“Does your mom have any big fans?”
“No.” Madelyn grabbed another towel. There were only two dry ones left and still a ton of water to clean up. “She’ll just have to keep her windows open tonight and hope it dries.”
“I’m worried about mold,” he said grimly. “Even with the windows open, this is going to take forever to dry.”
“I’m sure there’s so much mold in this place it should be condemned. This happens all the time.”
“And I’m guessing she can’t afford a new washer.” Chance’s knees were soaked, and water splashed onto his black shirt as he wrung out another towel into the laundry room sink.
“She can’t even afford electricity half the time. I help her when I can, but working at a diner doesn’t exactly give me enough to pay two people’s bills.”
Chance winced. “Sorry. It was dumb of me to even say.”
“We had very different childhoods. You had your perfect family. And I have this.” She swept her arm out to indicate the huge mess they were cleaning up.
“Madelyn.” He shook his head. “There’s so much about me, about my family, you don’t know. On the surface, they’re perfect. That’s what they want everyone to believe, but beneath it all, we’re just as dysfunctional as you’re worried you are.”
Neither of them had wanted to talk much about their families when they dated in college. Chance had never pressed to know about her childhood because he hadn’t wanted to delve into his own, and since she rarely brought it up, it had never become an issue. Maybe he should have talked to her. Told her everything. Things might have turned out different if he’d opened up.
There was no way to know, but he wasn’t going to let this moment pass by him now. If she was going to consider being with him, he needed to lay it all out—his flaws, his fears, his family. Everything.
He focused on sopping up the corners with his towel while he spoke. “You know how you were trying to be a new Madelyn at college? Well, I was trying to be a new Graham. A person that people noticed and needed. At home, everything was always about Christian. His auditions and movie schedules and promo opportunities. In all the ways your mom needed you for everything, it was opposite for me. I was more in the way than anything.
“I went to a college where almost no one knew who my brother was, no one expected me to act a certain way. I felt like a different person. And then I met you.”
He glanced up and found Madelyn watching him, her eyes soft.
He continued, “You encouraged me to audition for my first play. I didn’t realize I’d talked about it so much until you told me to just try out already.” He smiled at the memory. He’d believed acting was Christian’s thing, something full of politics and strings that had to be micromanaged by his mom. Even though part of Chance longed to be a part of the world inhabited by Christian and his parents, he didn’t belong there. But with one statement, Madelyn made him wonder if maybe things could be different in college.
“I discovered I loved the stage. A whole new world opened up to me beyond what I’d let myself believe it could be. But then I’d go home and be reminded that everything was always going to be the same there. It didn’t matter how many lead roles I got in my plays or that my shark stunt went viral or that Chance Risk was one of the top-grossing shows on MyChannel. They have their world, and I’m not welcome inside of it.”
“I had no idea.” Madelyn had taken a cue from him and gone back to sopping up the water while he talked. He let out a breath of relief. It was easier to talk about without her watching him.
“I don’t like to tell people that my family doesn’t need me.”
She shook her head as if she couldn’t comprehend his statement. “I’m sure they need you, Chance.”
He set his towel down and stood, stretching his back. “My mom has cancer. She’s known for months, but I just found out a couple of weeks ago. The night before Havasupai, actually. And when I offered to fly home and help, Christian insisted they didn’t need me.”
The towel in her hand dripped water back onto the floor as she shook her head in disbelief. “I’m sorry they did that.”
He shrugged it off. “You know, when I was a kid, I thought the worst thing was not knowing my place in my family. Well, I learned last week that the actual worst thing is discovering your place is definitely on the outside.”
He paused as Madelyn threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Of all the reactions she might have, he hadn’t anticipated this one. He wrapped his arms around her, relishing the feeling of holding her tight. “I’m not a big fan of your family,” she said, and he laughed, lightening the thick atmosphere in the room.
“Right?” he said. She leaned back, and he brushed her hair away from her eyes. “I like being needed. I need to be needed. And I know you don’t want that. I know you are completely capable of doing all of this yourself and that you have been for your whole life. But please don’t shut me out, Madelyn. Not because of this.”
“It all gets overwhelming sometimes, being needed so much,” she said softly. Madelyn studied him, her eyes thick with emotion.
She pulled out of his embrace to continue cleaning, but a new intimacy had sprung up between them. He was aware of her every movement, as usual, but he felt lighter after opening up, not holding anything back now. And as they continued to work, their gazes kept catching, making them smile.
“How old is this washer?” Chance asked her once they’d used up all the towels. The floor was still soaked, but it would take hours for the towels to wash and dry.
Madelyn put the last towel in the sink, and leaned against the washer with a yawn. “We’ve had this washer since I was a kid. It’s finicky, but when it’s not flooding the house, it gets the clothes clean. If my mom would just shut the water off when it starts overflowing, this wouldn’t even be a big deal.”
“Does she not know how?”
Madelyn shook her head. “I’ve showed her how to do it so many times. But when it starts to overflow, she panics, and it’s like her brain shuts off and all she can think to do is call me.”
“That’s got to be tough.”
