Chapter 8
I grinned to myself as I marched down the sidewalk and reached the new office building. Summer was finally ending, and I couldn’t be happier about the light breeze today. Plus, I was early to work for once, and Jeff was going to be shocked.
You shouldn’t care what he thinks.
My smile faltered just a bit, but then I shook my head and ignored the stupid voice.
When I walked into the half-circle office area, my grin faded as I widened my eyes.
Who was that ?
My jaw dropped and my heart raced as I took in the sight of a short, bleach-blonde woman wearing a sun hat, her tiny wrist—adorned with at least five bracelets—resting on the receptionist's desk where she sat.
She started turning toward me, and I reminded myself to keep walking and try to act normal.
She had dark, shiny sunglasses and large, dangly earrings and—
Wait a minute. That face …
“Welcome to the office! How can I help you?” the high-pitched voice called out as this woman—no, a young girl!
—removed her sunglasses and smiled a toothy grin.
She had the most adorable gap between her teeth, and her face was covered in bright makeup that most people would call gaudy, but on her, it looked cute.
“Hi, I’m Roxy. I work here.” I pointed my hand vaguely in the direction of my temporary office. “And you are? ”
“I work here too. I’m Ms. Lila, the new receptionist. I just turned eight this year.”
I fought to keep the smile off my face. “Oh, I didn’t realize we’d hired someone. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Lila.”
“Honey, we talked about this,” Jeff’s voice called out as he walked up to the girl and put an arm around her. “You’re not the receptionist. Leave poor Roxanne alone.” Despite the serious words, he nuzzled her head and kissed her forehead.
“Oh, are you … is that …” I trailed off, at a loss.
“This is my daughter, Lila.” He turned to the girl.
“Roxanne is someone I work with here.” His eyes shifted back to me and slowly moved down to my feet and then back up to my face.
I immediately felt self-conscious about the long, yellow floral dress I’d chosen to wear.
I couldn’t recall another time he’d paid any attention to what I wore.
It wasn’t a bad feeling exactly, but definitely a strange one.
My shock was evidently still obvious as the girl laughed and said, “It’s OK, we won’t bite. Very often.”
I chuckled, feeling some of the tension drain from my body. “Whew, good to know. It’s nice to meet you, Lila.” I took a slow breath before my eyes shifted back to Jeff’s. “I didn’t realize it was Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.”
His expression clouded over. “It’s not. But sometimes she accompanies me to work when her mother drops her off unexpectedly. I didn’t expect you this early. I hope this won’t be a problem for you.”
“Oh, no, not a problem at all!” I said quickly while smiling as serenely as I could. “I’m happy you’re here, Lila. I was just surprised. But it’s a pleasant surprise.”
Now I wouldn’t have to be alone with Jeff! That was a relief.
“OK, are you sure you don’t mind?” Jeff asked cautiously. “I know we decided to work in the office a few days a week to meet with the consultants. But if you have a problem—”
“I don’t. It’s fine.”I smiled, but it was a wobbly one.
What did he think of me anyway? That I hated children?
Just because I didn’t plan to have children myself didn’t mean I didn’t like them.
And the only reason I didn’t want kids myself was something I rarely admitted: Parenting would just be another thing I’d fail at—and, even worse, I’d probably pass along my worst traits to innocent children. It seemed immoral.
“She’s so pretty, Daddy.”
My eyes flew back to the girl, but before I could respond, Jeff said gruffly, “That’s not really appropriate in a workplace, Lila.”
I made a dismissive motion with my hands. “Thank you, Lila. You’re very kind. And you look gorgeous, I must say.”
Her eyes lit up. “You like my look today? Dad rolled his eyes when I was putting on the makeup in his car mirror, but I think I look amazing.”
“You absolutely do,” I said warmly.
The girl had a positive self-image … during my brief stint as a therapist, I often observed a connection between parenting and self-image.
And this very topic was one of the reasons I was so excited to support Hazel in opening a counseling center for women with body image issues and related concerns.
So this could mean … Jeff might be a pretty decent parent.
Who knew? I shook my head at the unkind thought.
I might not like him very much, but I shouldn’t be so shocked that he might be a good dad. I shouldn’t be so quick to judge.
I turned to him with a tentative smile. “She is lovely, Jeff. I’m happy you brought her in. Will you both be staying all day, or … ?
“Mom’s picking me up later.”
“She should be here any minute, actually,” Jeff added.
