Must Like Kids (6 page)

“Julia.” There was a brief pause during which she pictured him leaning back in his chair. Was he smiling? Then he said, “I was just thinking about you.”

The heat suffusing her face spread to other parts of her body at that. She didn’t care for the tug of excitement his words elicited. Still, she asked, “You were?”

“Yeah. I ordered a bagel and coffee from the deli up the block more than an hour ago and the deliveryman just showed up ten minutes ago, despite the promise I’d have my order in less than thirty minutes. Clearly, he could benefit from a lecture on the importance of punctuality.”

She gritted her teeth at the amusement in Alec’s tone since it came her expense. But his response was just what she needed to banish that dream. “I hope you didn’t tip him well.”

“Actually, I did. He said his bike had a flat tire and he was apologetic.”

“Well, if he was apologetic...” She left it at that, figuring she’d made her point.

“Sorry goes a long way, doesn’t it?” Alec replied amiably.

“Only when it’s offered immediately and is sincere.”

Deep laughter rumbled. “And if I told you I had a flat tire on the way to our first meeting and that was why I was late, would you still hold it against me?”

“Did you?”

“No.”

In spite of herself, she chuckled at his candid response. “You were late because you didn’t want to be there, Alec. And the apology you offered was offhanded at best.”

“I didn’t want to be there,” he agreed. “But that’s not why I was late.”

“Then what’s your excuse?”

Several beats of silence followed. “I had to take a call from my mother.”

Julia snorted. “Right.”

“So cynical.” He made a tsking noise. “So, what are you doing working on a Saturday? I recall someone telling me something about how work wasn’t her main priority. ‘It’s what I do, not who I am,’ or some such rebuke. But maybe I misunderstood.”

She ignored the barb. “I came across a few articles that I thought you might find enlightening.”

They were about child-rearing and what new parents could expect. She figured Alec could use the insight, both into what made children act the way they did and what parents went through as a result. Of course, no one really understood parenthood until they were in the trenches, living it day to day. At that point, all of the diatribes from a childless person were relegated to the trash heap.

“Are you at your office?” he asked as if she hadn’t spoken.

“On a Saturday? No way.” Then she couldn’t resist needling him. “I may decide to slip in a little work here and there on a weekend, but, unlike you, I do it from home. While I’ve been surfing the internet for information, my kids have been occupied finishing up their homework.”

“Homework! On a Saturday? That’s worse than making a high-paid corporate executive stay late for a meeting,” he told her, alluding to the remark she’d made about Alec scheduling after-hours meetings with his staff. “And you called me unpopular.”

Through the beveled glass door of the closet-sized room that served as her home office, Julia could see into the kitchen. At the table, Colin was copying down his spelling words and Danielle was working on math problems. Their sour expressions made it clear that neither one of them was happy with her at the moment.

“I’ll give you that, but it’s now or never. We have a busy weekend in store.”

‘’Right. Danielle has a soccer game today.” Julia was surprised that he remembered. She was even more surprised when he asked, “What position does she play?”

“Goalie.” Then she said, “Hey, this is good, Alec.”

“What’s good?”

“The polite interest you’re showing in my kids. This is exactly how you need to come off when you’re out at the events I have planned.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” But he didn’t sound happy about the suggestion. “For the record, I asked because I was interested. I’m not a completely lost cause.”

She felt embarrassed, small. “I didn’t mean—”

“You’re just doing your job,” he interrupted.

“I, um, yes. Still, if I hurt your feelings...”

“You didn’t.” But she wasn’t so sure. Still, he was changing the subject. “So, Danielle plays goalie?”

“Yes.” Since it gave her something else to talk about, Julia added, “The game doesn’t start until later this afternoon, but it’s going to be such a nice day that we’re heading out early to meet up with some other families for a pregame picnic.”

“A picnic, hmm? Grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, ants and the works?”

