Must Like Kids (13 page)

“It’s merely an observation.”

“Then perhaps it’s a good thing we’re getting to know one another better, clearing up any lingering misperceptions.”

“Perhaps it is.”

She fiddled with a packet of sugar, flipping the edge back and forth between her fingers before tearing it open and adding the contents to her tea.

“What are you really thinking, Julia?” he challenged.

“Right now?”

“Right this very minute.”

She stirred her tea. “I’m thinking about Danielle and how she has been begging me since Christmas for a pair of jeans that come with holes on the thighs. They take distressed to a new level.”

Liar, Alex thought. But he let her off the hook. “And you’ve said no.”

“Repeatedly.” Julia’s shoulders rose. “Style or not, I can’t see plunking down that kind of money on a pair of jeans that will fall apart before she has a chance to outgrow them. Besides, it’s nearly summer. She won’t be wearing jeans much over the summer.”

“That’s very practical of you.”

“Now I’m not sure if I’ve been insulted.” She grimaced for effect. “Her birthday is coming up. Maybe I’ll put a bug in my sister Eloise’s ear. The jeans also come in capri length. Danielle could wear them into the fall, even if she has a growth spurt.”

“But you just said you didn’t think holey jeans were a worthwhile expense?” he reminded her.

She sipped her tea. “The role of mother and cool aunt are different.”

“Ah.” He squeezed a wedge of lemon into his glass. He couldn’t help but be envious. When he was a kid he’d often wished for siblings.

“How many sisters do you have?”

“Just the one.”

“And she lives here in Chicago?”

“Just outside the city, actually. She’s been after me to move out by her since Scott died. I’d be closer to my parents that way, too.”

“So, what’s stopping you?”

Julia snorted softly. “A decent down payment. Houses aren’t cheap in that area, even with the downturn in the housing market. That’s especially true since I’m after something that I won’t have to fix up. I don’t have time to be handy, even if I owned my own tools, which I don’t. So, I’m saving my pennies. I don’t want to have a huge mortgage hanging over my head.”

Practical, he thought again, but didn’t say it. They had very different problems when it came to their housing searches. Alec had plenty of money for a down payment on a turnkey property regardless of price range. He just didn’t know what to look for. Julia, on the other hand, appeared to know exactly what she wanted, she just couldn’t afford to buy it yet.

“My real estate agent called last night. He has another property he insists is perfect for me.”

“Oh? Where is it?” Julia asked.

He rattled off the location, to which Julia let out a wistful sigh.

“That’s in an excellent school district.”

Which of course would rate high on her wish list.

“My agent told me the same thing.” Not that the quality of a school district was important to Alec, except in terms of investment. A home in a well-regarded school district would sell faster and for more money than one in a district whose reputation was not as solid.

“Are you going to see it?” Julia asked.

He hadn’t planned to. He’d grown weary of looking, since he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Or even if what he sought existed. An idea formed. Before he had a chance to think it through, he blurted out, “Would you come with me?”

She blinked, every bit as surprised as Alec was that he’d tendered the invitation. But, in a strange way, it made sense. And so he told her, “I’d appreciate the input. It’s an investment for me, primarily, but I’m looking for...” He swallowed. His voice sounded hoarse when he admitted, “A home.”

“A home,” she repeated softly.

The way she was looking at him made Alec feel too exposed. Luckily, the waitress had returned with their sandwiches, saving him from further embarrassment. Or so he thought.

The club sandwich was cut into quarters, each held together with a toothpick spear. He divested one section of its spear and was just getting ready to take a bite when Julia said, “I recall you mentioning that you attended boarding school.”

He studied the sandwich, contemplated changing the subject, but he’d told Julia that he wanted to dispel any misconceptions about him she might have. How he was raised said a lot about the man he was—not all of it good. But fair was fair. “From the time I was seven.”

“Seven.” She pursed her lips. He knew what she was thinking. That was around her kids’ ages.

“As I mentioned, my parents led—
lead
,” he corrected with a rueful laugh, “a very nomadic lifestyle. That is to say, they enjoy traveling. They have a trip coming up soon, as a matter of fact.”

