The Good Father

Chapter Four

“Wow.” Ellen Lowenstein, owner and CEO of Kidz’n’Stuff, smiled in obvious surprise and pleasure as she studied Jane’s drawings. She and Max sat in the newly furnished conference room, kicking around Max’s ideas for an ad campaign. The carpeting had been laid yesterday afternoon, and the furniture had arrived only this morning.

Carol had literally been hanging the last picture when the potential clients had arrived.

Ellen was in her forties, round and matronly with salt-and-pepper hair and a penchant for dangly earrings. She was cheerful and upbeat, and Max felt he was making a good impression on her.

Unfortunately, also present was the Kidz’n’Stuff marketing manager, a hard-nosed, nonsmiling man with the unfortunate name of Ogden Purcell. It was hard to know what Ogden was thinking, because his poker face offered up no clues. But Max got a distinct impression the man would not be impressed with flash. He would want hard figures.

“I understood today was simply a get-to-know-you meeting,” Ellen said. “I had no idea you would put in so much work on spec.”

Ogden cleared his throat. “You do understand, Mr. Remington, that we’re still considering several agencies.”

“Yes, of course,” Max said smoothly. “But my artist was so enthusiastic about the possibility of working on this account, she stayed up all night working on these. She really loves her work.”

“It shows.”

“Let’s talk about print placement,” Ogden said. “You said in your original proposal you had some fresh ideas?”

“Yes, I do.” Max whipped out some documents he’d prepared for this moment. “I’ve been researching some smaller publications that are on the rise in terms of circulation. In my opinion, these lesser-known magazines…”

Max realized he’d lost Ellen. Her gaze wasn’t on the numbers in front of her, but on something behind Max. Max turned, and his heart sank. A drowsy little girl had just pushed the conference-room door open and toddled into the room.

“My goodness, who is this?” Ellen asked.

Max wasn’t sure if she was pleased or appalled to see a child roaming around the Remington Agency. “That’s Kaylee. She has an earache and couldn’t go to preschool today, so she’s hanging out with us.”

“She’s the little girl in the ad!” Ellen said.

Kaylee stared up at Ellen, apparently fascinated with her bright colors and dangly earrings.

For a moment, Max was paralyzed. He’d never had to deal with a situation like this. But when Kaylee took another step forward, looking like she wanted to climb into his client’s lap, instinct drove Max to move. He reached out, snagged Kaylee’s hand, and drew her toward him instead.

He could pick the girl up and return her to her mother with some strong words about keeping the child out of his hair, as Jane had promised to do. But he hated to break up the rhythm of this meeting any more than it already was.

Instead, he scooped up Kaylee and placed her in his lap. She looked up at him with big, questioning eyes, and Max prayed that she didn’t let loose with an earsplitting scream like she’d done yesterday afternoon, before her medicine had taken effect and dulled the pain of her earache.

He also hoped she didn’t call him “mean” as she’d done two days ago. Having Ellen see him reviled by a little girl wouldn’t help with his image.

But either Kaylee was too drowsy on medicine to show much of a reaction, or she had revised her opinion of Max, because after a moment or two she looked away and settled into his lap, shoving her thumb into her mouth.

“Anyway,” Max said, “I’ve done some research into the demographics of some smaller circulation magazines…” He continued the presentation as if nothing was wrong, keeping one arm around Kaylee and using the other to point out the various numbers as he talked about them.

Ogden seemed interested. He asked several intelligent questions about the magazines, and Max answered them with confidence.

Ellen, however, seemed a little bored, and her gaze frequently strayed to Kaylee. Maybe numbers weren’t her thing. Since she was the ultimate decision-maker, he tried not to get too technical.

She probably thought having a child at their meeting was the height of nonprofessionalism. If Jane and her wayward three-year-old lost him this account, he was not going to be happy.

Finally the meeting concluded, and Kaylee had fallen asleep, drooling slightly on Max’s shirt. Wonderful.

Max stood as his potential clients did, managing to hold Kaylee with one hand and shake hands with the other. Kaylee didn’t wake. She was a limp rag doll in his arms.

He had to admit it was a rather nice feeling, having a little human being trust him to this degree. She reminded him painfully of Hannah, the only other child he’d ever held like this, and his heart lurched at the thought.

Breaking up with Hannah’s mother had been a relief. But losing Hannah-God, it would kill him to go through something like that again.

