I nodded but didn’t look at him. My brain was misfiring. One minute Max was thanking me for making his daughter happy, the next he was yelling at me if I didn’t get his sandwich order right. And then there were those kisses.
And I couldn’t quite work out the dynamic between Max and Amanda. He seemed quite involved in Amanda’s life. More than I’d thought. But if he’d never been married to her mother, how had that worked? It had never worked with my father.
I grabbed a pair of silver sandals with a small heel and rushed back to Amanda.
“Will he like it? Can we convince him?” she asked, taking the shoes and strapping them up. “This is the one, right?”
“You know him better than I do, but I think you look beautiful in it.”
“Daaad,” she called out. “I’m coming out. And I really like this one. It’s perfect, so you can’t be mean.”
Her smile was so wide, I couldn’t help but smile back. I really hoped he approved. Amanda deserved to wear this dress. It was age appropriate and really elegant.
She stepped out onto the shop floor and I peeked around the corner at Max’s face. His eyebrows were halfway up his forehead as she twirled around three hundred sixty degrees for him. “What do you think?” she asked.
He gave a small shake of his head as he stood and took a deep breath. “I think you look far too grown-up.” Amanda’s shoulders slumped. “And completely beautiful.” He pulled her into a hug. “You found your dress, peanut.” He lowered his voice and spoke into her ear as they continued to hug. “You’re growing up so fast; you have to forgive me for wanting to keep you mine for longer than I should.”
Tears welled in my eyes. He sounded so genuine. So completely besotted with his daughter.
“I’ll always be yours, Dad,” she said as she smiled. He kissed her on the cheek and released her.
Max seemed to regain his composure. “Twirl for me again,” he said, lifting her hand in his and pulling his daughter into a spin.
The skirt of the dress lifted as she turned faster and faster. Max grinned and Amanda giggled. My heart squeezed. It felt as if I were encroaching on what should be a private moment. I should have my own memories like this, not have to steal other people’s.
“You know what this means?” Amanda asked as we stepped out onto the sidewalk, the heat swallowing us up immediately. She carried two white boutique bags, one with the dress and one with the shoes and a bag we’d spotted on the way to the cash register.
“We let poor Harper get on with her weekend?” Max replied.
My stomach jolted. Had I overstayed my welcome? I’d just been trying to help. Max didn’t need to be so ungrateful. I opened my mouth to excuse myself, but Amanda took her father’s hand and tried to pull him along the street. “No silly. It means we have something to celebrate.”
Max rolled his eyes. “As if you need any excuse.”
“I’ll leave you guys to it. Your dress is beautiful, Amanda.”
Amanda’s eyes narrowed. “No. You have to come,” she said. “You have to celebrate with us.” She beckoned to me to follow them.
“You celebrate with your dad,” I replied, glancing in the other direction. Shopping hadn’t really involved much interaction with Max. Most of my time had been spent with Amanda. Other than the cab ride, things hadn’t been too uncomfortable. And seeing Max with Amanda suggested they had a better relationship than I’d ever had with my father. If I left now, I would be ahead. I’d survived without calling my boss an asshole and without getting naked with him. Perhaps there was middle ground. And hopefully the constant comparisons I’d been making between Max and Amanda’s relationship and my father’s and mine would stop.
“I want you to come,” Amanda said.
I smiled but before I could think up an excuse, Max intervened. “Amanda, Harper has things to do. We have imposed on her free time enough.”
He clearly wanted to be rid of me. And I got it. Just days after agreeing to keep things strictly professional, I was standing on a sidewalk with him and his daughter. And even though I wanted to leave, it hurt just a little that he was so keen for me to go.
Amanda’s face fell. “I don’t want to celebrate without her. If it hadn’t been for Harper, I wouldn’t have found my dress. Are you sure you can’t come? We’re going to my favorite place.”
I glanced at Max, whose gaze travelled between me and his daughter. The corners of his mouth twitched, as if he was trying to suppress a smile.
“I’m sure your dad wants to switch off from work and spend time with you—”
“Daaad,” Amanda said. “You want Harper to come, don’t you?”
Max ruffled his daughter’s hair and she quickly moved out of reach. He turned to me and gave me the biggest panty-melting smile I’d ever seen, his green eyes dancing against the New York sun, framed by almost too long lashes. “Harper, we’d love for you to come if you can spare the time. But don’t feel you have to give into my daughter’s whining. She’s far too used to getting her own way.”
Before the sensible side of me—the part enjoying this new middle ground—could run back downtown, I agreed.
“I suppose I should have asked before I said yes, but where are we celebrating?” I asked as we walked east.
“Serendipity,” Amanda replied. “It’s our place. We always come in on the train at the end of summer and celebrate going back to school.”
“From your mom’s?” I asked.
“From Connecticut. Sometimes my mom and Jason come, but sometimes we come in together. Do you remember that year Aunt Scarlett came as well?” she asked her dad. “She wanted to order one of everything because she couldn’t decide.”
“She did order one of everything,” Max said. “Which is pretty typical of my sister.”
“My mom and Jason moved to Europe so it’s just me and Dad now.” She turned back to her dad. “You love having me living with you all the time, don’t you?”
Max chuckled and glanced at me. “She’s driving me crazy.”
They lived together?
“I didn’t realize you lived in Connecticut,” I said. I was fascinated at how the King of Wall Street had a secret life away from Manhattan. I felt like an investigative journalist, putting little scraps of information together.
“Yeah, near Mom and Jason’s place. And Grandma and Grandpa King and Grand-Bob and Grand-Mary. And Scarlett.”
“Jesus. It makes us sound like we’re living in some kind of commune.” Max slung his arms around his daughter’s shoulder. “We just all live close. Amanda’s mother, Pandora, and I were in high school together, and it made sense after college to make sure we lived near each other. That way,” he said, turning to Amanda, “when your mother got sick of you, she could get a break and dump you with me.”
Amanda grinned and rolled her eyes, the explanation clearly something she was used to hearing.
“So the apartment is just a pied-à-terre?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. I used to stay in Manhattan all week and go back to the country on weekends, but now I’m only in town two nights a week.”