Chance on Love (35 page)

“And we’re walking away now, Frank.” Stephanie gave Amber a tight smile.

“No, wait,” she cried. “I can explain.”

“This should be good.” She pulled out her phone and hit the record button on the video camera before holding it to Amber’s face. “Go on, explain.”

Amber looked at her drink as her words began to slur again. “I don’t know what’s all are in this punch.” Hiccup.

Smiling, Stephanie stopped recording and glanced at Frank. “That’s really all I need, don’t you think?”

He looked back at Amber as they walked away. “Was I really like that for all these years?”

Stephanie thought about it. “Basically.”

He blinked slowly. “I’m really, really sorry.”

She shrugged. “You’ve been apologizing pretty well by not drinking. Keep it up.
That’s
how you make amends.”

Frank cleaned up well. Being sober agreed with him, for sure. His green eyes were crystal clear and his dark blond hair, which was graying at the temples, had been freshly trimmed. That, along with a nice shave and a suit and tie made him a handsome man. She would never be able to repay Chance for giving her father a shot at getting his life back on track. The substance abuse program and group home wasn’t cheap by any means.

She didn’t want to mar her badass persona, but she had to tell him. She had to say it at least once in order to put it behind her and move on. They stopped to watch the couples out on the dance floor.

“I’m proud of you.” In her peripheral vision, she saw his head turn toward her. Still, she stared straight ahead. “I didn’t believe you’d do even half as much as you have. It’s a little too late for you to be my dad, really. I mean, I’m thirty-three years old. You can’t exactly help me with my homework anymore. But you never stopped being my father.” Taking a deep breath, she finally met his eyes and saw that they had misted over. “And since you’re my father, well...” She lifted a shoulder and looked away. “I guess you can
try
to be a dad to me, if you want. Whatever.”

“I’d like to try.” He held his hand out to her, and she looked down at it. “Care to dance?”

Stephanie lifted her head. “Whatever,” she said again, taking his hand. Chuckling, he led her to the dance floor while she suppressed a smile. At least she finally had a bit of closure on one aspect of her life. Her mood darkened in an instant. What was Chance doing tonight? Or
who?

“That man loves you, you know.”

Frank’s statement jarred her. “What?”

“Your friend, Mr. Valentine.”

“Why’d you bring
him
up?”

“You seem sad. Happy, I guess—happy as I’ve ever seen you anyway. But still...sad.” Laughing, he shook his head. “I know that doesn’t make a lick of sense outside my own mind.”

Strangely enough, it did. Kenny was going to be fine. She’d secured his place as GM as she had set out to do, and she even had a burgeoning, if fragile, relationship with her father. She was happy. And as she looked around at all the blissful couples in attendance, smiling and in love, she was undeniably sad. Even Drunk Amber couldn’t lift Stephanie’s spirits for long, though she helped. She definitely helped.

“I just figured,” Frank said, “this is a Valentine’s party. Tonight’s about love. You deserve that, Stephie. And that fella over there sure isn’t the one to give it to you.”

She frowned. “Who?”

“That one there who keeps staring at you.”

She followed his gaze straight to Clay. He held his special little Donna close as they swayed to the music not ten feet away. “Oh, yeah. He’s
definitely
not the one.”

“Nope, but I think Mr. Valentine just might be.”

She grew quiet while she considered that. “He doesn’t love me.”

“That man threatened me.”

Stephanie laughed. “Right.”

“God’s honest truth, he did. He made it clear that if I ever hurt you again, I’d have to deal with
him
. Something told me I wouldn’t like that very much.” Frank twirled her around. “That man loves you.”

She smiled sadly. “Maybe he did...once.” Before he thought she’d only been using him for a promotion. Before Carly.

“You love him? If so, you should really—”

“I don’t want to talk about him anymore, all right?” She pulled back to look in her father’s eyes. “Please.” If she had to talk about that man right now, she’d surely fall apart. And all her badassness would immediately be replaced by heartbroken weepiness. Never a good look, especially when one was running a news station and was currently surrounded by peers.

He stared at her for a few seconds as the song ended. “Okay,” he said.

