A Hope and a Chance(41)
Author: Jennifer Foor

“Not really.”

He let out a short laugh. “That was certainly a surprise.”

“You’re telling me. I didn’t even know how to react. I feel like such an idiot for running out. Your sister must hate me for ruining her excitement.”

Chance led me to a bench and we sat down next to each other. He captured my hand and played with it as he spoke. “Buffy will be fine. She should have known this would all be hard for you, Hope. You just moved into the house after not speaking to your father for a long period of time. There is no way that this would be easy for you.”

“Well it doesn’t help that the guy I want to be with is going to be my uncle,” I blurted out.

“That is not even funny.”

“No kidding. I thought I was going to choke on my breakfast when she said that.”

“Well, one good thing can come out of this,” he suggested.

“Yeah, care to share?”

“They will be so caught up in planning that they won’t notice how crazy we are for each other.” He had a point.

I brought my head up and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You’re crazy about me?”

“Hope, I never would have told you about my past if I wasn’t. You don’t know how many times I wanted you to know the truth.” He put his head against mine.

I place one of his hands in between both of mine. “None of that was your fault. You have to know that.”

He nodded and shot me a smirk. “Sometimes I do, but there are some days I can’t help but blame myself. The worst part is that they never even looked for another killer. The newspapers always talked about how the real killer got away with it, referring to me. It really tears me up inside knowing that.”

“Chance, please don’t take this the wrong way, but if it weren’t for your past we would’ve never met. I have to think that something good comes out of something horrible.” I smiled and stared at his hand that I still held.

He turned to face me more, suddenly pulling me on his lap. “I can’t imagine never knowing you. You’ve made me remember what it’s like to have a friend, and how it feels to love someone.”

His words shocked me, and it wasn’t because I thought he was lying or that it wasn’t the appropriate time to tell me. I just couldn’t believe he’d said it. “Did you just say what I think you said?”

He looked directly into my eyes and smiled. “Maybe.”

I smiled back at him. “Well maybe I feel the same.”

He pulled me tight against his chest. “You better.”

“I wish we could stay here all day.” I looked around and saw nothing but nature. It was secluded and peaceful.

“Yeah, well I can’t stay much longer. I told your dad I was going out to get a paintbrush at the hardware store.” Chance explained

I sat up and looked at him. “You better get going then.”

He laughed and reached for something in his back pocket. “I’m surprised you didn’t feel it when you were on the bike behind me.” A paintbrush in a wrapper sat in his hand.

I busted out laughing, unable to control my shock in reaction to his quick thinking. “Wow, you thought of that fast.”

“It was nothing compared to your story about the ladder,” he added.

I leaned over and kissed him lightly, but when he began to kiss me back it turned into much more. I ran my hands over his face, and held them as his mouth found mine once again. When he pulled away we were both breathless. “I don’t know how long I can last without touching you,” I confessed. “I need to be close to you.” I kissed him again, so slowly that it implied everything I expected it to.

“You won’t have to wait long,” he promised.

We held each other for a few more minutes before climbing back onto his bike and heading in the direction of our neighborhood. I assured him that I would be open-minded about my father and Buffy’s upcoming nuptials. To be honest all I wanted to do was think about him. It wouldn’t be hard to put my father’s wedding out of my mind.

I really did want them to be happy, except I just feared being the one to break the news to my mother. She’d been through so much lately. First my grandfather died and now my grandmother had to be put into a home. Plus she had lost her job and had to sell the house. This would crush her.

I couldn’t begin to figure out how I was going to look in her eyes and hurt her. Knowing Buffy like I did, she was bound to call every newspaper and have it listed. Hell, she probably had called to have engagement photos taken already.

I could just picture it now she and my father in a fashioned embrace while Chance and I stood behind them with googly eyes for each other. That would go over fantastic.

I squeezed my arms around Chance even tighter. Our alone time was almost over and I wasn’t ready to let him go.

When he finally pulled over he gave me a quick kiss and finally sped away. We couldn’t be caught like that, so I understood completely. As he drove into the distance I felt like a part of me was gone. My heart ached and I ran as fast as I could to get back to my house and be able to see him.

When I rounded the block that my house was on I decided to slow down. I didn’t want to arrive just minutes after Chance, so I walked the rest of the way. I finally made it down the long driveway and was met by my father having a word with Chance. When he sauntered away from him he quickly patted him on the shoulder. I had no idea what the discussion was about, but I couldn’t help having a guilty conscience.

Chance had already begun painting the wooden posts on the front of the house. Seeing him with a brush reminded me of being in my room. I wished we were alone again with that bucket of paint, a couple rollers, and my bed.

He looked back at me and gave me a wave before turning back around and getting to work. My father came back out of the house with his briefcase this time. He walked over to where I was standing and pulled me in for a hug. “I’m sorry if we caught you off guard this morning, sweetie. We didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s fine, Dad. I’d just woke up and wasn’t prepared for hearing big news like that yet. I feel better after my run though. It’s all good.”

He smiled. “Well I’m glad to hear it. Listen, I gotta run out and show some commercial property to an investor. I don’t know how long I’ll be so Buffy was hoping that you and Chance would want to watch movies later. Please try and be nice to her. She really cares about you, Hope.”