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Perfect.
It was already two o’clock, which meant that Liam didn’t have much time to work before he’d need to leave. He threw himself into a review of Lilypad’s growth over the last quarter and tried to banish Amelia from his mind.
Two hours later, he hadn’t made quite as much progress as he might have liked, but it was time to go. He gathered his things and headed out, nodding at Ryan on the way past.
“Hey, boss?”
Liam turned back to Ryan. “Yes?”
“Did you get around to reviewing those advertising briefs? Our marketing team said they were pretty urgent.”
Liam felt a surge of annoyance. Ryan had never asked something like this before.
“Yes, I did.”
“And the quarterly growth figures?”
“Those too.” Liam frowned slightly. “Why are you asking?”
“It’s just that you haven’t been in the office as much lately. I wanted to be sure all the boxes were still getting ticked.”
“Everything is under control.” Liam hesitated. It was true that things had been slipping a little over the last week — but he’d needed to prioritize Grace. “I’ll be in on Monday as long as is needed.”
“Have a nice weekend.”
Liam left, still bristling from the conversation with his assistant. As he stepped out into the fresh summer air, though, thoughts of work began to drift away. And by the time he arrived at Skillet and Mug and spotted Amelia and Grace in a booth near the window, he wasn’t worried at all.
Grace loved the pancakes, just as Amelia had said she would. When the waiter brought out a stack of pancakes with chocolate chips and a whipped-cream smiley face, Grace nearly bounced out of her seat.
“Pancakes! I wuv pancakes!”
“Is it just me, or is she getting better at full sentences?” Liam asked Amelia in a hushed tone.
“She is. Kids at this age learn new skills very quickly. I’m sure you’ve noticed that Grace learns new words every day.”
“Impressive.”
“Fanks.”
Amelia and Liam turned to Grace, who beamed up at them with a chocolatey smile. Liam’s heart almost burst with an unexpected pride. His daughter was so smart.
The waiter returned with two plates piled with Amelia and Liam’s food.
“I have the farmer’s plate and the sunrise scramble with home fries.”
“The farmer’s plate is for me,” Liam said. “And the sunrise scramble is for my beautiful wife.”
“Here you go.” The waiter set down their food. “What a sweet family.”
“Thanks.”
He left and Amelia caught Liam’s eyes.
“Your beautiful wife?”
“I’m practicing for tomorrow.” Liam winked. It was true that he’d been trying to introduce her as his wife a little more often, but that wasn’t the only reason he’d done it. Both Liam and Amelia had gotten used to people assuming that they were a family and were good at not correcting them. But over time, Liam had found himself imagining, here and there, that it was true. It was easy to picture an alternate reality in which Amelia really was his wife, in which he would come home to her every day for the rest of his life, and in which he would share her bed.
Liam knew that none of that was true. Amelia would leave, sooner or later, when their agreement ended. When she left, Liam would need to hand over most of Grace’s care to nannies — just because he was bonded with his daughter didn’t mean he could quit his job to take care of her. This sweet little world the three of them had created was temporary, and that was for the best. Liam was not a family man. That didn’t mean he couldn’t live in this world as long as he could, though.
