call about your suit. Do you mind picking it up? I would do it but I have an appointment and they close at—"

"Yeah, of course." The least he could do was pick up his own suit at the tailor.

He sipped his drink, praying that this one supplied him with enough energy to attack the workday.

"Great, thanks for the coffee." She wiggled it in her hand before leaving.

He watched her leave, his eyes following the sway of his hips when he spotted— "Bradley?"

Bradley smiled at Sophie as she passed.

Noah approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to see if you wanted to grab lunch."

Noah had a lot of work to do but was still in no mood to do it. Maybe some food would help. "I have another meeting this afternoon but if we can make it back before then we should be fine."

"All right, my treat," Bradley told him.

As they left the building, Bradley gave Noah an odd look.

"What?" he asked.

Bradley looked back towards where Sophie was talking with Olivia. "Nothing."