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“Thank you,” he whispered against her hair. “Thank you for today. Ava is amazing, and you’ve done a great job raising her. Thank you for sharing her with me.” His voice was raw, his gratitude heartfelt.
Jules listened to Nik’s heart thumping under her ear, allowing herself to relax into his arms. There was nothing sexual about this embrace, and yet, somehow, it was more intimate than most. “She’s your daughter too. You deserved to be part of her life.”
After another long beat, Nik released her. His eyes were bright, and he turned away to reach for his jacket. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” Nik lowered his head and kissed her quickly, out the door before she could react.
Her lips tingling, Jules locked the door and headed for the kitchen to make herself some tea.
“Today went well.”
Simone’s voice penetrated the thoughts racing around inside Jules’s head.
“Yes, but—”
“You wanted him to be part of Ava’s life, to want a relationship with her. If his behaviour today showed me anything, it was that he was willing to connect with his daughter. He didn’t think playing make-believe was beneath him, he let her decide how fast they could move, and he didn’t push. What else are you worried about?”
Jules tried to find the words to articulate the fear and worry balled up in a knot inside her. Everything Simone said was true, and somehow that made things worse. ShewantedNik to be good with Ava, didn’t she? She wasn’t trying to sabotage their relationship. But what happened when Nik had to move on to the next project? When he spent all his time away and missed those important milestones in Ava’s life? And he would. He had a high-powered job that meant a hectic lifestyle. Missing some of Ava’s events would be unavoidable. “What if he gets bored? Decides fatherhood is too much work? And soon he’ll leave Vancouver, be off to another city to make another deal. Then what? How often will he be able to make time to fly back for visits? This is so complicated!”
Jules threw her head back against the sofa, closing her eyes and wishing the past week had never happened. If Nik had never reappeared in her life ... but that wasn’t fair. Both he and Ava deserved a chance to know each other.
“You could always say yes to his proposal. That would guarantee he would stick around for Ava.”
Simone’s droll delivery was the only thing that kept Jules from hitting the roof. “Mom, be serious. Marriage to Nik is the last thing I need right now. Or ever. I barely know the man.” There was no way she could entertain the idea of marrying Nik.Never say never,the little voice in her head whispered. Jules squashed the thought before it fully formed. She would not marry Nik, no way. After Michael, she never wanted to marry again. Nik would have to live with that.
“I’m simply pointing out that there are always solutions to problems. Marriage may be a drastic solution, but imagining the worst is equally bad. It’s only the first meeting. Let’s give it a few weeks and see how it goes. If the novelty wears off, you can deal with him then. Sit him down and discuss reasonable visitation, that type of thing. For now, we should celebrate the fact that he and Ava seem to adore each other.” Simone pushed herself up from the chair she was in and squeezed Jules’s shoulder as she walked past. “I’m getting a glass of wine. Want one?”
“You have no idea how much.”
CHAPTER16
Tongues are wagging about the outrageous events that took place at Harbourview Casino on Friday night. A bidding war ensued to win a Dream Date with Coastal Casinos CEO Jules Roberts. Who is the mystery man who placed the $100,000 bid? And how does Michael Young feel having his bid for his ex-wife defeated? Was this an attempt to rekindle an old flame?
Jules threw her phone down on her desk, cursing the new gossip columnist at theColumbian, Vancouver’s daily paper. Michael would be furious about this salacious little bit of gossip, especially since it painted him as the loser. Hopefully he would let it go and not try to find some way to retaliate. Michael wielded significant power in the Vancouver business community. If she lost her job at Coastal and needed to find work, she could not afford for him to have trash-talked her behind her back because of this. The other possibility was that he could hint that she kept her job only because of a personal relationship with Nik. Ugh. None of this was her fault, but no doubt he’d blame her anyway.
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Meg said sympathetically. “Sam wanted to reach out herself but thought it might be better if someone told you in person.”
Jules nodded, grateful her friends had given her a heads-up rather than letting her find out about this from someone else.
“Sam is asking Billy to look into it, but it’s probably better if we all ignore it. Responding will add fuel to the fire.”
Meg was right, of course. Sam’s fiancé Billy Cameron was the senior investigative reporter at theColumbianand was the man responsible for exposing the money laundering scandal that had almost brought Coastal down. Less than a year ago, Sam and Billy had been the target of the former gossip columnist, who had been fired after it was discovered he was leaking information back to Coastal leadership. For a fee, of course.
Jules sighed. If Nik’s identity was printed, it could get people talking about why he was in town, and that could be bad for the deal.
“I’m going to ignore it, but this could cause a lot of trouble.”
“Because of Michael? Or are you worried more about Ava’s father?” Meg asked the question casually, but she may as well have lobbed a bomb at Jules. A cold finger of fear ran down her spine. How upset would Meg be about Jules keeping the truth from her? She couldn’t bear the thought of losing her friend over this lie.
Trust Meg to have seen the resemblance and drawn the right conclusions. Would her other friends make the same connection? And did it matter now if they did?
“Pick up some interrogation tips from Daniel lately? You slid that question right in,” Jules said lightly, stalling for time while she decided how much to confess.
Meg grinned. “And now you’re avoiding it, which tells me everything I needed to know. Nik is Ava’s father. Does he know? Why hasn’t he been around before now? And what are you going to do?”
Jules held up a hand to halt the flood of questions. It was time to come clean with her friend. She never should have kept this from them, but when they had made the wrong assumption, it had seemed easier than explaining the truth. Their relationships had withstood bigger problems than this. Their friendship would survive. In short order, she described the events around her brief affair with Nik and his reappearance in her life.
When she finished, Meg gave her a reassuring smile. “I’d be a hypocrite if I gave you a hard time about keeping secrets from your friends. You had your reasons. Just know we have your back, no matter what. If Nik Costas gives you any problems, we’re here for you. I know I speak for Les and Sam too. That’s what friends do.”
Meg’s blue eyes flashed with emotion, and Jules was sure it was because when Meg’s own secrets had come out last fall, the three women had done everything they could to help her. After all, it was what friends did.
