The New Normal

by Brogan, Tracy

  “Why do you think she hates you?” Kenzie’s question was direct, and Carli felt her cheeks getting hot, because she hadn’t really meant that. It was a joke. Kind of. Although, come to think of it, it was entirely possible that Mrs. Stern did hate her . . .

  She shifted from one foot to the other. “Um, I think she kind of hates people in general.”

  “Ah, I see.” Kenzie took a drink.

  “Um, so anyway, enjoy the steak and the beer, Ben. I didn’t know what kind you liked to drink, so I got an assortment.”

  He looked at the basket again. “Thanks. This was totally unnecessary, but I do appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. Oh, and here’s your key. I found it in my lilac bush, right where I thought it would be.” She reached into her shorts pocket and produced the key. She’d kept the decoy rock. He could get his own.

  His fingers brushed against hers as he took the key from her hand, an entirely innocent bit of contact that triggered an irrational ripple through the rest of her.

  “Thanks,” he said. “If I ever find yours, I’ll let you know.”

  “Do you have kids?” Kenzie asked, almost interrupting.

  Carli nodded. “I do. Mia is eighteen, and Tess turned sixteen a few weeks ago.”

  “Oh, that’s interesting. Ben has a son who’s almost eighteen. They must know each other.”

  Carli nodded. “They’ve had a few classes together.” She didn’t mention that Mia considered him a douchey jerk, or that Tess had recently taken to loitering in the front yard just hoping to catch a glimpse of him. At first, Carli had thought her daughter was finally interested in helping with the dog, but she’d caught on to Tess’s motives pretty quickly.

  “Oh good. It’ll be nice for Ethan to see some familiar faces in the neighborhood. Do they live with you full-time?” The question seemed a bit presumptuous. Kenzie either assumed Carli was divorced, or Ben had told her. It wasn’t like it was a secret, but maybe that was a little personal? A little abrupt? Or maybe Ethan’s aunt was just looking out for him and hoping he’d have friends nearby.

  “Not exactly full-time. They stayed with their dad on and off during the summer, but now that school has started, we’re going to see how things go. We’re still making adjustments to the schedule.”

  Kenzie nodded. “It’s good to be flexible as long as the kids know what to expect.”

  “My sister is a family therapist,” Ben added. “She loves doling out unsolicited advice, so ignore her if you want to.”

  Oh, okay. Now the questions made a bit more sense, even if the delivery was somewhat awkward, and Carli smiled. “I’m always open to advice. Dole away.”

  Kenzie laughed and said, “Well, then maybe you should stay and drink one of those beers with us.”

  Carli stole a glance at Ben. It wasn’t really up to his sister to do the inviting, and she didn’t want to overstay her welcome. She wasn’t Lynette, after all. But Ben smiled and pulled one from the basket.

  “Looks like I have plenty,” he said. “Interested?”

  “Mrs. Stern is coming later. If she smells alcohol on my breath, she might add that to her list of my inadequacies, but honestly, a drink before dog training might be just what I need.”

  “Mrs. Stern?” Kenzie said with a chuckle. “That’s an unfortunate name.”

  “It suits her,” Carli answered, taking the beer from Ben’s outstretched hand.

  Chapter 10

  “I’d like to say there’s a job for you, Ben, but you chose to leave the company. You can’t just waltz back in after ten years away and expect a vice presidency.”

  William Chase Sr. sat behind an imposing mahogany desk in a high-backed leather chair. He wore a pin-striped suit and a sedate burgundy tie in spite of it being a Sunday afternoon and them being in his home office. The room was as expansively large as it was expensively decorated, with floor-to-ceiling windows providing a stunning view of rose gardens that Ben’s mother had meticulously designed herself. A double-wide bookshelf of gleaming teak held numerous awards from various business and charity organizations around the city. William liked to think of himself as a philanthropist, but at his core, he was a capitalist. He expected a return on his investments—and the one investment that had yet to pay off was Ben.

