Graham set down his menu. He hadn’t even taken a look at it. “I’ll have what you’re having, Chloe.”
She smiled so big, I could almost count all her little white teeth. When the waiter came to take our order, I ordered a frozen hot chocolate, too. Genevieve ordered just coffee. He left Chloe a tin can filled with crayons and a paper kids menu for coloring. She immediately set to work.
“What’s your favorite color, Cracker?”
“Blue.” Graham’s eyes narrowed to the tips of my hair. “Yours?”
“Green. I wanted to paint my room green, but mommy said it wasn’t beckoning of a little girl’s room.”
Genevieve chimed in. “Becoming. I said it wasn’t becoming of a little girl’s room.”
Chloe shrugged and went back to coloring.
“So, Soraya. What do you do?” Genevieve asked.
“I work for a columnist. Ask Ida.”
“The relationship column?”
“That’s the one.”
She fake smiled. “I’ll have to remember that, the next time I’m looking for advice.”
I nodded.
“How did you two meet?”
“Graham wrote into the column for relationship advice a few years back.”
“He did?” Genevieve’s eyes went wide.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed her reaction, I figured it was best not to screw with her too much. “I’m just messing with you. We met on the train. Well…sort of. Graham left his phone behind, and I found it.”
“Graham was taking the train?”
“He did that day.”
Graham squeezed my knee.
“Mommy doesn’t take the train. Daddy and I used to take it together!” Chloe announced factually. Speaking of Liam didn’t seem to upset her as I thought it would. She continued coloring and then her pointer finger returned to her nose. It was clear that it was her thinking position, and it was freaking adorable. “Will you come to my birthday party?”
I caught Graham’s face wilt. He hadn’t known when his daughter’s birthday was. There was so much he needed to catch up on.
I responded. “When is your birthday?”
“May 29th.”
“What kind of a party are you having?”
“A princess party. Will you come?”
My eyes flashed to Genevieve for assistance. “Her party is at our summer home in the Hamptons.”
Chloe interjected, “It’s big. You can stay with us.”
“I was actually going to ask Graham if he wanted to join us, Chloe.”
She made it clear the invitation was not a plus one.
Graham didn’t seem to give a shit. “Soraya and I would very much like to attend your birthday party, Chloe. We’ll see if we can make that happen. Thank you for the invitation.”
When it was time to go, I saw in Graham’s eyes he wasn’t ready to leave his daughter yet. His daughter. It still didn’t seem real. Out in front of the restaurant, Chloe gave me a quick squeeze goodbye and then turned to Graham. He crouched down at eye level on the street and spoke to her.
“Is there something special you want for your birthday, sweetheart?”
Her finger went to the tip of her nose while she looked up to the sky. When she looked Graham square in the eyes and delivered her answer, she couldn’t have known the irony of fate. “I want my dad back.”
CHAPTER 22
GRAHAM
IN A MATTER OF WEEKS, I went from Genevieve being a distant memory to her calling on a regular basis and showing up at my office unannounced.
I took off my glasses and scrubbed my hands over my face before pushing the intercom button. “Send her in.”
Genevieve strutted into my office and planted herself on the other side of my desk in a guest chair.
“We need to talk.”
“Is Chloe alright?”
“She’s fine.”
“Then what are you doing here, Genevieve?”
“I just said we need to talk.”
I slipped my glasses back on my face and dug back into the pile of papers on my desk, not looking up when I spoke. “I’m busy. Make an appointment on your way out.”
She sighed loudly but didn’t budge. “Chloe’s birthday party is a family event.”
“And…”
“You should be there.”
“I told you the other night when we spoke that we would attend.”
“She’s not family.”
“Not yet, no.”
Genevieve looked startled. “You can’t be serious? Saying something like that? How long have you known each other? You have a daughter to consider now. As a father figure, you shouldn’t be introducing our daughter to someone who you barely even know. Chloe could get attached.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
“You barely even know each other. What’s it been? A month? Two months?”
“I know her better than I ever knew you.”
“We spent nearly three years together.”
“And yet I never knew the woman you were. The things you were capable of.”
“That’s not fair.”
“On the contrary. I think I’ve been exceedingly fair with you. More so than you even deserve. You slept with my best friend, deprived me of my daughter for more than four years, and now you show up at my office unannounced to insult someone who I care deeply about.”
“She’s not right for you.”
“Let me guess. You are?”
“Well…yes. We’re on the same level, Graham.”