Page 35 of Taming the Boss

“Well, it’s not a big deal. If it was, I would’ve gone in another room. But I had to call my boss—my other boss—to explain why I wasn’t coming in for my shift at the flower shop.”

He pursed his lips, seeming as if he was trying to understand what exactly I meant.

“I might work for your dad too,” I added, sitting beside him on the couch. “Hey, do you want to play a game on my phone?”

Making this kid smile more was my current mission in life. Games usually worked for that.

I opened up my games folder and settled on my favorite one, an old school one Christian had gotten me hooked on years ago. “This is a game where you have to fit pieces together,” I explained to Owen, showing him the screen filled with colorful blocks as they dropped down from the top. “You have to line up the falling blocks with the ones already in place to make complete lines of them. Here, let me do a couple to show you.” I did the next few lines, and then I shifted my screen toward Owen. “See how that works? You want the lines to be complete. You lose points when there are holes in the line. Like that one,” I said, tapping the screen.

He frowned, concentrating hard as he got used to playing with my iPhone. Something unexpected happened, and he let out a peal of laughter so excitedly I had no choice but to laugh with him.

Which was how Jude found us a couple minutes later, laughing our heads off on the couch. He strode in then came to a dead stop, staring at us as if he didn’t recognize what was happening.

We kept laughing, helped along by me tickling Owen just to make him laugh more.

“What’s up?” I asked Jude.

He swallowed hard several times, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and he said nothing.

“Did you talk to my brother?” I prompted.

“Yeah, we talked. Pretty sure he’ll forbid you to work for me.”

“That good, huh? When he pulled you over, I told him I might be your nanny.” I ruffled Owen’s hair as Jude sat on my other side on the couch.

“Think he tried to block the possibility in his brain. You guys ready to…shop?”

“I am. And I’m hungry too. What about you?” I asked Owen, who had already returned his attention to my phone. He was back to lining up boxes with the fiendish concentration one would never expect from a little kid.

“I mentioned stopping somewhere to eat a little while ago.” Jude sounded peeved, and I had a feeling that wasn’t rare for him.

“Waffles,” Owen said suddenly, lowering my phone to stare hard at me. “Can we get toaster waffles?”

“Do you have a toaster?” I asked Jude.

“What the hell would I do with one of those?”

I sighed loudly. “So, we’ll stop at a housewares store too. You okay with that, Daddy Warbucks?”

He frowned again, looking so much like his son it was adorable—and slightly creepy, as if a duplicate mini Jude was sitting beside me. “Do I have a choice?”

“No,” I said definitively, lightly poking Owen in his stomach so he felt included too. He stuck out his lower lip then gave in and laughed as if he couldn’t help himself. “You ready to go, little man?”

“I am.” Owen darted a speculative look at Jude, not relinquishing his grip on my phone.

“Me too.” As a duo, we turned our gazes on Jude, who heaved out a long breath as if he was nearing the end of his rope. He really was exasperated, but too bad.

He was about to get a crash course in shopping for household essentials, whether he wanted one or not.

Chapter 8

I was in way over my head.

This whole shopping thing was beyond me. The shoe store last week had been different. It was smaller, and at that time of day, there hadn’t been many customers.

Today’s expedition was an education. Not necessarily in a good way.

For one, stores were loud. The music playing was nothing like my preferred classical. It was jumpy and discordant, clashing notes and instruments that were as frenetic as the people rushing from aisle to aisle, or even worse, dawdling and holding up progress, usually while they did something on their phone.

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