“Kelly reacted fine,” Kayden reminded me as he put his arm around me and pulled me against his side. “It’s not always going to be easy, Olivia. But itwillget easier.”
I nodded against his shoulder, hoping he was right.
“Kayd!” Jace called from the dance floor, walking Kaylee to the edge as he waved Kayden down. “We saved you a dance.”
I felt Kayden perk up next to me and I chuckled as I shoved him forward. “Go dance with your daughter, Daddy.” He gave me a quick kiss and took off toward them. Kaylee took both of his hands as shedanced to the upbeat song for a few minutes, Jace standing next to them with a bigger smile than I’d ever seen on his face before.
I glanced over at Gina and the two other moms she sat with. The heat and judgment in their eyes made my skin crawl. It was clear as their eyes shifted from me to Jace and Kayden that they were talking about us. I forced myself to look away and focused on the sight of my daughter in Kayden’s arms as the last slow song of the night filled the room. Jace and Kayden had their arms around each other, with Kaylee in the middle, and my eyes prickled with tears at the moment they were sharing. My daughter and her fathers.Fuck Gina.
Chapter Fifty
Jace
Sutton sat back inher seat and picked up her coffee with both hands. She’d come over to my condo for breakfast more than an hour ago and she hadn’t asked one question or made one comment about Acker Real Estate. She’d spent the entire time getting to know Kayden and Olivia and the gesture had clearly set them both at ease.
“Are we all ready to address the Martin situation?” she asked.
“Please,” Olivia groaned. “This has been great but that’s kept me up for two nights.” She wasn’t exaggerating. Liv had been sleeping restlessly and I knew Martin had a lot to do with it, though I wasn’t positive the inquiring looks from the other moms at Kaylee’s school weren’t also to blame. They’d been eyeing her and Kayden at drop-off and pick-up since the father-daughter dance. It would blow over with time, but Olivia had never been in a situation that drew this much attention before and it clearly unnerved her.
I held her hand on the table and Sutton launched into our plan.
“Okay, first and foremost. Martin is fired. He doesn’t know that yet, but he will by the time we’re done tomorrow. I’m planning to talk to the board and explain the situation ahead of time. There is nobody there loyal enough to Martin to make me concerned that it’ll be an issue, but I do need to speak with each of them individually to hear their concerns because he sent each of them all the photos he sent me.”
I groaned. “Of course he did.”
“We’ll do whatever it takes to protect, Jace,” Kayden said, putting a hand on my knee.
“I thought you all might feel that way.” Sutton smiled affectionately. “First, Kayden, we’re going to tell the truth about you meeting Jace in a bar and explain that your relationship was kept a secret due to your desire to keep your sexuality private at the time. Are you comfortable with that?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Sutton, we agreed that they had a choice,” I said.
“They choose to protect you,” she said, gesturing to them with her no-nonsense directness.
“Stop being a lawyer for five seconds,” I said.
“Fine,” she said. “He’s right, there are always other solutions. Though Jace and I are pretty smart, so these are the best ones.”
I turned to Kayden and Olivia. “You don’t need to agree to anything you don’t want. Either of you. This is option one, Sutton and I can come up with other options with your input if you want.”
“Okay,” Kayden said with a shrug. “But she just told the truth about us. So, that’s fine.”
“Great,” Sutton continued, “Olivia, I have a job offer for you.”
“Am I being fired?” she asked.
“No!” I exclaimed, glaring at Sutton.
“He’s right, if you want to keep your job, we’ll figure out a different option. Do you want to keep your job?”
“Depends on what your offer is.” Olivia eyed me with a smirk. “I’m not sure he can survive without me, but managing his calendar isn’t exactly my dream job. Do you know how many meetings he moves every day? It’s exhausting.”
“I can only imagine.” Sutton laughed. “Our manager at Ackerson’s just resigned. It’s day hours. I know it’s not Harrison’s and the bartending is quite a bit different given it’s mostly wine and coffee drinks. The current manager went in pretty early to prep but if you all can’t swing that with Kaylee, you and Adrian can figure out a plan.”
“Are you serious?” Olivia asked, her face lighting up. Any reservations I’d had disappeared at the genuine excitement on her face. “I was going to call him once this all blew over! Kelly told me she was leaving. I would love to manage Ackerson’s. Does Adrian really want me to do that?”
“I hadn’t even finished telling him the problem before he asked if he could offer you the job,” Sutton said with an affectionate smile.
