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“Of course we’re serious,” Les said.
“Why not?” Meg asked.
“You’re the perfect person,” Sam added. “You’re beautiful, accomplished, powerful, and, most important, you’re single. Plus, you’d be paired with one of the most coveted packages; everyone will be bidding for you.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.Jules shook her head vigorously. “This is a terrible idea. I’m an accountant. What service could I provide?”
“We’ve already thought of that. You used to do business valuations for your firm. Why not offer a business valuation? It’s a fairly specialized service, but there are still people who would want it. If nothing else, it means that the sports package will get sold on Friday night,” Meg pointed out.
“Say you’ll do it, for the sake of the shelter,” Les pleaded.
Jules hated the idea of letting her friends down or denying the charity any of their well-deserved funds. Anxiety clawed at her, the thought of walking the catwalk in front of a crowd of people making her nauseated. She closed her eyes and visualized her favourite hiking trail until the panic started to fade. It took only a few seconds for her to calm down, and she mentally congratulated herself for staving off the panic attack. Years of therapy were paying off. She could do this. She could.
She opened her eyes and met those of her friends. They would support her. She wasn’t in this alone. “Count me in.”
CHAPTER5
“Mommy!” A tiny blonde tornado tore across the kitchen and flung herself at Jules’s legs.
Jules leaned down to scoop up her daughter, the sound of Ava’s giggles washing away the stress of the day.
“Hi, baby. How was your day with Grandma?” Jules smiled over at her mother, who stood in front of the stove, stirring something that smelled mouthwatering. Homemade soup, maybe. Perfect for a wet, cold evening.
“We had the best day,” Ava said, wiggling to get down. She ran her to the counter and picked up a cookie from the cooling rack, then handed it to Jules. “We baked cookies!”
Jules inspected the cookie with the seriousness of a food critic. “Hmm. What a perfect golden-brown colour. I see chocolate chips, and oatmeal, and coconut, and ... what kind of cookiesarethese?” The cookie she held looked to have a half dozen different things mixed into it.
“Kitchen-sink cookies, Mommy. ’Cause we put in everything but the kitchen sink!” Ava burst into another round of giggles. Ava’s happiness was contagious, washing away some of the stress Jules had been carrying all day. She loved her job, but nothing in life compared to the love she had for her daughter.
“I see,” Jules said solemnly. “They look delicious. I think I’ll have one right now.” She raised the cookie to her lips.
“No, you can’t have it until after supper. That’s the rule, remember?”
Jules laughed and set the cookie down. “I forgot. Thank you for reminding me. How about I go change and we eat whatever Grandma made that smells so good?”
Ava nodded happily and went to set the table, a task she did every night.
“I’ll be quick,” Jules promised her mother. Simone Roberts was a tall, statuesque blonde in her early sixties, although she looked ten years younger. She smiled at Jules and shooed her off to change.
Jules made short work of her suit, pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants, and was back in the kitchen in time to see her mother ladling soup into bowls. A loaf of fresh bread sat on the table to go with their soup.
Jules gave her mom a hug before picking up two of the bowls to carry to the table. “You’ve been busy today. Dinner looks great. Thanks, Mom.”
For thenth time, Jules was grateful her mother had offered to help after Jules had discovered she was pregnant with Ava. Her mother was semiretired from her teaching position at a local university, which meant she was home two or three days a week with Ava, and Jules had found a nanny Ava adored for the days Simone still worked. Nights like this, where she arrived home to a hot meal and a happy kiddo, reinforced how fortunate she was. Climbing the career ladder would have been much harder without her mother’s support.
“We had fun. Didn’t we, honey?”
“Yes, Grandma.” Ava beamed back. “We made soup, and baked cookies, and took Penny for her walk, and played a board game. After supper Grandma said she would read me a story.”
At the sound of her name, their golden retriever, Penny, lifted her head and gave a soft woof before settling back to sleep on her dog bed in the corner of the kitchen.
“Sounds like a plan.” Jules swallowed past the lump in her throat as Nik’s eyes looked back at her. What was she going to do? She should tell him. He deserved to know, didn’t he? It wasn’t like she had kept Ava’s existence from him on purpose ... although maybe she could have tried harder to track him down after she found out she was pregnant. But with only a first name and nothing else to go on, what were the odds of finding him? It was the reason she’d never tried.
“How was your day?” Her mother gave her a knowing look. “You look stressed. What happened?”
Jules had expected Simone to pick up on her anxiety. Her mother had supported her every decision since the day she had discovered she was pregnant. Simone had been one of the only people she had shared the truth with. Jules glanced at Ava, knowing that even at not quite four, Ava might ask questions Jules wasn’t prepared to answer yet. She found Ava absorbed in attempting to spell words out of the alphabet letters in her soup. “A private equity firm is talking about taking over Coastal. One of their partners showed up today, and I had to make him welcome. Plus, we had one of our auction volunteers drop out, and I said I would take her place.” Jules made a moue of distaste.
“That’s a lot to deal with in one day.”
