The Good Father

Chapter Five

Jane’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

Max probably shouldn’t have sprung it on her like that, so he backpedaled. “Ellen assumed Kaylee was my daughter, since she climbed into my lap, and I didn’t disabuse her of that notion.”

Jane continued staring, waiting for more of an explanation.

“I think she would prefer to give her advertising account to a family man, someone who really understands what it means to be a parent. Her reaction to Kaylee was so positive, I didn’t have the heart-or the courage-to tell her I’m single with no kids.”

“I see. I think.”

“Jane…I know it’s wrong to mislead her. But I need this account. I really, really need this account, and I can do a great job on it. Maybe I’m not a parent, but I’m not completely ignorant of children. Between you and me, I know we can give this account what it needs and deserves, and everyone will be happy, and that’s what’s important, right?”

“I…no. I can’t condone lying, Max.”

“We’re not really lying. Just not telling the whole truth.”

Jane narrowed her eyes. “You’re quibbling.”

He sighed. “You’re right.” Now he felt like a slime-ball. Playing fast and loose with facts was such an in-grained habit in the advertising business, he hadn’t really seen it as a big deal. Once he landed the account, he probably would have little or no personal contact with Ellen Lowenstein, so he would have no need to maintain the family ruse. But that didn’t make it right.

“You should tell her the truth.”

“I know.” He thought for a minute. “Okay, how about this? We all go to the game, and I explain the situation then.” After Ellen had a chance to see Max interact with Kaylee, see that he really was good with kids and that, if he were a father, he would be a good one.

“Well…”

“After all, my omission of the truth shouldn’t get in the way of Kaylee’s modeling gig. Ellen was entranced with Kaylee’s picture long before she came to believe Kaylee was my daughter.”

“You promise to tell Ellen the truth?”

“I will. But can we at least pretend to be…involved?”

“Max.”

“Close friends? Come on, Jane. We are getting to be friends.”

“You’re my boss. How will Ellen feel about your being involved with your employees?”

Max thought of the proprietary glances Ellen gave Ogden from time to time. “I don’t think she’d mind.”

“All right. We’ll go to the baseball game. How will we handle the overnight accommodations?”

Max grinned. “I’ll take care of that.” Remington Industries owned the Hotel Alexander, a luxury hotel in a historic downtown Houston building. Maybe he still had enough status as a Remington to get a comped suite.

“Why does that smile you’re wearing give me an uneasy feeling?”

Maybe because for just an instant, Max had let himself picture himself and Jane alone in a hotel room. “Can’t imagine why.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE you’re going out of town with him.” Allie, done with her fishing cruises for the day, had come over to kibitz while Jane packed for her overnight in Houston. “I can’t believe you’re going to pretend to be married to him. What got into you?”

“I’m not pretending anything. Okay, which of these is better for the baseball game?” She showed Allie two choices, a red halter top and a more conservative polka-dot T-shirt.

“You’re asking me? I’m not exactly a fashion plate. You need Sara. She’s a shopping maniac.”

“Oh, right.” Jane settled on the polka dots. The halter was too revealing. “I seem to recall Sara helping you pick out clothes for…what was that? A trade show in Houston? With your boss, Cooper?” Although Allie had never forked over the details of that trip, Jane knew that was how Allie and Cooper ended up in bed the first time.

Allie blushed prettily. “He was my partner, not my boss, but that’s beside the point. Are you hoping you and Max will follow in our footsteps?”

“Allie, of course not!” Jane realized her denial was perhaps too fast, too emphatic. “Never mind that he’s my boss. He doesn’t date women with children, and I don’t date, period. The ink is barely dry on my divorce decree.”

Allie laughed. “Trust me when I say a whole boatload of reasons for staying apart can go right out the window in a hurry once you’re alone with him-”

“Shh. Little pitchers.” Kaylee was already asleep in her bunk, but she could wake up and overhear.

“But that hotel! You have no idea what a place like that does to your senses. It’s like being in an amusement park. For adults.”

“I have stayed in luxury hotels many times. Now, which do you like better, the pink or the purple?” She held up two sets of Kidz’n’Stuff overalls.

