The bus rocked as he climbed onto the step, his hands wrapping around the steel safety bars as he made his way inside.
“Hey, Chip. How ya livin’?” Chase asked, patting his driver on the shoulder.
“Livin’ good, son,” Chip answered, his dark eyes looking up under his signature fedora, an unlit cigar hanging from his lip.
Chip was a retired school bus driver and jazz musician. Chase had never seen him actually light or smoke even one cigar, but he always held one between his lips. He couldn’t count the number of nights he’d spent up at the front of the bus with Chip. They talked about everything from music to philosophy, from cards to women. Chip was the closest thing to family Chase had on the road. Or at all, really.
As he moved through the narrow aisle down the center of the bus, Tully rose from behind his laptop. “You should probably sit down.”
The ominous words coming out of Tully’s mouth caused a feeling of dread to well up in his chest. “Is there another problem?” Chase asked, not heeding his assistant’s advice and remaining standing.
After the power outage due to the unprecedented heat wave this afternoon, he wasn’t sure his assistant’s nerves could handle much more. Tully was a smart, good-looking kid who was great at dealing with people and keeping Chase’s schedule straight. He always stayed one step ahead of stories before they broke, and one of his greatest talents was smoothly removing Chase from situations he did not want to be in, which was a talent you couldn’t really teach. The only complaint Chase ever had with Tully was that when things didn’t go according to plan—which happened far more often than not—his assistant would go into panic mode. Luckily Chase was pretty good about keeping calm.
This afternoon, when it looked like they were not going to have electricity, Chase had been the one to suggest moving the concert to the large park across the street. They had been in the process of getting the necessary permits when Memphis Light, Gas and Water had been able to bring the grid that powered the street the venue was on, back on line.
Now, as Tully looked up at him, he shook his head, obviously not happy with Chase’s decision to remain standing. He handed Chase his cell phone as he explained, “I got a call from Harper’s Community Hospital. Your mom is there. They believe she has suffered a stroke. I have the doctor’s number for you to call if you want.”
Chase’s entire body went numb. He knew he should have some kind of a response to this news. He mentally repeated the information Tully had just given him. His mom was in the hospital. She’d had a stroke. But he honestly didn’t feel anything.
“I need to go there.” The words had flown from Chase’s mouth without passing through his brain for approval first.
“What?” Shock registered on Tully’s face as he stared at Chase in disbelief.
Chase felt the same way. What the hell had he just said?
“I have to go home.” Again, he’d made a statement without any vote from his mind or heart. It had just spilled from his lips.
“Okay.” Tully sat down and began typing. “I’ll look for the next flight out.” His fingers rapidly moved across the keyboard.
“I want to drive.” Wow. Now that Chase had started speaking without filtering it through logic first, he was really on a roll. The score was now Chase’s brain: zero, Chase’s mouth: three.
“Do you want me to rent you a car?” Tully asked, looking as lost as Chase felt.
“I want to take the bus. Instead of heading to Austin, I want to go to Harper’s Crossing.”
With that declaration, Chase moved down the narrow hall towards his bedroom in the back of the bus. He had total faith that Tully would handle everything. Maybe it would be smarter to catch a flight rather than drive eight hours. But for some reason, Chase wanted his bus with him. He wanted Chip and Tully with him when he crossed the Harper’s Crossing city limits. Also, the thought of dealing with paparazzi in airports, getting a rental car, and driving over an hour to get to his hometown was not how he wanted to spend the night before he saw his mother again for the first time in over a decade.
He wasn’t big on taking advantage of the perks that being in his position gave him, but this time, he was definitely happy to be able to travel in the only place he really considered home and have some time to himself.
After shutting the door, he moved forward and turned before sinking down onto the large bed that took up ninety-five percent of the space in the small room. He heard the air release as Chip put the bus into gear and felt it sway as they pulled out of the back parking lot. Looking out his window, which had a limo tint so he could see out but no one could see in, he watched as all the people who had gathered behind the music hall waved, some jumping up and down. He heard their screams and saw flashes of lights as they snapped pictures of his bus leaving. He still felt nothing. It was almost as if he was having an out-of-body experience.
His phone vibrated in his hand and he looked down to see that he had fifteen missed calls. He typed in his code, and when the screen illuminated with the list of contacts who had tried to reach him, he couldn’t believe what name was among them. He wiped his eyes, thinking that it must be a mistake. That he was hallucinating.
But even after blinking and rubbing his eyes again, the name still appeared on his phone. Krista had called—three times. Since that cold December day he’d left Harper’s Crossing halfway through his senior year of high school, she had not returned one of his calls, letters, or emails.
Tapping on the voicemail icon, he brought the phone to his ear. His heart was beating faster than it had been a moment ago, but he still felt an odd sensation of numbness.
The first two messages were from Marcus. He deleted them without listening to the entire thing. The next was from Serena, a model he sometimes saw when he was in L.A. Delete.
Then he heard it. Krista’s voice saying his name. “Hi, Chase.”
The only time he’d heard her voice since he’d left town was on her outgoing message. The one he knew by heart. “Hey, this is Krista. You know what to do.”