Max walked his clients down the hall. They took the beautiful ads Jane had drawn with them, intending to show them to others on staff.

“We’ll be making a decision in the next couple of weeks,” Ellen said. “But I’m very impressed by what I see.”

Yesss! Max mentally punched his fist into the air. Kaylee hadn’t blown it for him after all.

They’d almost made it to the reception area when the door to Jane’s office burst open and she flew out, a panicked look on her face.

“Max! Max, have you seen Kaylee?” she yelled, looking a bit deranged.

He turned, so she could see Kaylee was safe and sound. “Shhh. She’s right here.”

“Oh, thank God.” Jane rushed toward them. “I am so sorry. Last time I checked, she was napping on the pallet I made up for her, and then I looked over and she was gone-”

“Jane, it’s okay.”

“I hope she didn’t ruin your meeting.”

“On the contrary,” Ellen said with a smile, “she was a welcome distraction from all the facts and figures. And it’s so refreshing to see a man so comfortable with children.”

Jane didn’t bother to hide the surprised look on her face, but at least she didn’t contradict the client.

“I’m Ellen Lowenstein.” She held out her hand to Jane, who shook it, recovering her composure.

“It’s so nice to meet you. I love your clothes. I mean, the clothes you design. Well, of course, I like your clothes, too. That’s a lovely suit.”

Max shot Jane a strong look, hoping she would just close her mouth. She was blathering.

“Thank you,” Ellen said as Ogden stood mutely by her side, arms folded, not smiling. “Has Kaylee done much modeling?”

“Modeling?” Jane looked confused for a moment, but then she got it. “Oh, you saw the drawings. No, I did those drawings from some snapshots, nothing professional.”

“So you’re the artist. It’s doubly nice to meet you.”

“Thanks.”

Ogden pointedly looked at his watch. “We do have another appointment this afternoon.”

“Right.” Ellen smiled at the man. “Ogden keeps me on schedule. Well, you’ll be hearing from us.”

Max handed off Kaylee to Jane and walked his maybe-clients to the door.

“Do you like baseball?” Ellen asked suddenly.

“Yeah, sure,” Max responded. “Although I have to confess, I’m still a Mets fan.”

“We have a box at the Minute Maid Park. Perhaps you’d like to be our guests next week at an Astros game. With your wife and little girl, of course.”

What? Ellen thought Kaylee was his daughter, and Jane his wife? He knew what he should do. He should immediately correct her misconception. But what came out of his mouth was,

“Sounds wonderful. We’d love to.”

JANE JOGGED BACK to her office and gently placed Kaylee back on her pallet. The child didn’t wake up. She’d had a miserable night last night, and consequently Jane had, too. They were both in desperate need of sleep.

Apparently, though, the antibiotics had finally kicked in. Jane only wished that when Kaylee had awakened, she hadn’t wandered into the last place she ought to be.

Max was going to fire Jane. What choice did he have? She had promised to keep an eye on Kaylee and make sure she didn’t bother Max, and Jane had broken that promise. Now the most important meeting in the Remington Agency’s history had been compromised.

Jane headed back out of her office, stopped, returned to her desk, opened the bottom drawer and pulled her Klean-Up towelettes out of her purse. Then she scurried to the reception room, where Max and Carol were engaged in a spirited discussion.

“You are in so much trouble,” Carol was saying.

Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good.

“I couldn’t help it. I got carried away in the moment. She liked me and I didn’t want to burst her bubble.”

“How are you going to explain this to Jane?” Carol asked.

“Shh. I’ll think of something.”

He’d already hired someone to replace her. That must be what they were talking about.

She burst into the reception area. “Max, I am so sorry.” She tore open the foil packet. “I was focusing on the new ad, and I guess Kaylee woke up and crept out of the office without me seeing her.”

She pulled the moist towelette from the packet and began attacking the drool stain on Max’s chest. He wore a beautiful shirt with a pale olive pinstripe. It probably cost a month’s salary-her salary, anyway.

Max jumped back. “What are you doing?”

“Taking care of that stain before it sets.” Maybe she shouldn’t have touched him without asking, but with a three-year-old around all the time she was used to jumping on stains, whether they were on her, Kaylee or someone else. “These little cloths are pretreated with stain remover. They work really well, even on oil and crayon. Spit should be no problem.”

“Except this is a silk-blend shirt.”

Oops.