  “I’m not asking for a vice presidency, Dad. I’m asking for a job. You know my situation and my qualifications. I don’t want any special favors. I just want to know if there are any current positions within the organization that I’d be suitable for.”

  William steepled his index fingers as his elbows rested on the desk. It was a posture Ben had seen dozens of times over the years. It was his father’s I’d like to make you uncomfortable pose, and it was pretty damned effective. It was also exactly what Ben had expected. Since leaving Chase Industries ten years earlier to start his own company with Doug, Ben had been considered the Chase family black sheep, at least as far as his father was concerned. He was the foolish, ungrateful son. Even Sophia had thought his decision was ill conceived and shortsighted. She’d liked the security of him working for his father, and the wealth and prestige that came with that, but Ben had wanted to be his own boss for a change. To branch out on his own and see what he could make of himself. He was also tired of being his father’s employee.

  “Do you have a résumé?” his father asked.

  Ben felt his jaw clench. “Seriously? I have an MBA from Harvard Business School, Dad, and I’ve run my own company for ten years. We started turning a profit almost immediately and have continued to increase our revenue every year since, so let that be my résumé.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t want special treatment. Any other candidate would certainly need a résumé.”

  Now his father was just being a dick. Ben shouldn’t have bothered with even asking, but he was here now, and he may as well play along.

  “Fine, Dad. I can get you a résumé if that’s what you want. Or I could just call up Dave Price and see if Talbott Industrial Designs has something for me. Maybe that’s a better fit anyway.”

  William frowned. “Well, now, Ben, you don’t have to get huffy. I’m just trying to negotiate and see how serious you are. Frankly, I don’t want to get you settled into some position here only to have you abandon us a second time when you get another wild scheme about starting your own company. What’s going to happen to your partnership with Doug?”

  The question was inevitable. “Pretty much the same thing that’s happening to my partnership with Sophia. I’m insisting they both buy me out. He can give me half of what the company is worth, and she can give me half of all our marital assets.”

  “She doesn’t deserve half, you know,” William said, leaning back in his chair. “Your mother thinks she’s rapacious.”

  Ben nodded slowly, and although he’d never in his life discussed something so nebulous and mundane as feelings with his father, he may as well tell him the truth.

  “I’m inclined to agree with you about that, but I’m not in the mood to fight her. I’m not up for a fight with Doug, either. We’re letting our company lawyers hash it out, and since he and I had agreed on how we’d divide things in the event that one of us ever wanted to leave the company, it’s pretty fair and equitable to us both. On paper, anyway. Except for the part about him getting my wife. We didn’t really include anything about that in our articles of incorporation.”

  Ben knew the family was entirely up-to-date on all the happenings within his marriage—the one downside of having your personal therapist also be your sister. Kenzie didn’t necessarily honor that whole confidentiality thing when it came to her brothers, and if you missed a Sunday dinner, which Ben often did, then you were likely to be the topic of discussion.

  “So right now, Dad,” Ben continued, “I just want a job that’s stable and predictable, that keeps my mind occupied and pays the bills.”

  William offered up a mild scowl. “That’s a terrible thing to say to a prospective employer. You’re basically t
elling me you have no ambition.”

  Ben’s chuckle came out as more of a sigh. “I do have ambition, Dad. You know I do, but right now I’m juggling a dozen chain saws in the air and trying not to drop any of them on my head. Or on my kids’ heads. Sophia pulled the rug out from under us all, and right now my cash is essentially frozen until our mediation is over. Same for my business assets. I’m not broke, but I’m also not solvent. I need some cash flow so I can remodel my new house. Plus anything I earn from a job at Chase Industries from this point forward is mine, free and clear. Any earnings from my company will be tangled up in my division of assets. It’s just simpler to make a clean break, even though I don’t love the idea of giving up my own company.”

  William gazed at him for a moment, and Ben could tell his father was ruminating about something. He braced for the next response. “What if we bought it?”