“The purple, I think. But what about that cute shorts outfit with the blue flowers?”

“Would you believe it’s too small? Kaylee is growing so fast, she can hardly fit into any of those beautiful, expensive clothes I bought her when I still had Scott’s credit card.”

“Sara might like them, if she has a girl.”

“I’ll ask her. But that doesn’t solve my current packing problem. I want Kaylee to look her best.”

“Are you really going to do the modeling thing?” Allie asked, jumping in to hang up the clothes that had been discarded.

“I don’t know yet. Depends on what’s involved. This sounds selfish, but I’d rather keep working as an artist, even at a paltry salary, than become a stage mother to a high-fashion child model earning big bucks.”

“You really love your new job?”

“I really do. I feel so alive when I’m using my creativity. I’m finally doing something that matters.” At least, it mattered to Max. He was a hard taskmaster, but also generous with his praise. She lived to hear him tell her she’d done a good job. It was embarrassing, how her mood hung on his every word.

She tried not to place too much importance on that. It would be the same with any boss, she reasoned. She just wanted to succeed at a job that used her creativity. Scott had scoffed at the idea that she was even employable. He’d thought her “little art degree” was a joke. Her parents had sent her to college only because a society wife was expected to be educated, not because they expected her to do anything with the degree.

She wanted to prove all of them wrong.

“I’m so glad your job is working out,” Allie said.

“Me, too. So it’s doubly important I don’t mess things up by making this trip to Houston something it isn’t. I’m helping Max to make a good impression on his potential client. And if that means putting Kaylee in the magazine ad, I’ll do that, too. But that’s it. Really.”

Allie sighed.

“What?”

“I just think you and Max would be cute together. Even if he does claim to not like kids.”

That stopped her. “He actually doesn’t like kids?”

“He’s never said so. But he has a policy of not dating women with children,” Allie clarified. “So I gather he’s not that crazy about them.”

Jane thought back to his attitude her first week at the Remington Agency. Maybe he really didn’t like children. Just because he’d playacted for Ellen Lowenstein’s sake didn’t mean anything.

“Well, that does it, then,” Jane said with finality. “I’m not going to even think about hooking up with some guy who doesn’t like kids, even if he were willing, which he apparently isn’t. So stop playing matchmaker. You’ve got romance on the brain.”

“But romance is nice. A lot nicer than I imagined.” She got that dreamy look in her eye, the one she got whenever her thoughts turned to Cooper.

Jane rolled her eyes. “Just because you fell in love with a Remington doesn’t mean everyone has to.”

“Sara did. She had worse odds than you to overcome.”

“I beg to disagree. No, Allie. No, no, no. Get it out of your mind.”

Allie sighed again. “We’ll table this discussion. For now. But when you get back from Houston, I want a full report.”

JANE COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time she’d been to a baseball game. When she was dating Scott, probably, back when he was still trying to impress her as well as his boss. Before the game Scott had critiqued every aspect of her appearance down to the height of her heels and her color of nail polish. Then they’d sat in his company’s box, and Scott had paraded her in front of the company muckety-mucks like so much eye candy.

Which was exactly what she’d been. He’d even told her not to talk too much at the game, not that she’d wanted to because all anyone wanted to talk about was technology and the stock market.

Today’s experience was shaping up to be quite different. For one thing, she wore flip-flops and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

For another, they actually watched the game. Ellen Lowenstein was a rabid Astros fan. When they did talk, it was about kids and families and hometowns. Ellen was a widow with no children, as it turned out, but she loved kids and had naturally fallen into designing children’s clothes after a college internship with another kids’ clothing label. She had loads of nieces and nephews, many of whom she’d invited to tonight’s game, so their luxurious skybox was in a constant state of happy uproar.

Max pulled Jane into his conversation with Ellen at every opportunity. But at no time did he mention that he and Jane weren’t married. Kaylee split her time playing with the other kids, eating popcorn, and crawling on whatever adult would pay attention to her. Max was one. He seemed surprisingly natural with Kaylee and the other children. More playacting? Or did he have another reason for staying away from single moms?