Now, as he sat in the back of his tour bus, listening to her voicemail, he realized he hadn’t paid attention to anything she’d said after she’d said his name. He’d heard the melodic sound of her voice over the small speaker in his phone but had not processed the words she’d said. He tapped on the arrow to play it again.
Her sweet voice shook as she said, “Hi, Chase. This is Krista. I just wanted you to know that your mom is headed to the hospital. I am going to take care of Bear and then be right behind her. I’ll call when I know more.”
Bear? Oh right, he remembered his mom mentioning that she’d gotten a dog in one of her emails.
He played the next message. “It’s Krista again. Okay, they are running tests but are pretty sure they have it narrowed down to being a stroke. They may be taking her into surgery. I’ll let you know when I know something.”
His thumb stroked over the last message, and Chase’s chest tightened at the sound of her voice. She sounded exhausted and stressed. “Hey, it’s Krista again. The doctors were able to remove the blood clot that caused the stroke and Abby is in recovery. We’ll know more when she wakes up.”
The phone went silent, and he looked down to see if the message had ended. It hadn’t. As the blue line ran across the gray bar, he waited to see if she would say anything else.
After several seconds, she spoke again in a whisper. “I’m really sorry, Chase. I hope you’re doing okay.”
Then the message ended. Chase lay back in his bed and ran his fingers through his hair. The last conversation he’d had with Krista had been filled with screaming and tears. A lot of their relationship had been filled with screaming and tears. Chase didn’t know if the stereotype of redheads being hot-tempered was true or not, but in the case of Krista Sloan, it definitely fit.
She had a fiery temper, and he seemed to bring it out in her more than anyone. Hearing her sound so quiet, so subdued, was worse than hearing her scream at him, like she
had the last night he’d seen her.
He didn’t know the extent of his mother’s condition. He didn’t know what he would be dealing with when he crossed into the city limits. Seeing his mom. Seeing Krista.
But he did know it was time. Time to face his past. Face his ghosts.
It was time to go home.
Chapter Three
Krista yawned for about the tenth time in so many minutes. She hit the button to head up to the fourth floor and noted that she really needed to schedule a trip to the nail salon. Her French manicure was so chipped that it just looked like white specks on the tip of her nails. As she waited for the elevator, she rolled her head from side to side, trying to stretch out the kink she’d gotten in it when she’d taken a power nap in the breakroom a couple of hours ago.
Her shift had started at six a.m. After being at the hospital until four thirty this morning, waiting for Abby to be transported to her room from recovery, she’d barely had time to head home, make sure that Bear was settled, grab a shower, eat, and get back to the hospital.
It was now ten in the morning and she knew one thing for sure—caffeine was going to be her very bestest friend today. As the doors opened and Krista entered the elevator, she checked her phone once again.
Nothing. No missed calls or texts. Still no response from Chase.
She shouldn’t be surprised. As far as she knew, other than putting money in his mother’s bank account every month, he had no contact with Abby. Abby had told Krista that she called and emailed her son often, but she’d never mentioned his responding to her.
Krista knew that Chase’s childhood had not been an easy one. She’d seen the evidence firsthand. It hadn’t really surprised her that he hadn’t shown up to his father’s funeral. But not even calling to see if his mom was okay after she’d been taken to the hospital shocked the hell out of her.
“Hey, sweetie. I heard you had a rough night,” Jamie, Krista’s cousin-in-law, said as Krista stepped off the elevator.
Walking over to the nurse’s station Jamie was seated behind, Krista rested her elbows on the cold surface as she dropped her head to her hands, which were chilly to the touch. Krista felt a little bad that her patients had to suffer for the fact that, in any kind of air conditioning or temperature below eighty, Krista’s hands felt like ice cubes.
“Yeah, I think I must be getting old. It seems I can’t pull an all-nighter like I used to in my college days. I am wrecked.”
“Why didn’t you call in? I’m sure someone would have covered for you.” Jamie’s brow knitted together, her pretty face etched with concern.
“Mrs. Kinsey and Mr. Yates are scheduled for sessions today. They are doing so well. I didn’t want them to have any setbacks because they had to work with someone else,” Krista explained.
She loved her patients. What she loved even more than them were results. That was the part of the job Krista loved the most—seeing the results.
When she was growing up, her dad had always said that anything worth having is worth working for. The work she did with her patients could be grueling and painful. Many times, results were slow coming. Days, weeks, sometimes months would pass before there would be a breakthrough of any kind. Two of the patients she was working with today were right on the precipice of such a breakthrough.
Leaning forward in her chair, flattening her hands on the desk, Jamie whispered, “I’m not just saying this because we’re family, but you are by far all of the patients’ favorite PT. We get more requests for you than anyone else by at least double.”
Krista turned her head from side to side. The floor was basically empty except for Mr. Lipton, the janitor who was mopping the linoleum at the far end of the long hall.
Krista leaned in and mimicked Jamie’s whispers. “That’s sweet of you to say, but why are we whispering?”
“I don’t know.” Jamie smiled as her hands turned up and her shoulders lifted. “I guess I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings who might overhear.”
