Employed by the Boss (Managing the Bosses 7)

Her mother was standing on the threshold.

“What are you doing here?” Jamie asked before the words had even finished running through her thoughts.

“Is that any way to treat your mother?” Her mother demanded, pushing past her and Jake and into the house while Jamie stared. She was followed by a guy who looked… to be about Jamie’s age. If not younger.

He gave her a once-over as he passed, and Jamie’s jaw tightened. “It is when she shows up at your house after being totally out of touch for months,” Jamie said. Jake strained at her hand on his collar. “With some stranger in tow.”

“Oh,” her mother said, waving a negligent hand. “This is Nate. He’s my boyfriend.”

Only sheer force of will kept Jamie’s jaw from dropping. Her boyfriend? Was her mother kidding? Was she insane? “Mom, he’s younger than I am.”

“And?” her mother shot back, already heading for the kitchen.

Jamie let go of Jake’s collar, and hurried to get in front of her mother. No way was she letting her anywhere near the twins without close supervision. The dog rushed up to Nate, sniffing at his ankles. “Mom,” Jamie tried again, “what are you doing here?”

“I want to see my grandkids. Is that too much to ask? I know that you’re selfish, Jamie, but you should at least have enough empathy to let a woman meet her grandchildren.”

Jamie pursed her lips, and stepped between her mother and the highchairs that were her obvious goal. “Alex wouldn’t want you to be here without his permission.”

“Oh, so now you’re letting your husband make decisions for you?” Her mother laughed. “I should’ve known. You never could do anything by yourself. And I see that you regained that weight you lost. Pregnancy is no excuse. It’s been three—almost four—months. You should have done something about it by now.”

Jamie bit back the retort on the tip of her tongue, and looked at Nate, who was edging carefully away from Jake and toward her mother. He looked up at her through a fringe of brown hair, and his expression was apologetic.

“Yeah, thanks, Mom. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“At least the babies are good-looking,” her mother said, moving around her toward the highchairs. Jamie couldn’t block her without actively standing in her way, and she wasn’t quite ready to do that. “But then again, Alex Reid is a very good-looking man.”

Her mother bent down over the highchairs and wiggled her fingers at the babies in a wave. Both of them looked at her with wide blue eyes and didn’t respond, obviously unsure what to do about the stranger in their midst.

Jamie reached for her phone while her mother was distracted, and shot Alex a text.

“So,” her mother said, straightening up and giving the jar of mashed banana on the table a look. “I hope that you’re feeding them well.”

Jamie wanted to ask if she wasn’t worried about them getting fat, but she didn’t really feel like dealing with the fallout of that question. “I know what to feed my babies, Mom, but thanks.”

“I’m just asking,” her mother said. “I’m their grandma. I’m supposed to care about them.”

And you were supposed to care about your daughters, too, but that didn’t seem to be so important to you, Jamie thought. “Sure,” she said, jaw clenched tight.

“Where’s your bathroom?” her mother asked, like she had no idea that Jamie was upset with her.

“Just down the hall that way,” Jamie said, pointing. “It’s the open door.”

“I’ll be right back,” her mother said and headed down the hall, disappearing through the bathroom door.

Jamie sagged against the table and look

ed up at Nate, who still hadn’t said a word. “Are you sure you made a good decision with her?” Jamie asked, unable to stop herself.

He looked at her, not batting an eye. “I’m happy with my decision, thanks.”

“Well, good for you.”

She glanced down at her phone again, and found an answering text from Alex. On my way.

Thank freakin’ goodness. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with her mother alone for the rest of the afternoon. She had no doubt that Alex was pushing the speed limit to make it back as fast as possible.

“Look,” she said, turning to Nate again. “I don’t really know why the two of you are here, but if you could persuade her to turn around and go back to wherever you came from, that would be great. I’ve got stuff to get done today.”