Chapter 1

Hailey

The high-pitched wail that pierced the air caused the otherwise busy cubical farm to freeze, and I tore my eyes off my computer screen. My heart jumped into my throat, and my chest tightened as I automatically pushed myself from my uncomfortable, wheeled chair.

“-n, you stop making a scene or we’re not going to get ice-cream.” Low and feminine, the voice only caused the cries to grow louder, and goosebumps washed my arms. Just beyond the edge of the farm, a mother held her child by the wrist as she struggled to keep him off the floor.

Rubbing my fingertips together absently, I watched the little boy throw his weight into getting as close to the linoleum tiles as possible. His mother struggled for a moment, but her red face and obvious embarrassment over the tantrum meant it didn’t last long.

She just let go, and my heart twisted harshly in my clogged throat when the boy dropped onto his butt. His mouth collided with his knees, and his cries turned from manipulative and attention-seeking to true pain. Horror widened my pupils when the mother only continued her conversation with Stacy, and the goosebumps across my chest tightened my skin.

Tension zinged through me, and I tapped my foot against the floor as the woman snatched her borrowed keys from my associate to storm off. Her son scrambled to his feet, screaming and crying and clutching his mouth, and I exhaled a harsh breath I didn’t know I was holding as they disappeared beyond the front doors.

“Hailey…” Stiffening at the call from over the partition, I twisted to frown at the gentle understanding on Mark’s heavily bearded face. “Just let it go. I can hear you thinking about how terrible that woman is, and that’s not fair.”

“It’s not fair that she just drops her child on the floor, Mark.” Grumbling even as I dropped back into my seat, I tapped my heels as I turned to face my professional underling. Shaking his head, Mark only offered a twist of his lips—something between a smile and a grimace—and I frowned deeper. “You saw him—he got hurt.”

“He was being a little asshole, Hailey… I bet that woman had to deal with the screaming and whining and whatever else for hours and dealing with it in front of people was just the last straw. You really don’t understand how embarrassing it is for your kid to act that way. I’ve done that same thing a few times each to my kids, you know.”

Pursing my lips together at Mark’s words of wisdom, I reached to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear even as he smiled down at me. “You’ll understand when you have your own—sometimes they need to learn the hard way. If they don’t, they turn into self-entitled brats that don’t take responsibility for anything. I bet that kid will think twice now about throwing a tantrum, and that’s really for the best.”

“I don’t think I could just drop him, though… that’s so mean.” Slowly rounding the partition in his chair, Mark paused just outside my little cubical to lean back and cross his legs. The tightness in my chest began to lessen, and my frown smoothened out as he sighed heavily.

“Hailey, trust me—babysitting isn’t the same as having your own baby. Right now, you don’t think you could drop him, but I guarantee that when you do have your own kids, you’ll drop them. You’ll see them heading to get hurt doing exactly what you told them not to do, and you’ll let them fall over the side of the couch. It’s called ‘I told you not to do it, but you did it anyway, and look what happened—you got hurt—so don’t do it anymore’. It’s a bona-fide teaching method that works.”

My lips screwed at that, and I shook my head in the growing silence before Mark scooted closer to prop his elbows on his knees. “Being a little strict and being mean aren’t mutually exclusive—you can have one without the other. Just because your dad didn’t believe in that doesn’t mean that you’re going to traumatize your children by teaching them right from wrong or making them take responsibility for their actions.”

“I know that, Mark. I really don’t want to talk about it here, though.” Just as I spoke the words, my phone rang, and I twirled around to face my desk. Relief surged through me, and I plastered a smile onto my face even as I grabbed the phone. “Slander’s Car and Truck Rental—this is Hailey—how may I help you?”

“Hi, yeah… I’m just calling to ask… well, my niece is four, and she had diarrhea in the back seat of one of your cars. Do I bring it back to you or is there a place I can take it to get cleaned?”

