Maggie didn’t argue. Brady had been twenty when Sam had made the decision for him. Eight years had added a roughness to Brady’s boyish face. If anything, he was more handsome now than when she’d mooned over him in high school. His dark suit and blue tie lying against the soft-gray pressed shirt made him feel less approachable than when he’d been on top of the high school food chain dressed in denim and a worn T-shirt.
His face softened. “I’d do anything to take back those years and give Amber the father she deserved and you the support you needed.”
His words irritated her. “We got by fine on our own.” He smiled. “Always the fierce one, Maggie.”
The intimacy of the statement hit her below the belt and reminded her why she’d slept with him in the first place. If she hadn’t thought he was patronizing her, she might have even liked him saying that. She cleared her throat and lifted her fork to toy with her rapidly cooling food.
He reached for his BlackBerry again and started pressing buttons. “I might be able to get away for a day or two…”
His lips tightened as he glared at the small screen. Whatever was on the screen wasn’t making him happy.
“The project I’m working on is a multimillion-dollar deal. But I should be able to get away in a month, maybe a Sunday.”
“A month?” The food sank like a lump in her stomach.
“If everything goes according to plan. I should be able to make it out and back in a day.”
“It might take longer?” Maggie crossed her arms over her chest. “Amber has waited seven years for a father I didn’t think wanted her. What am I supposed to tell her? Your father is a busy man and when he finds time, he fully intends to come meet you for the first time? Am I supposed to string her along with promises of her father indefinitely?”
“Amber should come first. You’re right—” Brady met her gaze “—but my career is hanging on this project. Can I fly her and you out here?”
“She has school. No one can cover for you for a few days? you don’t have vacation time?”
“Of course I have vacation time. I have a few months’ worth of vacation time saved, but—”
“But you aren’t willing to take them.” She stood and clasped her shaking hands together. “I don’t have vacation time, but I came here on my weekend off to tell you as soon as I found out you didn’t know.”
Brady glanced around them. Some of the nearby diners had stopped talking and stared at them with unabashed interest.
“Will you please sit?” Brady asked softly.
She wanted to leave and forget she had ever come to New York, but she had a duty to Amber. For the past seven years, she’d been the one that Amber turned to, the one she relied on. But every now and then, Amber asked about her father. Maggie wasn’t willing to disappoint her daughter because her father was turning out to be an ass. She dropped in the seat and crossed her arms.
“I can’t tell Amber that her father might be able to make it to Tawnee Valley to see her sometime this year. She’s seven. She’s never met her dad and doesn’t know her uncles. Her grandmother died a few months ago. I’m all she has left.”
Brady laid his hand on the table. The surrounding diners went back to their food, but they seemed to lean a little closer in the direction of Maggie and Brady’s table.
“I’m not trying to blow you off, Maggie.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked up to the ceiling before returning to face her. She had a feeling he said that to every woman in his life. “I want to see Amber. The project I’ve taken on is important—”
“And we’re not.” Maggie didn’t like the hurt in her voice, but she’d worked hard to be everything to Amber. Now someone else had a chance to be part of Amber’s life. This man that Maggie had always found fascinating. He’d been her hero in high school, and it was hard not to be disappointed in the man he’d become. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly, trying to think rationally. “I know that this is a lot. I know I just told you that you have a child. I know your work is important, but is it the only thing that’s important?”
“I’m not saying that.” Brady closed his eyes and sighed. “What do you want from me, Maggie?”
Everything. The thought startled her into silence. She bit the inside of her cheek and tightened her lips. Romantic dreams were for other people. She had to be rational. “I’d rather not tell her about you at all if we can’t work out something definitively.”
“I found out I have a daughter ten minutes ago. I’m dealing with the information as best I can.” He looked at the photo of Amber and his eyes softened. “I want to do what’s right, but I’m eight years too late. Tell me, what should I do?”
Maggie uncrossed her arms and laid her hand on top of his. His heat gave her comfort. She knew what Amber needed, what Amber deserved. What Maggie wished she’d had from the father she barely remembered. She took a deep breath before meeting his eyes.
“Two weeks. Give us two weeks of your time. Let Amber get to know you and adjust to having you in her life. If you decide you only want to be around occasionally after that—” Maggie swallowed the lump forming in her throat “—we can work something out.”
His lips tightened into a thin line and she wondered if he would try to bargain more with her. He let out his breath in a puff. “I’ll have to work while I’m there…”
Joy welled within Maggie, but it was tainted with concern. What if he didn’t love Amber the way she deserved to be loved? What if he decided he didn’t want to be a daddy to their daughter? What if Maggie accidentally drove him away and Amber hated her for the rest of her life?
She shook the doubts from her head. “We’ll make it work.” Realizing she held his hand, she released him and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
“I’ll need a few days to straighten things out, but then we can head back,” Brady said.
Maggie’s smile slipped as she focused on what Brady was saying. “We?”
“You don’t think I’m going to let you go without me?” His half smile reminded her of the high school Brady she’d known. It was the same smile he’d given her when he’d caught her staring at him during gym class. The clanking of plates pulled her out of the small bubble she’d been in, bringing her back to the diner. Back to reality.
The reality was she needed to go home. “My plane ticket is for tomorrow. I have work and I need to take care of Amber—”
“All important details, but Sam obviously owes us. My assistant can take care of the ticket.”
“I can’t afford to stay at the hotel another night—”
“Stay with me.” He cleared his throat. “I meant stay at my apartment.”
The background noise faded again as she met his eyes. If only she were eighteen and willing to throw caution to the wind, to have one more night in Brady’s arms. If only she’d let Penny pack her pretty nightgown. With her mother’s