After Kaylee referred to Max as “Max” rather than “Daddy” a few times, Jane was sure Ellen would say something. But instead she just laughed. “My niece Dana refuses to call her father ‘Daddy,’ too.”

Jane gave Max a pointed look, but he pretended not to see.

Finally, at the seventh-inning stretch, Jane cornered Max at the cooler, when they both went for bottled water at the same time. “Are you going to tell her?” she whispered.

Max looked pained. “It’s going so well.”

“It’s going to go very badly if she thinks you lied to her. The longer you wait, the worse it will be.”

“Does she really have to know? You won’t even see her again after tonight.”

“Maxwell Remington. You promised. You promised me you would tell her the truth.”

“Okay, okay. Just…not here, in front of all these people. Tomorrow we’ll have more of a business meeting, when we take the tour. I’ll tell her then.”

Jane wasn’t too pleased with his procrastination. But she didn’t feel mean enough to just blurt out the truth to Ellen. She did want Max to get the account, and her decision wasn’t completely unselfish. If Max’s agency went under, she would be without a paycheck.

“All right, but don’t expect me to lie. Not outright.”

“I don’t.”

One of the other children bumped into Max’s leg. Max steadied him with an indulgent smile.

Jane’s heart flipped. Allie was wrong-he was a natural with kids. Every time she saw him with Kaylee, so gentle, really listening to what she had to say and talking to her as if she was as important as any adult, she wanted to cry.

Why couldn’t Scott have been that kind of father? If only he had been decent to Kaylee, Jane could have overlooked all the rest. But he’d ignored her on good days and yelled at her on bad ones. When he was home at all, which was hardly ever.

If she could find a man who would be a good father to Kaylee, she would marry him, even if she didn’t love him. Her remarkable little girl deserved two caring, involved parents.

She cautioned herself not to think of Max that way. If she’d ever met a confirmed bachelor, he was it. She’d seen his “little black book,” so stuffed with names and phone numbers and cross-outs that it threatened to burst its seams. She’d seen the way women threw themselves at him. Even tonight, a couple of single women in the group were flirting with him.

He shot them down, of course. He wouldn’t want Ellen to think he was a philanderer. But if not for that, Jane guessed he would have had himself a conquest.

When the game was over, everyone’s mood was jubilant, celebrating the Astros’ win. Jane pushed her morose thoughts out of her head and joined in the laughter. How often did she get a fun-filled night like this?

Ellen had insisted they take a limo back to their hotel rather than wait in a long taxi line. Now, relaxed in the cool interior, Jane felt a strange lethargy creep over her.

Oh, yes, she could get used to this again. Being poor was a drag. Having to worry about paying the bills, having to weigh every penny she spent and forgo so many of the luxuries that had become habit-it was a lot harder than she’d thought it would be.

Her mother, ever the font of wisdom, had suggested she find herself another rich husband as quickly as she could, and Jane had turned her nose up at the advice.

But, yeah, she could get used to this.

And she could definitely get used to pretending Max was her husband. Especially when Kaylee, exhausted from all the excitement, crawled into his lap and he cuddled her just as if she really were his daughter.

Dangerous, dangerous territory.

MAX THOUGHT HE HAD NEVER seen a more angelic little girl. When she was asleep, at least. Awake, Kaylee could scream and whine and throw things with the best of them. But asleep, she was all sugar-and-spice.

Hannah had been just a little older than Kaylee when Max and her mother, Alicia, had first started dating. Back then, Max had known nothing about children. But Hannah had accepted him readily into her life, and soon the three of them had done everything as a family-pizza nights, kids’ videos. Max had even helped chaperone a slumber party, a situation that had made Cooper and Reece shudder when he told them.

It was only when Alicia had started pushing for marriage that Max had taken a step back and looked long and hard at his life. He’d come to the uncomfortable realization that he didn’t love Alicia.

He loved Hannah. He loved the warm, family feel of being around the little girl and her mother, a feeling that had been totally lacking in his own childhood. But at twenty-eight years old he’d not been ready for marriage. And even if he had been, he wouldn’t have married a woman he wasn’t in love with.

He glanced over at Jane, who was watching him.

