Chance Encounter (A Chance and a Hope Book 1)

by SJ McCoy

  “Good morning. It’s nice to see you smiling.”

  He nodded. “It feels good to smile. I didn’t know how I’d feel this morning, but it’s good. Everything’s good.”

  “I’m glad.” She touched his cheek. “I was scared it’d feel wrong for you.”

  “Me too, but it doesn’t. I just wish I’d tried it sooner.”

  Hope shrugged. “You can only go at your own pace.”

  “Yeah, but now we only have two nights left.” They were both leaving on Saturday morning. He was going back to Summer Lake with his dad, and she was returning to LA with Toby and his mom.

  “For now, but we’ll figure out when we can see each other again.”

  “Yeah. I hope it’s soon.”

  She smiled. “I’ll make it up there to see you just as soon as I can. What’s it like, the ranch?”

  Chance thought about that; what would it seem like to her? “It’s big and busy. The Remingtons, Dave and his wife Monique, they always lived in the big house, which is beautiful, but they were gone this winter, down to Arizona. Mason, the eldest brother, moved into the big house with his wife, Gina, and their new baby, Phoenix. Mason runs a stud operation and trains some fine horses. Dave and Monique moved into a little cottage just on the edge of the property when they came back. Then there’s the guest ranch. Shane, the youngest son, runs that. It does well; the place is always busy. Then Beau, he just built a house on his portion of the land where he lives with his wife, Corinne and her little girl, Ruby.”

  “Wow, so they all still live there?”

  Chance nodded. “Carter doesn’t. He lives up the valley a little ways with his wife Summer, and Shane doesn’t. He and his wife Cassidy, you remember, the one on the phone the other day? They live right next door to Carter and Summer.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, the one I was scared might be your girlfriend calling to check up on you.”

  He laughed. “You thought I had a girlfriend?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t know what to think. I know better now, though.”

  “Now you know I do have a girlfriend.”

  “You do?” Her eyes widened in surprise and her smile grew bigger.

  “I do, if you want to be?”

  “Oh, I want to be.”

  ~ ~ ~

  They’d decided to go to the market again this afternoon. Hope wanted to pick up some little gifts for her friends back home and Chance wanted to take some pictures for his dad. They’d asked again if he wanted to go, but he was more interested in making the most of every minute he could at the clinic. According to Uncle Johnny, Frank Malone was the best patient he’d ever had, and Toby’s mom was running him a close second.

  “Are you ready?” asked Chance.

  “Yep, and I’m so glad I don’t need to take a cane this time.”

  “Yeah, you heal quickly.” He frowned. “Are you going without the hat and glasses, too?”

  She nodded. “It’s such a nice day and I’m sick of wearing them. I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed that no one will recognize me.”

  “It’s your call, I guess.” He didn’t look too happy about it, but he was just being cautious on her behalf. It’d be fine.

  The streets around the market square were busy again when they got there, but this time they parked where they could find a spot and walked down the side streets to get there. Her ankle really was much better.

  They laughed and chatted as they walked and shopped. Chance was as relaxed as she’d ever seen him. She was glad; she’d been worried that agreeing to keep seeing each other, and spending the night with her might have made him feel uncomfortable—might have set him on edge—but it seemed to have had the opposite effect. Now he’d made the decision to give it a try, his tension seemed to have evaporated.

  After they’d walked all the aisles of the stalls, they took a break at the little café. They ordered sandwiches and were lucky to find an empty table in a great spot where they could watch the world go by.

  Hope sat down gratefully, her foot was starting to ache and she was glad to get off it for a while. Chance sat down opposite her and reached for her ankle. He rested her foot on his knee with a smile. “You need to put it up for a while. We’ve done a lot of walking.”

  “Thanks.” It did feel good to put it up like that.

  They ate their sandwiches and watched the crowds go by. They didn’t talk much; they didn’t need to. Chance would raise an eyebrow at her when he spotted something amusing and she’d smile, usually already having seen the same thing. She felt so comfortable with him, more so than she ever had with Drew.

  Chance’s face darkened and she followed his gaze, wondering what he’d seen. Her heart sank when she spotted a man with a camera, pointed straight at them. She quickly turned away. “Don’t look, Chance. Don’t let him get your face.”

  “My face? He’s going to get my fist when I catch him.” He was already on his feet.

  “No! Please, don’t!”

  It was too late. Chance was already pushing his way through the crowd in pursuit of the guy. Damn! That was all she needed. People taking photos was bad enough. She never knew where—or if—they’d show up, but if Chance went after him and made a scene, she had no doubt the story would show up somewhere, and it wouldn’t be good. There was no point in her trying to follow him and stop him. That would only make matters worse. All she could do was sit and wait for him to return. She closed her eyes, hoping that he wouldn’t do anything stupid, but with a sinking feeling in her stomach that he would.

  It was a good fifteen minutes before he returned. At least he didn’t look like he’d been in a fight, which she’d been half expecting. He looked angry.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “I made sure those photos weren’t going anywhere.”

