The vendor cleared his throat a few more times. “We can’t serve it because we don’t have it. We’ve been trying, but we’re having some issues with our supplier.”
My eyes widened as my head shook of its own accord. “So get it from somewhere else. Surely, there’s more than one place that supplies abalone in this city.”
“There are other suppliers,” he explained, his voice tight and nervous. “But we’ve already paid the deposit for the product with this supplier. We can’t afford to pay for it again somewhere else while we try to get the deposit back from our supplier.”
The door to my office opened and Bonnie strode in with a wide grin on her lips. It fell when she saw my expression.
Questions filled her eyes as she hurried to her chair and dropped into it, handing over a cup of coffee in a takeaway container that she’d brought in with her. I nodded my thanks and took it, but my mind wasn’t really on the bitter lifesaving substance in my hand.
“Let me get this straight. You’re having issues with your supplier, you’ve already paid the deposit, you can’t afford to pay someone else for a product you’re contractually obliged to deliver, and now you’re making this my problem? I’ve already had the menus printed, the client is expecting abalone, and he’s going to get it.”
“You know how expensive that stuff is fresh. We’re a small company, Ms. Andersen. To put in and pay for another order for the amount of it that you need for so many guests is simply not an option for us.”
“Not having what we ordered and paid for is not an option for me.” Cradling the phone between my ear and my shoulder, I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. “The party is in less than a week and I need to serve what you promised me you would be able to get.”
He made a sound at the back of his throat. “Maybe we can get it canned—”
“No, I need it to be fresh.” I sighed. “I understand the money problem. Trust me. There must be something you can do, though. What if I pay the difference and you can reimburse me when you get the deposit back?”
“N-no. We couldn’t—No,” the guy stammered, then released a heavy sigh. “We’ll make it happen somehow. You’ll have your abalone.”
“My offer stands,” I said. “I don’t mean to be difficult, but I have a client to keep happy too. I can’t go messing him around at the last minute. I’m sure you understand.”
“I do,” he said quietly. “Thank you for your offer. I’ll discuss it with my partner, speak to the supplier again, and get back to you.”
“Thank you.” After hanging up the call, I screwed my eyes shut again for a moment. “I know there are always going to be last-minute glitches, but I was really hoping for it to be small stuff this time.”
Bonnie cocked her head and blinked her bright green eyes at me. “I take it one of the vendors is having some trouble supplying abalone?”
“Yes. They’re having some kind of tiff with their supplier, but they’ve already paid the deposit for our order to that supplier, and they can’t afford to buy it fresh from somewhere else.”
She winced. “Ouch. I understand why. That stuff is pricey.”
“I know, but Archer’s already paid for it.” A deep frown settled on my forehead as I pointed to my chest. “I recommended this catering company. He asked me if I trusted them and I said yes. I can’t go back to him now and say that we need to change the menu because my guys are in the middle of an argument with their supplier.”
“I’m sure he’d understand,” she said. “Besides, I think you could go to him at this point and say the party has been moved to the moon and he’d be okay with it as long as it was coming from you.”
I shook my head. “This party is really important to him. He’s been meticulous in making every decision, and from the start, he told me that the food had to be delicious and locally sourced. If you’d seen how excited he is about the abalone, you wouldn’t think he’d be okay with me dropping it from the menu a few days before the party.”
She stared at me for a long minute, her eyes searching mine. “You seem more stressed about this event than I’ve ever seen you before. Why?”
My eyebrows climbed up. “I just want to make sure it goes off without a hitch. That’s all. It’s my job. I want to do it well.”
“I get that.” She nodded, her gaze never leaving mine. “But it’s your job every time, yet I’ve never seen you quite like this. You could have used canned abalone, you didn’t have to insist on it being fresh, and you offered to pay them yourself. Reprinting the menus wouldn’t have been nearly as expensive as that. What’s really going on with you?”
I let her words wash over me before I answered, not wanting to casually dismiss what she had said when she raised some very valid points. “You’re right. I could have done either of those things and neither would have been such a big problem. I don’t know what it is, though. Like I said, this party means a lot to Archer. He asked me to make it the best party in the city and I want to deliver. I think it’s that, but I just don’t know. It feels unacceptable for anything to go wrong.”
“In order to make it the best party, do you really need fresh abalone?” She frowned. “I get that you want to deliver what he asked for, but it doesn’t seem like you wouldn’t have been if you have to change the menu. We do it all the time.”
“I know, but Millie and Archer have become important to me. Every client is important, don’t get me wrong, but they’re different.”
A knowing gleam entered her eyes. “Now we’re getting to real shit, the actual reason why you’re freaking out about a small menu change. You’re more invested in them now than ever before, aren’t you?”
Rocking my head from side to side as I thought, I pursed my lips and finally nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.”
“What happened?” She folded her hands in her lap and sat back. “Tell Dr. Bonnie what’s changed.”
