Chapter One
Chase Furst shifted impatiently from one foot to the other. This day just seemed to get worse by the minute. All he wanted was to pay forThe Wall Street Journal,get to his gate, and wait for his flight.
One would think purchasing a newspaper would be a simple thing. Only the woman standing in front of him was talking to the cashier at the checkout stand like she was a female Dr. Phil.
“Really, Laura, give yourself credit. You raised Bella, you gave her a good foundation with boundaries and love. Now trust she’ll make the right decisions,” the woman in front of him said. She placed a reassuring hand on the other woman’s forearm as if to lend her comfort.
Chase felt as though he’d walked into the middle of a soap opera.
“I wasn’t able to give Bella a decent father, and try as I might,I can’t be both parents to her. She’s so vulnerable. I wish I could afford to put her in a private school. The one she attends isn’t in the best neighborhood.”
“I know, and I understand your concerns.”
“In the last few weeks, she’s gotten much worse. She’s only fifteen, but she acts like she’s twenty. One look at her so-called boyfriend and all I see is trouble. She’s so quick to come to his defense. I don’t know what happened to my sweet girl.”
“Give her time,” the woman urged.
“It terrifies me that Bella will make the same mistakes I did and fall for the wrong man.”
It sounded as if the cashier was close to tears.
Chase rolled his eyes. Heaven save him from women and their emotional drama. He had enough to worry about in his own life. The pressure from his father to marry weighed on him. Worse, Simon had essentially made the choice for him, seeing that Chase had cycled through one meaningless relationship after another for the last several years. His father worried that Chase was incapable of choosing the right woman. This from a man with three marriages behind him, no less. Chase’s current girlfriend, Astrid, had been handpicked by his father and fulfilled every requirement for his son to one day take over the huge Furst financial empire. Chase liked Astrid well enough, but he wasn’t really feeling it.
“The things Bella says to me are shocking.”
“She doesn’t mean any of it. You know that,” the woman continued with her back to him, her voice soft and comforting.
“Bella’s temper is out of control.”
“She’s venting.”
The woman standing at the cash register sighed. “I don’t know how much more I can take, Maisy.”
Me, either,Chase silently mused.
“Have faith.”
“I wish it was that easy…”
“I’ll make more of an effort to stay in touch with her,” the woman named Maisy promised.
The relief in the cashier’s face was immediate. “Would you?”
“Of course. We both know how difficult the teen years can be.”
“Excuse me,” Chase said, with limited patience, interrupting the flow of the conversation.
The women pretended not to hear him. One thing Chase refused to tolerate was being ignored. His frustration had reached its limit. Stepping forward, he butted his way to the counter until he stood in front of the cashier. “What’s the name of your supervisor?” he demanded. Clearly this employee had no sense of customer service, nor did she care one bit about her job. Plus, she brought her problems to work with her to share with anyone willing to listen.
The cashier stared open-mouthed at him as if he’d spoken a foreign language.
“I beg your pardon.”
“I want the name of your supervisor.”
The other woman abruptly turned around to confront him. “Why?”
Chase was immediately taken with her clear green eyes, which were intense, steady, and intelligent. She wore her light auburn hair in a bob cut with bangs that needed a trim. As if reading histhoughts, she brushed the hair away from her face. She wasn’t strikingly attractive but had a pleasant look about her. He guessed most men would call her pretty. All of this went through his mind in a matter of a millisecond. What he noticed, what caught his rapt attention, was the expression on her face. She seemed to look straight through him like she knew his every thought. Her narrowed eyes telegraphed her annoyance. That she was able to read him so easily left Chase with an uncharacteristic feeling of unease. It was as if he stood naked before her. He stiffened and glared back, refusing to let her rile him.
