Hope's Chance(17)

Rylee, he fell asleep inside of me. There isn’t any way he left me to go back and kidnap anyone.

Oh shit! Sorry. Well I think you need to talk to him.

Forget it. He doesn’t want to ever see me again. He made that clear.

Well, it would suck for a fine specimen like that to be locked away for something he didn’t do.

Whatever Rylee. I will call you later.

After I hung up with her I got on my lap top and read the article online. It didn’t give many more details than Rylee had already told me, but she was right about the picture. It was Chance.

My mother came into my room and I closed my laptop. “Are you going to get up and help out around here, or mope in your bed all day?” She asked.

“Do I have a choice?” I said sarcastically.

My mother wasn’t having my flip comment. She got right up in my face like she always did when she lost her temper. “Listen here young lady. As long as you live in this house you will pitch in. I am sick of your attitude every day. I worked my ass off to give you a good life. We didn’t have much but we made it work.”

I tried to grab her arm but she pulled me away. “Don’t Hope. You have your diploma now. It is time for you to be responsible. What are your plans?”

“I…I have no idea right now.”

“Well after the conversation I had with your * father yesterday, I would say you better decide fast.”

“What do you mean? Why did he call?” I started worrying Chance had spilled the beans about our night together. Or worse, maybe someone had told my father he saw me running down the road.

“I had a bad day at work. I got laid off last night. When I got home I called your father and gave him a piece of my mind. He is living in that fancy community, but has never made an effort to pay me a cent in child support.”

“Oh, so what happened.”

“He thinks it would be a good idea for you to move in there for a while.”

“What? No way Mom! No way.”

She sat down on the bed beside me. “Honey, your grandmother is doing bad. She needs to go into a home. In order for me to afford for her to do that, I will have to sell the house. I don’t have a choice.”

“There has to be another way.” I begged.

“Hope, your father has a huge house. I have been in the neighborhood. He has plenty of room for you. He seemed excited about you coming to live with him.”

I started crying. The first reason was about my grandmother. The second was the fact that my mother had no job, and the third…well that was the fact that I would have to see Chance again.

“Please don’t do this.” I fell into her lap.

She stroked my hair. “When you turn eighteen you can live wherever you want honey. It is just until the end of the year.”

“Where will you go?”

“While the house is for sale I will stay here. Once the sale is finalized, I will find a place to rent. I will find another job, even if it is cleaning hotel rooms.”

My mother held me while we both cried. This was so sudden. It had to be a nightmare.



Chance



“Chance wake up.” I heard my sister say.

“What?”

She threw me a pack of cigarettes. “Here I know you want one.”

“Thanks.”

I started opening the wrapper while she sat down in front of me. Instead of sitting on the chair she sat on the table.

“Tables are made for glasses not asses Buff.”

“Shut up and listen to me Chance. I need to talk to you about something really important.”

This was it, Mark was making her kick me out. He didn’t want a suspected felon living on his property. I would be homeless and jobless.

I lit up the cigarette in the house, which was something I never did. I took in the biggest drag.

“Mark’s daughter is coming to live with us.”

The smoke attacked my lungs and I began gagging. I hunched over trying to get myself to breathe. “What did you say?”

“Her mother is having financial difficulties. She and Mark discussed it last night. It is best for her. We have plenty of room here at the house. She just graduated High school and she is such a nice girl. Maybe she even has some older friends you could get to know.”

“Did you just say High School?”

“Yeah, Mark said she will need to stay with us at least until she turns eighteen.”

I froze in place.

“If you are worried about the police… don’t. Her mother has no idea what happened to you. Everything will be fine.” She said assumingly.

“Maybe I should just start making my own meals out here.” I suggested.

“Don’t be silly. We can all eat together, as a family.”

Buffy leaned over and gave me a kiss before walking out of the pool house.

I was in deeper shit than I ever could have imagined. Hope was only seventeen. I didn’t need to worry about going to jail. Her father was going to murder me.

I didn’t know what to do. I was panicking. I even considered turning myself into the authorities, confessing to something that I hadn’t even done. It would have been better than Mark finding out I had slept with his underage daughter.

I had dug myself in so deep that there was no escape. I couldn’t live with Hope. I couldn’t be near her. I had been horrible to her. She hated me.