Page 37 of For Your Consideration

“Shit, sorry!” Quinn stood up from the floor. “Emma, Sutton. Sutton, meet Emma, Theo’s sister.”

“Half-sister,” Emma corrected, only getting an eye roll from Quinn. Unlike her brother, she didn’t have an accent. She looked back at me. “I just got to town for a visit. Quinn’s letting me crash your evening.”

“Happy to have you! Can I get anyone anything to drink?”

“Wine!” Quinn said before I even had a chance to give her options. I laughed as Sophie screamed a little, looking for my attention, arms up in the air. I went over and scooped her off the floor.

“Can you go see Quinn for a minute?” I asked my sweet girl as Quinn held out her arms, excitement in her eyes. Sophie patted my face, looking at Quinn, and then hesitantly reached out. I passed her over and she wiggled a little but didn’t cry.

That was a win at least.

“You are the sweetest girl,” Quinn cooed to my daughter as Sophie started playing with her red hair.

“Yeah, until she starts yanking your hair out,” I said, watching my daughter. She was sweet but she didn’t know her own strength. “Okay, so wine for Quinn. Emma?”

“Wine’s good.” Emma tucked her arms behind her back.

“Three wines it is,” I said as I made my way over to the kitchen. “Red okay?”

Both women nodded.

“I was so mad I missed her the day she came to the office,” Quinn said.

“You were in Italy getting proposed to. I think that was a tad more interesting.” I raised an eyebrow as I uncorked the red.

“Eh.” She waved a hand as she bounced around with Sophie. “I would have preferred her.”

I knew she was lying—she had been so ecstatic when she came back. I’d caught her gazing at her ring lovingly more than a few times. Knight had it custom-made but it looked vintage. It was a large emerald-cut diamond with smaller diamonds creating a halo set on a simple gold band.

It suited her perfectly.

“She’s very sweet.” Emma looked over at my daughter, no smile on her face.

I knew very little about Emma. Quinn hadn’t said much when she gave me the heads up that she was coming. I passed around the wine, settled on the floor with Sophie, and let Quinn and Emma take the couch.

“I needed this.” Quinn took a huge sip of her wine, then let out a sigh. “And to get out of my house.”

“Why?” I frowned, passing Sophie a toy.

“Ugh.” She took another long pull from her wine. “Let’s not start with me. Your apartment is cute, Sutton,” she said, deflecting. I scoffed and took my own sip of wine. I would only have a sip or two and dump anything I pumped, but I wanted to be included and enjoy myself.

“The outside is a dump but I’ve worked hard to make the inside livable.”

“Where were you before this?” Emma asked as she crossed one leg over the other, her back rigid. Her pin-straight brown hair was perfectly styled with rich caramel highlights throughout. Her light blue eyes, so much like Knight’s, were on me.

“I used to live in Vancouver. Soph and I moved here three months after she was born. I tried to come sooner but the end of my pregnancy was a little tricky so I didn’t want to make the drive.”

“That would have been a long trip with a three-month-old.” Quinn looked at me thoughtfully.

“We did it in three days.” I would have liked to say the ten-and-a-half-hour journey was a chance for me to slow down and enjoy the drive through the mountains, but I’d been so stressed. I managed to pay for some not-so-great motels for us because I didn’t want Sophie in the car for too long each day, and every night after she fell asleep beside me, I spent the night crying. I’d been so worried about money that I hadn’t eaten much on the way over because I wasn’t sure how hard it was going to be to get a job.

Thankfully, I got my first waitressing job within a week of getting here.

“Well, I’m so glad you’re here.” Quinn smiled. “When the guys pushed for me to get an assistant, I was skeptical. Honestly, I think I would have hated it if it were anyone but you.”

“Well, I never imagined I’d have to start my life over at twenty-seven as a single mom but it’s all kind of working out thanks to you. You’ve changed my life.”

“Ugh.” Quinn waved a hand in front of her eyes. “I love that for you so much.”