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“I’m going to be a paleon-tho-lol-ogist,” Kiera contributes.
“Paleontologist,” Bridget corrects. She looks me up and down. “Kiera, go get your coat and say goodbye to your dad.”
Kiera hands me one of her stuffed dinosaurs and runs off, presumably in the direction of Cole’s office.
Bridget waits until Kiera’s footsteps have disappeared into the vast apartment. “So. You’re the woman who agreed to fake an engagement with Cole.”
I blink. “Hetoldyou?”
“Of course he did. You’ll be spending time with our daughter.”
Oh. Right.
I fiddle with the dinosaur in my hands. “So you’re still...close?”
“I couldn’t ask for a better co-parent for Kiera,” Bridget says. Her mouth quirks up in a smile. “Or a worse husband for me. If that’s what you’re asking.”
I flush.
She arches a brow. “So how fake is this fake relationship, Amelia?”
“So fake,” I rush to assure her. “Very fake. I’m not Cole’s typeat all.”
She gently takes the stuffed dinosaur from my hands, and I realize I’ve been nervously twisting it.
“Plus, he’s not my type,” I add.
“You’re not into hot, rich, charming men?” she asks, and I get the feeling that she’s deeply amused by all of this.
“I’m not into grumpy workaholics who assume they can bend the world to their will,” I correct.
Bridget’s face opens into a genuine smile. “So, you see him for who he is. Good for you.”
“I mean, he’s not particularly subtle about it,” I say.
Her smile turns a little sad. “You’d be surprised how many people in his life don’t look past the surface. But that’s how he seems to like it, so.” She shrugs.
I hear Kiera’s voice coming from the living room, followed by Cole’s lower tones.
“We should join them,” Kiera says. “I have roast chicken and rosemary potatoes waiting for Kiera and me at home.”
“You’re a chef?” I ask.
“My husband is,” she says, with the look of a very happily married woman.
Yep, things aredefinitelyover between her and Cole.
“Listen,” I say, as we leave the hall. “I didn’t think about how this arrangement of mine and Cole’s would affect Kiera. If you have any concerns at all, we should talk. I don’t want mine and Cole’s professional mess to affect her.”
“You really mean that.” She looks at me, curious. “You’re as lovely as Cole said.”
He said I’m lovely?I think.
We step out of the hallway into the entryway. Over in the living room, Cole’s letting Kiera hold his hands, then walk up him until she flips over and lands back on the ground in a mess of giggles.
He looks so happy, it tugs at my heart.
Then he notices me, and a string of emotions flash across his face so fast I can’t tell what he’s really feeling.
