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been working at Décarie, Fontaine and associates for three years, slowly moving up the ranks. He cared when deals began to unravel. He also cared about making a good impression on the senior partners. That’s where we differed.
    I slapped the arms of the chair. “Well, it’ll be a chance to show them what you’re made of.”
    I wasn’t really interested in hearing the ins and outs of the case, but pretended to listen as if I was. I thought I was doing a good job of it until he called me out on it. “Are you even awake?”
    I shook my head, trying to jolt my mind into focus. “Sorry. I was miles away.”
    “What’s going on?” he asked.
    I gave him a shortened version of the conversation with my father, and then asked for his take on it.
    “Kids need kids. It might be good for her.” He shrugged. “You’ve got to cut the apron strings some time.”
    I had to give credence to his opinion. Grayson had two boys, a house and a dog. He was the real deal. Most days it felt as if Charli and I were still only pretending to have it all together.
    My father was right when he claimed that we kept Bridget to ourselves. We’d always worked better on our own, and when Bridget came along, nothing changed. We still preferred our own company, and for the first time ever I began to wonder if it was to Bridget’s detriment.
    “Does she like sport?” asked Grayson. “My boys started Little League at four.”
    “Maybe,” I muttered. “I’ll talk to Charli.”
    Grayson is a problem solver, even when there isn’t one. He threw up fifteen ideas in as many seconds. Everything from archery to fencing rated a mention. “Or cricket,” he added at the last minute. “She’s Australian. Her people like cricket, right?”
    I laughed. “I’ll talk it over with her people and let you know.”
    “How about dancing? I could see if Ella has any spaces in her dance classes if you like.”
    I didn’t know Grayson’s wife Ella well, which explained why I’d forgotten she was a dance teacher. I had no idea what his excuse was. “You didn’t think to mention that before fishing and archery?”
    “I was hoping you’d go with archery,” he replied, pretending to straighten his tie. “I’d love to see your kid get hold of a crossbow.”

7. TREASURE
Charli
    All Adam ever had to do to earn a celebrity greeting at the door was come home. If he turned up with a blue cake box from the patisserie on the corner, Bridget would go nuclear.
    Tonight was one of those nights.
    He made it into the kitchen and set the box on the counter, despite the little girl hanging off him. “Hello, love of my life,” he crooned, leaning to kiss me. He picked Bridget up and held her over his head as if she was weightless. “Hello, life of my love.”
    Bridget could barely speak for giggling. “I love that box,” she told him.
    “What box?” he teased.
    The power of the cake box was mightier than anything. Its mere presence worked like a magic wand. The kid would willingly have a bath, put on her pyjamas and eat everything on her plate – which was exactly her father’s plan.
    Adam’s motives were usually simple. He’d either had a rough day at the office or was planning an early night. I left quizzing him about it until Bridget was tucked up in bed, but one look at him as he walked into the room had me leaning toward a rough day.
    I carried the last of the plates to the sink. “Bad day?”
    “No,” he replied. “Why?”
    “You brought us cupcakes.”
    Adam smiled, but didn’t reply. He answered his ringing phone instead, an interruption I was used to. I went back to cleaning up cake crumbs and tried to pretend I wasn’t eavesdropping.
    As the one-sided conversation progressed, curiosity stabbed at me. I stopped my cleaning charade and unashamedly listened.
    “That’s great,” he beamed, looking straight at me. “We’ll make sure Bridget’s there on the twelfth.”
    As soon as the phone went back in his pocket, I pounced. “It’s