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Tension impacted my chest with the force of a punch, and my throat burned as I fought not to choke on the mouthful of tea I was in the middle of swallowing.
“Oh,” I gasped hoarsely. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Marie shrugged casually. “She was sick.”
It came back to me like a lance through my mind. Of course. How could I have forgotten? The whole reason Liam stepped back from the company wasn’t because he was trying to fix his life. Not exactly. It was because of Marie.
A one-night stand turned up around two years ago, riddled with cancer and a child on her arm. His child. It had taken her that long to track him down. Liam had immediately ceased all parting activities and sobered up hard in a bid to help her. The day she had appeared in the office had been tense and Sawyer had almost accused her of being a honey pot until she presented proof.
Liam hadn’t backed down from her, and if memory served, he’d been rather saddened to learn he’d had a child out there all this time. When she passed, he immediately took time off to care for and get to know his daughter.
Sawyer had worked overtime in order to keep everything as private as possible, so private in fact that it had completely slipped my mind.
Never had I seen someone rise to the occasion so quickly or diligently. His daughter became his sole focus, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Liam were here just to sign on the dotted line immediately. After the struggle of Marie’s mother, he’d gained strong opinions on making sure people get healthcare regardless of salary.
“Did I say something wrong?” Marie paused eating, noticing my silence.
“No,” I assured her quickly. “Not at all. I was just thinking about you and your dad.”
“He’s funny, isn’t he?” Warmth filled her eyes as she resumed eating and my heart went out to her. Watching my own mother suffer was terrible and I was an adult. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for a child.
“Yes. Do you like him?”
“He’s the best,” Marie grinned, quickly wiping away some stray chocolate at the corner of her mouth. “He doesn’t yell like mom used to, and he lets me into the office all the time.”
“It sounds like you two get on well.” At least in the eyes of an eight-year-old.
“Of course we do, silly. He’s my dad.”
Hearing such an innocent outlook on it when three days prior I had heard Sawyer be berated by his own father was slightly jarring, but I kept those emotions hidden and smiled warmly.
“Of course. And now you’re here on a holiday.”
“I like the city,” Marie said. “Everything’s so bright and colorful. Dad said he liked the city the most but when Mom left, he said it was better outside of the city because then we could do better things like school.” Marie stuck her tongue out and guzzled her orange juice down.
“School is important,” I said with a smile. “Especially if you want to work in a big building like this.”
Marie’s brow dipped. “That’s not good,” she muttered under her breath.
I laughed softly, and warmth bloomed in my chest. What a kid.
The rest of breakfast went smoothly, and I took Marie on a tour of some of the offices to kill some time. On our way back to Sawyer’s office, we ran into Liam, whose face broke into a huge smile the moment he saw Marie.
“Hey munchkin,” he chuckled, scooping her up into his arms when she ran at him.
“Daddy!”
“She wasn’t too much trouble I hope?”
“She was a charm,” I smiled.
“Good.” Liam looked me up and down once more and his lower lip curled between his teeth. “Thank you for watching her.”
“Any time.”
“Just hold onto that good feeling.”
“Why?” Immediately, the warmth in my chest faded.
