A Hope and a Chance(4)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Even though I had the rest of the day off, I still woke up at the crack of dawn. I weeded the front garden next to the driveway and painted the mailbox. While I had the can of paint out, I decided to touch up the white parts of the fence around the pool. The sun was warm, even early this particular morning, and I found myself sweating profusely as I finished touching up the fence. For a while I sat on a lounge chair and soaked up the rays, telling myself it was too early to crack open a beer. Somewhere I’d been taught that a person waits until at least noon to have their first drink.

When I felt like my balls were literally sticking to the side of my legs, I decided to grab a pair of swimming trunks and hop into the pool. Even if the company was already there, I wouldn’t be bothering them. I avoided jumping in and causing big splash sounds. Instead, I just floated around for a while in pure silence watching the clouds in the sky, and wondering if my mother was up there somewhere looking down on me.

When my hands started to prune up, I climbed out. Realizing all of the towels were in the pool house, I hurried to get inside. The morning breeze hit me right away, making me shiver even with the sun shining down. I made it inside within seconds and immediately began to strip out of my wet bathing suit that clung to my skin. I didn’t bother going into my bedroom, since I knew I was all alone. After all, it was my place.

When I first heard the creak of the door, I thought it was just my sister. Then I turned around and discovered that I’d been wrong. This little brunette stared at me with wide eyes, and I was fully aware of what she couldn’t take her gaze away from.

“What the hell? Who’re you and what’re you doing in here?” I’d raised my voice out of shock, knowing I had every right to be stern. She’d come into my home without even knocking.

The petite brunette threw her hands over her face, pretending to be embarrassed, even though I knew what I’d witnessed. She hadn’t been very ashamed just seconds before. “Oh my God, I am so sorry! I didn’t know somebody was in here. My father said I could look wherever I wanted. Seriously I had no idea.”

She turned her entire body around even though her hands were already covering her face. I finished pulling on a pair of boxers while trying to come to grips with who this chick could be. “You can turn around now, I’m decent.” I was still slipping on some basketball shorts, but at least I was covered. “So who’s your dad?”

She looked almost angry. Her eyes widened, and I could tell that she felt I was the one in the wrong. “Why? Who the hell are you?” With her hands on her hips she appeared to think she was in control of the situation. I, however, begged to differ.

“I’m Chance, Chance Avery.”

“And?” Her right eyebrow angled up, as did her chin. She was like a teacher, waiting for a child to tell the truth.

It was obvious that I wasn’t a child, and also a fact that she was invading my space. “And what?”

“And why are you in my father’s pool house? Does he know you’re in here or do I need to call the cops?” She was threatening me. This was getting interesting.

The last thing I needed was trouble with the law my first month here. “No, no! I’m Buffy’s brother. I’m doing work for Mark. How was I supposed to know he had a daughter? It’s not like he ever mentioned it to me before.”

She exhaled heavily and looked down at the floor. I literally watched her body start to sag. “Figures, considering he hasn’t been a part of my life for a while now.”

I wanted nothing more than to tell this chick to get lost, but after seeing the change in her, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl. She was apparently having a shitty day. “Why don’t you come sit down for a minute? I’m sure after seeing my bare ass you could use a drink. So what’ll it be?” While I waited for her response, I thought about what she’d actually seen. I was no flasher, but I did get a rise knowing how intrigued she seemed as she stared at my package.

“What do you have?” Her head popped up, like I’d said something that interested her.

“Bourbon and Coke.” The surprise on her face let me know that she expected me to say something non-alcoholic. I was certainly rusty with my people skills.

It wasn’t as if I was expecting company. Had I known that I’d be barged in on, I wouldn’t have come in from the pool with goose bumps, leaving me losing inches by the second. From the look on her face I’d say she was still impressed.

“Wow, that’s some variety. I’ve never had bourbon. Anything stiff would be good right now. This day couldn’t get any worse. Surprise me!”

I gave her a half-smile and headed to the tiny kitchen area. Mark was pretty positive that the people who lived here before rented out this pool house. It had one bedroom, a kitchen, a small bathroom and living room, but it was perfect for me. It wasn’t like I entertained, or even had friends at all to come hang out.

I decided to get her a bottle of water that I found in the door of the fridge. I wasn’t about to send her back to them with liquor on her breath. My sister had bought the water insisting that if I drank soda all day after working in the sun I’d get heat exhaustion. Usually I just sipped water straight from the hose, after dousing my body in it to cool off. While heading back in her direction, I wondered if she would have liked seeing me do that as well. Women and their fantasies.

When I returned to the living room, I sat in the chair facing her.

“Hope,” she said.

“Huh?” Was she asking me for something?

“My name is Hope. Hope Ryan,” she explained as she took the bottle of water. “Thanks for this. I actually didn’t know if I could handle the bourbon after the meal I just had to eat.”

“That bad, huh?”

“No offense, but your sister isn’t much older than me. I guess I just wasn’t prepared ya know?” The girl named Hope seemed offended by my sister’s presence. I watched her drink down half of the bottle, considering what I should say next. I knew I had to be careful. She was obviously having a terrible time dealing with the age situation.

I’d managed to pour myself half a glass of bourbon and had already taken two sips. The ice clattered in the bottom of the cup, while I swiveled it around watching it. “Nah, it’s cool. My sister can be hard to handle at first. She has a good heart though.”

She smirked but refused to reply. I was intrigued.

“What?”