The Good Father Read online

  Max sat back down with a thud. “I remember he made some threats, but I thought that was just heat-of-the-moment stuff. Did he actually think we were involved? Based on one conversation?”

  Jane nodded. “He thought I was having affairs with everyone, from his brother to the pool boy. But in you, he found someone he could actually damage. And not just with his fists. He knew where you came from, all about your family. He could have caused you considerable embarrassment with his lies, if nothing else.”

  “Why didn’t you let him? You barely know me. He couldn’t have proved anything.”

  She blew out a breath and massaged her temples with two well-manicured fingers. “You seemed like a nice guy. You didn’t deserve to have Scott as an enemy. He wouldn’t have been able to prove anything, but by the time we went to court, the damage would have been done.”

  They sat silently for a few moments. She was right—he did owe her. Still…

  “I can’t believe I just did that,” Jane said finally. “Trying to force your hand. It was something Scott would do. Please, forget I even brought this up.” She stood and gathered her things. “I don’t want to be hired if I’m not the best qualified.”

  “Wait a minute, Jane—”

  “No, really, it’s okay. This never would have worked out, not with this history between us. I shouldn’t have even sent my résumé in. I’ll see myself out.”

  She fled his office, and he let her go before he said or did anything he’d regret. He watched the way her hips moved when she walked, the little hitch that said she was only the hottest woman he’d ever met in his life. But he couldn’t think about that, he had to think about the big picture.

  He felt sorry for her, he really did. She was obviously in dire straits if she would resort to using guilt to get him to hire her.

  She had talent—lots of talent. She needed the job, which meant she would work hard to please Max and his clients. Her salary demands as outlined in her résumé were modest, unlike those of the candidate he’d been leaning toward.

  Max took a sip from his coffee cup and grimaced when he realized it was left over from this morning and stone cold.

  Had he really been a factor in Jane’s divorce? Allie was tight-lipped where Jane was concerned. But she’d given him the impression that Jane’s marriage had been on the rocks long before Max’s ill-fated flirtation that had resulted in a black eye and a fat lip.

  Max sauntered into the reception area, where Carol presided over their only coffeepot. He’d ordered another one for the office break room, but it hadn’t yet arrived.

  “What in the world did you do to that girl?” Carol asked. “She flew out of here like her hair was on fire.”

  “We have a history,” Max said, hoping that would end the matter, but of course it didn’t. Carol always wanted to know everything that was going on and she had an unhealthy interest in Max’s love life. But she was very good at her job, juggling phone calls and packages, soothing ruffled feathers and keeping all those plants alive. She was a keeper, even if she was a tad nosy.

  Carol removed her reading glasses and arched one well-plucked eyebrow at him. “I gathered that. I guess you aren’t going to hire her.”

  “Actually…I’m thinking about it.”

  “Mm-mm, Mr. Remington, are you letting your hormones make decisions for you? I’ll admit Jane Selwyn is a beautiful woman, but—”

  “She’s very talented. And she needs the job.” That was something Carol should understand. She was recently divorced, too, and she hadn’t been the most qualified candidate, either. But he’d followed his instincts and hired her. His instincts seldom led him astray.

  So what were his instincts telling him about Jane?

  The jury was still out.

  “THANK YOU SO MUCH for looking after Kaylee,” Jane told her friend Sara, who happened to be married to Reece Remington, another of Max’s cousins. Port Clara had experienced something of a Remington invasion back in the spring, when the three cousins had inherited the fishing business from their uncle.

  Jane thought it rather peculiar that two of her best friends were now married to Remingtons, but they all seemed so happy. Around them, she always tried to reflect back that happily-ever-after feeling they both radiated.

  “I’ll watch her any time.” Sara still held on to Jane’s three-year-old and seemed reluctant to turn her loose. “She’s so good. Plus, when I have my own kid I’m hoping you’ll return the favor.” Sara patted her tummy, though her pregnancy didn’t show at all yet.

  Jane sighed and sank into one of the overstuffed chairs at the Sunsetter Bed-and-Breakfast, which Sara and Reece had recently bought. “How much could I make as a babysitter in Port Clara? That may be all that’s left for me.”

  “So the interview didn’t go well?”

  “It went about as badly as an interview can go. To start with, Max has already made a hiring decision. He saw me out of courtesy, probably because of my association with Allie and Cooper. But I lost it. I acted like a harpy. I told him he owed me because it was his fault…” She stopped abruptly, not wishing to talk about Scott or the divorce in front of Kaylee. Her daughter, almost four, was growing bigger and smarter every day. She was a sponge, soaking up everything she heard and often repeating it.