Alec didn’t sound nostalgic so much as wistful, as if such a thing were beyond his experience. Julia supposed someone who had spent much of his adolescence at a boarding school hadn’t been to many picnics. Today’s get-together would be potluck. All of the team’s families would bring a dish, with the coach kicking in the dogs and burgers. Her contribution was a fresh fruit salad and juice boxes. From previous experience, she knew there would be enough food to feed a small army.

She softened and was on the verge of inviting him to join them—as her client, she assured herself, not as her personal guest—when he said, “I’ll think of you while I’m having a late lunch in my bug-free, air-conditioned office.”

Her goodwill evaporated as quickly as it had come. And he claimed not to be a lost cause. The man was hopeless. And so not her type. The previous night’s dream popped back to mind again. Whether he was her type or not that hadn’t stopped her from fantasizing.

Irritated with herself and the inappropriate direction her thoughts kept taking, she made her tone purposefully brisk and businesslike when she said, “Getting back to the reason for my call, I’m emailing you the links to those articles I mentioned.”

She punctuated her words by hitting the send button.

“The ones you think I might find enlightening.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll look forward to reading them.” His tone was maddeningly benign.

“No, you won’t.”

“But I will read them.”

“See that you do.”

After that crisp response, Julia bid him goodbye.

* * *

Alec listened to the dial tone hum for a full minute after she hung up. See that you do. What? Did she plan a pop quiz for later? And the woman claimed that he was all work and no play. Well, she was a royal pain in the backside. A pretty one with her classic features and slender build, but a pain nonetheless.

Why then, he wondered, was he smiling?

* * *

By midafternoon, Alec had finished up his work and logged off his computer. The rest of the day, the evening in particular, loomed ahead of him, long and lonely. He could kill some time reading the articles Julia suggested. His lip curled in distaste just thinking about it.

You don’t know how to have fun.

He wanted to be able to discount the accusation since it had come from his mother. But the fact remained that it was Saturday and he’d spent the better part of the day in his office and had no plans for the evening.

He hadn’t dated much since Laurel. There was no pining involved in that decision, as he’d been the one to break things off. He’d meant it when he’d told Julia that things had run their course. No, his continuing single status had more to do with the late hours he kept at the office and, well, plain old disinterest. He hadn’t met anyone engaging or exciting...bar Julia.

Alec frowned. Did she even date? She’d managed to duck answering when he’d asked if she was seeing someone. He gathered up printouts of the articles she had suggested he read and tucked them into his briefcase to go over later. All the while, a question nagged. What kind of man would she prefer? The guy would have to like kids. That much was a given. And he would have to be comfortable around them. A family man. Not someone like Alec.

He wasn’t her type any more than she was his, which was why he found it damned annoying that, later that evening while he was out to dinner with a young woman he’d met in the spring at a fundraiser, he found himself thinking about Julia.

FOUR

Julia was the first to arrive at the office on Monday, meaning she was responsible for making the coffee. After setting it to brew, she booted up her computer. She heard the maker gurgle out the last bit of java and went to pour herself a cup. Then, seated back at her desk, she picked up the telephone and got down to work. She called Dexter Roth first, touching base with him on the progress of the marketing team’s current strategy. With that marked off her lengthy to-do list, she dialed the first of several contacts she’d plucked from her bulging Rolodex.

Over the course of a decade in business, Julia had learned which ears to plant a bug in when she needed to generate buzz. Since time was of the essence, she started with the local network television affiliates. Their morning shows, which ran on soft news, were always hungry for a hot topic to pull in viewers. Thanks to his verbal gaffe, Alec was definitely that. Indeed, she was banking on the fact that he was hot enough the networks might wind up picking up the story, too, and air it nationally. That would save them time and perhaps even some travel.

By ten o’clock, she had Alec booked for that Thursday on
Rise & Shine, Chicago!
On Friday, he was set to appear on a popular Windy City radio program
The Morning Commute with Leo & Lorraine
. Julia hadn’t cleared either time with him in advance. She figured she’d made it plain to him already that job number one at the moment was damage control. If that meant rescheduling meetings and finishing up paperwork on off hours, so be it. That shouldn’t be a problem for him since he already worked evenings and could be found in his office on weekends.