People applauded, drowning out the DJ’s words. Shockingly, Chance’s odd taste in music was going over rather well with this crowd. She had to give him credit. The one good thing about never seeing him again was she’d never have to give him credit
out loud
.

He was smug enough already. She needed to focus on that instead of how gorgeous he was with those eyes and those dimples. She needed to concentrate on his faults since not thinking of him at all seemed an impossible task. His expert ability to piss her off was something worth remembering, not the way he could make her come so hard she’d pass out. 

Fine,
she thought, biting her lip
.
That might be worth remembering.

Still, he was inherently selfish. Yes, he’d helped her dads out of some sticky situations, but she couldn’t trust his motives. Had he really done those things for their benefit? Hers? Or because he thought they might benefit
him?
Surely that was it. The man couldn’t see past his own interests. Hell, he probably hadn’t heard half of what she’d told him during their short time together. It was to be expected, though, when you were dealing with a conceited son of a—

As she and Frank left the dance floor, an eighties song started to play.

“I can’t believe him,” she said softly, shaking her head.

Frank leaned closer to hear her. “What happened?”

“A Colony of Seagulls,” she said, blinking back tears.

Frank frowned. “What?”

“Never mind.” With a heavy heart, she watched as partygoers grooved to the music. She stuck out her chin. The schmuck would have to give
her
some credit, too—if he were there.

“Hey, kid.” Kenny wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she rested her head against his chest.

“Hey.” She sniffed back tears. “I’m glad you made it.”

“Like I’d let him miss this,” Gwen said.

Smiling, she gave Kenny’s wife a big hug. “Hi.”

Her brown eyes glistened with unshed tears when she pulled back to look at Stephanie. “Thank you, baby,” she said, clasping Stephanie’s hands. “For everything you’ve done for Kenny, for my family.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You did. If not for you, Mr. Valentine never would have helped him. He never would have known he even
needed
help.” Gwen pulled her in close. “Thank you,” she repeated.

She didn’t trust herself to speak just then, but somehow she managed a, “You’re welcome.” Frank cleared his throat. “Oh, I’m sorry. Frank, this is Kenny Thomas and his wife, Gwen. Kenny’s been my boss for years. Kenny, Gwen...this is Frank.” She glanced at him. “My father.”

Gwen raised her eyebrows. “Oh, well,” she stuck out her hand, “it’s nice to meet you.” As the matriarch of Stephanie’s unofficial second family, she knew all about Stephanie’s history with him; she had just never met the man before. She glanced at her husband. “I’ll go get us something to drink, honey.” Giving Frank a warm smile, she walked away.

Frank held out his hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Kenny regarded the man. Finally, he shook his hand. “Same. But do right by her this time around, okay?” He gave Frank a hard pat on the shoulder before squeezing it. “It just wouldn’t be good if you didn’t.” He leaned down to give Stephanie a peck on the cheek. “Later, kid,” he said, walking off.

Frank frowned as he watched him go. “He loves you too.”

“How do you know?” she asked with a smile.

“He just threatened me.”

She laughed. “He did not.”

“Oh, that was a threat.”

Stephanie cocked her head. “Maybe.” She shrugged. “But I love him too so he gets to threaten you.”

Frank’s expression transformed into a sneer. “That guy is my age,” he whispered furiously. “Lord, I wanted a good life for you. Now you’re some older man’s mistress— And you’re sleeping with him while you’re buddyin’ up to his wife.” He slapped a palm to his forehead.

She held up a hand to stop him. “
He’s
my dad.”

Frank looked at her blankly for several seconds. Then, he got it. “Oh,” he said softly before averting his eyes. “Ew.”

“Exactly.”

They laughed.

“Come on,” Stephanie said. “Let’s go get something to drink.”

“Not the punch,” they said before sharing a smile.

Carly sashayed over with a champagne glass in her hand. “Well now,” she said, giving Frank a slow once over. “Who is this handsome man?” She took a sip of her drink.

Stephanie crossed her arms. “My father.”

Carly choked on her champagne, but, unfortunately, recovered quickly. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Stephanie said, grabbing his arm. “I guess he’s not quite as funny as he was when you first saw him, huh?” Just as Carly’s face grew red, Stephanie leaned in, lowering her voice. “You might want to go to the ladies’ room.”

