“Kevin,” I greeted as calmly as I could in the circumstance. His daughter had just chased away my date and attempted to seduce me. “Good to hear from you. How’s it going over there?”

“Fine, it’s good,” he replied, sounding oddly distracted.

“Everything alright?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder to check on Madison. She was leaning on the rail of the balcony, staring out across the vista below us with a half-blank expression on her face. I knew she was listening, so I lowered my voice and continued my conversation with Kevin.

“I completely forgot about Madison’s birthday,” he confessed.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise “What?”

“It’s Madison’s birthday tomorrow,” he explained quickly, and I heard him pacing back and forth across the floor of what I assumed was his hotel room. “I was meant to be there, but…hell, with everything going on I forgot to tell you. I’m so sorry. I was out the door before I had a chance to even think about that.”

Her birthday? She hadn’t mentioned a thing to me about it. I saw her ears prick up, but she didn’t turn to face me. Why would she have kept this to herself? It seemed like the kind of thing she would have mentioned at some point over the last few days.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered.

“I have a booking at that fancy French place across town,” he replied vaguely. “I forget the name now.”

“Maxine?” I said slowly.

“Yeah, that’s the one. It was meant to be a surprise for the two of us, but now that I’m not there…”

“You want me to…?” My voice was heavy, but how could I say no.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” he replied, his voice careful. “I’m sure I could find someone else if you really don’t want to do it, but since the two of you are already together and she doesn’t know that many other people in the city-”

“It’s fine, Kevin, really,” I cut across his guilty babbling. He had a habit of going off like this when he thought he was being an asshole. The only way to stop it was to convince him that he wasn’t asking much at all. Besides, I was the one who should have been feeling guilty. I shuddered at the thought of him knowing about the conversation I just had with his daughter. He’d have torn my guts out with his bare hands, and I wouldn’t have blamed him.

“Thank you,” he replied, his voice bubbling over with relief and gratitude. “I’ll have my secretary pass the booking details on to you. I know you’ll look after her. Are you guys getting on okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” I shot another look in Madison’s direction. It was as though I couldn’t keep my eyes off her, no matter how hard I tried. The look on her face, completely unreadable, sent an avalanche of emotions rumbling through my system: guilt, lust, concern, desire. I had no idea which one was going to come out on top after all of this was over.

“Good,” Kevin said. He sounded satisfied. “I’ll call you later this week, and we can talk about the deal then.”

“Sure.” I closed my eyes, wishing he could walk through the doors that instant and take his girl off my hands before I did something I would regret.

“Great thanks,” he said happily. He had solved his problem. “Er…is Madison around?”

“Yeah. Hang on.”

I walked over to Madison and held out the phone. Silently, she took it from me and put it to her ear.

“Hey, Dad.”

I tried not to listen to her monosyllabic replies, but it was impossible even when I moved to the kitchen.

“Goodnight,” she said finally, and hung up. She handed the phone back to me, and I dumped it into my pocket.

Her mouth quirked as if to say what now?

“Your father told me it’s your birthday tomorrow,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged nonchalantly and gazed back, her face impassive, but I saw that she hurt somewhere deep inside.

“How old will you be?” I asked, knowing I didn’t actually want to hear the answer to that question.

“Twenty.”

I stared at her curiously. She was going to let a milestone birthday go by without mentioning anything to anyone. “Your father booked a table for the two of you at some fancy restaurant. He hoped he’d be back in time-”

She shrugged. “It’s okay. It really doesn’t matter.”

“But since he can’t, he wants me to take you,” I finished, looking at her intently.

“Really?” Her eyes widened with a child-like excitement, and I suddenly remembered the conversation we had when she was a child. When she asked if she could come and live with Kevin and me. I had felt sorry for her then and I couldn’t help feeling that some part of her was still that same neglected child of a workaholic father and a mother who had no time for her because she had just found a new boyfriend. She pretended to be rebellious and bratty, but it was a just a façade she had put up to deal with her situation. Poor thing. She had come all the way out here to see her father only to be left alone on her birthday.

“Yeah,” I nodded and smiled. “And we’re going…if you want.”

“I do. Very much,” she said eagerly. Then she glanced at her feet, and the conversation we’d been having before her father called, lingered unspoken, between us, but I didn’t want to carry it on. I wanted to get the fuck to bed before either of us did or said anything we couldn’t take back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I smiled, and started walking backward. “I’ll pick you up from here around seven. Dress up nice, it’s a black-tie kind of place.”

“Okay,” she said, her face lighting up with happiness. She looked like an angel.

I turned away from her.

“Goodnight,” she called after me, but I didn’t turn or look back.

My heart swelled over with something close to affection for her, and I didn’t want my damn stupid feelings to get in the way of doing a favor for my friend. I closed the door to my bedroom, stood against it, and ignored the tantalizing sounds of her footsteps in the corridor outside as she went to her bedroom.

I had survived another night.

Quickly, I stripped down and stood under a cold shower, cold enough to make me shiver. Then, I got into bed, closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come. It came in the early hours of the morning.