He held out his hand. “Here, let me see it. I guess it couldn’t get any worse.” He took the towelette from her and scrubbed at the already damp spot on his chest.

“It’ll look better when it dries.” Well, duh.

She was normally a composed woman. Even in divorce court she hadn’t lost it. Everything she’d said had been cool and confident. But around Max, she was a blithering idiot. Those people from Kidz’n’Stuff probably thought he hired mentally challenged employees.

“Oh, Max, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s just a shirt.”

“No, I mean, about Kaylee interrupting your important meeting. What did she do?”

“She just wandered in. I picked her up and put her in my lap and kept going like it was an everyday occurrence.”

Jane winced. “She didn’t object?”

“Maybe it’s the medicine she’s taking, but she seems to not be repulsed by me anymore.”

“You didn’t repulse her,” Jane objected. “She just met you on a bad day under bad circumstances. She generally likes everybody.” Except maybe Billy the bunny-snatching bully. “But that’s beside the point. Was the meeting ruined?”

“Actually, no. As it turns out, Ellen Lowenstein loves kids, and she was impressed we had a ‘kid-friendly’ office.”

“Oh. So it actually…worked in your favor?”

“This time. But, Jane-”

“I know, I know. This isn’t really a kid-friendly office, and I can’t continue to bring Kaylee in to work. But she should be able to return to school tomorrow. Or the next day at the latest.”

“You can’t bring her back here,” he said in no uncertain terms. “She’s an accident waiting to happen. I’ve got work crews coming in later today, and tomorrow, too. She could get hurt, not to mention exposed to the wrong people-”

“I understand. I’ll take her home, and I’ll try to find a sitter. That is, if I still have a job.”

“I’m not firing you,” he said, his voice gentle now. “If I ever fire you, you’ll know it.”

Jane nodded, afraid to speak. She’d once again dodged the unemployment bullet, but only just. She dashed back to her office before Max could change his mind.

Carol gave Max an arch look. “You were kind of tough on her.”

“Was I? I didn’t mean to be. I had to stress the point, that’s all. Kaylee could get hurt.”

“Kaylee probably helped you land that account,” Carol shot back, though she lowered her voice. “Ellen Lowenstein is gaga over the child, and she thinks you’re her father. You should be thanking Jane, not reprimanding her.”

“I didn’t reprimand her.” He balled up the towelette, now dry, and tossed it in the wastebasket. “And I haven’t won the account yet. Not by a long shot. Ellen might have been charmed by a child running around the office, but Ogden Purcell clearly wasn’t. For all we know, he’s the real decision-maker.”

“The account is yours,” Carol declared. “I could see it in her eyes. She adores you.”

“Yeah, but that could all change if she finds out I’m not a family man after all.”

“Hmm, now what are you going to do about that?”

Max got the distinct impression Carol was enjoying his predicament. “I’m not going to mention it again, that’s all. If I have any more meetings with Kidz’n’Stuff, we’ll do it at their offices in Houston.”

“What about the baseball game?”

“Ellen probably wasn’t serious about that,” he reasoned. “If I don’t mention it again, it’ll probably be forgotten.”

“Uh-huh.”

IT HAD TAKEN SOME DOING, but Jane had arranged for babysitters the following day. Sara couldn’t do it; she was busy catering some women’s club luncheon. Allie was free in the morning, but she had a fishing charter after lunch. So she had agreed to run Kaylee over to the bed-and-breakfast at noon, where Reece, who ran his accounting business out of the B and B, had agreed to look after the child until Sara got home around three.

At least Jane wouldn’t have to worry. Her friends would take good care of Kaylee. But just making the arrangements had been exhausting. She’d never before appreciated how hard it was to be a working single mom.

She arrived at the office a little later than usual, having spent extra time organizing Kaylee’s medicine and explaining everything to Allie, who would in turn have to explain things to Reece. Then Kaylee had gone through a minimeltdown.

But it was still before nine.

Carol was at her desk, and two workmen were busy setting up an aquarium in the reception area.

“Oh, this’ll be fun,” Jane said. “Kaylee loves fish. Of course, I won’t be bringing Kaylee in here anymore,” she quickly added, glad Max hadn’t heard her slip.

Carol smiled. “Max was a real grump about that. The stain came right out of his shirt, by the way. I have to get me some of those stain remover wipes.”

“They save me on a daily basis.”

“I think the boss must have felt a little guilty, ’cause he bought you a present.”

“Really?”