The phone burned against my ear from the sheer intensity of the woman’s embarrassment, and my brows shot up in surprise. Setting my fingertips against the keyboard, I asked her name and other relevant information robotically while my mind lingered on the reason for her call.

Usually, people just said ‘screw it’ and left us the surprise when they brought back the car. Then again, those people also paid with their cards…

“Why don’t you bring the car back and we can check the damage, okay? See you soon, then.” Hanging up swiftly, I closed the customer page on the screen to scan the documents I was originally working on before being distracted.

Our sales were up nearly 30% since before I was promoted to supervising manager at this particular store. Propping my chin in my palm, I scrolled absently through the reports as memories blossomed in my mind’s eye.

I’d started at Slander’s as a car cleaner at 16 years old, became a chauffeur at 18, was promoted to sales associate at 19, and supervising manager at 25. I was on track to go corporate, and my life was steady and perfectly paced.

At least, that was what it looked like from the outside.

Staring blankly at the screen, I pursed my lips tightly together as my most recent fight with my mom rang between my ears. My sisters were all married with kids or with plans for kids.

And then there’s me.

Every time, without fail, that I spoke to my mother, she gave me the ‘I had four kids by 26’ line, and I hated it. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be financially stable, and I thought I had been doing a pretty good job of securing work. My work here bordered on invaluable, and they’d take me back without any questions asked when I finally did have children.

But that only led to another problem—who to have children with. While my professional life flourished, my dating life was firmly in the toilet. The often one-night-stand on Fridays with some hot guy from a bar wasn’t going to lead to anything substantial.

My mom didn’t approve of that, either; she’d been absolutely mortified when she learned—after two years—that I wasn’t a virgin anymore. All three of my sisters saved themselves for marriage, and they’d married quick.

“And that’s why I don’t go to family gatherings…” Scrolling down the employee satisfaction survey report page, I mumbled quietly to myself with a sigh. My reverie was broken by the trill of my phone, and I reached for it without glancing away from my screen. “Slander’s Car and Truck Rentals, this is Hailey, how may I help you today?”

“Hailey! Good thing I caught you before you went to lunch.” My spine went rigid as recognition itched into my vertebra.

“Mr. Carlton—how good to hear from you. I wasn’t expecting your call… is this about my application to become a trainer?” Excitement laced my voice, and George Carlton didn’t really offer an immediate reply as I tore my gaze off the computer screen. “I was told to expect a call sometime around now.”

“I did look over your application this morning, but that’s not the reason I’m calling. I was hoping you’d be available to do a chauffeur job for a high-profile client. This is his first time renting with us, and he happens to be in your area. I know you’re busy with the quarterly reports, so you can decline if you can’t set aside the time.”

My heart nearly stopped beating at Carlton’s declaration, and I leaned back in my seat stiffly. Furiously working behind my eyes as they darted around my desk, my mind weighed the pros and cons of saying ‘yes’.

It was true that I didn’t have the time to drive some rich, silver-spoon type around for however long, but I couldn’t make a bad impression.

“No, no. I’d be more than happy to take the job. I can just work on the idle time. So, how long is this going to be?”

I better not be driving this person from bar to bar after hours, though.

Sometimes, people were so inconsiderate to their drivers.

“Oh, great! It’s only going to be for four days starting next Wednesday. You’ll be picking him up at the airport at 6pm. I know I should say something like ‘this is such a big opportunity for you or us’ but the truth is nothing will probably come up from it. We get celebrities all the time, as you know. I just want to make the best impression considering.” Nodding firmly, I smiled wide as achievement piled onto the dog-heap of other emotions swirling in my chest, and Mr. Carlton shuffled from the other side of the line before continuing. “We’ll talk soon, okay, Hailey? I’ll be calling everyone that passes the cut in about two weeks.”

“Alright. Talk to you soon, Mr. Carlton.” Grinning broadly as I hung up, I inhaled sharply and heaved a sigh as ecstatic hope blossomed in my chest. Returning to my screen with renewed vigor, my fingers worked at breakneck speed to complete the reports I was already ahead on.