“That couldn’t have been easy for you as a child.”

“No.”

“But you were able to come home for summers and holidays. Right?”

“Generally speaking, children aren’t welcome at the places my parents choose to stay.” He returned the sandwich to his plate, his appetite waning. He squinted at Julia, “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”

But she shook her head. “I’m not so sure I believe that anymore,” she said, then added, “I’m sorry, Alec. For the boy you were.”

Uncomfortable with the sympathy he saw in her eyes, he said, “For the record, when I was a kid, I wouldn’t have wanted to tag along with them anyway. Trust me, spending time with a nanny in a hotel suite was even less fun than spending Christmas break at the Albans Preparatory Academy in Connecticut.”

Julia only look more looked horrified. “You spent Christmas break at a boarding school? All by yourself? My God! How old were you?”

Which time, Alec thought? He’d awoken on more than one blustery Christmas morning to an empty room in the ivy-covered dormitory before he’d graduated and moved on to college, where, more often than not, he’d done the same. He decided it best not to mention this.

Instead, he said, “I spent some of my Christmases with my grandfather in Nantucket.” Four in all. As well as a handful of Easters and summers. “His health wasn’t always the best, though.”

“I’m sorry, Alec,” she said a second time.

He shrugged, his gaze on the sandwich. “It was a long time ago.”

“I’m still sorry.” This time, she reached across the table and rested a hand on his arm.

Touched by her sincerity, he admitted, “I would like a home of my own, but I don’t really know what that means.”

“I’m not sure I can help you with that, but I’d be willing to go with you to see the house your agent called about. When would you like to go?”

He was in no hurry and his agent had assured Alec that the house, which had been on the market for more than eight months already, was unlikely to be snapped up anytime soon. “I was thinking I’d wait until the weekend. Saturday? Whatever time works best for you.”

“I’ve got a few hours free in the early afternoon.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

She picked up the paper napkin that was folded under her cutlery and spread it over her lap. He half expected her to qualify her agreement by relating it to work. In truth, he was almost hoping she would. That way he would have felt less nervous and exposed.

But all she said was, “I’m sure.”

EIGHT

The rest of the week passed in a blur for Julia, as she crammed end-of-the-school-year activities into her already packed daytime routine. Not only had she managed to slip away from the office for Colin’s field day and Danielle’s awards assembly, but she’d also dropped off cookies for a PTO fund-raiser and, as the first-grade homeroom mom, she’d collected money from the other parents to purchase a gift for the teacher.

To accomplish all of this and stay on top of everything at the office, she’d burned the midnight oil after putting her kids to bed. To stay awake and energized, she’d been making her morning coffee so strong that the spoon all but stood up in it.

By the time the weekend rolled around, she was exhausted and a little amazed that she’d managed to cross so many things off both her personal and professional to-do lists.

Overall, she was pleased with the progress she was making on Alec’s revamped image. He was still being bashed in cyberspace, but not quite as badly. As anticipated, the television interview with the mom from the park had been pure gold, especially since the network had picked it up and the story had gone national. The good press only added to how well he’d done on the other programs she’d booked for him. It hadn’t scored the kind of reach that Alec’s initial article had garnered, but it was making the rounds on the internet and being talked about on blogs, including the one Alec had taken a guest turn on just the day before.

His carefully crafted guest entry, which Julia had gone over with a fine-toothed comb before allowing him to submit it, was getting a lot of hits.

She logged on to her computer and checked the comments again early Saturday morning as she sat in her tidy home office wearing yoga clothes and sipping green tea. Julia had decided to switch to a lower-octane caffeine beverage after her mother remarked at the previous evening’s soccer match that Julia was talking faster than an auctioneer.

She scrolled down to the end of the article, where more than six hundred comments had been left. They were a mixed bag. Some were filled with vitriol. Others made it clear the poster was at least willing to give Alec the benefit of the doubt, with a smattering of messages firmly in his camp. Taken in total, they represented a major shift from previous blogs, where the comments easily had run ninety percent against him.

