girl!”
“This is my daughter, Kaylee,” Jane said. “Kaylee, this is Ms. Washington.”
Kaylee held out her favorite yellow baby blanket, now tattered and faded. “This is my blankie.”
“And a very nice blankie it is, too,” Carol said.
“My after-school child care doesn’t start until next week,” Jane said, then lowered her voice. “Is Mr. Remington here?”
“No, he’s out calling on clients.”
“Oh.” She was actually relieved. Bringing her daughter to the office on her very first day was unprofessional and she knew it. But she simply didn’t have a choice in the matter.
“Did you need something?” Carol asked.
“No. I just have a tiny bit of work to finish up, and I thought he’d be here to approve it before I left for the day.”
“Oh, don’t worry. If he doesn’t like something, you’ll hear about it.”
“Really?” From what Allie had said-and what little Jane had previously observed-she thought Max was the easygoing, laid-back Remington cousin. He’d been somewhat testy with her earlier, but she’d attributed that to anxiety over his deadline.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good boss,” Carol said. “I mean, I’ve only been working for him a short time, but he’s fair-minded and flexible. You always know exactly what he wants from you, so you aren’t expected to read his mind like with some bosses.
“But he does want things a certain way, and he’s not shy about telling you.”
“You mean he’s a perfectionist?”
“Yeah.” Carol nodded. “That’s a fair description. But not in a nitpicky way. You’ll see what I mean.”
“Mommy.” Kaylee tugged on the hem of Jane’s skirt. “Can I get a drink?” She pointed to the gurgling fountain.
Oh, Lord, she could just imagine Max returning to the office and finding Kaylee with her head in his fountain.
Carol grinned. “We have some juice in the break room. You want me to watch her while you work?”
“Oh, would you? That would be great.”
“You come with Aunt Carol,” Carol said to Kaylee, standing and holding out her hand. “We’ll see if we can find juice and a yummy snack in the break room.” Carol looked at Jane. “Is that okay?”
“Sure. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
Jane hurried to her office, listening for sounds of Kaylee’s displeasure at being abandoned. But she seemed to take to Carol, which wasn’t surprising; Kaylee wasn’t a clingy, shy child and usually was happy to meet new people.
As Jane worked on the ad, making only small adjustments now and feeling slightly more confident with her graphics program, she could hear her daughter’s happy but shrill voice and laughter coming from the break room down the hall.
When the ad was as good as Jane knew how to make it, she e-mailed it to Max as per instructions. She looked at her watch, surprised that it was nearly five o’clock. That had taken far longer than she’d expected. Time flew by so quickly when she was engrossed in something creative.
Thank God for Carol. If Jane had been forced to divide her time between her computer and entertaining Kaylee, she never would have made the deadline.
Jane found her purse and headed out of her office, grateful she had survived her first day of work. Just as she closed her door, she heard Max’s voice and froze, torn. Part of her wanted to see him and have him look at the ad. His approval was important to her on this, her first assignment. But another part of her wanted to make a clean getaway. Max was exciting to be around, but a little draining on her, too. She was ready to share mac-and-cheese with her daughter and decompress.
“Who’s that?” she heard Max ask.
Oh, no. He was in the break room with Carol and Kaylee.
“This is Jane’s daughter, Kaylee. Kaylee, can you say hi to Mr. Remington?”
If Kaylee said anything, it was too quiet for Jane to hear.
“I’m watching her while Jane finishes up some work.”
“And don’t you have work to do? What if a client arrives? Is anyone answering the phone?” He sounded decidedly grouchy.
Darn, Jane hadn’t meant to get Carol in trouble.
“I can hear the door chime and the phone from here,” Carol said, not sounding at all bothered by Max’s reprimand. Then again, she was probably a good ten years older than Max and seemed pretty sure of herself.
“Well, I hope this isn’t going to be a regular thing. Having a child running around the office isn’t the kind of image I’m trying to project.”
Carol grumbled something Jane couldn’t make out.
“Did she at least finish the ad she’s been working on?”
“I don’t know.”
Jane decided she’d done enough skulking around in the hallway, eavesdropping. She strode toward the break room and entered boldly. “Oh, hello, Max. I hadn’t realized you were back.”
“Mommy!” Kaylee, who’d been scribbling in a coloring book, flew out of her chair and attached herself to Jane’s leg.
Jane leaned down to pick up her little girl. “Have you been a good girl for Ms. Washington?”
Kaylee nodded. “We ate Goldfish and juice-”
“And some apple slices,” Carol interjected, probably so Jane would know the snack had been somewhat nutritious.
“-and we played horsey and colored in the book-”
“Excuse me,” Max said, looking more and more irritated, “but can we finish our business before you’re off in Mommy Land?”
“Yes, of course, Max. What is it?”
“Is the ad done? Please tell me it’s done.”
“Of course it’s done,” she said calmly, as if she’d finished it ages ago. “It should be in your inbox as we speak.”
He bolted out of the room.
“He’s mean, Mommy.”
Carol laughed. “Not mean. Just not into kids, I don’t think. Listen, you better hit the road before Mr. Remington looks at that ad and decides he wants changes.”
“Oh, but it’s perfect,” Jane said, alarmed to think she might have more work to do. “I’m sure he’ll be pleased with it.” The finished product had been beautiful, even if she did say so herself.
“One thing you better learn fast in this business, honey. No matter how hard you work, no matter how perfect it is when you let go of it, the boss will always want changes and the client will, too. The sooner you realize that and don’t let it bother you, the better.”
Jane nodded. “Point taken.” She quickly gathered up Kaylee’s toys and stuffed them into the tote bag. “C’mon, princess. Let’s go home and have some macaroni.”
They’d almost cleared the reception area when Jane heard her name. She considered scooting out the door and pretending she hadn’t heard. But since Max had bellowed at her loudly enough to shake the walls, she decided she better obey the summons.
She sighed. Oh, God, what if he hated the ad?
He appeared in the doorway to the reception room just as she reached to open it. “Oh, there you are. I thought I’d missed you.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Not much, really. The ad is beautiful. Really, Jane, you have such an eye for color and composition. There’s just one teeny-tiny problem.”
“What?”
“You left off the client’s logo.”
