Tall. Blonde. Intelligent blue eyes that had seen far too much violence in her lifetime. Horrible, inexcusable treatment against those she strived daily to help. And unless Scottie’s instincts were way off kilter, she had a strong suspicion her boss had felt more than her fair share of that same type of violence herself.
“There’s the woman in charge.” Chase smiled Sloane’s way. “Good to see you again, Sloane.”
Scottie felt the tips of her short, clean nails digging into her palms as her hands hung at her sides.
Uh…jealous much?
She nearly choked at the thought. Of course, she wasn’t jealous. Why on earth would she be? It wasn’t like she had some sort of unending claim on Chase just because they were boyfriend and girlfriend back in high school.
They’d both lived an entire lifetime since then, for crying out loud.
They were different people now. Or at least,shewas. Hell, they didn’t even know each other anymore. A fact that was proven just now when she learned that he was no longer serving as a Navy SEAL.
The Navy left me.
Her heart had inexplicably hurt for Chase when he’d uttered those four words. There was a story there, and it was one Scottie longed to hear. Not that she had the right to that or any other story regarding Chase’s life without her.
After all, she was the one to leave him.
The truth was, between losing her mom and having to leave everyone and everything she’d ever known and loved behind, she hadn’t felt as if there’d been any other choice. A clean break was what had been best for them both, or so she’d thought. Unfortunately for Scottie, her heartbroken teenage brain hadn’t considered a scenario where moving on without Chase would be impossible.
Even now, her personal life still left, well,everythingto be desired. As for her professional life, her dream of becoming a famed professional chef had gone up in smoke faster than a forgotten souffle. But as her mom had always used to say…
Have patience, Scottie girl. Everything happens for a reason.
So far, she had yet to understand the reason behind any of the awful, heartbreaking things that had happened in her life. But whatever it was, it had led her here, where she prepared the best, most delicious food she could for women who’d experienced things far worse than her.
Speaking of food…
“Excuse me for a minute. I need to check on what I still have cooking.”
Scottie didn’t wait for a response from either one before spinning on her heels and heading back over to the stove. After a few stirs and lifted lids, she found everything almost ready. She set about transferring the dishes she’d been preparing into several disposable foil pans for transport.
Sloane and Chase continued their conversation while Scottie did what she did best. She alsomayhave done a bit of eavesdropping at the same time.
“I heard you were looking for me,” her boss told Chase.
“I was.” he confirmed. “I dropped off the last of the donated items for the auction, but I know you probably still have a lot to get done before tonight, so I thought I’d offer a couple of extra hands.”
Okay, so that was a really sweet gesture. It was also one more bit of proof that at least some of the old Chase was still in there.
“I won’t say no.” Sloane chuckled. “Since you’re already in here…and you’ve met our amazing chef, Scottie?—”
“Oh, Scottie and I…” Chase glanced her way. “We already knew each other.”
“Really?” Sloane’s surprise was obvious.
“Grew up together back in Texas,” he continued sharing. “Same class and everything. Until?—”
“Until I moved to Ohio to live with my grandparents,” Scottie finished for him.
She wasn’t trying to be rude but rather prevent him from dredging up the painful reason behind her sudden move.
Sloane shook her head with a smile. “Wow. It truly is a small world, isn’t it? Oh, Chase. I started to say, since you’re here…and you offered…I really could use your help.”
“Name it.”
“The volunteer who was supposed to transport the food from here to the event center just called. His van broke down halfway here, and while road service is on its way, he said it could be another hour before he makes it here.”