Page 28 of The Billionaire's Christmas Baby Surprise

“Barely.” Billie looked out the window. “Did you drive down to the Springs the other two times, too?”

“The Springs? Fancy. And yes. We do have a corporate jet and a corporate helicopter, but for such a short trip I prefer to drive myself.”

“What? I could have ridden in a helicopter? I’m heartbroken.” Billie grinned to show that she was joking.

“Next time,” Max said.

“Right.” Billie glanced at him. “Next time.”

But Max knew he’d misspoken. By the time the next nearby branch of Bluebell Diner opened — in Casper, Wyoming in February — he and Billie wouldn’t be seeing each other anymore. Christmas would be over, and they’d both have gone back to their regular lives. The thought of their partnership coming toan end made Max’s heart ache, but it wasn’t worth dwelling on it now.

There was a lull in the conversation, then Billie reached for the radio and a Christmas song came on. She began to hum along. Then she straightened.

“We should play a car game!”

“Like what?” Max smiled at her enthusiasm.

“The predictions game,” Billie suggested. “We both make a prediction of something that will happen, like how many cows we’ll see between the next two mile markers, or if we’ll see an out-of-state plate before we reach the next exit. Whoever guesses closest to the correct answer gets to ask the other a question.”

“All right. Let’s try the one with the cows.”

“Great. Since we’re still in the suburbs, I’m going to predict that we’ll see zero cows in the next mile.”

“Then I’ll go with one cow — and I’ll win if we see any.” Max glanced out the window. “There’s the mile marker.”

For the first half mile, they rolled between apartment buildings and supermarkets, passed a school, and crossed a park. Then Max pointed.

“Look.”

Billie followed his gaze. “Come on, that’s apictureof a cow on a billboard. It’s not even a real cow.”

“No one said it had to be a real cow. And that sign has three cows discussing the importance of drinking milk, so I'm definitely in the lead.”

“Fine. You’re good at this. I can see that your cutting business acumen translates well to children’s car games.”

“Thank you. I get to ask you a question, right?”

“You do.”

Max considered. He had the opportunity to get a few of his questions about Billie answered, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by suggesting anything too personal. Finally, he settled on a softball.

“Why did you start Sweetest Surprise?”

“Oh.” Billie looked out the window. “Well, my family… we didn’t have a lot of money when we were growing up. My parents worked hard, but it was still difficult raising four kids. And when my dad hurt his back and couldn’t work construction anymore, he struggled to find a new job that would take him, so a higher burden fell on my mom. We relied on food banks and charity shops more than a few times to get food to eat and clothes to wear, but that meant that the food we got wasn’t always the best, and the clothes we wore often had holes and stains before we got them. My parents always made sure we had something under the Christmas tree, but it wasn’t easy.

“All my siblings reacted to that adversity in different ways. My oldest brother, Mark, became a surgeon so that he could support our parents as they got older. David went into construction, like my dad, but he became a manager so that he could help prevent other people from being injured. My little sister became a nurse because she wanted to make sure she’d always have work.”

“And you started a charity to help other families like yours,” Max finished.

“Exactly.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that would be such a personal question.”

“No, it’s all right. I don’t mind talking about it. I’m proud of my parents for how hard they worked, even though it was difficult for all of us.”

“I can imagine.” Max’s heart went out to the younger version of Billie who had worried about where her next meal would come from or whether she would get presents on Christmas morning. More than ever, he wanted to feed her a good meal — even though he knew that couldn’t make up for the difficulties of her past. “How are your parents now?”

“Oh, they’re great. They’re both retired and loving life. They spend a lot of time with their grandchildren. Oh, and my sister is expecting, so there’s another grandbaby for them to love on the way.”

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