“Especially me.”
Her little hand touched my cheek.
“Okay.”
I kissed her palm.
“But there’s something else. If Mommy ever decides to spend time with someone, that doesn’t mean they automatically become your daddy.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes. Daddy is Daddy.”
My throat tightened.
“And nobody replaces him.”
“Right.”
She leaned against me.
“But can we still have more people?”
I closed my eyes.
Children could make the complicated things unbearably simple.
“Yes,” I whispered. “We can have more people.”
—
The leadership announcement was made Tuesday.
Adrian would remain chairman.
Operations would transition over three months to a new managing director.
My promotion was announced separately two weeks later after a formal board vote.
Executive Creative Director.
When I told Mia, she asked whether that meant I was now allowed to boss Adrian around.
“Absolutely not.”
“Then what’s the point?”
Priya nearly fell off my sofa laughing.
The new structure meant I reported to the managing director, not Adrian.
It also meant the question he had asked me that Saturday night could no longer hide behind professional complications.
He waited.
Three weeks.
No pressure.
No private invitations.
No suggestive remarks.
Nothing.
Finally, on a rainy Thursday evening, I walked into his office.
He looked up.
“Julia.”
“Are you busy?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“But I can stop.”
That was new.
I stepped inside.
“I have an answer.”
His expression changed.
Not much.
But enough.
“To what?”
“You know what.”
“I would prefer not to assume.”
I folded my arms.
“You asked me to dinner.”
“I did.”
“My answer is yes.”
For one second, Adrian Kane forgot how to speak.
It was deeply satisfying.
“Friday?” he finally asked.
“Friday.”
“Seven?”
“Seven.”
“Do I choose the restaurant?”
“No.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“You chose my salary for two years. I choose dinner.”
A smile spread across his face.
“Fair.”
—
Our first date was terrible.
Not disastrous.
Worse.
Polite.
Painfully, impossibly polite.
Without offices, presentations, or Mia to provide accidental chaos, Adrian and I became two competent adults trying so hard not to make mistakes that we nearly bored each other.
He asked about my work.
