Page 6 of One More Baby for the Boss

“That’s the lady who got me the chocolate chip pancakes,” Jack said. “Why is she leaving?”

“Well, maybe she doesn’t work today,” Elijah said. “We’re not going to see the same waitresses every time we come here.”

The truth was that he’d rather been hoping they’d see Alex again. He’d taken note of her name on her name tag the last time they’d been in because she had done such a good job serving them. He’d really appreciated the way she’d reached out when she had seen that Jack was about to have a meltdown. He’d meant to tell the manager how helpful she had been, but he had gotten distracted with other things, as he so often did. But he’d thought he might mention it to her today.

“I’m sure someone else can make you chocolate chip pancakes, buddy,” he told his son. “We’ll let whoever our waitress is today know about it, okay?”

But Jack was still staring out the window. “I think she’s crying,” he said.

“What?”

“She’s wiping her eyes. It looks like she’s crying.”

“Well, that’s not any of our business.” Elijah felt awkward. He didn’t like seeing people in vulnerable moments.

A server arrived at their table with menus. “What can I get y’all today?”

“Why isn’t that lady being our waitress?” Jack demanded of the server, pointing out the window.

“Jack, be quiet,” Elijah said. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s just that my son had a good experience the last time Alex was our server. Do you know when she might be working next?”

“Oh, I’m afraid she doesn’t work here anymore,” the server said with a sympathetic smile. “But I’m sure we can take care of whatever you need, young man!”

“Did she quit?” Elijah asked, frowning.

“Well, not exactly.” The server blushed. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I should be talking about this.”

Of course she shouldn’t. It had been unfair of Elijah to ask about it. But he looked across the table at his son, who was still staring out at the parking lot, and he found he couldn’t think about anything but what might be going on with Alex.

“I think we’re going to need just a minute,” he told the server.

“Of course,” she beamed. As she walked away, Elijah realized he hadn’t even noticed what her name was.

“I’m going to go see if she’s all right,” Jack announced and jumped up from his seat.

He was halfway to the door before Elijah registered what he had done. “Wait, hang on!” He hurried after his son, who was already pulling the door open and heading out into the parking lot. By the time he caught up, Jack was halfway across the lot to where Alex was standing, and she was watching him approach with curiosity in her eyes.

For the first time, it occurred to Elijah how attractive she was. Why hadn’t he noticed that before? He supposed he hadn’t been paying that much attention to her the first time they’d met, but he was now, and he found himself intensely aware of her long, lean limbs, her supple curves, the line of her collarbone — it had been years since he had noticed a woman the way he was noticing her, and he had very nearly forgotten he could feel this way at all. It was fascinating and intoxicating, but it also came with some feelings of guilt and shame. He shouldn’t be looking at her like that. It was irresponsible and out of line anddisloyal…

He was jerked from his shame spiral by the realization that Jack had spoken.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked Alex. “When Dad said we were coming back to the diner, I thought that meant we’d get to see you. But the lady inside said you don’t work there anymore.”

“Jack, that’s enough,” Elijah said firmly. “We don’t ask strangers questions like that.”

“Why not?” Jack demanded.

Elijah shook his head. This pushy, demanding, moody version of his son was definitely an improvement over the silent, withdrawn toddler he had become following the death of his mother, but Elijah still didn’t think much of the way his son had taken to acting out. He had become harder and harder to control in recent years. Elijah knew that it was his own fault. He tried to be the best parent he could be, but managing his ranches was a full-time job, and Jack needed more than he knew how to provide.

He was going to have to hire additional help. Everyone had been telling him that for years. He’d resisted it as long as he could, depending on the help of Jack’s school and day-care programs, but they couldn’t give him the kind of personal one-on-one attention that he really needed. And Elijah had to admit that he didn’t think he could do it either. Today was a wake-up call. The way Jack had taken off running into the parking lot after Alex — he could have been seriously hurt. And now here he was asking all these blunt questions, because no one had taken the time to teach him how to interact politely with strangers. It was something Elijah should have done.

Then again, his own social skills had never been anything to write home about. Even if he’d had all the free time in the world, he would have considered himself the wrong person to teach his son social graces. That should have been Stephanie’s job, but she wasn’t here to do it. And because Elijah knew he was doing such a bad job with the task, it was time to allow someone else to step in and help him with it.

“I’m so sorry,” he said to Alex, aware of just how often he was having to apologize for his son today. “He wanted to see you, and he came running out here before I could stop him. I think you really made an impression on him the other day.”

“It’s all right,” she assured him. “I’m happy to see you again, Jack. But you should stick close to your dad! Running around in parking lots can be very dangerous. I’m sure you know that. What if a car had been coming?”

“There wasn’t one,” Jack said. “I looked both ways.”

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