Page 14 of One More Baby for the Boss

“Yeah.”

“He doesn’t have a basketball hoop.”

“He does, actually. I hope you don’t mind. We watched part of a game the other night, and he was really interested, so I went into town early this morning and picked one up for him. It’s a little kids’ one, about six feet tall. Freestanding. Nothing major.”

“How much did it cost?” he asked her. “I’ll pay for that.”

“It wasn’t too much. I can get you the receipt. But I really didn’t mind.”

“You don’t need to give me a receipt,” Elijah said. “I trust you. Just let me know how much it was, and I’ll add it onto your weekly pay.”

She told him, and he made a mental note to add twice that amount to what he would give her at the end of the week. He was grateful to her for going out of her way to pick up the hoop. And it had probably cost her gas money, too.

“Do you want to join me?” he asked on a whim. “I was about to open up a bottle of wine.”

“That sounds great, actually,” she admitted. “The perfect end to a long day. Thank you for asking me.”

“Hey, of course. I can’t drink the whole bottle by myself.” He probably could, actually, but he didn’t want to — he needed to be up first thing in the morning tomorrow to drive out and meet with one of his ranch managers, and he didn’t want to risk feeling messy in the morning, or worse, oversleeping.

He opened the door to the wine cellar and stood back to allow Alex to go down first. “I didn’t know this was here,” she said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in. “I feel like I keep discovering new things about this house.”

“I put the wine cellar in myself when we moved in — before Jack was born,” Elijah said, remembering how pleased he had been when his wife had agreed to it. Stephanie had been the kind of woman who was very particular about what she did and didn’t like, and Elijah hadn’t known what to expect when he had suggested a wine cellar. But she’d laughed and told him it was obvious how much it meant to him, and that there were much less agreeable things a husband could ask his wife for.

He felt a pang in his chest. It had been years, but even now, it was so difficult to think about her.

He pulled down a bottle of wine. “How are you settling in so far?” he asked Alex.

“Pretty well,” she said. “Jack is a delight.”

“I’m glad to hear you say so. I worry about him,” Elijah admitted. “I know he has some behavior issues. I think it stems from the fact that he lost his mother at such a young age. That’s a traumatic thing for a child to have to live with.”

“I’m sure that’s part of it,” Alex said. “But Elijah, if you don’t mind my saying so… I think he could also benefit from seeing a bit more of you. I know it’s hard on him having to spend so much of his life without an involved parent.”

“I’m busy with work,” Elijah said. “I have a lot of people depending on me.”

“I know you do. And I wouldn’t presume to tell you how to balance your professional life with the responsibilities of fatherhood. I know I’m new to this family, and I really don’t know anything about what it takes to run ranches. All I know is what I see of Jack. I can tell he looks up to you, and that he wishes he could have some more of your time. He understandsthat you work hard, but you’re also the only parent he has. He needs you.”

Elijah hummed noncommittally. What she was saying hit very close to home. He knew she was right. He knew how much of a strain it put on Jack not to have a very involved parent. It was the reason the pair of them had gone to the diner in the first place. He had thought they might start a routine of having regular breakfasts together. It hadn’t happened, of course. They hadn’t been back after that second time. Work had gotten in the way, as it always seemed to do, and Jack hadn’t asked to go back anyway.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I know it isn’t any of my business.”

“I do want you to feel as though you can share your thoughts about Jack with me,” Elijah admitted, beckoning her out of the cellar. “There’s a reason I hired you. You really seem to understand him. I’d be a bad father if I didn’t want to hear about the things you see just because they’re a little difficult for me.”

“I don’t think you’re a bad father at all,” Alex told him quickly. “I think your life is really challenging. And I think Jack loves you more than anything. You’re very lucky in that way.”

“It’s a bit strange thinking of myself aslucky,” Elijah said. “But you might be right about that.”

“I understand what you mean,” Alex said. “I’ve never considered myself a lucky person. If anything, I’ve always been haunted by bad luck. But when you offered me this job, I had to think about the fact that maybe my luck was finally changing. It’s hard to think about things that way. It’s hard to believe it. But it’s the first piece of good luck I’ve had in a long time.”

Elijah pulled down a couple of wine glasses from the cupboard. He poured each of them a glass and handed one of them to her. “What do you mean?” he asked. “What kind of bad luck have you had?”

She hesitated. “I don’t usually talk about this.”

“Oh. Well, don’t feel like you have to say anything if it’s uncomfortable for you.”

“No, I don’t think I mind,” she said. “I wanted you to know that it’s not the kind of thing I would ordinarily open up about. But I do kind of feel like I can talk to you. And you were decent to me just now when I said my piece about Jack needing more involvement from you.”

“That doesn’t mean you owe me answers.”

---