  “Bought it?” Ben hadn’t seen that one coming and was surprised that his father could still surprise him.

  “What if Chase Industries bought your company? Then you could still run it. It would be your company but under the Chase umbrella.” His father seemed to be in earnest, his posture relaxing, and Ben’s capacity for being surprised increased again. “Let’s bring Terrance in on this,” William added. “He’d have to look at the numbers and make sure it was a sound investment. I assume you won’t mind sharing your financials with him?”

  “No, of course not.”

  Terrance was Ben’s younger brother and CFO of Chase Industries, while his older brother, Bill Jr., was vice president in charge of real estate development. Then there was Alex, the oops baby who was eleven years younger than Ben, who’d completely broken the Chase family mold by becoming a sculptor. No one in the family was really certain how he was perceived within the art community, because all his pieces were on display at the Chase Art Gallery and buildings with ties to the family. Ben also wasn’t certain how his brother had escaped the emotional wrath of not working for their father. Maybe because Alex had never shown any aptitude for business. Kenzie, on the other hand, had escaped because she was a woman, and their father was a chauvinist who didn’t think females belonged in the corporate world.

  William glanced at his Rolex diving watch, a gift from Ben’s mother even though his father had never, to the best of Ben’s knowledge, gone diving. “That’s settled, then. Let’s go have lunch. Your mother’s waiting.”

  Ben bristled slightly. It wasn’t settled. It was a generous offer his father had made, but there were still a lot of variables to consider. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to keep the company. There were a lot of memories tied up in that place, and some of them were better left behind. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hand a forklift full of cash over to Doug, either, but his father had already stood up and started walking toward the door. William Chase had a habit of doing that—making a unilateral decision and just assuming everyone would go along with it while simultaneously making you feel as if he were doing you a favor, even though he’d certainly benefit.

  Then again, his father was offering him a real lifeline. A chance to keep his company if he wanted to. Either way, he’d end up working for his dad again. That was not his favorite option, but maybe there was more ego than common sense in what he was feeling. He’d once asked Kenzie if she thought he had a chip on his shoulder when it came to their father.

  “Of course you do,” she’d answered. “We all do, but that’s because Dad put it there.”

  “I’m not sure why we’re even looking at Fairfield College, Mia,” Steve said as he turned the leather-bound steering wheel of his brand-new Ford Expedition with just one thick finger as he careened in and around traffic. “Your grades are certainly good enough to get you into the University of Michigan, and everyone knows that’s a far superior school.”

  Carli was sitting in the cushy passenger seat of her ex-husband’s new-car-smelling vehicle while simultaneously having flashbacks to all the times she’d wished he’d drive with more caution. Steve was a cruise-controlling, tailgating lead foot who never used his turn signals and only rarely used his brakes. If she had a dime for every time someone honked at him, or flipped him off, or swerved to get out of his path, she’d have enough dimes to fix every broken thing inside her house.

  They were, at this moment, on their way to tour a college campus located in the northernmost reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A spot so far north it took six hours to get there, meaning they’d arrive tonight, tour tomorrow morning, and then drive back home. A full twenty-four hours together, and just forty-five minutes into their trip Carli was certain that any of the brief, random moments she’d entertained over the past eight months about maybe, just maybe, missing being married to Steve had been swept away right along with the paper food wrapper he’d just thrown out the open window.

  She should’ve made Mia sit up here in the front. At least in the back seat she could’ve drowned out the unresolvable, circular argument they were having about Mia’s decision-making process. Her hyperanalytical daughter wanted to gather all the data from every possible location before thoughtfully weighing the pros and cons of each university, and this was the very last campus tour they were scheduled to take from the list Mia had crafted after hours of online research. A dozen other visits had occurred before Steve had moved out, so this was the only one they were taking postdivorce, and while Carli didn’t disagree with what Steve was saying, as usual, his heavy-handed father knows best manner made their daughter want to argue. Of course, everything made Mia want to argue, but Steve could push her buttons faster than anything or anyone else.

