Page 27 of One More Baby for the Boss

“I’ve never made them on my own. The last time was with my mom, on my sister’s last first day of school.”

Elijah was quiet for a moment, processing that, imagining all it might mean. He didn’t know if her sister had been older or younger than she was. Did Alex mean that the last time she’d made these brownies had been shortly before the fire that had killed her family?

She didn’t look as if the experience was upsetting her. If anything, she looked happy. He decided not to ask any further questions about it. But he realized that he wasn’t the only one going through something challenging today. Even though she didn’t appear to be having a difficult time with it, Alex had reached into the past and brought something forward into the future, and she had done it for the sake of his son. Elijah felt deeply grateful to her.

“That’s really nice of you,” he said. “Sharing these brownies with Jack, I mean. I’m sure he’ll love them.”

“Come and taste them for me.” She pulled a spoon out of the drawer, dipped it into the batter, and held it out to him. “I think they’re okay, but I’d love a second opinion.”

Elijah allowed her to feed him the bite of brownie batter. “Oh, they’re really good,” he said. “Very sweet, and the perfect amount of peanut butter. I bet they’ll taste great once they’re cooked.”

“Well, I hope so,” she said. She took the mixing bowl over to a pan that was laid out on top of the stove and poured the batter in. Then she bent down and put the pan into the oven. “We can test them again once they’re done. I don’t want to serve Jack disappointing brownies.”

“I’m pretty sure Jack isn’t going to be disappointed no matter what,” Elijah said. “Coming home to homemade brownies on his first day of school? He’ll be ecstatic.”

Alex grinned. “I hope you’re right,” she said. “I love the idea of helping to contribute to a good day for him.”

“I’m sure this will do that.”

“How are you doing with it, by the way?” she asked. “Your only son going off to his first day of school, I mean. That’s big.”

“It is,” Elijah agreed. “What’s strange is that I didn’t realize how big it was going to be until today. I knew it would be a big moment forhim, of course, but I didn’t expect that it would affect me. I guess that’s pretty silly of me. But he and I don’t spend that much time together on a day-to-day basis, so it’s a little strange to discover that I miss having him here.”

“I don’t think that’s strange at all,” Alex said. “You were always aware of his presence in the house, even if you weren’t activelyspending time together, and now you’re aware of the fact that he isn’t here. Of course it makes you feel strange to have him gone. Even I feel at loose ends today, and I’ve only known him for a short time.” She grinned. “At least school ends at three. Do you want to come to our brownie party? Or do you have to work today?”

“I managed to get ahead of things a little bit,” Elijah said. “I didn’t know how long I was going to want to spend at the school today. And then, I want to be able to go and pick him up in a few hours, too, so I thought it would be best if I took the day off.”

“It’s great that you were able to do that,” Alex said. “Do you want to join me for lunch, then?”

“What are you having?”

“Gio made a footlong sandwich.” She laughed “I told him there was no chance I’d be able to eat the whole thing. He said he’d just leave it in the fridge in case I was surprised by my own hunger, and if it turned out to be too much for me, he would eat some himself later. But I’m sure he’d be happy to know you got some benefit out of it. What would you have been doing for lunch if not this?”

“Gio is used to me making my own lunch arrangements, because I’m so often in meetings during this part of the day,” Elijah explained. “I had intended to ask him to make me something.”

“Then it’s lucky we have this sandwich,” Alex said with a grin. “I might be good at baking brownies — although really, the jury’s still out on that — but I’m not good at cooking anything else. Far from it. If you didn’t have a personal chef on your staff, Jack would have been eating granola bars and prepackaged meat and cheese trays all this time.”

Elijah laughed as he went to the refrigerator and found the sandwich. “I don’t think he would have complained,” he said. “He’d probably rather eat junk food three times a day than have balanced meals cooked for him. He’s a regular little kid, after all. What’s on this sandwich? Did Gio tell you?”

“It’s cold cuts,” she said. “He told me he’d give me fresh turkey, not out of a package, but I had to stop him. I’m not having him roast a whole turkey to make me a sandwich. That’s crazy.”

Elijah laughed. “It does sound excessive,” he agreed. “But at the same time, I did tell him to go to whatever lengths were necessary to make sure Jack had the best meals possible. He’s probably carrying that energy over to you.”

“Hand me that,” Alex said, nodding at the sandwich. “I’ll cut it for us.”

“I’ll set the table and get some potato chips,” Elijah said.

As he laid out plates and napkins, it occurred to him that he hadn’t done anything like this in a very long time. It had never been a part of his life with Stephanie — the two of them had preferred to let the staff cook and take care of the dinner dishes. But, he realized now as he fixed two glasses of ice water and added them to the table, he didn’t mind the quiet domesticity of a moment like this one. In fact, he found himself enjoying it. It felt good to sit down at the table with someone. It felt good to enjoy a simple meal together. And afterward, as they tidied up the dishes, that was enjoyable too — working together to complete a task, noticing how much faster it went when there were two sets of hands devoted to the job.

“Do you want to come with me to pick Jack up from school?” he asked her. “I think he might enjoy seeing both of us. And it couldhelp him get adjusted to the idea that it’s going to be you doing the pick-ups and drop-offs most of the time. I’m glad I have the chance to do it today, but I don’t want him to get thrown off when it’s you tomorrow.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Alex said with a smile. “And of course, I’d be happy to go along. I can’t wait to see Jack’s school.”

Elijah nodded and took a bite of his sandwich to disguise the sudden emotion he felt.

He hadn’t put a lot of thought into the time when Jack would start school. But if he had, he certainly wouldn’t have pictured having someone by his side for it.

He was surprised by how much more fulfilling the whole experience was made by having Alex here to share it.

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