“Nah, just someone from Charlotte, I think. But I heard she’s good.”
I try not to think about all the opportunities that Lilly is missing out on by not being in the big city studying under prima ballerinas and going to the most expensive dance intensives money can buy. Then I remember the reasons that I moved us out here to begin with.
“Do you ever question whether moving here was a good idea?” I ask, not wanting to burden my young daughter with the weight of my own uncertainties.
“No, I like it here. Do you?”
Every day, Lilly—every single day.
“No.”
“Then why did you ask me?”
“I just wanted to make sure that you are happy with the dance training you’re getting here, that’s all.” It’s not a lie. Thatissomething that I want to make sure of.
“Yeah, I am. I like my teachers at the dance studio and besides, I’m progressing a lot.”
“I know, I saw—the double pirouette,” I grin.
“Dad,” Lilly says as she rolls her eyes at me.
It makes me laugh because while everyone else sees me as a powerhouse billionaire with a cutting-edge tech company, this twelve-year-old ballerina remains unimpressed that I knowfuck-allabout ballet. It’s humbling in all the best ways.
“I have to go into work early tomorrow, will you be okay catching the bus?”
“Dad, I’mtwelve,” she says as if I ought to already know that she will be fine. Maybe I wouldn’t be so overprotective of her if Bella was still alive. “Why are you going into work early? Do you have another boring meeting?”
“No, actually my new assistant is arriving tomorrow and I’m meeting with her first thing.
“What’s her name?”
Honestly, I can’t remember what Tori said the woman’s name was.
“Sara maybe? Or Sue? Something that starts with an S I think.”
“You should learn her name before you meet with her,” Lilly says, giving sage advice based on all her pre-teen experience. “She might think you are rude if you don’t even know her name.”
“Good point,” I smile. “I’ll ask Tori to tell me as soon as I get to the office.
Except that when I get into the office, I head straight for the coffee and forget to ask. It doesn’t matter that much; I will find out her name when she shows up.
But when I open my office door and see Tori talking with the new assistant, I amshockedto find out that I actually alreadydoknow her name.
“Chad, this isSeraphine,” Tori says, as my beautiful new neighbor stands there staring back at me.
Chapter Three
Seraphine
Shock.
That is the exact feeling that sets in when I step inside the rustic exterior of the office building just outside the downtown village.
How could something go from being a wooden A-frame cabin, to a high-tech corporation filled with cutting-edge equipment just by stepping through the doorway? It’s like I’ve crossed over into another world.
“Go ahead and take a minute,” the woman behind the front reception desk laughs lightly. “It surprises everyone at first.”
I look around at all the shiny granite and metal and the security cameras that make it look like the secret service runs this place. Outside the building there are wildflowers growing around the front steps and an overgrown hedge that threatens to breech the window. But inside, well, let’s just say that I am now questioning what I’ve gotten myself into.