Chapter 27
The past few weeks at work had been brutal. She knew she was putting pressure on herself, but the interviews were only two
weeks away. Stuart would put on a good show. He was charming and the bosses loved him, so the only edge she had was her track
record. And so far, she’d had a great quarter. She was two percent ahead of him year to date. It would go a long way to proving
she was the most capable one for the job.
At the knock on her office door, she looked up to find Meera, hands planted firmly on her hips. “Don’t tell me you forgot
our lunch date.”
“Crap, sorry.” She exhaled sharply. “I’ve been staring at these figures so long, I think I’ve even forgotten my own name.”
“You work too hard, girl. I keep telling you.” She slid a package out from behind her back. “Sally said this arrived in the
post for you. I told her I’d drop it by, as you were clearly too busy to make it out of your office. It’s been checked and
isn’t a bomb.”
Curiously Olivia stared down at the parcel. Her heart thumped when she recognized the writing from a scrawled note Connor
had left her on his pillow when she’d slept in last weekend. Apparently on a Sunday, even she didn’t wake as early as an eight-year-old.
“It’s from Connor.”
“Oh, goody.” Meera grinned and clapped her hands like a kid at Christmas who’s just seen her presents. “Come on, then, open
it. And before you tell me to mind my own business, you owe me. I waited for twenty minutes before I realized you were going
to be a lunchtime no-show again.”
Olivia carefully cut the tape and eased off the packaging to find . . . cookies. He’d baked her cookies. From the look of
it, a dozen of them, three different kinds. Her hand trembled as she reached for the note inside.
For when you forget to go to lunch. C xx
“Oh my God,” Meera exclaimed, eyeing the box. “I want one.”
“A cookie?” she asked, struggling to speak past her tight throat. “Or a boyfriend who makes them?”
“Both.” Meera swiped one out of the box and took a bite. “Bloody hell, that is soooooo good.” She gave Olivia a soft smile.
“You’ve got a keeper there. I know you don’t want to hear it, that you’re scared it will screw up your career, but I’m telling
you, you’ll regret it if you let this one go.” She snatched another cookie and headed out. “I deserve that, as I didn’t get
my lunch.” When she reached the door, she looked back over her shoulder. “And if you were a decent friend, you’d put aside
a few more for me to take home.”
After Meera left, Olivia stared down at the box, feeling swamped with emotion. It was a small gesture, yet, like the bracelet
she’d started wearing again, the one he’d bought her in Nantucket, it was also a huge gesture. He wasn’t afraid to show her how he felt.
It was another lesson she needed to learn from him.
She was about to reach for a cookie when Stuart tapped on the door. “Have you seen the unwinding of the carry trade? Japan
is tumbling.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t worried; she’d offloaded any companies with exposure to Japan before the Bank of Japan’s rate decision.
Stuart’s gaze wandered to the open box of cookies on her desk and then to the note, written in purple felt pen she suspected
Connor had pinched from Ellie. “Someone’s sending you cookies. How sweet.”
“Yes, it is.” Carefully she placed the lid over the box.
Stuart slid his hands into his pockets. “So what’s the name of this man who’s trying to worm his way into your affections?”
“Connor.”
Stuart’s brows scrunched together. “Wasn’t that the name of the young guy you were with at the wine bar? The one you were
giving career advice to,” he added slyly.
“Yes.” Olivia raised her chin. “We’re dating.”
“Seriously?” Stuart started to laugh. “You turn me down and date him? A young punk who looks like he barely knows how to hold a conversation?”
“That punk, as you call him,” she retorted bitingly, “is bringing up his daughter single-handed.” As soon as she said it,
she realized her mistake.
“Jesus.” Stuart shook his head. “And you want to become CIO. You know you’re practically a stepmum, don’t you? It won’t be
long before you’re doing school runs and taking time off work for sickness, for parents’ evening. School plays.”
It was everything she feared, and he knew it. “Connor’s been managing all that just fine by himself. He doesn’t need my help.”
She ignored the twist in her stomach and gave him a hard look. “Was that all?”
“How about giving me a cookie? From the sounds Meera was making, they’re better than sex.”
The thought of something Connor had so lovingly made being eaten by this man sent bile to the back of her throat. “No.”
“Fair enough.” Stuart smirked at her. “Looks like I’ll have to settle for sex. And for the sake of transparency, I should
tell you I’m dating someone too. Paige is a portfolio manager at Schroders. Her dad is a great friend of Simon’s. Apparently,
they went to the same boarding school.” He smirked again. “Same one I went to.”
