Chapter 1

It was a day as any other day. The sun shone brightly through the front windows of the store begging Dahlia to come outside and play. Unfortunately, she was chained to the cash register on another slow day in the retail world. Very few customers were needing her assistance as they were simply "looking."

That is when it happened. He walked in on a sunbeam and brought with a silent comfort. She noticed him at once and wondered of his purpose there. As he wandered in the opposite direction of her, she began to lose interest, but his image had been burned upon her mind. What was it about him that lingered in her thoughts. Usually those moments were saved for the firefighters and uniformed rescue workers. Oh how they could dominate her thoughts and bring guilty smiles to her face.

But this man was just a commoner much like any other who walks through those doors on a regular basis. Why would he leave an imprint as an odor on the memory? He was not particularly handsome like some of the rescue workers Dahlia dreamed of on a regular basis. So, what was the draw?

As he came back around toward the front of the store, Dahlia caught him introducing himself to her co-workers and became even more curious. She had heard a rumor of the new supervisor being in town and checking out the store a couple of times already, but never imagined this to be him. All the rumors portrayed him as some great man such that she expected him taller and built more like a hippie football player. The one thing he did have going for him, which may have been the draw, was his charisma. He seemed genuinely interested in what would soon be his employees.

Once he made it back to the front of the store where Dahlia was standing, he flashed her a smile and steadily introduced himself to her. Dahlia stood her ground and refused to fall for his charm. She did not believe in the reward systems within her company and thus figured this man to be a brown nosing loser who had duped the system and was just here as a pit stop. After he introduced himself, he talked a little bit with those who remained nearby before heading back out the door.

With him gone, Dahlia was allowed to think about his visit and evaluate his abilities on the first meeting. After much thought, she chuckled to herself and thought, "he's going to get eaten alive here." Her co-workers were not easy people to work with as they had grown hard against the workings of the current management team and were also complacent and guarded due to past drama and abuse. She was excited to see how things played out over the next few months as this pretty boy attempted to climb the ladder of management within her store.