Page 16 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

“One year is a long time,” he informed her.

She supposed that was true when you were six. “Well, you have a lot of time to figure out what you want to be when you grow up,” she told him.

“I know. Maybe I’ll be a lifeguard like you were. Is that fun?”

“Very fun,” Maddie said.

“Do you have to go to school for a long time?”

“Not as long as doctors. You need to be a good swimmer, though, so you’ll have to practice that.”

“I’m already a good swimmer.”

“Great! Maybe we can go out to the pool and you can show me.” She had noticed the pool in the backyard on her first day here, and she had been itching to get out and try it. She suspected that Eli would tell her it was fine to go during her downtime, but the fact of the matter was that she hadn’t really had any downtime yet.

That was why she was asking Charlie about Eli’s schedule. It wasn’t only about today. She had gathered that he was a bit of a workaholic, of course, but she hadn’t expected that he would be at the office every morning when she woke up and that he would return home well after Charlie had gone to bed for the night. She was excited to be Charlie’s nanny, but she had also been eager to enjoy the suite of rooms she’d been given — and she had had hardly any time to do that.

What was more, she felt sad for Charlie. It wasn’t as if he was neglected. His father clearly cared for him. But not to have an active parent in his life — that was a very sad thing. It made her want to intervene somehow, to talk to Eli about the fact that he was working too much. But she was sure he wouldn’t want to listen to her about that. And besides, it wasn’t any of her business and she knew it. She should stay out of it.

She put the French toast on the table and Charlie started to dig in. “This is great,” he said. “Usually it’s just cold cereal for breakfast.”

“That’s what your old nanny used to make for you?”

“Katie said she wasn’t hired to cook,” Charlie said. “We’d have cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I think it’s cool that you make real food.”

“I like cooking,” Maddie told him. “I don’t think I’m great at it or anything, but it can be a lot of fun.”

“Maybe you can teach me how to cook something,” Charlie said. “Hey, that’s a job, right? Being a cook?”

“That’s a job. You have a cook who works here in your house!”

“So maybe I can do that when I grow up. Do you have to go to a lot of school to cook?”

“You have to go to special cooking school,” Maddie said. “But that’s probably a lot of fun, because I bet you get to eat everything you make.”

“Oh, thatwouldbe fun,” Charlie giggled. “Okay, I think I want to become a cook.”

“Sounds good to me,” Maddie said. “If you want, we can make something together for lunch.”

“What can we make?”

“Anything you want. How about spaghetti and garlic bread, do you like that?”

“Ooh, yes.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do!”

“Can we still go swimming first?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Maddie smiled. “I haven’t gotten to try the pool yet.”

“I haven’t been in it since Katie left.”

“You haven’t?”

“I’m not allowed without a grown-up. And Dad never has time to take me.”

Somehow, that didn’t surprise Maddie in the least.

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