Page 36 of Baby Bombshell for the Boss

“It would give me something to do,” she said. “You would be doing me a favor, honestly. It would mean a lot to me to have a project right now.”

“It’s what you want?” he asked. “Don’t say that if it isn’t true, please. I really can have someone come in and do it for us tomorrow. Money is no object.”

She certainly understood that about him. But she was telling the truth. Seeing this room had awoken an itch at the back of her brain — the urge to redecorate was fierce, and she was already seeing possibilities. “I’ll tell you what,” she said. “I can see that you want to do something to help me settle in. What if you take whatever money you would have spent on a cleaner and give it to me as a decorating budget? I’d like that a whole lot more.”

He hesitated. “That’s what you want? I’ll do it if it will make you happy, of course.”

“Yes, that’s what I want,” she said. “If it’s all right with you, of course. It’s your money, so you can do what you’d like, but if the aim is to make me comfortable here, that’s what will do it.”

He shrugged. “Okay,” he agreed. “I was always going to give you a per diem account for while you were staying here, since I don’t want you to search for another job right now — if that’s acceptable to you.”

Ivy couldn’t help noticing how careful they were being with one another. It was awkward. They were going to be cohabitating. They had agreed to coparenting. And yet, even now, they continued to check in with each other about every little thing as if they were nothing more than business associates.

It would take time, she supposed, for comfort to develop between them. It would take time for them to fully trust one another. And it was definitely for the best that they keep things strictly platonic between them, she was sure of that. They couldn’t run the risk of any romantic entanglements. Not now that they each had so much at stake.

Elliot pulled out a debit card and handed it to her. She looked down at it, then up at him. “What is this?”

“This is connected to your per diem account,” he explained.

“You’ve already set it up?”

“There isn’t much money in it yet. Just a few thousand.”

“A few thousand?” Her knees grew weak and she found herself compelled to sit down on the bet, which was mercifully clear of any boxes.

Elliot looked mystified. “Is that not enough for the next few days, until I can make a bank transfer? I can try to do it tonight.”

“No, that’s — that’s more than enough,” she said quickly. It was more than she had expected from a per diem account, that was for sure. She knew he could afford it, of course. He had plenty of money. But it still made her feel slightly uncomfortable to accept it.

“I’ll leave you to get settled in,” he said. “I’ll be having dinner at eight, if you’d care to join me… but if you’d prefer to grab something to eat on your own time, that’s perfectly all right too. What’s mine is yours as long as you’re here.”

* * *

“Are you kidding?” Janelle demanded. “Of course you should take the money.”

“But it’s so much,” Ivy said. “Thousands of dollars? What is he thinking?”

“Okay,” Janelle said briskly, in the no-nonsense tone she had used to win family arguments since she was five years old. “First of all, you know he can afford it. It’s not like you’re taking money he can’t spare. A guy like him won’t even notice a few thousand dollars.”

“Maybe not, but he’s going to keep replenishing the account,” Ivy said. “If it was a one-time amount, I might feel differently, but how can I let him keep spending that kind of money?”

“Secondly,” Janelle said, as if Ivy hadn’t spoken, “you’re going to spend a lot of that money on overhauling his house, right?”

“I’m going to fix up his guest room,” she said. “It’s kind of… a work in progress.”

“Right. And he should pay for that. It would be crazy for you to be the one to pay for it. Just because you’re living in that room right now — which is a whole other thing you and I need to get into, by the way — doesn’t make it yours. He’s the one who’s going to keep it when this is all over. You’re going to increase his property value and give his future guests a nicer place to stay. That should happen on his dime.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ivy said. “I guess I just feel funny about it since I’m going to be decorating it to my taste. Isn’t that a little wrong?”

“I mean, you’re going to make it objectively better than what it is right now, right? You said it was just full of trash at the moment.”

“I didn’t say full of trash.” But she took her sister’s point.

“And third, you’re carrying his baby! I mean, how much do you think that’s worth, if a few thousand dollars is too much?”

“I’m also carrying my baby. It’s not like I’m his surrogate. This isn’t the kind of situation where he ought to have to pay me. I would be doing this whether he liked it or not, you know.”

“I know,” Janelle said. “But I do think you ought to accept whatever help he’s willing to give you, Ivy. With everything you’re putting your body through, I can’t think of any amount of money that’s too much for him to contribute — especially knowing that he can afford it so easily! You’re worried about the principle, and I get it, but think about the practicalities for a moment. He can afford to give you any amount of money, and it won’t affect his life at all. But it will affect yours, so just take it!”

---