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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 juhtened as I automatically pushed myself from my uncomfortable, wheeled chair
“-n, you stop et ice-crearow louder, and goosebue of the farled to keep him off the floor
Rubbing ether absently, I watched the little boy throw his weight into getting as close to the linoleuled for a moment, but her red face and obvious e
She just let go, and ed throat when the boy dropped onto his butt His mouth collided with his knees, and his cries turned fro to true pain Horror widened my pupils when the oosebuhtened my skin
Tension zinged through ainst the floor as the woman snatched her borrowed keys from my associate to stor and clutching his mouth, and I exhaled a harsh breath I didn’t knoas holding as they disappeared beyond the front doors
“Hailey…” Stiffening at the call froentle 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” Gru even as I dropped back into my seat, I tappedShaking his head, Mark only offered a twist of his lips—soriot hurt”
“He was being a little asshole, Hailey… I bet that wo and whatever else for hours and dealing with it in front of people was just the last straw You really don’t understand how e it is for your kid to act that way I’ve done that sa a few times each to my kids, you know”
Pursing ether 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 hi the partition in his chair, Mark paused just outside htness in an to lessen, and hed heavily
“Hailey, trust ht now, you don’t think you could drop hiuarantee that when you do have your own kids, you’ll drop the 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 any method that works”
My lips screwed at that, and I shooksilence 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’tthe 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, , and I twirled around to face h rabbed the phone “Slander’s Car and Truck Rental—this is Hailey—how may I help you?”
“Hi, yeah… I’ 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 wo ainst the keyboard, I asked her name and other relevant inforered 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 da up swiftly, I closed the custoinally working on before being distracted
Our sales were up nearly 30 since before I was proer at this particular store Propping my chin in my palm, I scrolle
d absently through the reports as memories blossomed in my mind’s eye