Julia was pleased, but she’d been in the perception business long enough to know better than to declare victory. She equated the progress made during the past week to drips of water. A few drips didn’t do much. But enough of them, pounding down in relentless succession, could alter the landscape.

Were they enough to save Alec’s job? It was too early to tell what impact her efforts were having on stockholders’ perceptions and the company’s bottom line. The bigger question in Julia’s mind had become: Were her efforts enough to save Alec?

Like the public at large, her opinion of him was shifting, with her emotions threatening to catch up to the physical attraction that had been there from the start. A lot of what she saw, she liked. And some of what she now understood about his character made her ache for him. Christmases alone? School breaks spent in empty dormitories or in the care of nannies? An aging grandfather who had tried to fill the gaps, but couldn’t because of health issues?

Was it any wonder Alec wasn’t sure what a real home was supposed to feel like?

Or that family life was a mystery to him? He saw children as an inconvenience because that was what he had been to his parents. More amazing to Julia was that he wasn’t more emotionally stunted.

Unfortunately, not everyone shared her view, Julia noted as she continued to skim the blog entries.

THE MAN IS A MONSTER!!!!
one read. It was hard to skip over since it relied so heavily on capital letters and exclamation points.
HE SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED AROUND KIDS, MUCH LESS RUNNING A COMPANY DEDICATED TO THEM. DON’T LET THE PR CAMPAIGN FOOL YOU!!!!

She frowned at the “shouted” comment, her stomach knotting, until she came to the next one. And the next. And the one after that. Three readers in swift succession had rallied to his defense. And so it went, back and forth, but with comments generally running in his favor. Her brows hitched up when she came to a few, presumably written by single moms, in which the commenter offered to “help” Alec get over his aversion to children. The phone rang as Julia read one of those.

Alec’s voice greeted her, eliciting a shiver. She told herself it was his timing rather than the pleasing tenor of his voice that caused it.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” he began. “I took the chance that you’d be up since it’s nearly nine. And, well, kids, they get up early. Right?”

“Since seven,” she agreed. Julia had risen an hour before them out of habit, even though she hadn’t called it a night until just after one. Danielle and Colin were watching cartoons in the living room. They’d eaten breakfast and were dressed. “What are you wearing...doing?” She frowned at the Freudian slip. Before he could reply, she added, “I’m reading the blog comments. More than six hundred have been left so far.”

Rather than sounding impressed, Alec sighed. “You work too hard.”

“This from the man who spends his Saturdays at the office?” She wound the telephone cord around her index finger as she said it. Both the extension in the kitchen and the one in her bedroom were cordless. When the power went out, so did her connection, so she kept one with a cord. It didn’t hurt that it was red and retro-looking.

“You’ve reformed me. As it happens, I’m sitting on the rooftop deck of my apartment right now, having my morning coffee. Nothing but blue water and blue sky as far as the eye can see. It’s going to be a beautiful day.”

She glanced out her window at the brick façade of the building across the street. He definitely had her beat when it came to the view.

“Want to know what they’re saying about you?” she asked.

“Only if it’s good.”

“Depends on your definition of good. JuniorJumper thinks you’re hot and MightyMom214 wants to know if you’re seeing anyone. She’d like to go on a date.”

“MightyMom214, hmm? Does she look like my type?”

His type? What exactly was Alec’s type? A mere week ago Julia would have been sure she knew. Her gaze returned to the computer screen. “It’s hard to say. Her avatar is Rosie the Riveter. Does that help?”

The laughter echoing through the receiver was warm and inviting. “It doesn’t hurt. I like strong women.”

Julia leaned back in her chair. “Do you now?”

“As long as they can’t beat me at arm wrestling, what’s not to like?”

“I’m having a hard time picturing you arm wrestling with anyone, male or female.”

“I think I’ve just been insulted.”

Their easy banter was new, having evolved over the past few days. Alec had begun calling Julia just after 10:00 p.m. Her kids were in bed by then and the two of them used the time to fine-tune plans for the following day. At least that was how the phone calls had started. More and more, they were social in nature. Hence the banter. She liked it, but it made her nervous for reasons she wasn’t quite brave enough to investigate.