“Send her up,” Cloe said.
She put the phone down and sat for exactly three seconds. Then she stood and smoothed her jacket and walked to Mac’s doorway.
He looked up from his desk.
“Lily is in the lobby,” she said.
He went very still.
“She came,” he said.
“She came.” Cloe looked at the lift doors. “She said she wanted to meet Dave’s mum in person before she decided anything.”
Mac stood. He crossed to her. He stopped close and put his hand briefly at her waist, warm and grounding, and she put her hand over his for one second.
“You ready,” he said.
“No,” she said honestly. “But that’s never stopped me.”
He almost smiled.
The lift doors opened.
Lily walked out.
She was twenty-two and she looked it and she did not. She had the specific quality of someone who had grown up faster tha