  “How?”

  He shrugged. “Does it matter?”

  “Yes, it does.” She was starting to wonder what the hell he’d done.

  “No, all that matters is that those photos won’t be showing up anywhere to embarrass you.”

  “I’m going to be more embarrassed if a story gets out about my boyfriend roughing up a photographer.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I didn’t rough him up, though I can’t say I didn’t want to. I did break his camera, though.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. All she wanted was to get out of here. The day was ruined now. “Let’s go.”

  He nodded, still looking surly.

  They rode most of the way back to the house in silence. “I told you I have a temper,” he said eventually.

  “You did, and it’s my fault you were put in that situation. I’m sorry.”

  He turned to look at her. “What do you mean, I was put in that situation? He was taking photos of you.”

  “He was taking photos of us, I’m sure.” She sighed, hoping that, even without photos, a story wasn’t going to show up somewhere tomorrow about how she was getting over Drew by shacking up with some mystery man in Oregon.

  “I don’t care about me. I was just trying to look out for you.”

  “I know. Thank you.”

  “Did I make it worse?”

  “Maybe not. Maybe that’s an end to it.” She had a feeling that was just wishful thinking, though.

  When they got back to the house, she went to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Can we forget about it?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, can we? Or is it going to come around to bite us in the ass?”

  “I guess we won’t know that until tomorrow. If the guy is going to stir up a story, he’ll do it straight away.”

  Chance nodded. “I guess. I thought I was doing so well not punching his lights out.”

  It was strange to hear him talk like that. He’d been so gentle with her. He didn’t strike her as a violent man, but he did have a history, and as he said, he also had a temper. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  He met her gaze. “It would have been over between us
if I had, wouldn’t it?”

  She sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t want to think about that. “You didn’t, though, did you?”

  As they sat out on the patio again later that evening, Hope couldn’t help but wish that they hadn’t gone to the market. They only had tonight and tomorrow left, and now, instead of the new relaxed and happy version of Chance, she was facing the half-remorseful, half-surly version.

  She watched him sip his wine and stare out into the darkness. “I fucked up. I’m sorry,” he said without turning to look at her.

  “It’s okay. When you think about it, I’m the one who fucked up. You wanted me to wear the hat and glasses. If I’d done as you said, none of it would have happened.”

  He shook his head. “But it did happen, and I shouldn’t have chased the guy down.”

  “We can’t change any of it, so we may as well forget it. We’ll deal with it if we have to.”

  “I guess.” He turned to smile at her and took hold of her hand. “I’m mad at myself for casting a shadow over the little time we have left.”

  “But it’s not all we have left, is it?” She smiled, trying to find a bright side to all of this. “And maybe it was just a practice run for you. I mean, if we’re going to keep seeing each other, you’re going to have to get used to the idea that people are going to pop up with cameras sometimes.”

  He didn’t look too happy about that.

  “Seriously, it’s something you might want to think about. I don’t like it any more than you do, but I don’t have any choice in the matter. I have to deal with it. It goes with the territory for me. You do have a choice.” She hated saying that, but she knew she needed to. If he couldn’t handle the public scrutiny that was a part of her life, then he might want to rethink this whole thing.

  He squeezed her hand. “I can deal with it. You’re worth it.” He smiled, but he still didn’t look too happy.

  ~ ~ ~

  As they lay in bed later that night, Chance’s mind wouldn’t leave it alone. They’d made love and she’d tried to lighten things up between them again, but he felt bad. He knew he should have left the guy alone, but he hadn’t been able to. Something inside him just wasn’t capable of it. He couldn’t stand to see the people he cared about getting hurt. That guy hadn’t exactly hurt Hope, but he was no doubt planning to. He was probably going to go to the press with those photos—if he wasn’t a member of the press himself. He could no more let that guy get away with it than he’d let Kyle Hutchens get away with it. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. He’d beaten Kyle so badly, he’d put him in the hospital—for a long time. Just last year, when Guy Preston had been threatening the Remingtons—and their women—he’d done so well for so long, waiting for the police to finally get their act together and put him away. In the end though, he’d taken matters into his own hands and taken care of Preston. He hadn’t hit him—well, he’d only used his own weapon against him, before he’d hurt that Matt McAllen kid. He sighed. He’d thought he was doing better. He’d thought he had his temper under control, but today he’d gone and taken matters into his own hands again. He hadn’t laid a finger on the guy, and he wanted to be proud of that, but it wasn’t good enough. He shouldn’t have gone near him at all, and he knew he shouldn’t have smashed his camera. He blew out a sigh. Even though he was making progress, he still wasn’t there. He still let his demons get the better of him.

  “Are you okay?” asked Hope in a sleepy voice as she snuggled into his side.

  He smiled and curled his arm around her. “I’m fine, honey. You go back to sleep.”

  Within a few minutes, she was breathing heavily again. She was such a good woman. She had a lot to deal with in her own life, but she handled it so much better than he did. Did she really need him messing up and making things more difficult for her? He closed his eyes. He should try to sleep and see how everything looked in the morning. Usually the light of a new day made things seem brighter.