  “Superior is relative, Dad. I hope I do get into U of M, but I should at least consider some of the other, smaller schools. Fairfield might have things to offer that the other schools don’t.”

  “That’s ridiculous. A smaller school will have fewer options, not more, so you’re actively limiting your opportunities.”

  “I didn’t say Fairfield would have more, Dad. I said it might have something different. You’re missing my point.”

  “No, you’re missing my point. A larger institution is going to have more choices. More clubs, a wider variety of majors, better sports teams, so if you’re looking for something different, you’ll have a much easier time finding it at a bigger school. I should think that would be obvious.”

  This had been going on for the last fifteen miles, and Carli knew there was no point in engaging in this conversation. Nothing she added would have any impact, because Steve thought any opinion that didn’t match his own was somehow inferior, and yet she didn’t want to leave Mia to fend for herself, either. Her daughter had, thus far, been holding her own, but Carli could sense her frustration building. Fighting with Steve was like having pebbles thrown at you. Individually, it didn’t hurt that much, but cumulatively, it left a bruise.

  “It’s not just about the size of the school, Steve,” Carli finally said. “It’s also about the atmosphere and the environment. Mia needs to choose someplace she’ll feel comfortable. You know every campus has a vibe to it, and finding the right fit is just as important as size.”

  Personally, Carli thought Mia would thrive at a smaller school and that the University of Michigan might just swallow her up. Her oldest daughter was more on the shy side, and a lecture-style classroom with two hundred other kids in it could leave her feeling anonymous and overwhelmed. Then again, Mia was stubborn enough to succeed at anything she put her mind to, so no matter where she went to college, she’d be okay.

  Steve frowned behind his aviator sunglasses. He was a big guy, very broad in the chest with close-cropped hair that was now more silver than blond. “You can’t choose a school based on something as intangible as a vibe, Carli. That’s ridiculous. The main thing to consider is academics. People go to college to get the best education their money can buy, and I’m not going to fork over an arm and a leg for her tuition so she can go to a lower-quality school just because it makes her feel all warm and fuzzy. She needs to go
to the one that’ll provide her with the best training for her future.”

  This might be a good time to remind Steve of all the partying he did in college, and all the fraternity pranks, and all the late nights he crammed for an exam because he hadn’t studied in advance. He hadn’t been thinking about his education or his future back then. He’d been thinking about fun. He’d been enjoying the vibe, but there was no point in bringing that up. Somehow, he’d twist it around, changing the argument until she felt as if she were the one being obstinate. It was a real skill of his. Her neighbor Renee had once joked that Steve was the type of guy who’d want to give his own eulogy, just so he could have the last word. Carli hadn’t had the last word since the day she’d met him.

  “I haven’t even decided for sure what I want to study yet, Dad, so how am I supposed to figure out which school will prepare me with the best training?” Mia said, scowling at the back of his head.

  “That’s all the more reason to choose a larger university. If not U of M, at least go to Michigan State, where you’ll have lots of majors to choose from. And besides, I thought you wanted to be a lawyer. When did that change?”

  “It hasn’t exactly changed, but I think I should keep my options open.”

  His sigh was big and heavy and full of judgment. “I knew by the time I was fifteen years old that I wanted to study business and finance. You millennials or Gen Zs or whatever you’re calling yourselves these days, you seem to think you have all the time in the world to make up your minds, but life just doesn’t work that way. While you’re busy trying to figure out what to be when you grow up, other people are going to snap up all the good opportunities. Ya snooze, ya lose, kid.”

  Something inside Carli snapped. She’d grown numb to him criticizing her, but she wasn’t going to let him do it to her daughter. “She’s not snoozing, Steve. She’s being thoughtful and reflective and trying to figure out what her interests are. This decision is important, and she’s taking the time to get as much information as she can so she can make the best choice for herself. How about you lighten up a little, huh? Maybe not suck all the joy out of her college decision process?”