The little boy ran down the hall and to his mom.
“That wasn’t very nice. He’s just a child.”
“I don’t like children. Bring the confirmed guest list in my office and we’ll go over the seating chart.”
Grabbing guest list from my desk, I followed him into his office. “What do you mean you don’t like children?”
“Exactly what I meant. I don’t like kids.” His tone was flat.
“You were a child once.”
“And I didn’t like myself. Now that I’m an adult, I like myself much better.” He winked.
“That’s a terrible thing to say, Jack.” I handed him the guest list and he looked it over.
“Do you like sharks?” he asked.
“No. Not particularly.”
“And I don’t like kids.”
I shook my head and sat there in disbelief that he would even compare a child to a shark.
“So you never plan on having a family?”
He laughed. “Who me? Do I look like a family man to you?”
“I guess not.”
“Okay, now that we’ve established that I’m not a family kind of man, let’s get this seating chart finished.”
Once the seating chart was arranged, Jack glanced up at me.
“I have some good news for you.” He smiled.
“Oh? And what would that be?”
“You’re going to Paris with me. Well, with us. Me, my mother and Coco, and a couple of other people.”#p#分页标题#e#
I swear the color from my face drained. Shit. Shit. Shit. There was no way I could go to Paris. He was leaving in a few days and I couldn’t leave Hope. I couldn’t tell him that because he had just gone on a rant about how much he hated children and he wouldn’t understand.
“I’m sorry, Jack. I can’t.”
“Excuse me?” He cocked his head.
“I would love to but...” Think, Lorelei, and make it good. “My mother is ill and I can’t leave her right now.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I hope it’s nothing serious.”
“We don’t know yet. That’s why I can’t leave the country.”
“I understand. Maybe next year. That’ll be all,” he spoke.
I walked out of his office and, when I sat down at my desk, I sank low into my chair. I couldn’t believe I lied to him about my mother being ill. What the hell was the matter with me? There was no way I could leave my daughter behind and fly off to Paris.
As the day went on, his attitude towards me was different. He was in and out of meetings all day and barely spoke two words to me.
Chapter Twelve
Lorelei
Instead of going to Central Park for lunch, I met Stella at a coffee shop down the street. As she was talking about how shitty her day was going, I blurted out, “Can you believe he hates kids?”
“Huh?” She gave me a blank stare as she bit into her croissant sandwich.
“Jack. He told me today that he hates kids.”
“Why does he hate kids?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t say. He just said he doesn’t like them.”
“You never told him about Hope, did you?”
Taking a sip of my coffee, I sighed. “No. Why would I?”
“Why wouldn’t you? He’s your boss and I sort of think he should know you have a kid. But then again, since he hates kids, he may fire you just because you have one.” She smirked. “Just keep Hope to yourself.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I have no intentions of telling him anything about my personal life.”
“Good girl.” She grabbed her purse and threw it over shoulder. “I have to run. I have a meeting in ten minutes.” She gave me light kiss on the cheek. “Try not to kill him.”
“I won’t, because if I did, then I wouldn’t have a job.” I smiled.
Before heading back to the office, I stopped at Starbucks and got Jack his usual lunchtime coffee. When I walked into his office, he was on the phone, so I set it on his desk.
“Hold on, James,” I heard him say. “Lorelei?”
“Yes.” I stopped and turned around.
“Did I ask you to get me this?”
“No, but you always want one at this time.”
“Today I don’t, so please take it away.”
My God, the man was an idiot. I took the cup from his desk and took it back to mine. If he didn’t want it, then I did. Ever since I told him I couldn’t go to Paris, he had the worst attitude with me. It was like he was holding a grudge against me for not being able to go. He walked out of his office and didn’t say a word where he was going. Good riddance was what I thought. The less he was around, the better off I was. In fact, I couldn’t wait for his dumb ass to leave for Paris.