“Sometimes,” she said. “And usually, it’s not a big deal. But things have been extra stressful lately, and after working two shifts …”
It was almost midnight. At some point, Madelyn’s mom had come back into the house and turned on the television.
He yawned behind his fist. He’d been traveling all day, and it was starting to catch up to him.
“I think we’ve done the best we can tonight.” She turned off the light, and he followed her down the hall where she met her mom in front of the television. She bent down to give her a hug. “It’s mostly cleaned up,” Madelyn said. “I turned the water back on, so you’re good to go, but wait until tomorrow to wash the towels in the sink.”
“What would I do without you?” Her mom held a pillow to her stomach and looked gratefully up at Madelyn. Madelyn’s heart softened at how small and vulnerable she looked. It was too easy to only remember her mom’s neediness and her serial marriages, but through all those years, if any man tried to make her mom choose between him and Madelyn, she chose Madelyn every time. Without hesitation.
“Love you. I’ll call you in the morning.”
“And you can tell me about Chance.” Her mom winked at him and he smiled even as Madelyn repressed a sigh. Yep, that was her mom.
“Is there anything else I can do before I head out?” Chance asked.
Madelyn cringed and he realized he may have just opened a can of worms. But he was so unused to being needed.
“Are you the one who hired the carpet cleaner for me?” she asked.
“I did.”
“Thank you,” she replied, then shooed them both away. “I’m going to bed.”
Chance walked Madelyn to her car and after she unlocked it, he held the door open for her. Her hair frizzed out around her ears from the dampness and her mascara had streaked under her exhaustion-lined eyes, but
she looked beautiful to him.
“That would have taken me at least another hour without you. After the things I’ve done to you. What I’ve said.” She folded her arms, and shook her head as if in disbelief. “I didn’t deserve you to be so kind. Thank you.”
He took her hand, red and chapped from all their cleaning, and kissed her wrist gently. “You deserve so much more. Madelyn, I—”
She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Yes,” she said breathlessly.
He blinked in surprise, his lips still tingling with the sweet taste of her.
“I’ll go on a date with you. One date.”
“Okay,” he said, backing away slowly before she could change her mind, but he couldn’t hide the huge grin on his face, and he caught the matching grin on her own. Finally, he’d have a chance to prove to her how amazing the two of them could be.
Chapter Twenty
Madelyn rushed around her apartment, trying to pack Oliver’s overnight bag while sliding her shoes on and putting her earrings in. The doorbell rang and giddiness swirled through her. What was she doing? She wasn’t a teenager anymore. Anticipating this date all week had made her feel like one.
She hadn’t planned on saying she’d go on a date with Chance, but that night at her mom’s had changed things. The way he’d opened up to her, been there for her like no one else ever had. She’d always known she was attracted to him, that he made her feel indescribable things, but she hadn’t understood what it meant to connect with someone on a deeper level.
Chance had needed to go out of town again, but they’d spoken every night he’d been gone. His revelation about his family had run through her mind at every conversation. During their long, late-night chats, he’d told her more about his brother’s constant auditions, the edict to be neither seen nor heard, the overwhelming shadow he’d always lived in until Take a Chance.Between his work schedule and hers, plus working around nights she had Oliver, it had been difficult to find a time for them to go out. She’d nearly decided to call the whole thing off, but then he’d called to say he cut his trip short by two days because he knew she had the night free.
And he was on his way.
Oliver ran to get the door. “Dad!” he yelled. Madelyn finished shoving Oliver’s shark in the bag and zipped it up. When she walked into the front room, Jason whistled under his breath and gave her an appreciative glance. She self-consciously adjusted the black asymmetrical dress she’d pulled out of the back of her closet for tonight. She’d bought it for a wedding before Oliver was born, and had been worried it wouldn’t fit anymore with how her body had changed, but it complemented her figure even better than it once had. The top layer of shimmery fabric made her feel like she was sparkling as much as her glass teardrop earrings.
“Going somewhere?” Jason asked.
“Chance Risk is coming over.” Oliver bounced from foot to foot, saving her the effort of having to figure out how to tell Jason. It wasn’t like either of them hadn’t gone on dates since their divorce—Madelyn suspected that being able to date again was one of Jason’s very favorite parts of being divorced (plus spending all the money he wanted without her getting upset at him)—but this felt different than going on the blind date with her neighbor’s personal trainer or meeting Linda’s nephew for lunch. It felt substantial. Real.
Jason’s eyebrow lifted and he turned to Madelyn, taking her in more slowly. “Chance Risk, huh. You’ve certainly hit it off with him quickly.”
She rummaged through her purse to avoid meeting Jason’s eye. “We knew each other back in college.”
“Why didn’t you say anything, all those times Oliver and I talked about the show?”
Oliver slung his backpack on, and Jason lifted him up onto his back. Oliver’s little arms wrapped around his neck. Madelyn was glad Oliver loved spending time with his dad, even if it meant she had to see him more often than she cared to. And deal with his invasive questions.
“Chance Risk is his stage name. I didn’t realize I knew him until I saw him again.”
