Accidental Chances: A Small Town Love Story (Chance Rapids Book 3)

by A. J. Wynter

  “So he sent you?”

  “He sent me, yes. But, he owes you a major apology and he knows it. I think he’s waiting to see if you’ll actually come back to town before he admits how much of a buffoon he was.”

  Serena’s head was spinning with all the news; this was a misunderstanding of epic proportions. She didn’t have to question whether or not to forgive Freddie. There was nothing to forgive, but he hadn’t tried very hard to set the record straight. More importantly, he hadn’t fought for her. No, she wasn’t going to rush back to Chance Rapids for someone who would just let her go like that.

  Her cell phone rang, interrupting the conversation. She tilted the device and saw that it was the clinic. “I have to take this,” she said.

  “Do you need some privacy?” Charlotte asked.

  “It’s okay,” Serena gestured for Charlotte to sit and answered the call with a lump in her throat. “Hello,” she answered. She tried to keep her end of the conversation neutral so that Charlotte wouldn’t be able to discern what was going on. Her favorite nurse was on the other end of the phone, and all she would say was that the doctor had an important update for her.

  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Serena clicked off the phone, hopped up, and grabbed her purse. “I have to go.”

  “Is everything okay?” Clearly, Charlotte had picked up on the tone of the conversation.

  “It’s my dad,” Serena said as she hurried to grab a sweater from her bedroom. She thrust her hand into her purse to try and find her car keys as she rushed to the door. They weren’t there. “Shit,” she muttered.

  “Serena,” Charlotte said. “Is your dad okay?”

  Serena stopped. “My dad has been in a coma. He woke up the day I left Chance Rapids. They won’t tell me what’s going on, only that it’s urgent,” Serena said, and as the words left her lips they were accompanied with tears. “And I can’t find my fucking car keys,” she said, shuffling the papers around on the table by her door. She flew into the bedroom, tossed the clothes off her bed and frantically patted down the duvet.

  “I’m parked out front. Let’s go.” Charlotte held up the keys to her SUV.

  Charlotte didn’t have to say it twice. Serena grabbed her by the wrist and the two of them rushed down the pathway to the car.

  WHILE THEY WERE DRIVING, Serena told her the details about the accident and revealed that her dad was the reason that she had pressured Freddie into accepting the contract.

  Charlotte listened intently until they screeched up to the entrance of the clinic. “I’ll park the car and wait. You call me when you’re ready and I’ll come and get you.”

  “Thank you so much, Charlotte,” Serena said, her hands were shaking and she pulled Charlotte in for a hug, surprising them both.

  “Serena, you will be okay. No matter what happens,” Charlotte said. She looked like she was holding back tears too. Charlotte gripped her hand, Serena squeezed it back and then stepped out of the vehicle.

  Charlotte found a parking spot in the shade and pulled out her laptop to work on a deal. She was thankful that she could work from anywhere, and she knew better than anyone the anguish that comes with having a parent in the hospital. She was prepared to wait hours if need be, so was surprised when only one hour later her phone chimed. Serena was ready to be picked up.

  Serena pulled the door open and hopped inside the car.

  “He’s talking,” she gushed.

  “That’s amazing,” Charlotte replied as she pulled out of the parking lot. “I wish they would tell you that it’s something good over the phone. It’s so cruel the way that they leave you hanging.”

  “I know,” Serena had been picturing the worst. “He’s made such good progress; they haven’t seen anything like it.”

  “I’m so happy for you Serena.”

  Serena couldn’t hold in a gulping sob and the wail escaped through her lips. She clapped her hand over her mouth, embarrassed.

  “What’s wrong?” Charlotte pulled the car off the road and turned to face her.

  “I’m so tired of lying to everyone,” Serena buried her face in her hands and let the tears flow freely. They streamed through her fingers and trailed down her forearms.

  “What do you mean?” Charlotte turned off the engine of the car. She rubbed Serena’s back until her tears had subsided enough so she could speak.

  “The nurses showed him my social media posts. They said the news of my engagement perked him up so much. You should’ve seen the smile on his face. He couldn’t say too much, but he did tell me he can’t wait to walk me down the aisle.”