“It’s in your office.” Carol smiled mysteriously, but offered up no more hints.

Jane all but sprinted down the hall to her office. When she got there, she found a shiny new laptop computer sitting in her chair.

A laptop? He’d bought her a laptop?

She turned to seek him out and get an explanation, but she didn’t have to go far. He was standing right behind her.

“Is that for me?” She pointed to the ultra thin computer.

“Yeah. I’ve loaded it with the graphics program and set up the e-mail. Everything you need to work at home, if you have child-care issues.”

“Oh, Max! This is so thoughtful. I’ve never had my own computer before. I mean, I know it belongs to the company, but-I can take it home with me? Are you sure?”

He laughed. “That’s what I bought it for.”

“I can practice with the graphics program after Kaylee goes to bed.”

“Just make sure you don’t stay up all night.”

She felt the heat rushing to her face. How embarrassing and unprofessional that she’d shown up at her job looking a wreck, then had taken a nap on her boss’s sofa. “I’ll try not to.”

She picked up the lightweight computer, sat in her chair, and opened it. “Does it have an instruction manual?”

“I’ll get it for you. But it’s pretty easy.” He reached down and pushed a power button, and the machine hummed to life. “You haven’t forgotten the Mattress Master ad, have you?”

“I’ll get right on it.” Actually, she had. If he hadn’t reminded her, she’d have probably gotten engrossed in checking out her new toy, and then the Mattress Master deadline would come and go without her noticing.

But her own laptop! Scott had owned a laptop, of course, but he literally hadn’t let her touch it, claiming that if she used it, Kaylee would end up getting peanut butter on it or some such nonsense-as if Jane weren’t smart enough to prevent that. She had wanted to get a home computer, but Scott had nixed the idea, claiming he saw no reason for her to have one.

Looking back, she realized now that was just one more way he had controlled and isolated her.

“I have a favor to ask,” Max said, sounding uncharacteristically uncertain of himself.

“Anything.”

“How do you feel about traveling for business?”

“Traveling?” She couldn’t imagine where she would need to go. Unless…did he want her to sit in on client meetings? The thought thrilled her. She hoped to someday have more responsibility at her job. “I hadn’t really thought about it. I hate to keep beating the same drum, but child care would be a big issue. If it’s important, though, I can try to work something out.”

“I appreciate that. In this case, however, you can bring Kaylee with you.”

Take a child on business trip? “Maybe you better explain.”

Max came into her office and closed the door, then settled into her office’s only other chair, a small club chair that looked like an afterthought. With its red-and-yellow floral print, it didn’t really match anything.

“Here’s the deal. Ellen Lowenstein was quite taken with Kaylee. As she was leaving she mentioned all of us attending a baseball game in Houston. I thought she would forget, but she called and offered tickets to a game next week. We would leave after lunch on Tuesday, go to the game that night, stay over, and the next day we would tour the Kidz’n’Stuff offices and the manufacturing plant, stay for lunch, then drive home Wednesday afternoon.”

Jane couldn’t help the excitement that bubbled over. “That sounds wonderful!” It had been so long since she’d done anything so fun. A baseball game, staying at a hotel, eating at restaurants, learning how children’s clothes are made. She thought Kaylee would love it, too.

Max smiled. “Great. We’ll do it, then. Um, there’s just one little hitch.”

“I’m happy to do work while I’m there,” Jane volunteered. “With the laptop I can work in the car, and at the hotel after Kaylee goes to bed-”

“That’s not it, though I appreciate the offer. See…one of the reasons Ellen Lowenstein is leaning toward giving her account to the Remington Agency is because…well, because she wants Kaylee in the ads. She thinks Kaylee has the perfect look. And she wants us…you and Kaylee…to meet with a kids’ modeling agency in Houston. It could mean extra money for you-lots of money, actually.”

Jane was stunned. Kaylee, a model? “This is kind of a big deal,” she said. “I would have to think about it. I’m not sure I want Kaylee posing in front of cameras, being the center of attention. It would take her away from her preschool and…well, I don’t want to rule it out, either,” she added hastily. “What a great opportunity for her to earn money for her college fund!”

“You don’t have to make a decision right away. But would you be willing to meet with the agent?”

“Sure, it wouldn’t hurt to just talk.”

“Great. I’ll make all the arrangements. Oh, Jane, there’s just one more thing.”

“What?”

“We have to pretend to be married.”