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Chapter 1

“I won’t go,” I protested, firainst the trendy cement floor of the restaurant

My mother and her boss sat across the table from me Bear Dalton, Chairman and CEO of Dalton Enterprises, crossed his sculpted ar at me, his expression serious and somber

You can’t intiaze He wasn’t my boss He was my mother’s boss I’d onlyto be here today

“Look, you can go withoutback to my mother as I tried to muster a smile Mom had worked her ass off for this job She was one of those women You know the type Relentlessly a, she wanted to break through them all

She was on afor Bear’s fir her way up the ladder, constantly vying for promotion after promotion

And here it was — her golden ticket

This job that Bear had offered her — Chief Financial Officer of Dalton Enterprises - was her latest obsession I don’t use that word lightly When Mo, she went all in It ay past the point of commitment

Trust me, I should know

Our relationship has been the lone casualty of her undying devotion to her career She raduated froh school, most of my classmates were convinced I didn’t have parents at all

It ht as well have been that way

My father left us high and dry years ago, his fantasy of greener pastures being fulfilled in the arms of a twenty-one year old intern in sunny Sausalito when I was just a baby

Growing up, it was just the two of us, but Mom was rarely there, so really, it wasso insistent on o to New York on her own

What the hell did she need me for?

“You knoon’t be able to focus with you so far away, Chloe,” she insisted, her perfectly coiffed blonde bob bouncing around her face “You can’t do this to me!”

Of course, it wasn’t that she cared about me, it was all about her

It was always about her

Despite never being around, she still wouldn’t let me be independent She had some screwed up Mother Theresa complex It was almost like the fact that I didn’t need her made her want me to need her even more And yet she was never there in the first place It was all screwed up and twisted

I shouldn’t bea scene in front of her boss, I knew that, but it was her fault because she’d cornerednews’ to share I should have known so was up when she told me to meet her at Departure, the trendy sushi joint on top of the Nine’s hotel in don Portland

It wasn’t that she didn’t do swanky, it’s just that she usually reserved going to places like that for business s or to impress clients

Or her boss

I knew he’d be here even before I saw the handso her to tellto New York, and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting her to insist that I join her

“My life is here My friends My apart for a job I’ll be fine without you You’ll be fine without me…”

“This isn’t up for negotiation, Chloe,” she exclaimed, her voice a sharp knife of h the ser “Bear has givenNew York is an exciting city We’ve never lived there before You’ll love it”

I took a deep breath and stood up from the table

“I’rown-ass wo in separate cities It’s tio,” I said

“But New York —,” she insisted

“—New York is full of rats! It’s overcrowded, cold, and it smells like a sewer!” I interrupted “Give it up The answer is no!” I squaredall th as I put one foot in front of the other and walked out to the huge balcony looking out over the city

“I’ll talk to her,” a deep voice boo as I looked down on the Christ in the center of Pioneer Square below Mom hated when I walked away froo all out and stir the pot a little more

She was never going to forgive me noay

I wasn’t about to leave this city My city I loved living in Portland

All the grey, dreary days, the endlessaway into long, blissful days of war about putting up with all the darkness seehter once it finally does arrive The landscape burst with flowers of every type, starting with the cherry blosso and followed by the sweet scent of roses trailing down every street all su

It’s a stunning city

Sure, right now, it’s s would finally arrive eventually I wasn’t about to miss it

New York, on the other hand, I could do without

I’d been there once on a quick trip with a bunch of girlfriends during oing to be the trip of a lifetie stores, exploring the warehouses of the gar to Broadway shows and world fahtclubs

We’d done all of that, but it had been incredibly exhausting There was soJust one block was the size of three Portland blocks and everything was at least a hundred blocks apart And forget taking taxi’s everywhere — they ay too expensive

We were forced to walk past the wildest sidewalk scenes, which were peppered with the constant appearance of rats the size of large cats and the incessant smell of urine that stayed in my hair for weeks after I’d returned home

I hated every second of it