She laughed. “It’s only a plain Policy Advisor position and the pay is pretty low, but it’s a start.”
“The pay is fine,” I replied, remembering the pay scale for that position that I’d read. Professor Turner had sent Alexa a job description which had the pay scale attached. It was pretty decent, all things considered. You needed a master’s degree to even be interviewed, so that meant the pay scale was higher than the usual entry level policy job, but I told her she didn’t have to worry about money.
“It’s the principle of the thing,” Alexa replied. “I don’t want to be taken advantage of because I’m not finished my PhD. When I am, I can apply for Senior Policy Advisor positions.”
I smiled and admired her ambition. She wasn’t doing it for the money, but for the love, and I admired that. It was what guided me in my endeavors, and it was nice to have a partner who felt the same way about work and life in general.
I kissed her goodbye and waved Leif’s hand as Alexa took the elevator down to the lobby where the limo was waiting to take her to the UN.
I could imagine how excited she must be at the prospect of interviewing for such a good job — probably as excited as I had been when signing the final papers that sealed the deal with Hanson and Seneca to create the business consortium for our joint venture.
For the next hour and a half, while I waited for Alexa to return, Leif and I went for a walk along the Hudson, enjoying the afternoon sun. If Alexa got the job, it would start in a mere four weeks, so I wanted to make sure we all had lots of together time before then. We were planning on going to the beach house on the weekend to go sailing, and the Dixons were arriving on Friday after lunch to sit with Leif. It would be one of our last weekends at the beach house and we were all excited about the trip.
We were no longer worried about staying at the beach house. Police had been able to elicit a confession from the hood that he and Blaine had conspired to break into the beach house, where the hood was planning doing more than just steal electronics or jewelry.
Blaine had hired him to kill Alexa.
The hood had accepted the money, and claimed he had no intention of killing her, but wanted to check the house out and see why Blaine was so crazy. We had no idea if his story was true, but whatever the case, it meant that Blaine was taken back into custody and would now be charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
He would not be getting out anytime soon and that meant that finally, Alexa could relax.
* * *
Leifand I arrived back at the penthouse, and I gave him a bottle of expressed breastmilk and then put him down for his afternoon nap. I spent some time cleaning up the kitchen, and then settled down in front of my laptop on the sofa, waiting for news from Alexa about how the job interview went.
Sure enough, around three thirty, I heard my cell ding and read the text from her.
ALEXA: It went really well. They said they’d let me know on Monday.
LUKE: Great! We can enjoy the weekend sailing and then you’ll know one way or the other when we get back.
ALEXA: I hope I get it. It sounds really interesting. Perfect, in fact.
LUKE: I’m sure you’re a great candidate. See you when you get home.
ALEXA: I’ll be there in fifteen. Just got into the limo.
LUKE: Shall I order in?
ALEXA: You know it. Your choice. XO
LUKE: OX
I smiled as I imagined her ride back in the limo. She’d be feeling on top of the world, and so I decided to top it off with an order of Chinese from our favorite local restaurant.
When Alexa arrived, Leif was just waking up from his nap and so she went in and got him up, still wearing her power suit.
“There you are, my little man,” she said and kissed him as she laid him on the change table. “Did you have fun with Mr. Big Daddy while I was out?”
“We had a nice time walking along the boardwalk.”
“Good,” Alexa said and when she was finished changing him, we all went into the kitchen where I poured us each something to drink — me some good craft beer, and Alexa her usual non-alcoholic wine spritzer.
“I think the interview went really well,” Alexa said and held up her bottle. “They were really happy with the nature of my dissertation research and felt that we were a good match in terms of interests and research background.”
“Good,” I said and smiled. “Of course, they were impressed. You got scholarships and great grades. They’d be lucky to have you.”
“I hope so.”
For the rest of the night, we played with Leif and when he went to bed, we played with each other until the two of us were both exhausted and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
* * *