  “Oh,” Charlotte said.

  “Yeah,” Serena sobbed. “I couldn’t break it to him.”

  CHARLOTTE DROPPED SERENA off at her condo and the two shared another hug. This time neither of them were surprised by the embrace.

  “I know that you don’t ever have to see Freddie again. You’re free to finish your contract and forget all about Chance Rapids. However, I hope that you don’t.”

  “Thanks, Charlotte,” Serena replied. “But Freddie didn’t fight for us. I’ve got a lot to think about.”

  The two said goodbye and Serena headed home. She sat down at her makeup table and looked in her mirror. The reflection that stared back at her wasn’t pretty. Her eyes were rimmed with red from crying and she looked like a rabid dog who had lost a tooth in a fight.

  She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the photos, seeing them as her dad would’ve. She looked like she was glowing. After the heavily edited photos came the ones that hadn’t made the cut. She paused on the photo with her raccoon eyes, the one where she looked like a drowned rat. These raw pictures brought emotion to her belly. That disheveled girl was her – and that girl was smiling at Freddie for real.

  All day she had stopped herself from reaching out to Freddie or jumping in her car and high-tailing it straight to Chance Rapids. Freddie didn’t even try to win her back. Why should it be up to her? She pulled her laptop out of her computer bag and her missing keys jangled as they slipped out. The two items, the laptop and set of keys, seemed to be staring at her, urging her to make a choice.

  She paused for a minute and then grabbed the keys but instead of rushing to the car, she hung them on the hook by the door. Then she sat down on her bed and opened her laptop. She typed fast and furiously while the tears flowed freely down her face as she typed. When she was finished, she slammed her computer shut and held it to her chest. She had never felt more vulnerable, or free, in her entire life.

  Chapter 26

  FREDDIE PULLED THE curtain back and stared at the audience of screaming women. He heard that women from at least three towns over had made the trek to Chance Rapids for the Search and Rescue fundraiser.

  He wiped his sweaty palms on a towel as he watched Ray strut his stuff across the community center stage. When the audience roared in appreciation, he elbowed Mike, one of the volunteer firefighters. “Geez, how much booze have these women had?”

  “Beats me, but they must have their beer goggles on. Someone just bid two hundred bucks on Ray,” Mike dropped the curtain. “Can you believe that?”

  “I really can’t,” Freddie replied.

  The event coordinator, who also doubled as the town librarian, Julia, grabbed Mike and pulled him to the entrance. “Good luck, man,” Freddie said.

  Mike turned to him, “I better go for more than Ray,” he grinned and then did his best John Travolta strut across the stage, whipping the crowd up into an even bigger frenzy.

  The auctioneer started the bidding at $25. The date with Mike quickly escalated and as he exceeded two hundred dollars, he turned and smiled at Freddie, who gave him a thumbs up.

  Julia had let all of the bachelors choose their entry song, and Freddie picked the first song that jumped into his head, Sharp Dressed Man, by ZZ Top. He had debated between wearing his Freddie standard uniform of jeans and a t-shirt, but to stand out from the rest of the Rapidians, he pulled out his expensive suit, ra
tionalizing, when else am I going to wear this thing.

  The bidding for Mike topped out at four hundred dollars and he strutted off the stage. Freddie’s pulse began to race and as the raucous guitar licks filled the room, he whipped back the curtain and stepped into the stoplight. Freddie was no wallflower and as the walls vibrated from the audience screams, he sauntered over to the podium and undid the top button on his shirt before grinning and doing his best Michael Jackson kick-spin move. He strutted to the front of the stage, slid out of jacket, and tossed it over his shoulder. He finished facing the audience and tipped his new sunglasses down his nose.

  The emcee started the bidding and Freddie continued posing and playing to the audience. ‘They’re eating this up,’ he thought. The women were bidding fast and furiously, but once the amount surpassed one thousand dollars, the competition had whittled down to two or three women.

  “Do I have thirteen hundred, Thirteen hundred?” The auctioneer scanned the audience.

