Paisley climbed onto the bike and I held her up. Together, we slowly moved down the driveway. She pedaled and I made sure she kept her balance. She was nervous at first, but the longer we rode, the more comfortable she became.
I didn’t know when to let go, but I thought I would know the moment when it came. She wasn’t ready yet. She was still teetering to either side too often, and besides, I knew I couldn’t let her fall. Not yet. Not when we were finally starting to feel like a real family.
I led Paisley up and down the street until the sun began to set. She didn’t want to go inside, so we sat on the porch together and watched the stars come out. I showed her a few constellations, and she had fun naming the stars with silly names.
“That one’s Tibby,” she giggled. “And that one is… Spoon!”
“What about fork?” I asked. “If there’s a spoon, then there has to be a fork.”
She shook her head. “No, just the spoon.”
I laughed. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
We spent an hour just looking up at the stars and making jokes. Paisley laughed more that night than I’d ever heard her laugh before. I suddenly realized that I didn’t need Tara around to make Paisley happy. As much as I loved Tara’s company, Paisley and I were doing just fine on our own. She was my daughter and I was her dad. No matter how rough our beginning was, we were finally falling into the roles we were always meant to play. I couldn’t believe I let so much time go by without knowing her or that I once thought she would be better off without me. I could no longer imagine my life without her in it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Tara
“Hey Tara,” Ray said, smiling when I stepped into his office. He’d asked to speak with me before the big meeting so I went straight to his office that morning.
“Morning,” I said. “You wanted to see me?”
“I did,” he said. “Have a seat.”
I sat down in the empty chair across from his desk and waited for him to speak. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was in trouble. Ray smiled at me while he sat back down behind his desk. I breathed a sigh of relief. He was smiling. I definitely wasn’t in trouble.
“I just wanted to thank you,” he said. “Before we go into the conference and go over the numbers with everyone, I wanted to tell you how much you’ve helped us over these past few weeks. You’ve really turned things around, Tara.”
“Oh,” I said, blushing slightly. “It wasn’t just me. The whole company put forth so much effort.”
“True,” Ray said with a nod. “But you’re the real reason the numbers are up. You’ve been a miracle worker lately. All the work you’ve done with Sean… I never imagined he could become such a vital part of this company.”
“He has been amazing,” I admitted. “I couldn’t believe it myself.”
“It’s all because of you.” Ray smiled. His eyes twinkled. “There’s no way he would be half as good without your guidance.”
“Thank you,” I said. I wanted to argue more, to tell Ray it was more Sean’s doing than mine, but I knew now wasn’t the time. Learning to accept a compliment was a hard thing to do, but it was important at times like these. “I’m just grateful you gave me this chance. It’s been such a great learning opportunity.”
“You and Sean are getting along well now, aren’t you?” Ray asked. I swallowed. He wasn’t beginning to suspect anything, was he?
“We are,” I said. “In fact, there’s something I wanted to ask you about Sean.”
The thought occurred to me in the moment, but I knew it was a good idea. It would distract Ray from my relationship with Sean for the time being, and it might serve to answer a few of my unanswered questions.
“What is it?” Ray asked.
“Well,” I began slowly. “I don’t want to overstep, but I’ve been wondering what happened between Sean and Zach? There’s just so much tension there, and I never found out what caused it.”
Ray looked at me carefully. He sighed and shook his head side to side. I didn’t know if I’d been too forward with my question, but I didn’t care. I wanted to know the truth.
“It’s complicated,” Ray began. “I don’t know if I should be the one to tell you, but when Sean was married to Paisley’s mom—”
Just then, Ray’s office door swung open, and he fell silent. Zach stepped inside without knocking and looked from Ray to me and then back again.
“The meeting is starting soon,” he reminded us. “We should get to the conference room.”
Ray and I exchanged a look, but we didn’t speak. Our conversation would have to continue another time. Together, the three of us walked down the hall toward the conference room to start the meeting.
***
The rest of the employees filtered in slowly. I sat at the head of the table beside Ray, with Zach on Ray’s other side. We were silent while we waited for the room to fill. As everyone arrived, I felt my excitement grow. This meeting was one I’d been waiting for. Not only were we going to announce the growth in our numbers, but I would be taking most of the credit. My plan worked. Sean was a success. Everything was falling into place perfectly.
“Alright,” Ray said once everyone was seated. “Thank you all for taking the time to be here. I know we’re all extremely busy these days. I promise, this meeting will be worth your time.”
There were a few appreciative murmurs throughout the room and I smiled to myself. Everyone was going to be even happier once Ray presented the numbers.
“So,” Ray said. “As you all know, we’re here to discuss the new numbers that came out last week. It hasn’t been long since we launched our new ad campaigns, and things are already beginning to look up. Our numbers are rising fast. In just two weeks, our profits have skyrocketed.”
With that, Ray turned to press a button on his computer. The new numbers were then displayed on a screen behind him. He pointed to each column and explained them as he went. He told us that our stock value had recently doubled and that our profits were higher than they’d been in two years. It was all new, so everyone was ecstatic with the news.
“And,” Ray said. “Since this all happened so fast, we can only expect more growth in the months to come.”
The entire room broke into applause. I laughed and joined in. It was a day of celebration, and everyone was enjoying the tension-free atmosphere.
“Now,” Ray said. “There is one person in particular we need to thank for this success, and I think we all know who that is. Tara, stand up!”
I smiled shyly and began to rise from my chair, but Zach beat me to it. He jumped to his feet so fast that I almost didn’t see him move.
“I think everyone deserves a round of applause,” Zach insisted. “This was a team effort, after all. No one person deserves all the credit.”