Page 29 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

“That isn’t what I meant,” Maddie said. “It’s not that I thought you couldn’t step away from work if you wanted to, but…”

“You didn’t think I wanted to.” Eli felt frustrated.

Maddie bit her lip, that captivating affectation that always made Eli forget exactly what he had been talking about. “It’s just… I mean, you didn’t give me the day off.”

“You wanted a day off? You usually work Fridays. And you didn’t say anything about it.”

“But if you meant to be with Charlie all day, and to give him your full attention, you wouldn’t need me,” Maddie pointed out. “I assumed you had kept me working because you planned not to be fully present.”

Eli felt like an idiot. Of course, she was perfectly right. It made sense that she would have thought exactly that. And for that matter, whyhadn’the told her to take the day off? He didn’t need a nanny today — hewasplanning to spend the whole day with Charlie.

The answer came to him as soon as he had posed himself the question, and it made him feel tense and unhappy to have to admit it.

He hadn’t sent Maddie off for the day for the very simple reason that he wanted to have her around. When he had imagined this day, she had been a part of it.

He didn’t need her to help him care for Charlie today — but he wanted her along anyway.

And he had no idea how he ought to feel about that fact.

“Now are you glad we left the beach?” Maddie asked Charlie.

Charlie nodded, kicking his feet against one of the benches at the skateboard park. He jumped in the air and tried to spin around before landing. Eli was impressed — he nearly managed it, but he tripped over his own feet at the end. Undaunted, he sprang back up. “Can I get a skateboard, Dad?”

“I’ll think about it.” Eli wasn’t sure how he felt about Maddie exposing Charlie to such a dangerous sport. On one hand, Charlie clearly loved it. He’d been ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the skaters since they had arrived.

“I want to learn how to do tricks,” Charlie pressed.

“Until you have a board of your own, there are plenty of things we can work on to get you ready,” Maddie told him.

“There are?” Charlie asked eagerly.

Eli turned to face Maddie too, interested in where this might be going.

“That jump you just did,” Maddie said. “I can help you learn to do it right, if you want.”

“You know how to do that?”

“Sure I do. I used to be a ballet dancer.”

“Skateboarding isn’t ballet!”

“Well, it kind of is! It’s all about knowing exactly where you are in the air so that you’ll know exactly where you’re going to bewhen you land. That way you don’t get surprised and trip on your own feet like you just did.” Maddie stood up, positioned herself carefully, then sprang into the air, spun neatly around, and landed in a reasonable impression of a skateboarder’s stance.

“Hey!” Charlie burst into applause. “That was great!”

“You can do that too. It’s pretty easy.”

“Show me how!”

“Okay, come here.” Maddie led him into an open patch of grass, which Eli was thankful for. If he fell, there wouldn’t be scraped knees. “Stand like this.” She demonstrated. “Now, you’re going to push off with this foot, and watch how I wrap my arms when I jump.” She leapt gracefully into the air again. “Pulling my arms in like that helps me turn my body, see?”

“The boarders grab their boards when they spin.”

“They’re jumping off of things, so they have more time in the air than you do. When you’re just jumping up from the ground like this, it’s important to turnfast. Go ahead, try it.”

Charlie tried. He didn’t make it all the way around, but it was a much better attempt, and he stayed on his feet. “Hey!” he cried. “Dad, did you see that?”

“I saw it.”

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