With a final, triumphant glance, he stalked out of her office.
Bastard. Olivia slid the lid off the cookies again, but as she looked down at them, her stomach rolled. She couldn’t eat one
now, not with the bitter taste in her mouth.
The taste only got worse when Simon knocked on her door an hour later. “I hear you’re dating a single dad.”
“News travels fast. Stuart must have run down the corridor,” she said with barely concealed sarcasm.
Simon gave her a long, appraising look. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Techtonic fully supports working mothers, but be careful
it doesn’t blunt your edge, Olivia.”
“Why would it?”
“This company needs a CIO who’s dedicated, prepared to work long hours, give the role their total focus.”
Acid churned in her stomach. “I presume you’d have said the same to Stuart if his girlfriend had a child?”
Simon smiled, nodded once, and walked away.
She let her head fall to her desk with a thud, struggling to contain her need to scream, to throw something at the wall. And,
damn it, to cry too. Wallow in the unfairness of it all.
She hadn’t asked to fall in love, had no desire for a family. All she wanted was to make CIO. Yet now, because she had fallen, and for a single dad, the CIO position she’d worked so hard for might be snatched away from her.
Connor reread Olivia’s message. She’d sent it at four o’clock, when he’d been knee-deep in fractions and spellings, so he
hadn’t a chance to read it until now.
Thank you for the cookies. Very sweet of you. X
Did that sound . . . off? Very sweet? He wouldn’t have minded if she’d added a laughing emoji, but without it, the phrase sounded trite and nothing like the woman
he knew. His Livvy would have said something along the lines of Are you trying to sweeten me up? Plus, he knew he was being an oversensitive prick, but there was no mention of her trying one. Did she even like them?
“Ellie.” He nudged her. “Time to get ready for bed.”
Sprawled out on the sofa next to him, she didn’t budge, her eyes fixed on the TV, watching the credits roll from a rerun of
Friends. Yeah, he’d been told it wasn’t suitable for an eight-year-old, but try telling that to the eight-year-old desperate to watch
it because her friends did. In the end he’d gone on the Mumsnet website, searched for episodes that were primary-school-friendly,
and struck a deal that she could watch those.
He gave her ribs another nudge, and she moaned. “Do I have to?”
“Yes, Turnip. At least if you want to watch Friends again tomorrow.”
A huff and a pout later, she trudged upstairs.
Deciding he’d spent too long analyzing nine words, Connor dialed Olivia’s number. “Your message didn’t mention if you liked
the cookies or not.”
“Oh, I . . .” She sighed. “Sorry, I haven’t tried them yet. I was going to, but then Stuart ruined the mood.”
He tensed. “Ruined it how?”
“Oh, just with the usual sly digs.” Whatever the digs were, they’d knocked her for a loop, he could hear it in her voice.
“I’ll try them tomorrow, promise.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the cookies, Livvy. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Don’t be. I’ll be fine. Just need a good night’s sleep.”
Tension crept up his spine, and Connor rubbed at the back of his neck. “Stuart is always trying to get one over you, but you
don’t usually let it get to you. What was different this time?” She went quiet for a few beats, and his heart jumped into
his mouth. “It was about me, wasn’t it? He saw the cookies and you were forced to admit you were dating the guy you’d said
was the son of a friend.”
“I wasn’t forced to admit anything,” she said. “I chose to tell him.”
“And now you’re regretting it.”
“No.” Another beat of excruciating silence. “But it gave him an opening to tell me he was dating the daughter of one of Simon’s
close friends. It doesn’t matter what I do, he has all the contacts, the networks. Plus . . .” Another sigh, this one sounding
weary. “It doesn’t matter, that was the gist of it.”
“What else?” he pressed. “I don’t want my feelings spared, Livvy. I want the truth so I can deal with it.”
“Fine. He also said some highly sexist crap about me being a stepmother and having to take time off to do school runs. A short
while later, Simon came round to warn me not to lose my edge.”
Fuck. “That’s . . .” He didn’t even have the words, he was so angry.
“Appalling? Outrageous? Unbelievably archaic?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare apologize.”
“To be clear, I’m not apologizing for having a daughter. But I hate that Stuart believes he can use Ellie to get one over
on you.” This was why she didn’t want to be a mum. Finally, he thought he understood. If you wanted something as fiercely as she did this job,
if it was your whole focus, your dream, you didn’t let anything get in the way.
