Push

45. He Kissed His Wife

TOBY

My phone started buzzing in my back pocket.

There couldn't be a worse time to get a call—except in the middle of a whiz or something.

My hands were full. Not with...that. Shopping. Noah was facing the world head-on, riding high in his BabyBjörn and charming all the old ladies with his four-chomper smile. He had everyone in Officeworks fighting to help us, but even with him occupied, I struggled to balance freshly printed books, a bunch of flowers, and bags of surprises.

My phone kept buzzing.

I glanced behind me at the never-ending waiting line for the cashier. Crap. Too bad. What if it was Gwen?

I was already fishing my phone out of my pocket when I dumped all my stuff at my feet and kicked it to the side. I mouthed a quick apology to the Officeworks cashier and stepped out of the way so she could serve someone else.

I looked down at my phone. All the warm fuzzies burst to life in my chest.

Gwen.

And a video call!

I hit accept and spun around. Nothing got past Gwen. She'd probably dissect all the background noise to figure out I was in a store, but with a blank wall behind me, at least her eagle eyes wouldn't be able to spoil all my surprises.

I fought to keep the grin off my face, but it was impossible. I waved hello. "My fair lady." I bowed.

Gwen smiled, but it seemed like an effort. "Hey."

I frowned. "Everything alright—" Noah's chubby mitts snatched at my phone. He was a menace. "Whoops." I laughed, lowering the phone so Gwen could see his little face scrunched up with determination. He wanted in on the action. "Can't forget my wingman. Say hi to mum!"

The baby babbles were endless.

"Hey, little man!" Gwen's face brightened. Only for a second. Her brows pinched together. "Where are you guys?"

Yup. Called it. Eagle eyes. I bent down closer to Noah. "Don't breathe a word," I whispered loudly to him. "Mum can't find out that we're on secret shopping business." I winked at my phone.

Gwen never gave much away, but I spotted the pop of her eyebrow. My chest swelled. She thought I was funny. "Secret shopping business, huh?" She smirked.

"Yup. We've had a busy morning of scheming." It was hard to keep the mood light when her brows stayed so wrinkled. Something was on her mind. "How's work? Busy?"

"Work's...boring." She sighed.

"One of your boss men getting you down?"

"Eli's got his nose stuck in a thousand spreadsheets. His secretary told me he hasn't moved from his desk since about ten o'clock last night." She grimaced. "And I haven't seen the blond one since he breezed past me whinging about how I was late again on his Tuesday." She rolled her eyes.

"You were late getting to work?" I tried to focus all my attention on Gwen even though Noah was babbling up a storm. "Was there an accident on the road... or...?"

"Oh... No. I, ah... I had an appointment."

"Sounds shady." Sounded serious, but I covered up my worry with dumb jokes. "You doing some secret shopping business of your own, doll? New outfit? Pedicure?" I waggled my eyebrows. "I like it when you get those sparkly toenails."

"Nothing like that."

"You need to keep it a secret?"

"No... I don't want there to be secrets between us... Other than secret shopping business, of course." A smile tweaked at the corner of her lips. "I'm just..."