I rolled my eyes at her but found myself reclining in my chair and letting my head fall back against the leather. “Archer and I took Millie shopping yesterday. It was a really good day. She’s going to be at the party too and I don’t want to disappoint her. It feels like she looks up to me in some ways. I need to deserve that.”
“You know she probably isn’t even going to eat the abalone, right? We have a whole kiddies’ menu and abalone ain’t on it.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious.” I smiled despite myself. “It’s more about the principle of it, you know? I want the party to go off without a hitch, I want to deliver on the promises I made, and I want everything to be perfect.”
After taking a beat to think about it, I added, “I want to be able to look both Millie and Archer in the eyes and know that I did my best to make the night a memorable one for them.”
“Just for them?” Amusement sparkled in her eyes. “Because I think this one has become personal to you.”
“It has,” I admitted. “Call me crazy or hypocritical or unprofessional, but I care more about this one than I’ve ever cared about an event before.”
“I won’t call you any of those things,” she said, her voice quiet and soft with understanding. “You care more about the party because this time, you actually care about the client.”
My fidgeting fingers stilled in my lap, my eyes growing wide at the realisation that she was right. I did care about Archer, and about Millie. In that way. In the real care about them, care about them way.
If I thought about how my heart lit up whenever I saw either of them, of how much fun I had with them, and how they made me smile, it was obvious. “I do care about him, yeah. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but you’re right.”
She sat forward, her brow furrowing with concern. Her expression grew serious. “If you hadn’t really thought about that, then what have you thought about?”
“What do you mean?” My mind was still stuck on the whole caring about them thing. There hadn’t been anyone new in my life to care about for a long, long time. Not since Bonnie had someone entered my li
fe and made me actually feel something for them.
Casual acquaintances, sure. Bonnie’s family, okay maybe. But that was nothing like this. Liking people or respecting them didn’t mean that I cared for them on this level.
It was a scary thought to have, knowing that there were now two more people who could hurt me. But even if it was scary, it wasn’t enough to scare me away.
“What I mean,” Bonnie’s gentle voice pulled me out of my racing thoughts, “is have you thought about what’s going to happen with you guys after this party? Realistically, you have three more days until the party. On New Year’s morning, it will be over.”
My heart clenched uncomfortably. “I know.”
“So what happens then?” She arched an eyebrow at me. “What are your plans with them as of the first of January?”
“I don’t know,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper.
It was like the mere thought of losing them had coiled like a snake around my throat, constricting my vocal cords and restricting my ability to breathe. “It was never an option that there would be an after, you know? I kind of just assumed that whatever was happening had an expiry date. But now it’s so close and I don’t know if I’m ready to give them up.”
Sympathy warmed her eyes, but then she spread her arms wide to indicate my office and waved them around. “This company can take you places. Are you really going to settle down with Archer and Millie when your career is starting to take flight? Are you going to start saying no to all the big out of town events because you have to pack lunches and cart a kid around?”
I remained silent. I didn’t have any answers to her questions. I hadn’t thought about any of this at all.
What was worse was that Bonnie wasn’t done yet. “We have festivals to plan all over the country next year. We have gigs and weddings and wine shows already lined up.”
“Being with Archer doesn’t automatically mean that I wouldn’t be able to do those.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Bonnie agreed amiably with a small shrug. “But it is something to think about. As is what will happen if you and Millie get attached to one another and things don’t work out between you and Archer.”
A sense of foreboding filled my stomach. Legally, I would have no right to see Millie. I already knew that.
It was fine for now, but what happened a few months down the line? Maybe even a few years. “It would break my heart if that happened.”
She nodded sagely. “Yeah, I know it would. Starting a relationship with someone who has a child isn’t something to go into lightly. There’s a little girl involved now, and if it would break your heart, imagine what it would do to hers. Just be careful, my friend. If you choose to do this, do it with your eyes wide open.”
Chapter 29
Archer
“Daddy, are we going to see Heidi today?” Millie asked as she walked into the kitchen.
I’d decided to work from home for the afternoon. Speaking to Hugo had riled me up and I needed some space to think. I couldn’t do it at the office because it was too busy, but I wasn’t really getting much thinking done at home either.
The difference was that at home, it was Millie taking my attention away from it all, which I didn’t mind. In fact, it was nice to spend some more time with her.
Between her starting primary school at the beginning of the year, homework, extra-curricular activities, my work, and having to travel from time to time, it felt like I had a whole year of spending time together to make up for.
I looked up from my laptop. I had set it up on the kitchen island and shook my head, trying my best not to react to the way her smile dropped when I did. “She’s at work, sweetheart. I don’t think we’re going to see her today.”
She’d also gone radio silent for some reason. I hadn’t heard a word from her, despite the fact that I’d sent her a message earlier. She’d read it, but she hadn’t replied. Strange, considering that she usually did so within minutes.
“Can we see her after work?” Millie asked, walking over to the fridge and getting out a juice box. “Maybe she’ll be hungry after working so hard. She can have dinner with us.”