Lila’s face fell as she turned to him. “Oh, I thought we were going to spend most of the day together, Daddy.”
His face took on a tender expression I’d never seen on him. “I wish, sweetie. But work is really busy this week, and your mother said she wanted to take you to brunch.”
Lila nodded, a flash of disappointment crossing her adorable face before being quickly replaced with an excited smile aimed at me. “Until she comes, can I hang out with you, Roxanne?”
“No, she is busy—”
“I’d love that, Lila,” I interrupted him. “And please call me Roxy.”
Her smile widened further. “OK, Roxy!” She looked up at her father briefly before running around the desk and darting toward me. Just before reaching me though, she tripped on her high heels, which were obviously too big for her, and fell toward me.
I caught her, which surprised me as I’m not often quick to react to sudden events. “Lila, I’ve got you. Are you all right?”
Jeff walked over but seemed unconcerned.
She giggled. “NBD. I’m a klutz, Mom always says. It’s not a normal day if I don’t trip or bump into something at least a few times.”
“Oh … well, I’m glad you’re all right.” My eyes shifted to Jeff briefly, whose arms were crossed over his chest.
“I won’t even ask what NBD is,” he said.
Lila rolled her eyes dramatically. “It’s no big deal, Daddy.”
“I know it’s not,” he said with a shrug as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his pleated black pants.
Lila burst into laughter, and I couldn’t help chuckling with her. “Daddy, you’re hopeless. NBD stands for no big deal .”
The corner of his lips twitched upward as though he was holding back a smile or laughter. Who was this guy?
“All right, Lila,” I said. “Let’s head over toward that side, and I’ll show you my office.”
It wasn’t really my office, just a temporary workspace for now. I still didn’t know what kind of role I wanted to assume in Hazel’s new business, if any. Yet another to-do: Figure out what to do with my life.
As I took a step in the direction of the office, I felt the lightest hand on my sleeve, just briefly. I stilled. Jeff had never touched me willingly before, and even though this was barely even a touch, I felt my breath hitch .
His voice was gruff as he asked, “Are you sure?”
I stared into his eyes. This close, I realized they were not brown after all. “Hazel,” I whispered, unable to look away.
His eyebrows rose ever so slightly as I realized what I’d just said. I’d just admitted to noticing his beautiful eye color.
“Um, Hazel, our boss …” I trailed off, trying to think of something. “I just remembered she—she’s going to be out of town tomorrow. Going to meet with Sofia. That’s her literary agent in Minneapolis.”
Jeff crossed his arms again over his chest, which was far too close and too … wide. Firm. How had I never noticed—
“I know, Roxanne. She emailed us both yesterday.”
I couldn’t read his expression, so I simply nodded. “Oh, OK. I just wanted to make sure.”
He eyed me in a peculiar way. “You—”
“Daddy, stop monopolizing Roxy!” cried an impatient girl standing in my office doorway, making me chuckle.
Jeff shrugged. “OK, sweetie. She’s all yours.” Then he turned to me with a serious expression. “If she needs me, please just come get me and shout across the hall.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said before pivoting toward the office, not looking back to see if he was watching. Then again, why would he be? I shook my head briefly to shake off the weird thought.
“Sorry for the delay, Lila,” I said, smiling warmly at her. “Come on in.”
She had a skip in her step as she entered the office and dashed around the space, looking at everything, which wasn’t much.
My desk was currently a folding table with a desk chair, and there was a small bookcase, a plain floor lamp, and one of those motivational posters on the only wall that wasn’t covered in 1970s-style flowery wallpaper.
“Well, this is fun. It needs some decorating, right? But I love a good project!” She laughed and waved her hands around.
“It needs a ton of work, yes. It’s just my temp workspace until we get the interior designers in here.
They were meant to come last month, but we had some scheduling conflicts …
” I noticed her eyes glazing over and then shifting to the lone window, so I stopped.
Of course, she’s eight and probably didn’t care about such details.
“Anyway, what brings you to the office today? No school?” I asked brightly.
“Summer break, duh.” She plopped down on my desk chair and spun around. The desk chair was the only thing in the room that was nice … so far. I couldn’t work in a terrible chair, I’d told Jeff, and he’d surprisingly relented when I asked to purchase a chair before the other furniture came in.
“This chair is fun ,” she said, dragging out the last word as she spun ever faster and then suddenly stopped, making a goofy face and giggling.
“I bet you’re dizzy now,” I observed with a grin.