Alec didn’t sound pleased when she called him at eleven with an update on the week’s itinerary.

“
Rise & Shine, Chicago
? The last time I caught that show the featured guest was a dog that had been trained to use indoor plumbing.”

“I bet that generated good ratings for the show. My hope is that so will you.”

“Are you comparing me to a domesticated pet?”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

He mumbled something under his breath.

“Bad weekend?”

“No. It was fine. I went out on a date Saturday night. You?”

He said it like a challenge.

“Home with the kids. Boring by your standards, I’m sure. We made popcorn and watched a movie.”

“What was the movie?”

It almost pained her to say it.... “
Parent Trap
.”

She thought she heard him chuckle. Then he was all business. “I thought I was going to be doing events out in public.”

“You will do those, too,” she promised. “But the TV appearance and the radio segment will help drum up interest in the meantime and, hopefully, start to shift the current tenor of public opinion.”

Again, he muttered something she couldn’t quite catch, but he agreed, so she went on.

“You also may be getting a call from a
Sun-Times
reporter in the next day or two. I gave her both your office number and your cell. Her daughter attends school with mine. I ran into her over the weekend at Danielle’s soccer game.”

“Calling in favors?” he asked.

“I suppose it could be viewed that way, but I don’t tell Lori Mercer what to write. I offer ideas that she may or may not find intriguing enough to follow up on. If she calls you, you can set up an appointment, but get in touch with me before you do the actual interview.”

“Sure.” He waited a beat, then asked, “Did they win?”

“Who?”

“Danielle’s soccer team.”

“Oh. Yes. Two to nothing.” Even though it wasn’t necessary, she added, “She blocked a couple of really tough shots.”

“You sound proud.”

“I am. Very.” Julia was smiling when she glanced up to find her assistant standing in the open doorway. Sandy was holding the coffeepot, her brows raised in question. Julia didn’t think the question was whether or not Julia wanted a refill. Even so, she beckoned for Sandy to come in and held out her half-empty cup for a warm-up. For Sandy’s benefit as well as her own, she got back to business. “Oh, Alec, I wanted to ask, did you get the email I sent over this morning?”

“The one on the expenses involved in child-rearing? It’s been received, read and filed.” His tone made it clear what he thought about it. Odds were good the file he referred to was the circular one known as the trash can.

“I sent that one over the weekend. I’m referring to the one I sent about an hour ago.”

“Let me check my email.” She heard clicking, then a mild expletive. “Media talking points?”

“That’s the one.”

“Are you kidding me?”

She considered the question rhetorical and didn’t answer it. “Don’t just give the article a cursory glance before setting it aside. You need to read it, study it. I want you to
memorize
it.”

She was pretty sure she heard a sigh. “So, I am to stay on script at all times,” he replied.

“Exactly.” Julia pictured the corners of Alec’s mouth pulling down in a frown. It was a nice mouth, one that had featured prominently in her dream.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“No!” She cleared her throat. “Actually, yes. I’ve been in touch with a couple of bloggers, including Jan Owens. Have you heard of her?”

“Should I have?”

“She trashed you big-time after the article came out.”

“A lot of people did, Julia. I didn’t think to take down all of their names,” was his dry response.

“Yes, well, not all of them have her reach. She’s one of the reasons the story went viral. She writes a blog called Mommy’s Helper. Have you heard of it?”

“No. But I’m sure the company’s marketing team has.”

“Yes, I’ve talked to Dexter Roth.”

“You’ve talked to Dexter?”

Alec’s tone told her he wasn’t happy to be left out of the loop. She couldn’t blame him for that, so she hastened to add, “I spoke to him only this morning. I’m sure he’s planning to talk to you. Now, about Jan Owens’s
blog, it connects stay-at-home moms with products and services that are supposed to make their lives easier and their kids healthier, happier and smarter.”

“What does she do? Wield a magic wand?”