10. Liam
CHAPTER 10
LIAM
H aving a fake wife and a very real daughter was an exceptionally strange experience.
Previously, Liam had worked long hours at the office simply because he always had more work than he could easily handle. Yet he’d always relaxed at home for a few hours in the evening and taken some time off on the weekends. Now, though, he found himself working longer and longer hours, just to avoid Amelia and Grace.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get to know them better. Part of Liam wanted, almost desperately, to join them in the kitchen to make cookies or play in the park or whatever it was that they did all day. He wanted to win Grace over. He wanted to know more about Amelia and see if he could make her blush again, like she had when he’d put an arm around her during the photoshoot.
Yet more strongly than any of that, Liam knew he needed to keep his distance. He wasn’t a family man. The photography session had proven that yet again, when he hadn’t known what to do with his daughter or what to talk to Amelia about. He hardly ever had conversations that weren’t about business.
Liam also knew he couldn’t get too attached to either Grace or Amelia, because they would eventually both be gone. Grace would grow up and go to boarding school. Amelia would end their fake marriage after a year, as they’d set out in their contract. Growing closer to either of them would only set him — and them — up for heartbreak. It was easier to avoid Amelia and the beautiful home she was creating out of his barren apartment.
Take this morning, for instance. Liam had woken up to the sound of laughter and bouncy children’s music coming from the kitchen. Amelia and Grace had been up early. When he’d passed by, Grace had been carefully slicing a banana with a plastic children’s knife while Amelia made pancakes. They’d been wearing matching checkered aprons. Both had been singing along, Amelia in her sweet singing voice and Grace in a happy child’s mumble.
“Come join us!” Amelia had called. But Liam had declined.
“I have work to do.”
After the warmth and brightness and pure happiness in his kitchen, the office felt… bland. Almost clinical. It was very strange.
Today’s work was even more important than most days’, though, and Liam knew he needed to be here. Just this morning, he had announced to his team that he had a family, explaining that, as a private man, he’d chosen not to mix his personal and work lives. In the announcement, which he’d done during an all-hands meeting, he’d added that they might have seen his daughter, Grace, or his wife, Amelia around the office — and that they might see more of both in the future. Liam had followed this up with the honest promise that he would continue to keep his focus on his work, with a strong separation between his personal and professional lives.
The announcement had come just in time, because in about five minutes, Liam was meeting Stanley.
Liam was nervous for the meeting in a way that was very out of character for him. He was rarely nervous about anything business-related. Yet today, he kept straightening the pictures of his “family” on his desk and couldn’t concentrate on his work.
Liam had chosen two pictures to keep on his desk. The first had been taken after he’d left the session. It was an image of Amelia lifting Grace into the air. The sun caught in Grace’s fair hair, giving her a sort of halo. Amelia’s face radiated peace and happiness, an expression Liam couldn’t look away from. They looked like they belonged together, like Amelia was really Grace’s parent instead of Liam.
There was just something about Amelia. Liam couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but whenever he was around her, he felt drawn to her. It was an attraction unlike anything he had felt before, and he knew that the only thing keeping it at bay was the distance he maintained from her.
The other picture, though, showed Liam’s one moment of weakness. During the photography session, one of the first shots the photographer had taken showed Amelia holding Grace, and Liam holding them both. Initially, he’d maintained his distance as best he could, but after a moment, he’d leaned into Amelia, looked down into her clear brown eyes, and allowed himself to inhale her feminine smell. This picture showed that exact moment, when Liam’s guard had been down. Liam had chosen it as a reminder — a reminder of the importance of keeping a distance from this woman.
“Liam?” Ryan appeared at the doorway. He looked refreshed and positive, which Liam found slightly annoying given his own personal struggles. “Stanley is here.”
“Right.” Liam got to his feet. “Send him in.”
