She waved goodbye to the movers and headed for Seth’s condo.
Though it was close to five, Seth had told her he worked until six and she knew he wouldn’t be home. Which meant she could have everything set up in his condo before he returned.
But when she arrived at his building, the doorman wouldn’t let her into Seth’s apartment. Not that she blamed him. She’d thought Seth would have already made arrangements, but apparently he hadn’t.
The doorman punched a few numbers into his phone and within seconds was talking to Seth. Then he handed the phone across the desk.
“He wants to talk to you.”
Oh, boy. He probably wasn’t expecting her until Sunday. Plenty of time for him to get adjusted or change his mind. Instead here she was, a little over twenty-four hours later, her car loaded with baby things.
What did a playboy need with a baby and broke widow?
“Hello. Seth.” Not giving him a chance to back out, she said, “I got lucky and found a mover who’d had a cancellation today. I packed last night and this morning, and now everything I own, except Crystal’s things and a couple suitcases of clothes, is in a storage unit.”
She hadn’t meant to sound desperate, but oh, Lord, she had. She squeezed her eyes shut, but Seth easily said, “Okay.”
Her heart started beating again.
“I have one more meeting before I can leave, but I’ll call my next-door neighbor, Mrs. Petrillo. She has a key and will let you in. Just go ahead to the condo.”
“Should I knock on her door?”
He laughed. “No. She’s something of a snoop. It’s why I want her to let you in instead of George. She looks out the keyhole every time the elevator arrives on our floor. This way she’ll know I know you’re there.”
Harper laughed. Her first genuine laugh since she’d realized how much trouble she was in. She liked the idea of a nosy neighbor. It felt less like she and Seth were all alone.
Because they weren’t. They had Crystal, the nosy neighbor and probably a hundred other people who lived in the building.
They would not be alone.
“I also have an extra parking space in the basement. I told George to get you a pass.”
“Okay. Thanks.” When she disconnected the call, George handed her the card that would get her entry into the garage. “Is your car on the street?”
“Yes. I was lucky to get a spot right in front of the building.”
“Good. I’ll arrange to have your luggage and baby things brought upstairs. Then I’ll park your car in Mr. McCallan’s second space.”
Balancing Crystal on her hip, she wondered how much Seth had promised this guy to be so accommodating. She handed him her car keys. “Thanks. It’s the blue Explorer SUV.”
He nodded once. “We’ll have your things upstairs in a few minutes.”
She rode the elevator to Seth’s floor and just as Seth had predicted a short gray-haired woman stood by his door, waiting for her.
“Mrs. Petrillo?”
“Yes. And you must be Harper.”
“Yes.” She presented her baby. “This is Crystal.”
The older woman lightly pinched Crystal’s pink cheek. “She is adorable. Aren’t you, sweetie?”
Crystal grinned.
Mrs. Petrillo inserted the key into the lock and opened the door. “Sorry about your husband.”
“Thank you.”
“Death is a terrible thing. I buried three husbands.”
Harper gasped. Knowing the pain of losing Clark and the emptiness that followed, the loneliness that never seemed to go away, she said, “I’m so sorry.”
“It never gets easier.” She turned to Harper with a smile. “My soap is on right now. But I’m next door if you need anything.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
The petite woman waved goodbye and was gone within seconds, but her comment that it would never get easier haunted Harper as a new wave of missing Clark swept through her.
But she barely had time to catch her breath. The doorman arrived with her and Crystal’s suitcases.
He led her to the extra room in Seth’s condo. A queen-size bed and a dresser easily shared the space, leaving more than ample room for Crystal’s crib. An adjoining bathroom with a shower made of black, gray and white glass tiles that matched a backsplash behind the white sink was small but not uncomfortably so.
The doorman left her suitcases on the bed and left. When he returned with the crib and high chair, he had two maintenance men with him. He introduced them, telling her they would set up the crib.
When they were done, Harper put Crystal in her bed to play with her favorite blanket and stuffed bear, and set about to unpack. She hadn’t brought a lot, only enough clothes for her and Crystal for two weeks. Everything fit in the one dresser and the small closet. Another indicator of how much her life had changed since she lost Clark.
Not wanting to dwell on that, she carried Crystal to the living space. A quick glance at the clock told her it was only six. Her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten lunch. The mover was on too tight of a schedule.
Just when she would have gone into the tidy kitchen to see if there was something she could make for supper, something nice that could serve as a thank-you-for-keeping-us gesture, the condo door opened.
“Seth?”
The day before, she’d left as he’d walked back to his room to dress for work. She expected to see him in a suit, not a black crew-neck sweater with a white shirt under it and jeans.
Jeans to work? At his family’s prestigious holding company, where he wasn’t just on the board of directors, but was also a vice president?
“I canceled my meeting.” He ambled into the room and tossed his keys and wallet on the counter, along with some envelopes she assumed were his mail. “How’d today go?”
She couldn’t stop staring at him. Clark had gone to work in a suit and tie every day. He didn’t cancel meetings. He never came home early. But Seth was a McCallan. From what she knew of the family, they did whatever they wanted. Especially Seth. Joining the family business obviously hadn’t ended his rebellious streak.
“Busy. Exhausting.”
He picked up the mail. Rifled through it. “Mine, too.”
The conversation ended, and a weird silence stretched between them.
She sucked in a breath for courage. “I was just thinking about
