Page 84 of Charm

Olive races back across her room to wrap her arms around my waist. “Oh, we will, Mommy. I know you have fun at work, but I hope it’s extra fun today.”

I love that she views my work as fun. In many ways, I do, too, but right now I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders.

Krista is doing her best to find a new co-owner, but so far nothing has worked out on her end.

“You know we will do anything for you, Greer.” Bruce catches my eye. “I talked to Martha again last night about things, and our position on that business matter hasn’t changed.”

The fact that they’re still trying to convince me to partner with them warms my heart. “You’ve already done so much for me.”

He looks at his granddaughter. “We can never repay you for what you’ve done for us. You gave us a little girl to love.”

“It’s me.” Olive laughs. “You’re talking about me, Grandpa.”

“Of course I am.” He leans a shoulder against the doorjamb. “Should we double check with Grandma to see if she wants to go to the museum with us?”

“No.” Olive shakes her head. “Grandma is going to have tea with some friends today. She wants to talk to them about cro…something.”

“Crochet.” Bruce nods. “We’ll leave her to that.”

“Can we go now?” Olive runs back to Bruce, grabbing his hand in hers. “We can walk through the park.”

This city has so much to offer all of us, but a mid-morning stroll through Central Park is one of the best.

“You can walk with us for a bit, Mom, right?” she asks hopefully. “I can show you where Grandpa sometimes feeds the pigeons.”

I can’t say no to that, so I don’t. I nod. “Give me a minute to grab my things and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“I’ll race you!” Olive yells as she takes off ahead of Bruce.

He hangs back for a few seconds. “I meant what I said, Greer. We can never repay you for letting us into Olive’s life. Whatever you need is yours.”

“You don’t owe me a thing.” I rush toward him to wrap my arms around him. “Thank you for loving her as much as I do.”

“Always.” He kisses the top of my head. “We will love that little girl forever. We love you, too.”

“I love you,” I whisper.

“Grandpa!” Olive yells from the bottom of the stairs. “I beat you.”

Bruce gives me one last kiss on the top of my head. “I’ll go down and keep her busy until you’re ready to go.”

I watch as he walks away, wondering how I got so lucky in life. I have a beautiful family and a man I can’t stop thinking about.

I haven’t been this happy in a very long time. It feels good. It feels so damn good.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Greer

“I talkedto Nikita Wolf about buying my half of this beautiful business,” Krista announces as she walks into Sweet Indulgence with a bottle of water in one hand and what smells like a cup of coffee in the other.

I’m about to ask if the coffee is for me because I could sure use it. I didn’t grab a cup at home because I wanted to stroll through Central Park with Olive and Bruce. On my way here, Burt texted me to say he had a family emergency and needed to leave. He was vague with the details. That made sense since I texted Krista right after that to ask what the emergency was.

Burt was called in for a last minute audition for an off-Broadway musical.

It seems the family emergency was all about him hoping his family could watch him on the stage one day.

Krista slides the coffee cup across the checkout counter toward me. “I got it just the way you like it, Greer.”