“She’s really wiped out,” she whispered, nodding to Kaylee.

“Big day.”

“She didn’t even have a nap today, she was so excited. She’ll sleep like a stone tonight.”

“That’s good, because tomorrow’s another big day.”

The limousine stopped in front of the Hotel Alexander, and Kaylee stirred and rubbed her eyes. “We home?”

“Sort of.”

The driver opened the limo door, and Kaylee clambered off of Max’s lap to follow her mother as she exited the vehicle. “Mommy, look!” Kaylee tugged on Jane’s clothes, pointing to a giant stuffed elephant that someone was trying to fit through the revolving door, with little success.

Jane laughed. “Uh-oh. Guess that elephant had too much dinner.”

Max got out and tipped the driver, then the three of them-Max, Jane and Kaylee, the pseudo-family-headed for the hotel door.

The man with the elephant had set his stuffed toy on the ground while he shuffled his other bags and packages. The temptation was too much for Kaylee and she took off toward the giant plush animal. Unfortunately, before she could get to it an uneven paving stone tripped her up. She went flying and landed with an audible thud.

Max’s heart jumped into his throat as he and Jane rushed forward, reaching Kaylee just as she started wailing in pain and outright fury.

Before Max could caution the child not to move she pushed herself up. He saw the blood on her elbow and almost passed out. She also had a small scrape on her chin.

The hotel’s doorman rushed over. “Do you need medical help?”

“Yes!” Max shouted. “Call for an ambulance.” Dear God, Kaylee was bleeding.

But Jane was the voice of reason. “No,” she said firmly, “there’s no need for an ambulance.” She gathered up the distraught child, taking a quick inventory. “I think we’ll be all right.” She produced a tissue and blotted at the blood. “Kaylee, honey, tell me where it hurts.”

She pointed to the scrape on her arm.

“Ouchy. Let’s go to our room and put some medicine on that.”

Kaylee continued to cry, and Jane picked her up and held her close, rocking her. “Poor sweetie. I know it hurts. It’ll feel better soon.”

“Are you sure nothing’s broken?” Max asked. “We can take her to a doctor, or the emergency room-”

“Nothing’s broken. She just tripped and scraped her arm, that’s all.”

Max admired the calm, soothing way Jane handled the situation. By the time they’d reached the elevator, Kaylee was more whimpering than crying, and by the time they’d reached their two-bedroom suite on the ninth floor, she’d quieted down completely. However, her big, tear-filled eyes nearly did Max in.

He didn’t know how parents did it, watching their children in pain. Kaylee was nowhere near his daughter, but seeing her injured and bleeding was still traumatic.

Max was ashamed of himself, at the way he had readily pretended to be a father when he hadn’t earned that right. Being a father wasn’t some frivolous thing. Just because he’d held Kaylee in his lap a few times…he never should have misled Ellen. And he was determined to tell her the truth first thing tomorrow.

They had checked into their hotel earlier, but they’d been running late and so they hadn’t even seen the two-bedroom suite, just had their bags sent up. Max had been looking forward to Jane’s reaction to the luxurious accommodations. Women always went crazy over this hotel, with its tall ceilings and plaster moldings, the lush carpeting and silk draped everywhere.

But Jane’s attention was squarely on her daughter. She took her straight into the bathroom and set her down on the counter.

“Oh, shoot, my first-aid stuff is in the other bag.”

“I’ll get it.”

“It’s the small red one.”

Moments later he returned with the bag. Kaylee watched solemnly as her mother produced an antiseptic towelette to clean the scrapes. She apparently carried towelettes for every occasion.

“Ow.”

Jane blew on the scrape. “Sorry. But we have to clean you up so you don’t get any germs.” She tried to clean the cut on Kaylee’s chin, but Kaylee pushed her away.

“No, Mommy. That stuff hurts. I want Max to fix me.”

“Me?”

The child looked at him with adoring eyes. “You have Band-Aids?”

“Your mommy has bandages,” Max countered.

“You put them on.”

“She just wants attention from you because it’s novel,” Jane mumbled as she dug through her bag looking for something. “I always fuss over her. Now, Kaylee-”

“I want Max.”