Page 54 of Lost Times

Making it to her in four long strides, I barely caught her in time when she launched herself at me. Holding on tight, her face pressed into my throat, I felt more than heard her say.

“You’re here!” She paused, pulling back as her smile slid into a frown. “But your meeting?”

I shook my head, leading her back to her spot on the grass before sitting down with her, ignoring the grass stains sure to get into my suit. “It doesn’t matter. What does is that I’m here to support my daughter, as I should be. The people will understand, or they won’t, I’ll deal with it later. I can probably salvage at least one of the partners, and from there I’ll figure out the rest, but I’m not breaking a promise to my daughter, or you.”

She stared up at me as if I’d handed her every star in the sky and with that, I knew I’d made the right decision. I would have regretted it if I’d stayed at the office. Every time I thought back to this, to Jasmine’s disappointed and tear-streaked face, it would have stung.

A meeting is just a meeting, but this?

I wasn’t missing this for anything.

There’d be times in the future when I couldn’t make events, but if I promised to be there, I would be. End of discussion.

Thalia’s smile stretched impossibly wider and then, before I could react, she fisted both her hands into my shirt and dragged me forward into a kiss. She dove in as if she were trying to devour me from the contact, and by the time we pulled back my hair was a mess, both of us were breathing heavily, and only the soft clearing of a throat stopped me from pulling her closer for another.

Thalia flushed, half turning to her mother with a sheepish smile. “Ludwig, this is my mom, Penelope. Mom, this is Ludwig.”

I held out a hand, and she took it, giving a firm shake with an amused chuckle. “Good to finally meet you. I’ve heard quite a bit.”

I dipped my head to her phone. “Thank you for that.”

Thalia frowned, confused. “Wait, I thought you were setting up the live for Dad? How did you even get Ludwig’s social media?”

Penelope smiled, every bit as crafty as her granddaughter. “Your father despises all things technology and gave up on the live five minutes into my explanation of how it worked. We’ll have to walk him through it the next time we both visit, but when you told me about your man here, I knew he was just like your Daddy. Come hell or high water, he’d be here. He just needed a bit of a push.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Sliding an arm around Thalia’s waist, I nodded. “I did, and thanks again for it. I would have regretted not being here.” Facing Thalia again, I added. “My father had a hand in the secretary scheduling that meeting for today. He tried to corner me in the parking lot as I was leaving.”

She straightened, eyes flashing wider in alarm and fury. “He did it on purpose?”

I kissed her head, soothing that anger. “Yes, but I’ll be sure my secretary knows from now on not to listen to him for scheduling things. Now that he knows his plan won’t work in the future he’s less likely to try to repeat it, but better safe than sorry.”

My phone buzzed, undoubtedly my father calling to berate me for my life choices, but without missing a beat I turned it off and tossed it to the side. Anything work-related could wait until later; I wasn’t on the clock right now.

Looking back out at the field, I waited until Jasmine glanced in our direction. When she did, I waved, watching as she nearly stumbled over herself in shock. When she realized I was actually here, she unfroze, ignoring her coach telling her and the others to get ready.

She flashed across the field and slammed into me full force, sending both of us toppling with a loudoof!

The mild pain faded almost instantly as her voice came through, her face shoved all the way into my shoulder as she beamed. “You’re here! You said you wouldn’t be, but you’re here!”

I nodded, hugging her for a long minute, then I pulled back and smiled. “Yeah, I realized that no meeting could ever be important enough to miss this after I promised to be here. There’ll be times I can’t show up because of work, but if I promise you I’m going to be there, I’mgoingto be there. Okay?”

She laughed, nodding, before the coach calling her back broke the moment. Thankfully the man didn’t seem irritated with the interruption; he only shook his head fondly while gesturing for Jasmine to join the others.

After one more hug, she did, bounding with all the energy shehadn’thad this morning. Leaning back on the grass, Thalia contently curled against my side, we both watched as Jasmine played, cheering her on in turns as the game progressed.

And when she kicked the winning goal, pride warmed me from the inside out.

This was where I was supposed to be, and nothing would take me away from here.

Chapter 22

Thalia

Ludwig sat next to me on the grass, posture relaxed and open as we waited for Jasmine to finish talking with her friends. I took the opportunity to just look at him.

This man had just left a meeting that would have grown his company by leaps and bounds, all because he’d made a promise to Jasmine and me. It wrapped a satin glove around my heart and squeezed.

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