A moment later, Stanley appeared. Though he was only in his forties, Stanley had the salt-and-pepper hair and smile lines of an older man — which he’d explained was due to too much stress in his twenties. As usual, he was dressed professionally, but slightly more casually than Liam, in a pair of slacks and a pressed button-down.
“Stanley.” Liam circled the desk and held his hand out. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“You too.” Stanley took his hand for a firm shake, then smiled. “You look well.”
“Thank you. As do you. Please, have a seat. Can I offer you anything to drink?”
“I’d love some black tea, if you have it,” Stanley suggested. Liam nodded to Ryan, who disappeared to prepare the tea.
“Of course. My assistant will bring it in just a moment.”
They took their seats, Liam in his desk chair and Stanley in the seat across from him. There was a momentary pause as they smiled politely at each other.
“Nice weather we’ve been having,” Liam said, rather blandly. He always struggled to talk to Stanley. With his other investors, he had at least a few shared interests, whether that was the position of the stock market, exercise habits, politics, or simply getting the most out of their money. Stanley, however, seemed to come from a different, more old-school world, and Liam always found himself fumbling for small-talk topics.
“Yes, very lovely.” Stanley smiled politely. “Listen, Liam, while I’m here to talk to you about renewing my investment, there is another topic we should discuss. I’ve heard a few rumors of a rather confusing nature. Naturally, I try to put things aside, but you see…”
“I think I know what you’re talking about. Perhaps you’ve heard about my daughter?” It was the first time Liam had said the words “my daughter,” and they sounded strange on his lips. My daughter. Grace. Liam took the photograph of the three of them together and handed it to Stanley, who took it with interest. “Here she is, along with my wife.”
“Liam,” he said, his voice full of surprise. “You’re married? And you have a child?”
“I do. The little one is my daughter, Grace. She’s two and a half. And the woman is my wife, Amelia.”
“I’ll admit,” Stanley began, shaking his head slowly, “one of my contacts mentioned seeing you with a little girl, and I may have assumed the worst. I had no idea you were a family man. Why hasn’t this come up?”
“To be honest, the world of business is a lot for anyone — especially a child. I’ve made a concerted effort to keep Grace out of any kind of spotlight — and Amelia as well. As you may have noticed, I’m a rather private man, and I didn’t want to share them.”
Stanley was nodding again. “Good man. I tried hard to keep my kids separate from the world of business when they were young, too. But they sure do grow fast — as I’m sure you know, too.” He winked, and Liam almost fell out of his chair. Had Stanley Jefferson, a man known for his high standards and decorum, really just winked at him?
“I sure do.” Liam chuckled. “It feels like only yesterday I was meeting my girls for the first time.” That was because it practically had been yesterday, but Liam didn’t add that.
“I feel the same way. My Laurie and I have been married almost twenty years now, but I still remember the first time I saw her like it was yesterday. Believe it or not, she was my flight attendant on my first ever first-class flight.”
Liam chuckled appreciatively. “I bet you made a good impression.”
“Hardly. I was so thrilled to finally be in first class that I must have asked a dozen questions. But Laurie was so sweet and funny, and by the time we landed, I had her number. How about your wife? Amelia, you said? How did you meet?”
For a terrifying moment, Liam blanked. He really should have prepared for this moment, but he hadn’t expected Stanley to be quite this interested — he wasn’t a particularly talkative man. After a moment’s hesitation, Liam decided to stick with the truth.
“Actually, her nephew accidentally smeared ice cream on one of my suits while Amelia was babysitting him. She apologized and gave me her number so I could send her the dry-cleaning bill. I obviously didn’t do that. I did use that number to ask her out to lunch, though.” The words felt true, and Liam felt almost as though he’d slipped into an alternate dimension in which that really was what had happened. What if he’d asked Amelia on a date, instead of offering her a job? What if— Liam cut off the train of thought. There was no use wondering what could have been.
Stanley chuckled. “I can’t imagine that. To be honest, Liam, I never got the feeling you liked kids all that much, even though you run such a successful edtech firm.”
