“How’d it go?”
“The flight or the arrangements?”
“The arrangements for your mother.”
“About what you’d expect with anything having to do with Michelle,” Chase said. “The flight was delayed, the car service canceled, and if it wasn’t for a ride from this annoying woman I met at the airport, I wouldn’t have made the return flight back in time.”
“What? You lost me somewhere between the irritating woman and the flight back.”
Chase would rather forgo talking about this any further, but since his father asked, he explained. “When the car service canceled, this woman offered me a ride in her…get this…Ford Fiesta. Her vomit-green Ford Fiesta with a bad muffler and a passenger door I had to use my shoulder to ram open.” Chase knew Simon would find this humorous, and he was right. His father burst out laughing.
“I hope you paid her well.”
“Not a dime. She wouldn’t accept it. She claimed it was what people did to help someone in need. She talked about being kind.” He was coming to resent the word, as it beamed a light on something completely lacking in his own life.
“You didn’t compensate her for her trouble?” Simon didn’t bother to contain his surprise.
“She wouldn’t take it. Instead, she asked me to pay it forward.”
His father’s silence showed he found this as unusual as Chase had himself. After a brief pause, he asked, “Are you going to do it?”
“Pay it forward?” The fact was, at first, Chase had blown off the idea. He wasn’t in the business of doing favors. He was a numbers man, and if there wasn’t a profit margin built into atransaction, then he wasn’t interested. Furst Bank didn’t become one of the largest banking institutions in the Midwest by showing kindness and compassion.
“I wouldn’t know how,” Chase confessed. The truth struck him like a jab in the chest. He hadn’t realized how isolated and narrow-minded he’d become. His life was the bank. He did his best to meet his father’s expectations, down to agreeing to date Astrid, although that was a lost cause. They both knew it, though neither of them had been willing to say as much.
It was a shame, really. Astrid was beautiful, highly educated, and actively involved in any number of worthwhile charitable projects. That she didn’t have career ambitions was a bonus. To Simon’s way of thinking, Chase’s wife would need to be there to support his busy lifestyle. Astrid would need to be at home to raise the children, and Simon was confident there would be grandchildren.
Chase had foolishly gone along with this crazy matchmaking idea for the simple reason that he liked Astrid, liked her more than any of the other women he’d dated in the last few years. She’d made it clear she was open to a relationship, and he was willing as well. On paper they seemed perfectly matched, only they hadn’t really clicked. Not for lack of trying. It simply wasn’t meant to be, and the sooner they owned up to the fact, the better. He supposed he would need to be the one to say it. Chase wished it was otherwise. Astrid’s family was well connected, and her parents had been friends with his father for years. Simon had been encouraging the relationship, and her father had been fully on board as well.
“Chase.” His father interrupted his musing.
He shook his head, clearing his mind. “Sorry, I got caught up in my thoughts there for a minute.”
“We were talking about this woman you met at the airport,” his father continued. “From what you said, this woman expects you to do something nice for someone else as payment for giving you a ride. Am I understanding you correctly?”
“Basically, that’s it.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. You could ask Astrid. She would be the best person to give you advice.”
His father was right. Astrid would know several charities that would welcome a donation.
“That won’t work,” Chase replied abruptly, his thoughts twisting around in his head. Deep down, Chase knew writing a check to a worthy organization wasn’t what Maisy had intended. She wanted him involved to give something of himself, he remembered her saying. A monetary donation he’d never miss wouldn’t cut it. This had to be personal.
His father’s chuckle came over the line. “This woman got to you, didn’t she? What’s wrong with helping some worthy charity? They’re always looking for a handout. You know that as well as I do. An unexpected donation would be good enough and satisfy this impulse you seem to have.”
“Maybe,” Chase reluctantly agreed. But he doubted it.
“Don’t dwell on it, son. We’ve got to go over what you learned from the meeting this morning.”
“Right.” Chase’s schedule was ruled by the clock. After the call ended, Chase’s hand lingered on the receiver as he mulled over how best to satisfy Maisy’s request. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind.
—
His father must have said something to Astrid, or more likely to Harry Newman, her father, because Astrid called the office early that afternoon.
“I hear you’re looking for a worthy charity that needs a donation,” she said.
Chase grinned. “And I suspect you have a list of several.”
