the buses?’
The boy wrapped wiry arms around the man, pushed his head into his chest and put all his effort into getting loose. He grinned when he broke free. ‘Nope. I’m ready to go. You’re getting weaker, you know. You barely held me that time.’
A bittersweet smile touched Zach’s face. ‘You’re the one getting stronger. You’re growing up too fast.’
Zach made a show of getting his briefcase, but Lily saw the tenderness he tried to hide and, despite her confusion, her heart softened. Zach clearly loved this child.
He rattled off a few instructions to her before he turned back to Daniel. ‘Did you two meet? This is Lily. She’s filling in while Maddie is away. The other secretary…’ he cleared his throat ‘…didn’t work out, so Lily has taken over.’
Lily finished jotting his instructions into her diary. She closed it and looked at the boy. ‘Hello again.’
‘I’m Daniel.’ He shook her hand, mumbled, ‘You’re prettier than the last one,’ and turned a little red in the face. ‘I mean—’
‘Thank you.’ She turned back to her desk to save him from further embarrassment. And to avoid having to look at Zach. ‘I won’t keep you both. You clearly have somewhere you need to be.’
A slight frown between his brows, Zach nodded. Then the boy drew his attention.
‘Mum said you’re invited to dinner again tonight, if you want. She’s running errands this afternoon, but she’ll bring home something nice.’ Daniel gathered his school bag and slipped it over his shoulders. He gave Zach a bit of a glare. ‘I could go to the orthodontist by myself, you know. If I can manage a couple of buses, I can manage—’
‘All the buses. Yes, but I promised when you first got the braces on that I’d take you to every appointment.’ Zach ruffled the dark hair again. ‘And I always—’
‘Keep your promises, I know. But I’m not a baby. You don’t need to mollycoddle me.’ The boy sighed, and made for the door.
Lily watched him, and tried to contain the anger and dismay that had filled her at Daniel’s innocent words. Zach was still involved with the mother of his child! He had been toying with Lily. She felt stupid for not having realised his interest wasn’t sincere. Felt second-rate, as she had when Richard had ended their engagement.
‘I’m not mollycoddling.’ Zach waved Daniel off. ‘Go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you at the elevators.’
As the boy left, Zach turned back into the room. ‘Is everything all right? You seem agitated.’ A rather ferocious expression closed in on his face, and he said without any inflection at all, ‘Don’t you like children?’
‘No, it’s not that. Everything’s fine.’ His protectiveness of the boy made Lily ache for things she didn’t have, for family to stand by her. But it didn’t change the fact that Zach was now clearly and utterly out of bounds to her. And, right now, she really didn’t like him very much. At all!
She busied herself putting a dictation tape into the machine, fiddled with the wishbone earpieces, then placed her hands in readiness against the keyboard. As she did so, she realised the child’s name had slipped from her memory. She sought for it, but didn’t find it. Darn it! ‘It was nice to meet your son, but shouldn’t you be going?’
‘Ah.’ His eyes narrowed as he studied her. ‘I think you’ve just explained the sudden chill in the air. If there’s a child, there’s got to be a mother, and therefore—’
‘You’re having dinner with that mother. You’re clearly very close.’ Oh, couldn’t he just go? She didn’t want to have this discussion. ‘It’s got nothing to do with me.’
‘Hasn’t it? You and I have been—’
‘Hurry up, old man. We’ll be late!’ The warning floated down the corridor, affection wrapped up in the cheeky words. A moment later, the boy poked his head back into the room. ‘Are we leaving some time this millennium, or what?’
Zach hesitated, gritted his teeth and strode to join the boy. ‘Yes, Daniel. We’re leaving. Let’s go.’
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. His name is Daniel. Lily pretended not to watch their exit. As soon as they left, she wrote the boy’s name down, although she suspected it would now stick firm for her. Usually, if she could get a piece of information beyond that short-term memory area, it stayed with her for good.
An hour later, after swinging from chagrin to anger and back again, she was doing her best to force Zach Swift out of her mind. She would go on doing that until she crushed every memory of the attraction she had experienced towards him. Utter rejection should have been her response from the start.
As she began to pack up her desk, a middle-aged woman stepped into the room. ‘I hope I didn’t startle you, dear. Are you about to leave?’
‘Hello. Yes, it’s almost closing time, but is there some way I can help you?’ Lily pushed the last of the folders into the drawer and gave the woman her full attention.
‘There is, I hope, but this isn’t really a business matter.’ The lady smiled. ‘Let me introduce myself. I’m Anne Swift, Zach’s mother.’ She stuck out a hand.
Lily snatched up a sticky notepad and scribbled ‘Anne Swift’ onto it, then took the other woman’s hand and looked into kindly yellow-green eyes. She couldn’t help returning the warm smile she found there, even as her picture of Zach shifted for the second time this afternoon.
She had assumed he had no family at all. That he lived for his company, utterly focussed on making money. Lily had even felt a connection, because she didn’t have any significant family ties either. Not any more.
Within the space of an hour, Zach had a son, a mother of that son, and a mother of his own.
‘I’m afraid Zach’s not in. He took Daniel to an orthodontist appointment.’ And, later, he’s going to have dinner with the mother of his child. They’ll probably make love once Daniel’s asleep.
‘Just as I hoped. I timed it so he would be gone when I got here.’ A warm chuckle erupted from the small, well-rounded frame. ‘Now, I know you’re just new, dear, but I need you to join me in a teensy-tiny conspiracy against my darling son.’
Well, that sounded interesting, if rather dangerous! Why would Zach’s mother want to conspire against him? ‘I’m not quite sure I can help you…’
‘You can, and it will be for his own good.’ Anne gave her merry laugh again. ‘I just need to explain. Come to coffee with me?’
The next morning, Zach greeted Lily with a watchful expression. Lily didn’t know what to think. During their stop for coffee, Anne Swift hadn’t mentioned anyone special in Zach’s life. But, then, Zach’s mother had been focussed on other things and perhaps had seen no reason to say anything.
I hope Anne enjoyed her meal, anyway.
The older lady had bought enough take-out containers of food during that jaunt for coffee to supply several hungry eaters. Perhaps she froze portions for herself. Or maybe she had invited guests that night.