  “Thirteen hundred!” A raspy voice screamed out.

  “Do I have fourteen hundred?” A hand went up from the back of the room. The emcee pointed. “We have fourteen hundred.”

  Before she could continue, the raspy voice yelled out again, “Fifteen hundred.”

  Freddie’s heart sank, he knew that husky smoke-a-pack a day voice... Stacy. He turned to face the auctioneer and mouthed, ‘Help me.’

  He shrugged empathetically. “Do I have sixteen hundred?” The crowd murmured. “Sixteen hundred?”

  Freddie’s heart was thumping in his chest and he felt like he was going to throw up. He was going to have to go on a date with the woman who had just ruined his life.

  The metal door to the community center banged open and the woman silhouetted in the entrance yelled out, “Ten thousand.”

  Charlotte smiled at Freddie. Whoever that woman was, she had just saved him from a terrible night.

  “Ten thousand in the back.”

  All eyes turned to face the rear of the room, but the anonymous bidder was cloaked in the shadows.

  “Going once, going twice... Sold, for ten thousand to the woman in the back.” The room erupted in applause.

  Freddie jogged off the stage and high-fived Mike. “Ten grand?” Mike’s eyes were wide. “What kind of magic do you have in those fancy pants of yours? Who was that?”

  “All I know is that it wasn’t Stacy,” Freddie said and sat down on a folding chair.

  As the auction wrapped up, Julia reminded everyone of the next community fundraiser, the Snowflake Ball, and instructed the winning bidders to stick around and have their checks ready.

  Charlotte was standing backstage when he got there, “I think it was the suit,” she winked.

  “It had to have been,” Freddie grinned. “I may have just gotten myself a sugar momma.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Freddie, before you go out there and meet this lady, I really think that you should take a look at this.”

  Charlotte held out her phone. “It’s Serena’s latest post.”

  Freddie sighed. “Charlotte, I don’t care what she has to say.”

  “Just look at it,” Charlotte said and thrust the phone into his hand. When Charlotte put her hands on her hips, the woman meant business, so Freddie trained his gaze on the screen.

  He couldn’t believe his eyes.

  It was his Serena, not the Serena that the world knew.

  For a moment he didn’t recognize the woman on the screen. Both eyes were ringed in black and she looked like she had been punched, her hair was wet and stringy, but that smile, that giant gap-toothed grin, he’d recognize anywhere.

  “I can’t believe she posted that photo,” he murmured.

  “I know. I didn’t recognize her,” Charlotte said. “But read what she wrote.”

  Freddie narrowed his eyes and focused on the text, it read:

  Dear friends,

  I don’t know many of you and you don’t know me, but I owe you an apology.

  Recently, a young girl told me that she wished her life could be more like mine.

  And it broke my heart.

  What you see here isn’t real.

  I spend hours editing photos. I take hundreds of photos a day and post ONE.

  It takes hours to make a minute of my life look breezy and effortless.

  I’m tired of pretending.

  Someone special took this picture and I freaked. I wanted to delete it.

  But, guess what? This is me.

  It’s real life.

  From now on, I’m going to show you the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because life isn’t perfect, and neither am I.

  Thank you, Freddie, for opening my eyes.

  I’ll always love you for that.

  Freddie looked up from the phone.

  “Uh-huh,” Charlotte said and took the phone back.

  “I’m an idiot,” Freddie said.

  “Yes, you are,” Charlotte replied.

  “I should’ve gone to her. I should’ve tried harder.” He felt the tears brimming in his eyes. “Is this her way of saying goodbye? Charlotte, is it too late?”

  “It’s never too late for true love, Fred.” Charlotte stepped aside, Serena had been behind her in the shadows. Charlotte smiled, “Freddie, meet the winning bidder.”

  The tears that had been threatening to breach Freddie’s eyelids finally escaped as he met the equally teary-eyed Serena. “Did you hear all that?” he croaked.

  “I did,” Serena replied and smiled, and there it was, her chipped tooth.