“So what’s his real name?”
She closed her eyes. Of course he would ask. Jason never let anything go. “Graham Sawyer.”
“The same Graham you dated.” It wasn’t a question. She’d had one serious boyfriend besides Jason, and that was Graham. He’d only come up a few times, in those strange conversations about past relationships, but sometimes all the things that weren’t said spoke louder than the things that were.
A light tapping on the door brought Madelyn around. She caught her breath at the sight of Chance in a gray suit that fit like perfection. He stood with one hand in his pocket, the other down at his side, the soft smile on his face just for her.
“Chance!” Oliver wiggled off of Jason’s back to rush to Chance and give him a high five. “This is my dad!”
Jason looked a little star struck. He blinked it away quickly and held out his hand. “Jason Stewart,” he said, his voice pitched lower than usual.
“Chance Risk,” Chance said, returning the handshake with a friendly smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Oliver talked about you a lot on our New Orleans adventure.”
“I got to hold an alligator,” Oliver said.
Jason ruffled Oliver’s hair, seeming to relax a bit. “I heard.” Oliver had spoken of almost nothing but New Orleans since they’d returned.
“What time is your gig Sunday?” Madelyn asked, hoping to gently rush him out.
“Six.”
“I get off at four, so you can drop him off any time after that.” She shifted, very aware of Chance listening to their routine conversation.
“Can I bring him to the diner a little earlier so I have time to get all my equipment down there?”
Linda and Garth loved when Oliver came into the diner, always plying him with more food, saying he was too skinny. And Oliver loved the extra, grandparent-like attention.
“Sure.”
He picked Oliver up and launched their giggling son onto his back. “C’mon, kid. I’ve got a box of macaroni at home with your name on it.”
“Bye, Mom! Love you!” Oliver waved, and they were off, leaving silence behind. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the silence of her house after Oliver left to go with his dad. It was weightier than normal silence. Lonelier.
But then Chance’s arms were around her and he was pulling her tight to his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder, inhaling the fresh scent of him. He must have come straight to her house after getting out of the shower. “I missed you,” he said.
“Me, too.”
She leaned back, but neither of them let go. His mouth descended until it met her eager lips. The friction of his stubbled face against her skin made her lean more into the kiss, moving her hold from around his waist to around his neck. After a moment, their desperation slowed to one last tender, lingering kiss, before Chance pulled away.
Madelyn floated somewhere above the room. Who knew being with someone could feel like this? With just a kiss, she was transported to a beautiful place that transcended all the difficult parts of her life.
“I’ve been looking forward to that all week.” He kissed her again, and again, and then one more time, before he pulled away with a groan. “As much as I’d like to keep kissing you all night, we have a reservation in about thirty minutes we need to get to.”
They held hands on the drive to the restaurant, constantly stealing glances at each other. Madelyn knew she was glowing. She could feel it, and it enveloped her with warmth and light. Had she ever felt this way before—even when she’d been dating him in college? Then, it had been new and exciting and addicting, but it hadn’t been precious like it felt now.
Precious and fragile.
Chance pulled up in front of a tiny French restaurant. “I hope you still love La Maison.”
“I haven’t had it since the last time you took me. I can’t believe you remember.”
He got out of t
he car and rushed over to her side, his hand held out to help her from the car. “I told you. You’re unforgettable.”
She drifted out of the car as if walking in a dream.
They walked into the restaurant and were led immediately to a small, white-cloth-covered table near the front window. The restaurant was lit mostly by the soft glow of candlelight, and an inside trellis had intertwining vines all along one wall. Their view from the window was to a garden terrace, with a cascading water fountain surrounded by overflowing crates of gorgeous flowers. It felt like stepping into a different world.
The waiter came by with tall glasses of sparkling water and then took their orders.
“This is incredible, Chance,” Madelyn said when they were alone again.
He reached across the table and laced his fingers with hers. “You deserve this. You deserve more than this, actually.” This already felt like too much, but perfect at the same time.
“How was your trip?” she asked.
“Fantastic. I wish you could have come.”
“It would have been too hard to leave Oliver again.” And she’d finished the article already, so she didn’t need to go on the final trip. She’d sent the article to Ms. Phillips, who had been thrilled she’d actually come through with an interview. But a few days later Ms. Phillips had returned it, requesting revisions. It would make a great Wikipedia entry, but it’s missing heart.
Madelyn had stared at her article so many times, she had it memorized, but still didn’t know how to make it good enough for Verity. She shook the discouraging task from her mind. Tonight, she only wanted to be with Chance.
She took a sip of sparkling water, the bubbles tickling the roof of her mouth. “Did Rog get some good footage?”
“I haven’t looked at it yet, but he always does.” They’d gone to the Redwoods, and the culminating adventure had been zip-lining through the massive trees. Madelyn had always wanted to visit the Redwoods. It was nearly an eleven-hour drive to see them, which was approximately ten hours farther than she’d ever gone from home. Other than the last couple of weeks with Chance, that is.
Take a Chance on Me_A My Heart Channel Romance Page 15
