The Baby (The Boss 5)

“Paper lanterns?” Neil asked, considering.

“Yeah. It would be like a reverse Tangled.” I choked up a little on the word. That scene with Rapunzel in the boat always got me.

Neil smiled or, at least, showed the brief flash of a smile he was capable of these days. “I think that sounds lovely, Sophie.”

I didn’t know how to respond, so I looked down at my plate. “My love of Disney strikes again.”

“I think Olivia is going to be a very happy little girl, having you for a mother-figure,” he said.

Since we’d become Olivia’s guardians, Neil had reassured me over and over that I was going to do fine in my new role. It wasn’t until now that he’d mentioned anything about what Olivia would think of the job I was doing. It surprised me how much I needed to hear that.

Since we only had five days until Emma’s birthday, we didn’t have much time to plan. Neil called Valerie and Rudy, and of course they said they would come. I managed to track down floating paper lanterns and find out if they were legal—they weren’t, but nobody followed rules about that kind of thing, anyway—and gave Mariposa the evening off, though she told me she’d be staying in and watching Netflix all night, anyway.

She’d told us on a few occasions that we were her dream clients, just because of our internet speed and the fact we paid for streaming video services as part of her room and board.

When it came to the food, I had Julia whip up comfort foods anyone could get behind. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and some sautéed greens and plenty of salad and crudités in case anyone wanted to preserve their arteries.

We dressed casually, Neil in a horizontally striped blue ombre sweater and broken-in blue jeans, me in a pair of jeans and a lavender blouse with fluttery capped sleeves.

Which Rudy hated on sight.

“An empire waist ho shirt? Is that what you’re wearing? You look like ‘Girls of the Nineteenth Century Gone Wild,’” he cracked as he came through the front door. But he put out his arms and hugged me, asking, “How are you doing?” as he gave me a squeeze.

“I’m all right. What about you?” I stepped back with a look of concern. If Neil was the president of hiding one’s feelings, Rudy was the shadow government. He’d been Emma’s godfather, and I knew he was taking this harder than he wanted to let on.

“Getting by.” He looked over my shoulder to where Neil crossed the living room toward the open foyer. “And I’d ask about him, but…”

“Rudy!” Neil half-jogged up to embrace his friend. They patted each other on the back so hard it must have hurt. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You know I’ll be here any time, day or night,” Rudy said, and I realized that he must have felt as helpless as I did, only able to reach out to Neil, never able to break through whatever wall he’d just put up.

“I know,” Neil assured him. “And I appreciate that very much.”

“Are we late?” Valerie called from the door as she let herself in. She’d cut her long auburn hair into an asymmetrical bob that was chin-length at its longest and added nearly white blonde highlights.

She’d also lost weight, judging from the gauntness of her face. She hadn’t had many pounds on her to begin with, so her appearance was a little alarming.

I covered up my shock and declared, “Oh my gosh, Valerie! I didn’t even recognize you with that hair!”

She smiled politely and straightened a few strands with her fingers. “I needed a little change.”

“Well, you look great,” I said, though I knew she still couldn’t quite accept my compliment as genuine.

“She looks like she’s wasting away,” Rudy interjected. “Neil looked better going through chemo.”

“Rudy!” I snapped, in utter shock that he would speak to a grieving mother that way.

Then again, Rudy and Valerie had been friends for years. She was probably used to him by now.

She laughed and shrugged off her bright red wool wrap. Laurence took it from her and looped it over his arm atop his own coat.

“Let me take those,” Neil offered.

“I’m training for the New York marathon,” she explained. “I’m running for charity. Your charity, as it turns out, Neil.”

“Really? I have to confess I haven’t been as involved with the foundation as I would like to be.” He made a noise that was somewhere between consideration and a laugh. “It’s strange, really. I worked so hard. It was so important.”

“Priorities change,” Valerie said with a sad smile. “The work your foundation is doing is still important.”