Hope's Chance (18 page)

Without even thinking about everything he had told me, I rushed up the stairs toward my room.

Chapter 21

Chance

Telling
Hope the truth was easier than I had originally thought. She believed me and it meant so much. I hated to send her upstairs after confessing so much about myself, but we couldn’t risk being found out. I made my way to the kitchen and started to make coffee. By the time the front door opened it was already brewing and I was leaning against the counter.

I heard Buffy first as she called out “Hello, We are home!”

I walked out of the kitchen and into the foyer. Buffy was smiling ear to ear.
She dropped her suit case and held out her arms for me to hug her. I gave her a big squeeze and finally let her go as Mark walked into the house. I reached my hand out and shook his hand, the whole time wondering if he knew I had slept with his only daughter.
Again!

“Where is Hope?” was the first thing out of his mouth.

“I have no idea. I came in to make coffee, and then heard you guys coming in the door.” I explained…lying.

“HOPE!” Buffy called up the stairs.

Perfection came walking down the stairs in a pair of pajama pants and hoodie. She had pulled her hair up,
but
it looked like she had just gotten out of bed. “Hey, I didn’t hear you come in.” She announced.

She
never
looked in my direction and it was a good thing, because if my eyes found hers they would know the truth immediately. This was a dangerous game. We were playing with fire.

“We have some news and it involves the both of you. How about we leave everything here. I want to make us all a big family breakfast and tell you all what is going on.” Buffy suggested.

“Can I get a shower while you cook?” Hope blurted out.

“I can help you cook sis.” I offered.

Buffy grabbed my arm and pulled m
e into the kitchen, while Mark s
tarted carrying the luggage into the laundry room.

“So how was your weekend little brother?” She asked as she started pulling out things from cabinets and the refrigerator.

“It was fine. I just hung around here and worked on the roof for a while. What about you? How was your trip?”

She smiled cheek to cheek again. “It was fabulous, but we can talk about it when we are all together.”

“Okay, should I be nervous?” I leaned across the counter. “Are you kicking me out? Hiring a new carpenter?  Am I working too slow?” I asked.

“Chance get a grip!” She laughed. “It has nothing to do with you, it just affects you indirectly. Stop assuming.”

I shrugged and made a cup of coffee while she began cooking. I noticed she was making
French
toast. It was something that my mother showed her how to do when we were kids. They made this vanilla cinnamon butter to go with it that made it taste even better. The smell filled my lungs, but it
wasn’t
breakfast that filled my mind. It was Hope.

I found myself watching the kitchen doorway, just waiting for her to come into the room. I heard the phone ring and Mark getting into a conversation with one of his clients about a new property. I started juggling, or attempting to juggle some
oranges
while I waited.

My sister rolled her eyes and motioned to a stack of plates a
nd
silverware. I rolled my eyes and dropped the fruit back in the basket. When I grabbed the plates she told me to set the outside table, so I headed out to the patio.

As I started to set the table, I got a whiff of Hopes shampoo and it took everything I had to not turn around and take her into my arms. She smelled delightful and I found myself missing her already even though we were standing just feet apart.

I turned to glance at her, but when I noticed she was doing the same, I turned away. “Get yourself together” I mumbled to myself.

Hope and I needed to be careful. We couldn’t act like we were involved and we couldn’t avoid each other. We had to be cordial without revealing our desire to
be
near eac
h other. It was harder than we
though
t
. When I looked at her, I wanted to melt into her eyes. She was breathtaking and her running shorts and tight shirt did more for me than it should have been doing.

“Good morning Chance.” Hope said loud enough that Buffy could hear.

“Hey Hope.
What’s
new? What did you do last night?” I asked praying she went along with the ruse.

“
Nothing much, downloaded some new music to go running to today.” She announced, but as she approached the table she added. “I spent the weekend with my boyfriend and last night he made passionate love to me until I
collapsed
in his arms. It was amazing.”

I had to turn away from the house. Her face was red and I could tell she thought she was funny. “So
what’s
he like?” I
asked
as we sat at the table across from each other. We co
uld hear Mark talking from
in his office and Buffy was busy attending to the stove.

Hope played with her napkin, folding it in different directions. “He is kind, and considerate. He puts everyone
else’s
needs before his own. He has the biggest heart but tries to hid it away. And…I mindfuck him every Chance I get.” She changed her voice when she said my name.

“Hope! Calm down please. Your making it difficult for me to stand.” I confessed pointing between my legs.

She giggled. “You are the one that asked. I can’t help it. In fact after last night and this morning, I wish we could just rip everything off of this table and bang like wild animals.”

