A Hope and a Chance(97)
Author: Jennifer Foor

She smiled and rested her head on my chest. “I’m ready, as long as I’m with you.”

I placed my lips against her forehead. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

In that moment nothing else existed except for the two of us. We had so much to be thankful for.

“Now that we don’t have to hide, I almost don’t know what we’ll do,” she admitted.

“Well for starters, we need to talk your dad into helping us get an apartment within the next week, because I’m not spending a single night without you in my bed.”

“We could even share a room to save on cost,” she suggested.

We both laughed. “Yeah. I’m cool sharing my space with you. I’ll even promise to put the seat down.”

“How mighty kind of you.” She rest wrapped her arms tighter around me.

“I know it was yesterday, but happy birthday, baby. I hope you got everything you wanted.”

“I did,” she said as we swayed to the music.

Epilogue

Three months later …

I woke up on edge, considering that I’d waited for this moment since the day I’d been kicked out of my last college. To be able to play baseball again, in front of a stadium full of people was quite an achievement. For me, it was much more. This wasn’t about becoming a famous ballplayer. It didn’t have anything to do with chasing my dreams.

It was about freedom.

Two weeks ago I was visited by several FBI agents. You can imagine the panic of seeing them sitting on my couch waiting to interrogate me. The look on Hope’s face made it even worse.

It took five minutes and one phone call to confirm that I’d been at practice, in front of forty-eight men, all day long. Once they knew my alibi was rock-solid, I was informed of another attack at Penn State. The murder was exactly the same as my friend’s had been. This most recent victim was raped and left in a ravine, this time with a note stating that they would never catch the assailant.

The sheer relief of what was happening besieged me. I couldn’t recall a time when I felt so free. Being as I was no longer considered a suspect in two murders, I even received an apology. Nothing could bring back my mother, from the stress that led to her death, but I prayed that she was looking down on me, proud of the new life I’d found.

I know she’d be proud of my sister. Buffy’s new business was doing great. Her grand opening brought in a huge crowd, and I’d never in my life seen her this happy.

As for Hope and I, well after convincing Mark to help us get an apartment together, we settled into not having to hide our relationship. It wasn’t difficult considering that we enjoyed being alone more often than out in public. As soon as courses began I was busy with baseball. I spent every weekend at the batting cages, or the gym. One thing I had on my side was the fact that I’d stayed in shape. Not playing ball for a year hadn’t taken away my skillset. After the fourth practice I was back on track. Since I wasn’t there on a scholarship, I had less stress, finding it easy to manage schoolwork with everything else on my plate. Hope struggled at first, but finally got into the groove of how things worked.

We thought everything was going to be smooth sailing, until my coach called me into his office. Apparently new guidelines were being incorporated. There was a chance that I’d have to live on campus at least during baseball season. I knew it applied when I was on a scholarship, albeit it hadn’t been implemented on any of my paperwork. I’d been assured that in my case it wasn’t necessary.

Still, my coach was adamant about making sure I knew that it could be an issue. There were ways around me having to move into a dorm. Convincing Hope it was good idea wasn’t without a little effort. I’d sat her down one night after practice. I think she could tell that something was wrong. “Hope, I’ve got something we need to discuss.”

“Me too.”

This caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting her to have something to tell. “You do? Is everything okay?”

She shrugged and looked down at her folded hands. I could tell something was bothering her. “Is it because I’m away all the time for baseball?” Even though it was important to me, nothing meant more than having her by my side.

“No. Not directly. I mean, I suppose it could be hard for me if you were gone, but I’d figure out how to deal with things on my own.”

“I’m confused.”

Hope reached over, taking my hands in hers. “Please don’t freak out.”

“I’m about to if you don’t start talking. After everything we’ve been through, why would you think you need to handle everything on your own?”

“Because this is sort of my fault. Okay, it’s all my fault,” she corrected herself. “I should have remembered. I can’t believe that it never crossed my mind. It’s just that with school, and moving, I forgot all about it.”

With our fingers intertwined, I squeezed, reminding her that whatever she was overreacting about we’d figure it out together. “Hope, talk to me.”

“You’re going to be so mad at me.”

Had she cheated on me? Did she give some random guy in one of her classes her cell phone number? I couldn’t figure out what it was, or what she could have forgotten. Then, as her eyes widened, I realized what I was overlooking. It was at that very moment when I figured out what she had forgotten. It would not only impact our relationship, but both of our futures. “You didn’t?”

She looked away, and I watched tears fall down her cheeks.

“Hope, look at me.”

She refused.

“Seriously, look at me.” I removed my hands from hers to avoid letting her feel how I’d begun to tremble. This wasn’t something that I would have expected. We’d gotten carried away with our new life to even think that we’d overlooked something so important. She was blaming herself, but I was equally at fault. This didn’t just fall on Hope and her carelessness.

“I can’t. I don’t want to see how upset you’ll be.” She began to sob. “I’m so sorry, Chance. I know you don’t need this on your plate right now. After everything you’ve went through to get back into my dad’s good graces, this is going to screw it all up.”

“Would you shut up for a minute and let me talk?”

She wiped her eyes and nodded.

“I love you. No matter what happens, that’s not going to change. Stop putting the burden all on yourself. I don’t give a shit what Mark thinks. We’re adults. We can deal with our own problems.”