  He took three giant steps, swooped her up in his arms and pulled her tightly to his chest. They embraced, chests brushing heavily against each other’s, then Freddie pulled back and kissed Serena passionately. The backstage erupted in cheers, but Freddie felt like they were in their own little world. Everything he needed, everything he ever wanted, he was holding right now – and he’d never let it go, ever again.

  He didn’t know how long they embraced, but when he finally set Serena back down on the ground, everyone was gone. They held hands and walked together to the parking lot.

  “I can’t believe you bid $10,000 for a date with me.”

  “We’ll get that for the ring. But the money doesn’t matter anymore, Freddie. My dad’s awake and he’s going to be okay.”

  “Are you serious?” Freddie was so happy for Serena. He picked her up and whirled her around in a circle, “I can’t wait to meet him.”

  “And, I couldn’t lose out to Stacy,” she winked and grinned at him.

  “Ugh, Stacy,” Freddie groaned. “About that, I can explain.”

  “Charlotte told me everything,” Serena replied. “And Freddie, I need to tell you something important.”

  He set her down on the ground. “This sounds serious.” He knew that the night had been too good to be true.

  “It is. I think I’m ready to be a Rapidian.”

  Freddie couldn’t believe his ears. “Wouldn’t you miss the big city and your life there?” Freddie heard high heels clacking on the pavement as he stared at Serena. Charlotte was approaching with a cellophane-wrapped gift basket in her arms.

  “If that glamorous woman can live here, so can I.”

  Charlotte paused as she reached the duo. “Sorry for interrupting, but they’re locking up the community center. I have to ask you something.” Charlotte handed the basket to Freddie. “Serena, if you’re serious about moving here, I want to hire you.”

  Freddie raised his eyebrows. A few months earlier, they had hated each other’s guts and now they were acting like best friends.

  Serena gasped, “Me? For what?”

  “I’m too busy for all of my marketing. I’d like you to take it over.”

  “Oh, Charlotte,” Serena lowered her eyes. “I think I ruined my media career. I’m the last person you should have running things for you.”

  “No,” Charlotte smiled. “You’re a genius. I want that kind of brutal honesty – it’s marketing gold. And haven�
��t you seen your latest numbers? You surpassed one million followers tonight.”

  “I did?” Serena pulled out her phone and clapped her hand over her mouth. “I thought that I’d lose them all.”

  “Turns out they like what Freddie likes... the real you.” Charlotte put her phone back in her handbag. “Think about it and let me know. And you two have a good night.” The cellophane on the gift basket crinkled as she hugged both of them.

  “What are we doing on our date?” Serena asked, peering through the clear wrap.

  “Let’s find out,” Freddie said and ripped off the ribbons.

  He pulled out a picnic basket and opened the envelope. “It’s a canoe rental at the Bison Cabin.”

  “What a crazy coincidence.” Serena pulled the gift certificate from Freddie’s hand to examine it.

  Freddie slung his arm over Serena’s shoulder, “Baby, there are no accidents in this life.”

  Serena raised her eyebrows at him. He kissed her on the lips and she mirrored his grin. “So. That’s it. We’re doing this?” Serena pointed back and forth from his chest to her own. “Me and you? For real?”

  “I’m all in, Serena. If you’ll have me.”

  She looped her arms around his waist. “I’m going to take a chance in Chance Rapids, Freddie. I love you.”

  “I love it when you’re cheezy,” he smiled and stopped to face her. He brushed a strand of her hair from her face and cupped her chin, “And I love you.”

  Chapter 27

  THE BISON CABIN WASN’T as rustic as the little cabin at High Lake. It had running water and electricity, for starters, but the scenery was just as beautiful.

  “We should’ve tried to get up here sooner,” Freddie said, pointing to the changing colors on the trees.

  It was late September and Serena had been busier than she’d ever been in her life with running her own account and O’Hare Realty’s marketing campaign. “I know,” Serena replied and shivered in her down coat. “I wish I wasn’t so busy.” Serena had been traveling back and forth to and from the city visiting her dad. He had moved out of the rehab center and was living on his own in her condo.