Page 30 of One More Baby for the Boss

“Yes,” Jack said, but he sounded a little uncertain, and Alex wondered why. Was it possible he wanted to include her on his family tree badly enough that the thought of leaving her off of it was distressing to him?

No, it couldn’t be that. He had just been confused about who he was supposed to include, that was all. She couldn’t blame him, given everything he’d been through. It must be tempting for him to draw more people into the circle he called his family. Alex could relate to what he must be feeling, having lost her own family. There was something very appealing about sitting here in an ice cream shop with an attractive man and a little boy, all of them eating scoops of pistachio ice cream together. She knew what they looked like to passersby, and it was so easy to relax into the idea that this was her family.

But for her to allow herself to think like that was one thing. To permit Jack to have those thoughts was something else altogether. Thiswasn’ta permanent family, and she didn’t want him to internalize the idea that it was, because eventually, someday, she would have to go away. And if, on that day, Jack thought of her as a part of his family, the loss could really hurthim. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She would have to keep a bit of distance.

She stayed silent for the rest of the time they spent at the ice cream parlor and allowed Elijah to continue the conversation with Jack about his day at school and what he needed for his family tree.

She was running the risk of getting too close to this family, and she had to watch her step.

CHAPTER 14

ELIJAH

“What do we need to make a family tree?” Elijah asked. “Poster board, I guess?”

It was now Jack’s second week of school, and time to begin work on the family tree project. A rubric had been sent home explaining what would be expected. Elijah thought it was pretty vague; according to the instructions, students were supposed to make something they could present visually that would represent their family. They would have to stand up in front of the class and explain their work, and they would have to talk about the various members of their family. Apparently, part of the purpose of the assignment was to discover what made each family unique.

Elijah had no trouble believing that his family was unique, but he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Jack having to explain that to his classmates. At this age, surely it was better to blend in and to focus on your similarities than it was to talk about what made you different?

Then again, what do I know about it? I’m not a teacher.

“I think we can do better than poster board,” Alex said cheerfully. She’d embraced the family tree project wholeheartedly, and Elijah had never been more grateful for the fact that he’d chosen to hire her. “What about papier-mâché?”

“What about what?” Jack asked.

She looked at him. “Have you never made a papier-mâché project before?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“We’ve never done it,” Elijah said. “I wouldn’t begin to know how.”

“I used to do it all the time with my siblings growing up,” Alex said. “It’s fun. And I know how to do it. Jack, we could build a little sculpture of a tree. What do you think of that idea? And then you could hang the names of your family members on the branches. That way, you’d be able to take them off and show them to people when you give your presentation. Maybe you could even do a little picture of each person — a photo, even. What do you think?”

Jack’s eyes were wide. “Could we really do that?”

“If you wanted to, I don’t see any reason why not.”

“Dad, can we?”

“Well, I don’t have any idea how to do it,” Elijah said. “But if Alex is willing to take responsibility for the project, I don’t have any problem with the two of you working on some papier-mâché thing in the kitchen. I’ll even help you, if I can.”

“That’s perfect,” Alex enthused. “We just need to get some supplies, but we can stop on the way home and get everything weneed. We’re going to want a lot of flour to make the paste, and we’ll need some chicken wire to sculpt the shape of the tree. Do you know where we can get chicken wire, Elijah?”

“I guess the gardening store probably has some,” Elijah mused.

“Great! We’ll stop there first,” Alex said. “And eventually we’re going to need paint so you can make the exterior of the tree look the way you want it to, Jack — but that’s the last step. We don’t need to get the paint today. There’s a lot to do before we can even think about painting. Ooh, this is going to be fun! I haven’t done a papier-mâché project since I was a teenager. You’re going to love it.”

“We get to paint the tree too?” Jack’s eyes were wide as saucers. “My family tree is going to be the best one in the whole class! Dylan says he’s just going todrawhis. Like, with colored pencils.”

“I’m sure Dylan’s will be good too,” Alex said. “I bet part of what will make this project fun will be having the chance to see what everyone else comes up with.”

“You’ll be able to see it,” Jack said.

“Will I?”

“Yes. We’re supposed to invite our parents to come and see the presentations — I can invite Alex, right, Dad? Even though she’s not my parent?”

“It’s your presentation,” Elijah said amiably. “You can invite whoever you want. I think it would be really nice to invite Alex, since she’s going to be giving you so much help on the project. She deserves to be there on presentation day to see how everything turns out.”

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