into Kyle’s office.
“Have a seat,” Kyle said.
The last time Brady had been in here he’d been focused on finding a way to make the project work and finding time to meet his daughter. On the far wall were portraits Brady hadn’t noticed before. They showed various poses and ages of Kyle with his wife and their two children. Staged photos meant to show a happy family.
Very few of the family photos in Maggie’s house had been staged with studio lighting.
“How did your visit with your family go, Brady?” Kyle regarded him with a piercing gaze.
“It went well. Very well.” Except for the part where Maggie didn’t want to live with him.
“Good. Jules, you had some problems to discuss.” Kyle leaned back in his chair.
“We were able to recover the files for the budget. I think you’ll be pleased with the calculations we’ve done. We’re scheduled to come in right on budget with the Detrex project.” Jules was all business, from her hair to her outfit to the way she carried herself. She had been everything Brady had thought he wanted.
“Peterson called to try to reschedule his meeting for this morning. Do you know anything about this?” Kyle looked at Brady first, but Brady turned to Jules.
“Given that Mr. Peterson grabbed my ass yesterday and suggested that the project would be back on track if I went out with him, my guess is he wanted to turn himself in on sexual harassment charges.” Her cool demeanor didn’t change.
“Why didn’t you tell me this happened?” Brady could have done something about it.
Jules turned her cool gaze to him. “I don’t need a protector, Brady. I can handle myself fine.”
She’d said that before, but all of Brady’s life he’d been taught to protect women. Now it seemed as if none of the women in his life needed him. Not Jules. Not Maggie.
“Those are some strong accusations. We take sexual harassment seriously in this organization. Would you be willing to report this in an incident report?” Kyle kept his gaze on Jules.
“Of course.”
“Do you mind if I call in Mr. Peterson?”
Jules crossed her arms. A smug little smile formed on her lips. “No, sir. I don’t mind at all.”
Within minutes, Peterson stood in the room as far away from Jules as possible. Both Brady and Kyle stared at the bruise on the man’s cheekbone. Brady resisted the urge to smile.
“Suspension without pay pending litigation.” Kyle didn’t seem unhappy to watch security escort Peterson grumbling from his office. When the door closed, Kyle addressed Jules, “It doesn’t have to go that far before we step in, Jules.”
She nodded. All this time, Brady had thought he was protecting her, but she could handle it on her own. Just like Maggie. It wouldn’t matter if Detrex succeeded because Maggie wouldn’t be there. If he wanted his family, maybe it was time to stop asking them to sacrifice for him and instead make some sacrifices of his own.
“I want off the Detrex project.” Surprised, Jules and Kyle faced him.
“Jules doesn’t need my help. She can handle the account and take the project where it needs to be.”
Jules flushed, but didn’t say anything. Kyle nodded his agreement, but Brady wasn’t finished yet.
“I want to talk to you about another project, though. If you have time,” Brady said.
“My ten o’clock just got escorted from the building. What were you thinking?”
“And Jessica said pineapples come from special pine trees.” Amber walked backward to face Maggie. Obviously looking for confirmation.
“I’m pretty sure this time Jessica is wrong.” Maggie made a circle motion with her finger to get Amber to face front and watch where she was going.
“Daddy called yesterday.” Maggie stumbled but caught herself. “Did he?”
“Yup.”
It had been almost a week since he’d left. The only other time he’d called she’d been outside. Amber had been hanging up the phone as Maggie walked in. Maybe it was better this way. Cut off all contact with him.
“He misses us.” Amber spun in a circle. They were walking home from her Girl Scout meeting.
“Does he?” Maggie highly doubted that. He was probably too wrapped in whatever his next project was to even make time to think about them.
“Yeah, and he hopes to see us real soon.” Amber took off running for the house.
Maggie hoped that Brady meant it. Not for her sake but for Amber’s. Amber would get her hopes up and when Brady failed to meet her expectations, it would be Maggie’s responsibility to soothe the hurt. Maggie’s own father had contacted her two times after he left. Both times he’d promised to stop by next time he was in town. She’d sat outside and waited until she fell asleep on the porch swing.
Amber shouldn’t have to go through that.
Penny had convinced Sam to watch Amber Friday night. Penny was determined to take Maggie out drinking and to find someone to take the edge off, as Penny put it.
A small part of Maggie held out hope that Brady would come to his senses, but even if he did, she wasn’t sure she could trust it. What would he be willing to say to be able to have Amber in New York? After all, he’d already proposed marriage.
“Mommy, hurry.” Amber’s voice sounded far away.
Maggie searched the sidewalk, but she was only a few houses away from their house. Amber must have run ahead and let herself in.
As Maggie reached their sidewalk, she happened to look on the porch. Sitting on the top step holding a bouquet of fresh-picked wildflowers was Brady Ward. She stopped as her breath caught and her heart skipped a beat.
In jeans and a gray T-shirt, he sat on her porch, looking at her. Her mind couldn’t process anything.
When he walked her way, she noticed movement in the screen door behind him. Penny and Amber smiled before they ducked away.
“I picked these for you.” Brady held out the bouquet. A jumbled mess of goldenrod, black-eyed Susans and a blue flower she couldn’t remember the name of. They were the most beautiful flowers she’d ever received. She took the bouquet warily. If he started in on New York again…She had to stay strong.
“I realized something while I was away.”
She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to meet his gaze. This was the man she loved, but it didn’t take a degree to realize he wasn’t going to love her in return.
“What did you realize?” Maggie took a deep breath filled with the scent of wildflowers.
“I’ve been searching for something my whole life. In high school, I thought if I was number one all the time that I would feel like part of this town. When I went to England, I thought if I rose to the top of the corporate ladder, I would feel like part of the company. When I moved to New York, I thought maybe this time it would be different.”
When he didn’t continue, she finally lifted her gaze to his. Her heart beat out of control. This was the one man who could get under her skin and stay there even though he was hundreds of miles away. How many times could she tell him no? How many times would her heart break over Brady Ward?
“When you came to me in New York, I thought maybe this was it. All I had to do was be an awesome dad and I would fill this