“I’ll be fine, Chloe.”
Her assistant looked doubtful. “Are you sure about that?”
Smiling, Fin nodded as she handed the report back to her assistant. “Now, go give these to Cade and tell him that I want to meet with him first thing in the morning to go over these figures.”
“Anything else?”
Fin checked the clock. “No, I have a few phone calls to make, then I think I’m going to take off the rest of the day.”
Chloe looked thunderstruck. “You’re kidding. You never leave before eight or nine in the evening and more times than I care to count, I’ve found you sleeping on your couch when I arrive for work. Are you sure you’re feeling all right? Should I call someone?”
“No, you don’t need to call anyone.” Smiling, Fin hid a yawn behind her hand. “I
have a dinner engagement and I think I need a short nap to make it through the evening. Otherwise, I might fall asleep between the appetizer and the main course.”
“That wouldn’t be good for business,” Chloe agreed, shaking her head as she walked to the door.
Fin didn’t bother to correct her assistant as the young woman quietly closed the door behind her. Dinner this evening had nothing whatsoever to do with business and everything to do with pleasure. Her only concern was deciding which she was anticipating more—the pleasure of spending time with her newfound daughter or her daughter’s adoptive father.
Travis felt like a fish out of water. The concrete and steel of New York City was a far cry from the wide open spaces he was used to and the Lemon Grill was to hell and gone from the little diner he sometimes frequented when he drove over to Winchester County for the stock auctions. Here he sat in an upscale café in the middle of Manhattan with a prissy little waiter sporting a pencil-thin mustache and slicked-back hair, hovering around him like a bumblebee over a patch of new spring clover.
“My name is Henri. It will be my pleasure to be your server this evening.” The too-polished character smiled, showing off a set of unnaturally white teeth.
“Would the gentleman like something to drink while he’s waiting on his dinner partners?”
Travis frowned. The little guy sure spouted out a lot of words to ask a simple question. He was more used to being asked straight up what he wanted to drink instead of being referred to like he was some sort of third wheel.
“I’ll take a beer.”
“Would the gentleman like a domestic brand or imported?”
Unable to resist teasing the pretentious little man, Travis grinned. “I can’t say what the gentleman would like, but I’ll take domestic.” As Henri started to leave the table, Travis added the name of a beer brewed exclusively in the Rocky Mountains.
“I’m sorry, sir. We don’t carry that particular brand,” Henri said, his apology as fake as his cap-toothed smile. Rattling off a list of the beer the restaurant had available, he asked, “Would the gentleman like to choose one of those?”
“Surprise me.”
“Very well, sir.”
As the waiter hurried away to get his drink, Travis spotted Fin entering the restaurant. She briefly spoke to the hostess, then when she headed his way, he couldn’t help but marvel at what a beauty she was. With her straight, dark auburn hair stylishly brushing her shoulders, and looking like a model in her black form-fitting dress, she looked far too young to be the mother of his twenty-three-year-old daughter.
Standing when she approached, he thought his heart would jump right out of his chest when her perfect coral lips turned up in a warm smile. “I hope I’m not too late. The crosstown traffic was particularly heavy this evening.”
“You drove?” He held the chair for her while she seated herself at the small table. “I remember Jessie telling me that you’d never learned to drive.”
Fin’s delightful laughter caused an unexpected heat to settle in the pit of his belly as he sat back down. “Guilty as charged. I’ve never even been behind the wheel of a car.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Hell, he’d been driving around the ranch in either a truck or on a tractor since he was ten years old and he’d taught Jessie to drive when she was twelve. “You’ve never—”
“No. When my brothers and I lived at home, we always had drivers to take us wherever we wanted to go. Then, after I moved from the Hamptons into my Manhattan apartment, there was no need to drive. Everything I need is so close, I walk a lot. And when where I want to go is too far to walk, I use the corporate limo or take a taxi.” Her eyes twinkled wistfully as she added, “But I’ve always thought it might be fun to learn how to drive a car.”