“Why?” Carly put a hand to her rosy cheek. “What’s wrong?”

Placing a finger beneath Carly’s chin, Stephanie turned her face side to side while she inspected her. “It looks like you got a little— Is that...?” Squinting, she nodded. “Yep. That’s egg all right.”

Carly glared at her.

“You really have to stop being so dirty, Carlene. That’s when stuff like this happens. Excuse us.” Stephanie gave her a sly smile before walking away with Frank.

Chapter 41

Chance cursed under his breath when he entered the ballroom. He was such an idiot for being there. His grandfather would have a good ol’ time cracking up about this. And he was getting up there in age, not to mention, he’d smoked for most of his life. This meant he was not only going to laugh his ass off, he was going to laugh until he wheezed and coughed.

Chance had argued with himself from the moment he’d gotten this crazy plan in his head until he’d boarded the plane to Oklahoma City. Hell, he wasn’t done yet.

There was still time to come to his senses. Leaving right now, with most of his dignity intact, was the smartest idea he’d had in a while. No one would be the wiser. He was disgusted with himself in so many ways. There he was, slinking back to a woman who’d been using him for nothing more than a thankless job with cushy benefits, a woman whose last words to him amounted to, “I hated you then; I hate you now. Goodbye.”

He groaned even as he scanned the crowd. It
would
be nice to get at least a glimpse of her. He wondered what she was wearing. Then, he immediately thought of various things he would do to her once he removed whatever the hell it was she was wearing. He didn’t see her. Chance sighed. Damn it.
Just leave, man.
It was over
.

He gave the room one last scan before turning to go. Just then, he realized what song was playing—that damn Seagulls song Love liked so much. He smiled. It looked like that was to be his final way of reaching out to her. Chance took a deep breath before stepping toward the door. He frowned down at the hand tugging on his arm.

“Why, Chance Valentine, don’t you dare leave without saying hello.”

He lifted his gaze to her face. “Carly,” he said with a little nod.

She put her hands on her hips and pouted. “Now don’t tell me you’re still angry with me.”

He gave her an impartial look. “I really don’t feel anything for you at all.”

Flinching, she stared into his eyes for a moment. “Oh, um...ouch.” She cast her eyes down. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I’ve always hated her, but I liked
you
—I did. When I realized the two of you were in love, I shouldn’t have gone through with my crazy plan to get back at her. It backfired anyway.”

“By default, she would’ve forfeited the GM position by being a no-show at work. I thought she knew she was the new interim, though, and just wanted to make us all sweat while we waited to see what she’d do. Well, you know what she
did
do?”

Chance didn’t respond. He hadn’t heard much of what she’d said after one certain part.

“You’re looking at KMLP’s newest field reporter. A field reporter, for Pete’s sake,” she whispered furiously as she stepped closer. “That bitch demoted the hell out of me.” Sighing, she folded her arms. “So, you see? You don’t have to be pissed at me—your little ray of evil sunshine is already making my life hell.” She frowned at him. “What?”

“When did you realize we were in love? What are you talking about?”

Carly rolled her eyes. “Everything I just said and
that’s
all you got out of it?” She pulled a tube of lip-gloss from her clutch bag and applied some. “Yep. In love.”

He didn’t have time for this. “Excuse me, Carly.” He turned to go.

“That day, in your office, when I asked you about coming here with me...”

Chance faced her once again.

“I was talking crap about her, and you just starting naming all these so-called good qualities she has. And then, when I accused her of using you for your money, she denied it. Of course, I’d expected her to. It’s just— Well, she seemed genuine when she started listing reasons you were a catch. Reasons that had nothing to do with money. I asked her if she was in love with you.”

His breath hitched in his throat. “What did she say?”

“She said she doesn’t
do
love.”

He smiled.
Yeah
. That was his devil woman all right.

“Of course...” Shrugging, she returned the gloss to her clutch. “Even if she did love you, why would she tell
me?
”

He reflected on that for a few moments. She was right, of course. She was the last person to whom Love would confide her feelings. He needed someone she trusted enough to tell. Unfortunately, that narrowed his choices in a very bad way. He looked around.