Page 37

Across the table, Babs lifts her burger. “I’m going to be an astronaut, Grandma.”

“I thought you were a lawyer yesterday.”

“I finished.”

“Well, that’s one career sorted.” Mara spears a piece of chicken with her fork, glances my way, and smiles. “So, Emma, how’s Wolf Shield treating you?”

“I love it.” I reach for my lemonade. “Everyone’s been really welcoming.”

“Even Theo?”

I laugh. “He’s definitely… memorable.”

“He’d be thrilled to hear that.” She takes a bite before nodding toward Bane across the lawn. “And my son?”

I follow her gaze. Bane’s crouched beside a little boy whose burger has fallen apart, patiently rebuilding it while Babs offers deeply unhelpful advice. “He’s been wonderful.”

“I’ll tell him you said that. He could use the encouragement.” Mara tears off a piece of her bread roll and gestures toward me with it. “Have you always lived in New York?”

I shake my head as I reach for my lemonade. “Connecticut’s home. I moved here for work.”

She smiles. “Your family still there?”

“My parents are, but my older sister lives nearby. She’s only about twenty minutes from my new apartment.”

“So you’ve got somebody making sure you’re eating properly.”

I laugh. “Kira certainly tries.”

“Older sisters usually do.”

She takes a sip of her iced tea, watching Babs convince Sprout that lettuce is an acceptable treat. “And when you’ve escaped your sister’s inspections, who do you spend your evenings with?”

“Myself, mostly.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “No boyfriend stealing all the blankets?”

Heat creeps into my cheeks as I smile into my glass. “No.”

“I see.”

She leaves it there, reaches across the table to rescue Biddy’s napkin before it blows away, and starts buttering another piece of bread as though she’d only been making conversation all along.

Across the table, Babs points a chip at me. “Emma’s staying.”

Mara glances at her granddaughter. “Is that right?”

“We’ve already decided.”

“I suspected you had.” Mara chuckles as she smooths a curl away from Babs’s forehead. “I’d better avoid arguing with the committee. They look very committed.”

I smile along with everyone else, yet the more I think about our conversation, the more convinced I become that Mara found every answer she’d been looking for without asking a single question that felt out of place.

I watch Bane grin at whatever Babs is saying, Biddy tucked comfortably against his side, and he gives each of them the same attention he’d give the biggest client in the company.

A few minutes ago I saw only the man who runs Wolf Shield, wears expensive suits, and somehow makes every meeting feel important.

Sitting here with burger grease on his hands and Sprout circling the picnic tables in hope of another dropped lunch, he feels like a man whose family comes before everything else.