Chapter 1-1
970 Words
Chapter 1
A knock sounded on the door, and John Tyler tore his gaze from his computer to glance at his watch. He sighed with annoyance. She was early. He wasn’t scheduled to meet with the new hire, Cassie Reynolds, for another twenty minutes. He called for her to come in as he finished typing the last few sentences on his report. The door clicked open. A second later, a feminine gasp made him raise his head. His fingers froze over his keyboard, as his heart beat increased to a painful drum in his chest. He blinked to make sure he wasn’t imagining who stood before his glass-topped desk. Cassie Reeves, the woman who had taken his heart over a decade ago and stomped on it, stood before him, her eyes as big with shock as his own. He sprang from his chair.
“Harry hired you as our new receptionist?”
“Yes.”
“You’re Cassie Reynolds?”
“Yes. I now go by Reynolds, instead of Reeves.”
He stared at her. She stared back, blinking with obvious confusion. His breathing hitched. She still had pretty brown eyes a man could get lost in... He gritted his teeth in annoyance. What the hell was he thinking about her eyes for? He glared at her. She wasn’t supposed to be here. He was never supposed to see her again.
He let out a long breath, and pressed the back of knuckles into his eye sockets. “I approve all new hires. I think we can agree this isn’t going to work.”
“Well… actually, no, we don’t agree. It’s going to have to work. Harry said I had the job.”
John narrowed his eyes. She stared down at her fingers. She finally looked up but stared at a point behind his head. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as the silence lingered between them.
“Is that so?” John asked finally. He crossed his arms over his chest
She took a step back at his tone. He smiled. Good. She was intimidated by him. Then she straightened her back and crossed her arms over her own chest as she raised her eyebrows at him.
“Yes. That’s so.”
“Well, let’s just go see about that.” John stalked around his desk, past Cassie, and out of his office. Harry Everhart looked up as John, followed by Cassie, charged into his office.
“You can’t just fire me like that,” Cassie said from behind him.
“I just did.” John crossed his arms over his chest as if to punctuate what he said.
“What’s going on?” Harry glanced from John to Cassie.
“He fired me.” Her tone showed her disbelief.
“He fired you?” Harry frowned. “Why the hell would you do that?”
John rolled his eyes. “I didn’t fire her. I simply explained she could not be hired here. I won’t work with her.”
“She’s been here all of five minutes.”
“It doesn’t matter. I refuse to work with her.”
“For what possible reason?” Harry sputtered out. Cassie moved around John so that she was in front of Harry. Probably batting her big brown eyes up at him.
“John and I dated ten years ago, when we were kids. I’m sure as adults we can look past that and be professionals.”
“No, we can’t,” John snapped. He bit back his irritation at the familiar way she spoke to Harry.
Cassie glanced back at him, her eyes narrowed. “You can’t fire me. I need this job.”
“Everyone needs a job. Find another one.” John refused to meet her gaze. He crossed the plush carpet and stared out the window to illustrate that this was the end of the conversation. He watched the tourists walking the streets out in front of the medical clinic instead of facing the woman behind him.
“I see,” Harry finally mumbled after listening to their squabbling. He sighed and said gently, “Cassie, go ahead to your desk. We’ll straighten this out.”
John turned and started to protest, but Harry waved his hand as if to say Shut up. Cassie glanced one more time at Harry before she turned and left. He didn’t like the look. It was familiar. Needy. Harry sighed as he rubbed a hand to his chin. “I won’t fire her, John. She moved to this town specifically because I promised her this job. I can’t simply tell her no, we changed our minds. You’ll have to accept my decision.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t accept that.”
Harry shook his head and his facial expression dropped into regret. “I’m sorry. But you’ll have to.”
John crossed his arms over his chest. “What is she to you?”
“I can’t say. I promised her I’d keep her reasons for working here to myself. You will be civil to her, John. I promised Cassie a job, and a job she will have. We have patients to see, so I suggest you get to work.”
John bristled. Harry had final say over his medical practice. But Harry had never exercised that right before. Until today, they had decided all major decisions together. John turned without another word and strode out of Harry’s office. He ignored Cassie as he passed her to go into his office. He walked past the pile of work waiting for him on his desk and went to stand at the window looking out toward the Olympic Mountains. The soothing view of jagged, white, frosty peaks did nothing to calm the anger churning in his gut.
John took several deep breaths to settle his rapid heartbeat. Memories of Cassie started to fill his head. He gritted his teeth as he slammed his fist against the window sill. He had to figure out what kind of relationship Cassie and Harry had. Why was Harry so adamant that Cassie work here? He might have to put up with her presence for a few days, but once he figured out what Cassie’s hold on Harry was, he’d find a way to eject her from his life, and this time it would be for good.
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