Walk On The Wild Side. Donna Kauffman

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      Almost from that day forward, she’d known this day was coming. She’d always believed that she’d somehow find a way to accept the inevitable when the time came. Every other person in her graduating class had clutched their diploma like the ticket to freedom it represented.

      She hadn’t, though. Her degrees represented a one-way ticket to life imprisonment inside the block of cold granite and steel that housed Chandler Enterprises. She would be expected to remain in her suite of rooms in Haddon Hall, the ancestral home of her maternal great-great-grandmother, where her grandparents could continue to monitor her every breath.

      How did she say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” to the people who had given her everything?

      She hazarded a glance at her grandfather and felt her spirits sink even lower. There were no words that would penetrate that stubborn piece of stone he called a heart.

      “Grandfather, I’m not trying to upset you,” she began.

      “Well, you’re going about it very well indeed. I’m not getting any younger. It’s time to curb this foolishness.”

      Her grandfather was seventy-eight. But he still put in a full workweek and then some. She knew he would continue to do so until he dropped dead, preferably while heading an international board meeting, closing yet another multimillion-dollar deal. She was fairly certain there was a clause somewhere on her birth certificate that said she was expected to do the same.

      “I’m finally done with grad school. I don’t think it’s foolish to want to spend some time on my own,” she reasoned. “You know how much I appreciate all you and Grandmother have done for me. And I’m not turning my back on Chandler Enterprises.” The critical look he gave her only firmed her resolve. She was no shrinking violet. Edwin had seen to that early on. Well, now he would have to deal with the mini-me he’d created.

      “I fully intend to take my place in the company,” she told him. “But you have no intentions of stepping down any time soon. Six months will not alter our plans significantly. I’m only twenty-five. I have the rest of my life to devote to Chandler Enterprises. I’m only asking for six months.”

      “You had plenty of time on your own in school.”

      No, I didn’t, she thought stubbornly. Her grandparents had chosen the sorority she pledged, made certain she only roomed with girls from suitable families and checked up on her constantly. That was when they weren’t demanding she fly home every other week for some social function or other.

      She tried again. “It’s not like I’m planning to cut myself off from you and Grandmother. I’ll even stay here in Chicago. I just need enough time to learn a bit more about who I am—”

      “The one thing you can certainly never doubt is who you are, Susan. And six months might as well be an eternity. You know about the upcoming merger. If you are to ever head this company, now is the time to step in, to be in on the new direction we are taking from the day the papers are signed. I expect you to participate in the meetings we have scheduled and more important, I expect you to help Frances and me host the variety of social events that will go hand in hand with this monumental event in the history of Chandler Enterprises. You know as well as I do that more business takes place at those functions than in the boardroom. I expect you to shine, to take your rightful place beside me and move into the inner circle.”

      Her grandfather’s words turned into a toneless hum inside her head as her panic began to swell. The more he talked about his expectations, the faster the panic grew. She had to get out. Now.

      The limo was taking her from their luncheon meeting, where Edwin had laid out her future in no uncertain terms, to the Chandler Enterprises empire. She had this overwhelming fear that once she arrived inside that building, she’d be locked into her future forever. She had the degree, she had the training, both socially and educationally. But she didn’t have the heart for it.

      She wasn’t sure she ever would.

      She looked out of the window, despair close to consuming her. And that is when she saw the sign.

      Kitchen Help Wanted. Full Time.

      “Driver, stop the car!”

      “Susan! What in the devil—”

      “Stop the car right now, please.”

      “Carl, don’t listen to—”

      But Carl had pulled the sleek automobile to the curb, and Susan was leaping out. She paused long enough to lean in and beseech her grandfather one last time. “I know you don’t understand this and I’m truly sorry for that. It’s only six months. Then I’ll be the best little Chandler this family has ever bred. I promise.”

      Her grandfather’s face was so red she suddenly feared she’d pushed him over the edge into a stroke or a heart attack. She was halfway back in the car when he erupted.

      “What I understand is that you’re apparently more immature than Frances and I had assumed. You seriously disappoint me, Susan. This little escapade of yours will cost you far more than it will cost me. You’ll soon find out you don’t know the first thing about living in the so-called real world. You want six months? You won’t last six days.”

      That was his final mistake. It was like waving a red flag. Anyone who had ever done business with a Chandler learned very early on to never, ever challenge them. Not if they expected to win. Chandlers always won. Of course, now it was Chandler versus Chandler. Sunny hated that it had come to this, but she’d be damned if she’d back down.

      “Then I’ll learn. I’m bright. I have the degrees to prove it.” And with that she closed the door. The door to her past, her carefully planned future and everything she’d ever known.

      She turned away and strode to the small Italian restaurant she’d spied from the street. She opened the door and removed the sign from the window. She didn’t know the first thing about what this job involved. But she was a Chandler, and when she left this restaurant today, she’d be leaving it as their newest employee.

      She saw the limo pull away from the curb in the reflection of the window. “Goodbye, Chandler Enterprises,” she whispered. She looked at the sign over the door. “Hello, D’Angelos.”

      1

      THE RESTAURANT DOOR closed behind her. Sunny was immediately assaulted with hot, steamy air. The slow-moving ceiling fans swirled thick scents of sausage and spices and other things she couldn’t name but were making her mouth water and her stomach grumble.

      The decor reflected the restaurant’s homey, inviting size. Traditional red-checked tablecloths, slender candles and soft white linen napkins were arranged on every table. There were large round tables dominating the center of the room, where she could picture families boisterously talking as they enjoyed their meals. The walls were dotted with smaller, more intimate tables tucked into alcoves. Those private tables were ideal for a romantic dinner. Vivid Italian landscapes covered the warm yellow walls, vined plants were tucked into ceiling alcoves and draped across the lattice separating the smaller tables.

      Everything about D’Angelos was like a warm, welcoming hug.

      Everything Chandler Hall had never been.

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