  Sara understood anyway, and her eyes widened. “Jane, you didn’t.”

  “It just came out of my mouth.”

  “It wasn’t really Max’s fault…was it?”

  “No. Scott and I were attempting a reconciliation that weekend, but it never would have worked. If it hadn’t been that incident, it would have been another.

  “I know it’s all for the best. But that doesn’t change the fact that I need work and I just blew my last chance.”

  “You know,” Sara said cautiously as she disentangled Kaylee’s grasping hands from her long, curly brown hair, “I could ask Reece to put in a good word—”

  “No, please. This whole thing has been humiliating enough. I’m an intelligent, responsible adult with a college education. I should be able to get a job based on that. I refuse to use connections to get what I want. That’s too much like…well, you know.”

  Sara sank into her own chair, shifting Kaylee onto her lap. “I was so sure that job would work out for you. You’re exactly what Max needs. Are you positive there’s no chance?”

  “Max wouldn’t hire me if hell froze over.” She paused, then said something she’d only toyed with before today. “I’ll have to sell the boat.”

  “Oh, no. You love the Princess II.”

  “It’s an extravagance, and I can’t even sail it without help. If I sold it, I would have enough money to tide me over until I get on my feet.”

  Jane’s cell phone rang and she immediately perked up, hoping it might be another job lead. She’d dropped résumés all over town, and even a few in Corpus Christi, though the larger city was almost an hour’s drive from Port Clara.

  “Jane Selwyn.”

  “Jane, it’s Max Remington. The job is yours if you want it.”

  Chapter Two

  By eleven o’clock on Jane’s first day of work at the Remington Agency, she was terrified Max would fire her before lunch.

  She hadn’t been all that strong in computer skills at school, and what little she’d learned was woefully out-of-date. Her first assignment was to lay out a simple ad for a new restaurant. Max had given her everything she needed—copy, photo and graphics. She could see the ad in her mind. But getting the computer program to do her bidding was an effort in frustration. So far she’d spent more time reading the manual than actually getting anything done.

  She had finally figured out how to size her photo and adjust the color balance when Max tapped on her partially open office door and stuck his head in.

  “Is the ad done yet?”

  “Um, no, not quite yet. When do you need it?”

  “Five o’clock today.”

  “Okay.”

  “Want me to pick up lunch for you?”r />
  “Sure, that would be wonderful.” It was a cinch she wouldn’t have time to go out to eat. She would be lucky to get this sucker done before she had to leave at 2:45 to pick up Kaylee from preschool.

  She had arranged for an after-school babysitter, but Mrs. Billingsly couldn’t start until next week. Jane had explained about her shortened workdays to Max, who hadn’t taken the news with a smile. He probably already regretted hiring her.

  Jane reached for her purse in her desk drawer, intending to give Max some money, but he waved it away. “I’ll take care of it. But you will get the ad done, won’t you?”

  “I’m doing my best.”

  Max flashed a strained smile. “Great.”

  Jane returned her attention to the screen and yelped in surprise. Her photo had turned green. The people looked like Martians. She must have hit the Okay button by mistake when she was adjusting the color balance.

  She held her breath and hit Control-Z, the panacea for undoing mistakes, and thankfully the photo turned back to its normal colors.

  Jane worked steadily, making slow progress and glancing worriedly at the clock.

  By 2:45 she had everything roughed in like she wanted it—but she needed to make some refinements. Now that she was getting the hang of it, she found the graphics program to be incredibly powerful. She could certainly be finished by five—if she didn’t have to pick up Kaylee.

  She grabbed her purse and attempted to slip out of the office unnoticed, but as luck would have it, Max came into the hallway just as she did.

  “Oh, Jane. Are you done with the ad?”

  “Um, almost. I have to pick up Kaylee. But I’m coming back, and I’ll finish up before five, for sure.” She turned away from him and headed for the exit.

  “Wait. You’re bringing your daughter here?”

  Jane turned back slowly. “That was the plan.”

  “Jane, this is a place of business. It’s not a day-care center.”

  “This is an unusual situation. Once I have my babysitter, this won’t be a problem. I did explain that to you, right?”

  “Yes, but that was before I knew you would take all day to do an ad that should have taken you a couple of hours.”

  “I haven’t been wasting time, really. Most of today was spent learning the program. Anyway, I only need a few more minutes to finish up, and Kaylee won’t cause any problems, I promise.” She mentally crossed her fingers. Kaylee was very well behaved most of the time. But every so often she still threw a hideous tantrum, a holdover from the Terrible Twos. Just please, don’t let it be today.

  He tried again. “The office isn’t a safe place for a child.”

  “She’ll be fine. I’ll keep her with me in my office. You won’t know she’s here.”