“To be honest,” Liam replied, “I didn’t. I believe in education and the importance of childhood, but I never got the draw of little ones until I had my own.”
“That’s how it is for a lot of guys like us,” Stanley agreed. He leaned back in his chair. “Money, business, power — it can all go to your head and make the little things seem less important. Family is what keeps us grounded in what matters.”
“I agree.” Liam smiled and cleared his throat. “My apologies for sidetracking the conversation. Now that I’ve given myself permission to talk about my family, it’s hard to talk about anything else. But you didn’t come here just to talk about kids.” It was time to move the conversation on to the important part — reviewing Stanley’s investment portfolio and renewing his commitment.
“Nonsense.” Stanley waved him off. “Of course I’ll continue to invest with you, but we can discuss the details a little later on. In fact, why don’t you come out to my ranch? It’s about half an hour outside the city, but the views are incredible. Bring your wife and daughter. We can have a family barbecue and get down to brass tacks in a more personal location.”
Liam concealed his surprise as best as he could. Although he frequently took his investors out to lunch or dinner, or even, on occasion, a trip out to wine country, Stanley had never been interested. And now he was inviting him to his own home?
Maybe having a child would actually be a benefit to Liam’s career.
“That would be wonderful.”
“This weekend we’re out of town — it’s Laurie’s and my anniversary, and we’re taking the kids camping. It keeps us all closer to our roots. But how about the weekend after?”
“I’ll check my agenda, but I don’t see why not.”
“Perfect.” Stanley sat back with a pleased smile. “I’m looking forward to it. Should I be aware of any dietary requirements?”
Liam remembered Amelia happily eating the chef’s special at the waterfront restaurant, so she would probably be all right with anything. Grace was another story.
“Grace is a little picky.”
“Aren’t they all at that age? Don’t worry. We’ll find something she wants to eat.”
“My wife is better at getting her to eat than I am. Thank goodness for Amelia, or Grace would probably live on ice cream.”
“We’ll make sure to have some ice cream on hand, just in case. When my Thomas was little, he went through a phase of eating only white foods. Can you believe that? White rice, white bread, vanilla ice cream, bananas… and for some reason, broccoli.”
“Kids.” Liam shook his head. “Who knows what they’re thinking?”
“Exactly. My Briana — she’s fourteen now — when she was younger, she was convinced that she needed a pet octopus…”
Stanley and Liam chatted for another half an hour or so. Luckily, Stanley did most of the talking. He shared stories about his kids growing up and about his love for his wife. Most of the stories were funny, but a few were poignant enough to make Liam’s heart ache.
“I’m sure you don’t need me telling you this,” Stanley said towards the end, “but it goes fast. One moment, your kids are small enough to ride on your shoulders — and the next, they’re going off to high school and starting to date. Work is important, but your family is much more valuable. Don’t miss this time with them.”
His words made Liam uncomfortable. He’d spent the last week actively avoiding his family whenever possible. But Stanley didn’t know the whole story. Even though Grace was really Liam’s daughter, Amelia wasn’t really his wife, and both of them were better off without him around. Weren’t they?
“Thank you.” Liam nodded. “It’s always good to get advice from others in the trenches.”
“It sure is. Well, I’ll let you get back to it. You can let your board know that I’ll be reinvesting, but we’ll hammer out a specific number later on.”
“Wonderful. That’s much appreciated.”
The two men shook hands, then Liam escorted Stanley out to the elevator. They said their goodbyes before Liam returned to his office. He was energized after such a positive meeting with an investor who didn’t always seem enthusiastic to be working with him. He sank into his chair and tilted his head back, allowing himself a moment of satisfaction.
It was short-lived, though. Liam had just signed Amelia up to pretend to be his wife in a much more public forum — and in front of one of his most important investors. Maintaining their ruse was more important now than ever. He was going to need to speak to her.
Liam sighed. So much for staying away.