  Chapter Twenty

  Things didn’t look brighter in the morning. In fact, they looked a whole lot worse. They got up and had breakfast, Hope chatted away about this and that, but there was a heaviness in the air that hadn’t been there before. He knew it was partly because this would be their last full day together. They planned to go to the clinic tomorrow morning where they’d meet up with his dad and Alice and Toby and his mom. From there they’d each make their way home. Chance was flying back to Summer Lake with his dad to see him settled in at home before he’d head back to Montana and the ranch. Hope would fly back to LA and to her life. This was the last morning they’d sit and have breakfast together and have a full day ahead of them. But there was even more than that hanging unspoken in the air.

  Chance wanted to turn the TV on and to check his laptop to look at the news and see if there was anything about Hope. He knew she must be feeling the same. She was sitting at the counter, eating toast. She’d finally stopped talking about how they might drive up the coast for one last walk on the beach she’d liked the best.

  “Can we turn the TV on?” he asked.

  She nodded sadly. “I suppose we should. I was hoping we could get through breakfast first, that’s all.”

  “We’re done, aren’t we?”

  “Yeah, I suppose.”

  He went to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “Maybe there won’t be anything. And if there isn’t, we can stop worrying about it and get on with our day.”

  “I know, but on the other hand, if there is, the day will be ruined and it’s our last one.”

  He hugged her to him and dropped a kiss on her lips. He hated seeing her like that, and worse, knowing that he’d caused it. “It’s only the last one for now.” As he said it, a dark feeling descended over him. He hoped that seeing something on the news wouldn’t mean it was going to be their last day ever.

  She gave him a bright smile. “Yeah, that’s true. Let’s get this over with, shall we?” She picked up the remote and turned on the TV. She flicked through the channels, looking for the morning talk shows.

  Chance went and got his laptop and fired it up. He searched on her name and filtered the results for news articles. He sighed. There it was. The guy must have taken photos on his phone or something, as well as his camera. There was a picture of the two of them sitting at that café, they were holding hands and her foot was resting on his lap. The headline read Davenport Heiress Finds New Love. The article went on to say: “Hope Davenport seems to be recovering quickly from her very public break up with actor Drew Lowry. Just two weeks after photos emerged of Drew and Carrie Washington in some interesting positions, Hope has found herself a new man. The pair were spotted having a lunch at a local farmers’ market on the Oregon Coast Thursday and seem to be very much in love.” Chance blew out a sigh.

  “What? What did you find? There’s nothing on TV.”

  “Not yet, but there will be.” He turned his computer around so she could see.

  “Shit!”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “No!” She touched his arm. “This would have happened anyway. Nothing you did made any difference, did it?”

  He shook his head. No, apparently, it hadn’t. He hadn’t even achieved anything by smashing the guy’s camera. He still had other photos somehow.

  Hope finished reading the article and looked up at him. “It’s not that bad. You never know. Hopefully it won’t make the TV, it’ll just be this article and it’ll blow over.”

  Her phone rang and she picked it up. “Hi, Toby ... Yes, thanks. We’ve seen … There’s nothing we can do! We’ll just have to wait for it to run its course … No! You’ll do no such thing! You stay there with your mom. This is her last day. I’ll see you in the morning, like we planned … yes, I’m sure … Okay, thanks, Toby. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “He saw it, too?”

  “Yeah, but he searches the news for anything we need to know about every morning.”

  Chance nodded, wondering how
that must feel. His own phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, hoping that no one he knew had seen the article. It was his sister.

  “Hey, Missy,” he answered. “What’s up?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing! What’s going on? Since when have you known Hope Davenport? And for that matter, since when do you go out with women?”

  He had to laugh at the way she put it. “Well, I’ve never gone out with men.”

  Hope gave him a puzzled look.

  “You know what I mean!” Missy chuckled. “You see women at night time, not in the day. You do sex, not dates, and certainly not what that article is claiming.”

  “What article, what’s it claiming?”

  “Oh, no! You haven’t seen it?”

  “Yeah, don’t worry, I have. I just want to know if it’s the same one.”

  “It’s all over the internet. I just turned on the TV to see if you’re on there, too.”

  Chance pressed his lips together. This was not good.

  “It says you’re her new love, Chancey, what’s going on?”

  “It’s okay, Miss. Hope and I have been hanging out this last couple of weeks. She brought someone to the clinic where dad’s staying and we’ve been keeping each other company.”

  Hope gave him an odd look.

  “Are you with her?”

  “Kind of.”

  “Wow! Oh, wait, is she there with you now?”

  “Yep.”

  “Oh, so you can’t talk.”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay. Will you call me later?”

  “I’ll be back there tomorrow.”

  “And I have to wait till then?”

  “Yep.”

  Missy sighed. “Okay. Are you all right? I’m worried about you.”

  Chance smiled. Missy always worried about him. “I’m fine, honestly. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay. Bye Chance. I love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  He hung up.