I looked up at her in shock, but saw her winking at me. She immediately started
laughing. We
were caught off guard by Buffy bring
ing
out two large trays of
French
toast and sausage, while Mark followed behind her with orange juice and coffee.

“
What’s
so funny out here?” Mark asked.

I froze, but Hope took over.
“
I was laughing at something that happened yesterday. Chance was climbing on a ladder while I was going running. He must have thought it was locked into place, but when he started climbing up it, it was collapsing. His face was priceless.”

They all began laughing, but I was in shock that my little princess had told a complete lie without breaking a sweat.

“Hope do you mind scooting next to Chance so that I can sit with your dad? We had such a fun
weekend;
I don’t think I am ready for it to end yet.” Buffy announced.

Hope stood up and headed in my direction. When she sat on the bench beside me her leg brushed against mine. Knowing her mood, she had probably done it intentionally. This was going to be a lot more difficult than I had imagined it in my head.

My sister broke my train of thought. “So we have something important to tell you. Mark why don’t you tell them.”

“As you both know I am crazy about this woman and after much consideration I have asked her to be my wife.” Mark confessed.

Hope was taking a drink of orange juice and immediately spit it out in front of her. It went over her plate and her face. I handed her some napkins. “Sorry, it went down the wrong hole I guess.” She said as she continued to clean up the mess.

“Well I guess congratulations are in order.” I said as I reached over and shook Mark’s hand.

I got up and gave my sister a big hug. I knew she was beside herself with
excitement. We
finally started eating as Buffy and Mark talked about their romantic weekend. Hope and I kept touching our legs together, knowing it was the closest to hand holding we could get.

Finally after a moment of silence Buffy got all giddy. “This means that you two will be each other’s
niece
and uncle. Isn’t that totally cool?”

This time I was the one spitting out my coffee. “I don’t think we should label it sis. You are making me feel old. Hope is only like sixteen or something. She isn’t young enough to call me her uncle.”

“
I am almost eighteen
.” Hope added.

Her father gave a curious look.
“Not for another five months sweetie.”

“Whatever! I hate that my birthday is the last day of the year. All of my friends are legal adults and I can’t do anything I want ever!”

“Hope please don’t ruin breakfast.” Mark pleaded.

“Sorry. Buffy, I am happy for you and my dad. I can’t wait to help plan the wedding, if you will let me. Now if you will excuse me I am going for a run.”

Hope stood up and took her plate into the house.  She never looked at me or back toward her father.

“Wonder what’s gotten into her.” He said with a laugh.

“Probably just girl problems.” Buffy suggested.

I stood up from the table. “I need to grab a new paintbrush at the hardware store. Hope borrowed mine and forgot to clean it out. Thanks for breakfast and congratulations.” I said as I headed into the kitchen.

I ran into the pool house and grabbed my keys then headed into the garage, where I found a brand new paintbrush and stuck it in my pocket. I jumped on my bike and started looking for Hope.

Chapter 22

Hope

I had to get out of that house. I don’t even remember if I grabbed my plate off the table. The combination of being around Chance and hearing my dad’s
announcement
was too much for me to take. How could he ask her to marry him without seeing if I were okay with
it?
I knew it wasn’t my decision, but he could have at least talked to me about it. I liked Buffy a
lot, but she was more like a bi
g sister than a step mother, and factor in the relationship with me and Chance and it was a complete cluster fuck.

I wanted to scream, but instead kept running as fast as my legs would let me. The summer sun was beating down on me and I had forgotten to grab anything to drink. Between the tears and the sweat, I was having a hard time seeing through my wet eyes.

A familiar sound came roaring around the corner behind me and I slowed down my pace even before he came into view. Chance pulled up beside me and handed me a helmet. I jumped right on the bike, after applying my helmet, and he took off out of the neighborhood.

I wrapped my arms tightly around him.
With one of his hands his squeezed mine, and I felt a rush of relief to know that we were together.

When we finally made it to a nearby park he pulled in and parked the bike. I hopped off the motorcycle and waited for Chance. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me tenderly. “Are you okay?” He asked as he placed his chin on my head.

“Not really.”

He let out a short laugh. “That was 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 grabbed 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 to take.”

“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 Hope.”

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

“Well, one good thing can come out of this.” He announced.

“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 admitted.

I bro
u
ght 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 said as he lay
his
head against mine.

I put one of his hands into both of mine. “None of that was your fault Chance. You have to know that.”

He nodded and gave 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 have never met. I have to think that something good comes out of something horrible.” I said as I smiled and stared at his hand that I still held on to.

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