Hope's Chance(39)

“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 big sister than a step mother, and factor in the relationship with me and Chance and it was a complete cluster f*ck.

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 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 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.”