  Max clearly wasn’t happy about the arrangements, but he didn’t argue further. “The ad will be done by five? And you’ll e-mail it to me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Finally he relaxed his stance. “All right.”

  “I really have to go or I’ll be late. They charge extra if I’m late picking up, and I can’t afford it.”

  “Do you need an advance on your salary?” he asked suddenly. “’Cause if you need money for food or something—”

  “That’s not necessary,” she said quickly. “I’m okay.” She hurried away, pondering the Jekyll-and-Hyde routine. First Max was Simon Legree, then he was Mother Teresa.

  She was a bit surprised at his hard-nosed attitude regarding children. The corporation where Scott worked as a marketing manager featured its own day-care center and liberal policies for working parents. She knew Max’s company was tiny by comparison, but his attitude seemed antiquated.

  Well, some people were simply uncomfortable around children, she reasoned. That was something to keep firmly in mind whenever her heart did its annoying little pitter-pat in his presence.

  Yes, he’d done her a huge favor by hiring her. But that was no reason to feel anything but professional toward him.

  Kaylee was cranky when Jane picked her up from the private Montessori school, which Jane’s mother had offered to pay for. Her mother had warned her that if she divorced Scott, she shouldn’t expect to move back home and live off her parents’ largesse, not that Jane would have considered that. But when Jane had told her mother about her new job, Wanda Selwyn had tut-tutted about young children needing their mothers, then had offered to pay tuition if Jane would enroll Kaylee in the best preschool available.

  “Just because you’ve made some foolish decisions, that’s no reason your child should suffer,” Wanda had proclaimed. Wanda wasn’t so much upset about the divorce as she was about the settlement her daughter had accepted. Jane hadn’t confided her reasons for bowing to Scott’s unreasonable demands.

  Jane had been willing to listen to a sermon or two if it solved some of her child-care problems. Though Max hadn’t taken her up on her offer to work for free, her starting salary wasn’t much more than she could have earned as a waitress. But he’d promised her raises would be forthcoming once she proved herself.

  “I don’t like that place,” Kaylee proclaimed as Jane buckled her into her car seat.

  “Really? What don’t you like?”

  “Icky food.”

  “Maybe you’ll like tomorrow’s lunch better. Is that all?”

  “Billy took my bunny. He’s mean.”

  “Oh.” Jane slid behind the steering wheel, wondering what the appropriate advice was. Should she encourage Kaylee to share? Or was this mean boy a bully, someone Kaylee should stand up to? Lord knew she wanted to teach her daughter to be independent and learn to solve her own problems.

  Jane’s parents had not raised her to be independent. They had raised her to be a rich man’s wife. Looking back at her marriage with some hindsight, she now knew she had been drawn to the security Scott offered her. She had convinced herself she was in love with the handsome but overbearing man, and she had mistaken Scott’s possessiveness for love.

  Truth was, she didn’t really know what love was, only that her and Scott’s relationship had been unhealthy from the start. But she had been too scared to leave him, too scared to try to make it on her own. It was only when his behavior began to border on abusive that she’d filed for divorce—before he could carry out any of his threats.

  “Macaroni for dinner, Mommy?” Kaylee asked, the bunny incident apparently forgotten.

  “Absolutely. But first I have to finish some work at my new job.”

  “What’s a job?”

  “You know. Like Daddy goes to work every day to his job. Now I have a job. I…draw pictures, and I get paid money for them.”

  Kaylee frowned. Her father’s long working hours had been a continual source of friction in their family. Maybe Kaylee believed her mother would stay away all the time, too. No doubt about it, Jane’s job would require a lot of adjustments. Kaylee was used to having almost constant access to her mother.

  “I’ll be going to my job every day to work,” Jane said. “But I’ll be home every night for dinner. We’ll still play together and I’ll tuck you in and read you a story every night.”

  Kaylee still looked worried. She was growing so fast, getting more complex every day. Jane usually had no idea what was going on behind her daughter’s bright blue eyes. The child had taken her parents’ breakup reasonably well. Not having her father around wasn’t much different than before the divorce, as Scott had spent very little time at home. He had either been working, playing golf or dragging Jane around to this party or that while Kaylee stayed home with a sitter.

  Once parked at the office building, Jane grabbed a tote bag filled with favored toys, unbuckled Kaylee from her car seat and walked with her inside the cool lobby.

  Carol looked surprised to see the child, but then her face melted into a smile. “What an adorable little girl!”

  “This is my daughter, Kaylee,” Jane said. “Kaylee, this is Ms. Washington.”

  Kaylee held out her favorite yellow bab
y 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?”