Chase's head snapped around to see the woman he had been sitting close to get up and quietly walk past him without even acknowledging his existence. He couldn't blame her. He knew why he recognized her now.
Her name was Emma Colton, and she lived with her grandmother, Nana, in a house they shared in Torrance. Nana loved bragging about Emma. She was a librarian in Redondo Beach and was the one all the little kids asked for to read a book at story time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She was the only person who knew the secret ingredient that made Nana's chocolate chip cookies so good.
Emma was also the only family that Nana was close to, or at least the only one Nana really talked about. Chase remembered her mentioning a son and ex-husband in passing once. But she always talked about Emma.
And now Emma was alone.
She also wasn't falling for Chase's charming self. But unlike Reba? Rhonda? Rebecca! Unlike her, Chase wasn't going to try and lay on the charm offensive anymore. She had probably been going through a lot, so it was best for him to just sit back. Maybe he could even help her out depending on what was in her grandmother's will. Perhaps he could line up a lawyer or an estate planner to look through things. He would have to mention that later though. Right now, they just needed to listen to this will, and he could figure out the next steps from there.
As he followed Emma into a conference room, a man with glasses and a bad toupee stood up to greet her. "Emma, I was so sorry to hear about Dorothy, but I promise we're here to help. Please have a seat here and we'll get started."
Emma nodded and sat down in a boring chair in the boring conference room without a word.
"Chase!" the man bellowed. "George Gordon. So glad you could make it."
"Yeah, of course," he replied as he shook George's hand. "I'm sorry it's under these circumstances."
"Me too. But I know how much Dorothy liked you, and she would've been so happy to know you made it here for her."
"Yeah, Nana was pretty amazing."
Emma stared up at Chase with angry eyes. Huh. Did she not know that everyone in theProject Lyonheart fandom called her "Nana"? Was it just weird for her to hear someone else call her grandmother by her affectionate nickname? He made a note to himself to try not do that again in front of her.
He sat down and extended his hand towards her. "I'm Chase."
"Emma."
She gave him a curt look but shook his hand anyway.
"I thought I recognized you earlier. Your grandmother always loved bragging about you to everyone." That got a small smile out of her that Chase chalked up as a little victory. "I was sorry to hear about her passing. She was a really special woman."
"Thank you," Emma said quietly.
She turned away from him and tried to wipe away a tear without him seeing, but he saw it. He was an actor after all. He had learned all the different types of crying in a class back in college. But there was something about her doing it right in front of him and knowing that it wasn't an act that made him wish he could reach out and wipe it away for her.
And yet, Chase kept his hands to himself. Nana often referred to her granddaughter as a "spitfire" who was more than capable of handling herself. But he did wonder if anyone was taking care of her now.
Another man walked into the room and shookthe lawyer's hand. "Sorry, I'm late. Traffic was brutal."
"That's Los Angeles for you," George said before turning to Emma. "Ms. Colton, this is Charles Dickson. He's your grandmother's financial planner."
Emma gave him a perplexed look. "You were her financial planner?"
"For the last few years. She actually started with my dad back in the eighties after her divorce, and I took over her portfolio when he retired."
Emma kept staring at him. "No, I mean, I didn't know my grandmother had a financial planner."
"She wasn't a very active client," he explained. "I would see here every few years just to make sure her lawyer had our contact information if she ever..."
His voice trailed off and he diverted his eyes away from Emma.
"Yes, well." George cleared his throat and started fumbling around with some papers. "Let me get one more person here."
He started dialing a number on one of those conference call phones in the center of the table, and the sound of a phone ringing echoed off the walls of the somber room before a man's voice came through the speaker.
"Hello?"
Chase could hear Emma's harsh intake of breath, and he wondered who this person was on the other end of the line that elicited such avisceral reaction.
