Page 50 of Boss's Baby Surprise

Kyle stood. “You have something for me?” He said it like it was some kind of a drug deal. I rolled my eyes and retrieved the box out of my bag.

“This is your part.” I handed him the test.

“Once you’ve completed your part, I’ll send everything in.”

“You expect me to trust that you’ll not tamper with the test?”

My gut twisted. I thought he didn’t want to be angry with me any longer. But clearly, he was.

“I have his part with me. I’ll put it in the box first, and then you can put your part in the box. I’ll even let you seal it, and we can go drop it in a FedEx box together.” I had put a lot of thought into how to proceed. I didn’t want him to find a way to worm his way out of taking the test.

24

KYLE

The Field Museum of Natural History was a very different experience when viewed through the eyes of a five-year-old. We stood and stared at the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton for I don't know how long. I was ready to move on and look at anything else, but Leo was still completely fascinated and refused to budge.

“He loves dinosaurs,” Clarissa repeated. She had warned me at least five times in the past ten minutes.

This was going to be a long morning.

As we continued through the museum, every new exhibit was his favorite. He had so much information about each and every dinosaur skull we looked at.

“And this one is Mommy’s favorite,” Leo said as we stopped in front of the triceratops.

I looked over at his mother.

She had a soft smile on her face. “He loves dinosaurs,” she said again. This time, I caught the hint of exasperation in her tone.

“I see that,” I replied.

Apparently, he also really loved everything about this museum—dinosaurs, rocks, gemstones, mammal exhibits. What I thought was going to be a few hours extended longer and longer. By mid-afternoon, Leo was exhausted and asleep against my shoulder. I carried him as we headed toward the exit.

“Thank you,” Clarissa said. “This was a good day.”

“I had a good time,” I said, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be angry at her, forgetting that I doubted the little boy asleep in my arms could have been my child.

How different would things have been if I had known?

Leo made a noise and squirmed a little bit in his sleep. I gently patted his back.

“I can take him if he's getting too heavy,” Clarissa said, reaching toward the boy.

“He's fine. He doesn’t weigh a thing.” And even if he did, at that moment, I didn't think I could have put him down. I felt it in my core that this child was my son, and she hadn't been trying to pull one over on me. “What now?” I asked.

“Normally, we'd go outside, and I’d let him run around in the park until he wore himself out.” She gestured at him. “He's already out. If it were nicer, I'd suggest we sit outside and let him nap in the sunshine.”

But it was not a nice day outside. It was one of those cold, wet fall days where the chill of winter threatened an early arrival.

“I guess I'll just take him home and put him to bed. He'll probably wake up before we get there, and then we'll just have a quiet evening watching movies.”

“So, that's it?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Some days, he can go and go and go. And those days can be very exhausting. And others, he runs out of steam a whole lot earlier in the day. I think he was so excited to have someone to show all of his favorite things to, he just got overwhelmed.”

“You could come over to my place and we could have dinner,” I suggested.

She narrowed her gaze at me. “Are you sure that is really a good idea?”

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