While her brother guzzled down the soda, Chase took Maisy’s hand. “You ready to meet my father?”
She nodded, but her stomach was already tight with nerves. “Sure.”
Simon’s office was on the opposite side of the floor. Chase knocked and then opened the door.
Simon Furst sat at a massive mahogany desk. He looked up as the three entered and frowned as if he didn’t appreciate the intrusion. Maisy kept Patrick at her side, her arm around his shoulders. She felt like she needed to protect her younger brother.
If Chase noticed the lack of welcome, he didn’t show it.
“Dad, this is Maisy Gallagher and her brother Patrick.”
Simon stood and stretched out his arm. Patrick hesitatingly stepped forward and the two exchanged handshakes. Simon carefully studied the boy.
Maisy was next.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Furst,” she said, swallowing her nervousness and hoping the quiver in her voice didn’t give her away.
He nodded, wearing the same expression. “The same.”
He certainly didn’t seem pleased, so she said nothing more. Silence, she felt, was the best response.
Simon gestured to the chairs across from his desk. “Take a seat.”
It was more of a command than any effort to assure that she and Patrick made themselves comfortable.
Maisy took a chair, and Patrick claimed the one next to her. Her brother glanced nervously in her direction. She squared her shoulders, refusing to allow this man to intimidate her, although he clearly had.
“Chase,” Simon said, turning his attention to his son. “Why don’t you give Patrick a tour of the office.”
“He already did,” Patrick piped up.
“I’m sure there are areas you haven’t seen yet,” Simon saiddismissively. “I’d like to have a few minutes alone with Ms. Gallagher.”
“Dad?” Chase demanded, clearly uneasy with this turn of events. “What’s this about?”
“Exactly what I said. I’d like a few minutes alone with Maisy. I’m sure the boy would like a more extended tour,” Simon insisted.
Patrick looked to Maisy as if he wasn’t sure he should leave her. He wasn’t alone. Chase frowned at his father and then sent an inquisitive look her way.
“It’s fine,” she assured them both. And wondered if it really was.
Reluctantly, Chase and Patrick left the room. Maisy felt their absence as keenly as if she’d been left alone in the lion’s den.
Chapter Twenty-three
“Your dad is scary,” Patrick said, after they exited the office.
“He can be,” Chase agreed, doing his utmost to hide his displeasure with his father. He had no idea what game Simon was playing by questioning Maisy alone. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it. He hesitated outside the door, ready to storm in and rescue Maisy. Patrick was the one who stopped him.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Maisy can take care of herself. And he said he only wants to talk. Maisy doesn’t like it when I interrupt her, so she won’t like it if you do it, too.”
Patrick was right. Maisy wouldn’t appreciate him coming to her rescue. He needed to trust her to hold her own against his father.
“You don’t need to worry. You should hear the arguments she has with Sean about you.”
“About me?” Chase expected as much. Maisy’s older brotherhadn’t looked overly pleased to see Chase at the baseball game the week before, he remembered. Apparently, brother and sister had more than one conversation about his relationship with Maisy, although she’d said nothing to him.
“Yup. Sean thinks she’s being foolish, and she says it’s her life, and if she wants to be foolish, then she can be foolish.”
