Page 17 of One More Baby for the Boss

“Maybe we can go to a museum and see some real ones,” she suggested.

Jack laughed. “Real dinosaurs don’t exist anymore, silly.”

“Not alive ones,” Alex said. “But they put their bones in museums. You can go look at the great big dinosaur skeletons, and that’s a lot of fun.”

“Really? When can we go?”

Immediately, Alex felt bad. If Elijah was about to fire her, she couldn’t take Jack anywhere. She shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. “We’ll have to talk to your dad about it,” she said. “We’ll see what he has to say.”

Jack nodded. “I bet he’ll say yes. He doesn’t say no to things.”

Maybe he should.

They went down to the kitchen for breakfast. Alex was looking over her shoulder the entire time, expecting Elijah to appear, but he didn’t. Apparently he hadn’t planned to confront her after all.

Or maybe he was simply waiting for the right moment. Maybe he was avoiding her for right now so that their confrontation wouldn’t take place with Jack around — she could understand how he might have chosen to do that. It was obvious to her how much Elijah cared about his son, even if he wasn’t as involvedin day-to-day things as he should be. He wouldn’t want to fire a nanny that Jack was getting along with while the boy was watching. He’d want to do it quietly and speak to Jack about what had happened after the fact.

I should have made sure to let him know that I understood what a good parent he is, Alex thought.I should have told him that I wasn’t questioning his ability as a father. If he wasn’t such a good father, Jack wouldn’t want him around so much!

But she had handled everything the wrong way. If Elijah fired her now, she would deserve it. She wouldn’t even be able to complain. And it had taken that realization to make her understand that, although this wasn’t supposed to be a permanent job by any stretch, she wasn’t ready to say goodbye just yet.

“I want waffles this morning,” Jack announced. “Can we have them with chocolate chips?”

“If Gio can make them that way.” Alex glanced up at the chef, and he grinned and nodded. “Sounds good, then. Chocolate chip waffles for two — and maybe some fresh fruit on the side.”

Jack groaned. “You always make us eat fruit and vegetables.”

“Well, it’s good for you. But you can choose what kind,” she offered.

“Bananas and strawberries,” Jack said decisively. “Nomelon. I can’t stand melon.”

“Fair enough.” But Alex was already thinking about how a watermelon seed spitting contest might bring him around. Little boys couldn’t resist the opportunity to spit. Her brother had been the same way at that age…

She sighed and closed her eyes. Elijah really did seem like someone she could open up to about everything she had lost, because he’d had a loss in his life too. It was so rare to find someone she could talk to. She didn’t want to leave. But was there any chance at all he might want her to stay?

She would just have to be on her best behavior over the next few days and hope that he could find a way to forgive her for speaking out.

CHAPTER 8

ELIJAH

Atwelve-hour work day had Elijah feeling exhausted and frustrated. He pushed his books away to the corner of his desk — he’d done enough for one day, he decided. It was time to allow himself to focus on something else.

The trouble was that as soon as he turned his focus away from his books, other things came rushing in — things he hadn’t necessarily wanted to think about. Things he had been avoiding.

Like the way he had spoken to Alex the other night.

He’d been rude. He knew he had. And he’d tried to convince himself that she had been out of line, but the truth was that he was the one who had overstepped and he knew it. Alex had been hired to help take care of Jack, and if that didn’t include speaking to his father about what she thought might be best for him, Elijah didn’t know what itdidinclude.

She did nothing wrong. I’m the one who was in the wrong for losing my temper with her, and I’m going to have to apologize for that.

That was the thought he had been avoiding. He knew it was right, but he dreaded having to go to her and admit his mistake. She’d handle it with class, he thought, but it would be embarrassing.

Elijah sighed. There was no time like the present. Better to get this over with. He’d delayed it long enough.

He crossed the house to Jack’s wing. It was late at night, well past the time when his son went to bed. It occurred to Elijah that he hadn’t seen him at all today.

Alex really does have a point. I have to work, but maybe I don’t have to work as much as I do. I should be paying more attention to Jack. He’s growing up fast.

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