Sighing internally, I gave her a smile. “I’ll give her a call and find out, but she might be busy.”
“Too busy for us?” Hurt flashed in her eyes. Seeing it there was like taking a spear through my gut. Fuck. I hated knowing Millie was hurting, even when it was about something as small as one dinner.
“This is a very busy time of year for her,” I explained, trying not to answer her question directly. Because yes, Heidi might very well be too busy for us and it was my party she was busy with, which made me feel like shit right now. “There are only a few nights left until New Year’s Eve, so I’m sure she’s under a lot of pressure to get everything done.”
“Okay,” she said, but she looked crestfallen, like it wasn’t okay with her at all. Taking her juice with her, she left the kitchen with dragging feet and a hanging head.
Since I hadn’t heard back from Heidi, I’d been planning on giving her a call anyway. At least now I had proper motivation to do it. If nothing else, I had to be able to tell Millie that I’d tried.
Of course, I wasn’t only going to invite her for Millie’s benefit but also for my own. I wanted to see Heidi, too. I’d become far too used to seeing her often to go for days without doing so now, which might just become problematic someday soon. But someday soon wasn’t today, so I decided to let it go and just live in the present.
Picking up my phone, I scrolled to her number and pressed call. Several rings later, just when I started to think she wasn’t going to answer, her melodic voice came over the line. “Hi, Archer. What can I do for you?”
Her voice was so formal that I frowned. “You can come to dinner with us, if you really want to know. What’s up? Is this not a good time to talk?”
“No, it’s fine.” She paused. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a rain check.”
“Are you sure?” For some reason, my heart was suddenly thundering in my chest. Something was up with her. “Just come grab a quick bite. You don’t even need to stay long. Everybody needs to eat.”
“I’ll have to eat while I work. I have too much left to do before the party and not enough time to do it.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “I understand, but give us a call if you change your mind, yeah? I’ll make sure that there’s enough food just in case you do.”
“I won’t,” she said firmly. “I have to go. Say hi—” She cut herself off mid-sentence. “Never mind. Have a great day, Archer. I’ll be sending you the final invoices for the tent rental later today, just so you know to look out for them.”
“Will do,” I said, but I was frowning so hard by now that I was probably going to need Botox after this conversation. “Are you o—”
“I have to go,” she said. “Goodbye, Archer.”
She hung up then, leaving me to stare at my phone with confusion prickling my brain. I understood that she had to work—hell, I’d even told Millie that she probably would—but I was still disappointed that we really wouldn’t be getting to see her today. I was also wondering why she’d been so curt and formal with me.
Whatever. She had probably just been in the middle of something, or perhaps she’d been with someone she couldn’t openly talk in front of.
Nodding as I realised how possible it was that she’d been with a supplier or something, I put my phone down on the counter and closed my laptop. I wasn’t in the mood to keep working and there was nothing that required my attention at this very moment anyway.
Whistling under my breath as I stood up, I went in search of Millie. She needed cheering up and I had a plan for achieving just that.
I found her on the lawn outside, sitting in the shade of an old tree that she loved to climb. Her legs were crossed and her juice hung limply between her hands as she stared off into the distance.
“Hey, kiddo. Can I join you for a minute?”
&nb
sp; She started, but she smiled when she saw it was me. “Sure, Dad. It’s your house.”
My head fell back an inch as I laughed. “Good point.”
I walked the final few steps that separated us and sat down beside her. The grass had been cut recently and the fresh scent of it drifted up to my nostrils. I took a deep breath, leaning back on my palms as I looked out over the waterfront.
“It’s nice out here,” I commented. “I can’t remember the last time I was this far out in the garden.”
“You usually stop at the pool,” Millie said, turning slightly so she was half facing me and half the view. “Why did you come looking for me?”
I shrugged. “I wanted to find out if you wanted to hang out with me this afternoon. Just the two of us.”
“All afternoon?” she asked, her eyes going wide. “Don’t you have to work?”
My lips curved into a grin. “Yeah, I do, but I’m blowing it off. I’d rather spend time with you.”
Her entire face lit up on her beaming grin. “Really?”
“Really.” I dragged my palms over the grass, toying with the stalks between my fingers before lifting one hand and motioning to the water. “Do you feel like taking the boat out? We haven’t done that in a long time.”
Our property bordered the water. As such, there was a jetty and a boathouse a hundred metres away from where we sat. When I’d bought the house, I’d bought a boat too.
It wasn’t by any means one of the largest, fanciest crafts to grace the waters in front of it, but it had been an investment in spending time with Millie. Usually, she loved boating, but now she shook her head.
“I don’t really feel like it today, if that’s okay?” She plucked a piece of grass out and wound it around her fingers, her eyes leaving mine to follow her movements.
“It’s okay,” I said, wondering what was going on in her head. Clearly, she had something on her mind. “Do you just want to sit here and talk instead?”
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