The realization caused a twinge of sadness. He hadn’t lied, he didn’t need another child, but regardless of whether he was
in the picture, Olivia would have made one hell of a mum.
“I won’t let Stuart win.” Her voice took him out of his thoughts. “Tomorrow I’ll find my mojo again. Tonight, I just feel
like a bit of ‘I hate sexist, misogynistic men’ wallowing.”
“Dad!” His daughter shouted. “I’m ready for my story.”
Connor exhaled a heavy breath. He felt impotent. His girlfriend might not like it, certainly didn’t know it, but she needed
him, and he wasn’t there. “I’ve got to go, Ellie’s calling.”
“Of course. Thanks for phoning. And for the cookies. I really did appreciate them.”
He went through the mechanics of reading with Ellie—they had a deal, one sentence was his, the next hers—but for once, his
mind wasn’t on his daughter as he tucked her into bed.
“Dad?”
He gazed down into her sleepy blue eyes. “Sorry, just thinking about something.” He kissed her nose. “If I can get Grandma
and Granddad to come over, do you mind if I go see Livvy? I think she could do with a hug.”
Ellie sat up and put her arms around him. “You give the best hugs. Make her better.”
God, he loved his kid. “I’ll try, thank you. And I promise to be here when you wake up.”
His parents were predictably less forgiving than his daughter, and he got it. Getting in the car to spend the evening watching
TV in his cramped living room on his tatty sofa? He was bloody lucky they were willing to do it at all.
“Thanks, really,” he told them as he opened the door ten minutes later.
“We’re not doing it for you, we’re doing it for Ellie,” his mum replied sharply. “We don’t want her waking up and finding
some stranger downstairs.”
“I wouldn’t do that to her. What’s more, you know that.” He heard Olivia’s voice in his head and stood straighter, his shoulders
squared. “I might have been a shit son, but I’m a bloody good dad.”
He waited for them to disagree. When they didn’t, he inclined his head and walked out of the door an inch taller than when
he’d let them in.
A forty-five-minute tube ride later, he pressed Olivia’s intercom button. “Hey, it’s me.”
“Connor?”
“How many other guys are you’re expecting tonight?” he remarked dryly as she buzzed him up.
When he got out of the lift, she was standing in her doorway. Dressed in her black jersey loungewear, hair scraped back, face
makeup-free, she looked tired, pale. He realized in that moment that he was hopelessly in love with every angular, understated,
cool, controlled inch of her. “I wasn’t expecting you,” she said as soon as she spotted him.
“You should have been.” He walked up to her, heart somersaulting at the sight of her red-rimmed hazel eyes. “I want to know
when you’re upset, Livvy. I want to be there for you.”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“Sure you are.” He took her hand, led her into her flat, and drew her into his arms.
His feisty, independent girlfriend resisted a few seconds but then relented, wrapping her arms around his waist. There wasn’t
much that beat the feeling of her melting against him.
“Just because I’m letting you hug me doesn’t mean I need it,” she mumbled into his chest.
He kissed the top of her head. “I know.”
“I just like it when you hold me.”
“Then how about I hold you for a while longer.” He moved his hand up and down her back, felt her body tremble. A moment later,
the tears started. She cried quietly, a dignified weep rather than a noisy sob.
“I’m not crying.” She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. “I don’t cry.”
“Everyone cries at some point, Livvy.” He looked down at her, emotions on such high alert, he felt the prick of tears in his
own eyes. “There’s no shame in it.” He gave her a gentle nudge. “I bet Stuart cries into his pillow most nights when he admits
to himself he’s not as good as you.”
She sniffed. “I like that image.”
“You’re exhausted,” he said as he slowly eased her away so he could look at her. “Let me take care of you.”
She took a step back, her eyes puffy, cheeks glistening with tears. “How do you propose doing that?”
He smiled, planted a kiss on her temple. “First, I run you a bath. While you’re relaxing in that, I’ll make you something
to eat.”
“I guess I could get on board with that.”
“While you’re eating, I’ll give you a foot rub.”
Her eyes met his. “You’d do that?”
“I’d do anything if it put a smile on your face.”
Her lips twitched. “I suppose you could start at my feet. Work your way up until you hit the jackpot.”
“I suppose I could.” Feeling like he’d already hit the damn jackpot now that he’d seen the light return to her eyes, he set
off toward the bathroom.
“Oh, and Connor,” she said. He turned, saw her expression go soft. “I didn’t need you to come round. But I’m really glad you
did.”