“I think we’re safe.” Krista’s lips turned up as she pushed off the countertop.
Jamie was a sweetheart, and Krista loved that Alex had found such an amazing wife. Over the past couple of years, Krista had seen all five of her cousins fall in love and start families. And as of a couple of months ago, her sister Haley was a card-carrying member of the exclusive happily-ever-after club so many of her friends and family seemed to be a part of.
Krista was not. The guy she was seeing was fine. Krista liked spending time with him. Chris was…great. But that was it. No real fireworks. She didn’t crave him. She didn’t miss him if she went even a day without seeing him. When he touched her, it didn’t send desire spiraling through her.
Krista truly believed that that kind of heat, that kind of love, that kind of all-consuming passion was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. And unfortunately for her, she had been dealt those cards at an early age. She’d played her hand, cashed in, and walked away from the table.
Shaking off the melancholy feeling that had welled up inside of Krista at the thought of that love, she tilted her head towards Abby’s room, asking, “How’s she doing?”
“Better,” Jamie happily reported. “I was just in checking her vitals and everything looks good. She woke up at five thirty and said she was hungry. She asked for tapioca pudding.”
After a stroke, a lot of patients experienced impaired speech. Krista asked, “She was able to speak clearly?”
Jamie’s ponytail swayed as she nodded. “A little groggy, but that’s to be expected.”
Relief swept through Krista. Abby had woken up. She was speaking, and she was hungry. All of those facts were very good news. She should call Chase and let him know. Even if he hadn’t returned her phone calls up until now, he deserved to know how his mom was doing.
Then a thought struck Krista. Just because he wasn’t contacting her did not necessarily mean he wasn’t checking in.
“Have there been any calls to check on Abby’s condition?”
“I haven’t fielded any.” Jamie shook her head as she swiveled in her chair and began typing. “There’s nothing reported on the call log either.”
“Okay, thanks. I’m gonna go check on her. I have to be back downstairs in fifteen. Send in a search party if I’m not out by then. I have a feeling the second I sit down I may be out like a light.”
“Will do,” Jamie acknowledged before answering the ringing phone at the station.
Krista stepped around the yellow sign that cautioned that the floor was wet and into the darkened hospital room. Abby was lying peacefully in the bed farthest from the door, her eyes closed. The heavy drapes were pulled shut, and the only noises that filled the room were the beeps and swooshes of the monitors.
As Krista moved across the small space, she noticed that Abby’s coloring was a little better than it had been yesterday. Her skin, however, looked paper-thin. Her small frame appeared frail beneath the blue knit hospital blanket that covered her. Dark strands of hair fell across her pale forehead.
Krista slumped down into the recliner chair beside the bed. The physical demands that her job put on her were so much greater than most people assumed. Her body ached from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She knew it was impossible, but she was so tired it even felt like her hair hurt.
Leaning her head back against the mauve pleather, Krista decided to rest her eyes for just a moment. Her heavy eyes closed and she felt her chest rising and falling in an even rhythm.
The sound of the door clicking shut stirred her out of her restful state. Had fifteen minutes already passed and Jamie was coming in to get her? Forcing her eyelids open she saw the outline of a man, not Jamie, in the doorway.
Standing to her feet, she was about to ask if she could help him when the figure took a step towards her and she could clearly make out his face. Her entire body immediately responded to what her eyes saw. Her mouth went dry. She was so dizzy it felt as if the room were spinning. Goose bumps broke out
all over her skin. She tried desperately to take in air, but it was as if the wind had been knocked right out of her.
Krista’s voice was barely audible as his name fell from her lips. “Chase.”
* * *
Chase knew that he wasn’t hallucinating. Krista was really here. Standing in front of him. All night, he’d been mentally preparing himself for what it would be like when he saw her again after all these years.
Now he knew the truth—that nothing could have possibly prepared him for the jolt of awareness coursing through him as his eyes scanned down her body. Every cell in his body came to life just being in her presence. His hungry gaze greedily roamed all over her, trying to take her in all at once.
His pants grew tight in response to the curves that he knew lay beneath her loose scrubs. His hands tingled, wanting to reach out and touch her silken skin. As his eyes made their way back up and met hers, he noticed that there were dark circles beneath them.
“Are you okay?” Concern instantly flooded him as he drew closer to her. “You look tired.”
A look of irritation flashed in her blue-green eyes and her back stiffened as she responded with a clipped, “I’m fine.”
Shit.
“I didn’t mean… I was just worri… You look beautiful.” He stumbled over his words as he quickly tried to pull himself out of the hole he’d managed to dig for himself with his unfortunate choice of words. Instead of trying to explain what he knew she already knew, he just said the words he’d wanted to say to her every hour of every day since he’d left Harper’s Crossing, “God, I’ve missed you.”
Krista’s posture was defensive, her tone flatter than a pancake. The only evidence that this reunion was affecting her at all were the tight buds of her nipples that were clearly visible through the thin cotton material of her scrubs and the shallow breaths she had not been able to disguise. Her thick, dark lashes dipped as her gorgeous eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Crazy Love - Krista & Chase Page 3
