A Hope and a Chance

by Jennifer Foor

  Even my girlfriend who I’d dated since my freshman year at college dumped me, claiming the pressure of being involved was too much, and yada yada. I’d heard the same crap before. The truth was that her parents forbid her from having anything to do with me. They had the nerve to call me a street thug and a common criminal on several attempts that I’d made to visit her at their place of residence. She finally wrote me a letter asking me to never contact her again or they’d be forced to get a restraining order against me.

  For the first few months after the trial, I secluded myself in my sister’s apartment. It was over top of the bar where she danced. After work she’d always bring bottles of liquor upstairs to bury my pain with. As short-lived as it was, it took the edge off, and at least made me think that I didn’t care. It was the only real time I was able to sleep while still living in Pennsylvania.

  After my sister met Mark Ryan things changed. She stopped working, and soon spent all of her time with him. Within six months they were shacking up and planning on the big move to Virginia; and because of them, I was given a fresh start in a new state. Eventually, maybe I could make new friends and have a future that my mother would have been proud of, instead of the one that had put her into an early grave. Maybe I’d be able to play baseball again. I knew a career doing what I loved was far-fetched, but I at least wanted something to hold on to.

  For the past two weeks I’d been working on the inside of the house. It’d been vacant for almost a year before Mark had gotten it as a foreclosure. He said it was a steal, but I just took his word for it. Anything over five grand was too expensive for me. I’d blown my mother’s entire life insurance on lawyers, trying to keep myself out of jail. I hated that; the fact that my mother had worked so hard for us to be independent. She only wanted us to be successful and never hurt for anything. All of it made me feel like such a failure.

  Like everything in my life so far, I was trying to make my new situation work. I got the most important rooms in livable shape, and even assisted with getting the cabinets installed in the kitchen before the granite countertops were delivered. There was still much to do, but I didn’t have a deadline, which was nice since most of what I was doing was foreign to me. It was a good thing that the internet had evolved into a place where you could learn how to do anything.

  I’d planned on fixing some shingles that were missing on the roof, but my sister and Mark asked me to take the day off. They claimed that they had someone “very special” coming over, and that they didn’t want to be disturbed with the sound of the hammer slamming against the roof. It was fine. I never really relaxed on the weekends. Sitting in the small pool house just made me think of what my life could have been. As much as I appreciated having my own space, I got lonely easily. I’d gone from being sociable to having nothing at all. That kind of adjustment wasn’t simple. On most nights I would drink myself to a stupor and eventually pass out. My sister feared that one evening I was going to get so drunk I would fall into the pool and drown.

  Even though I had the rest of the day off, I still woke up at the crack of dawn. I weeded the front garden next to the driveway and painted the mailbox. While I had the can of paint out, I decided to touch up the white parts of the fence around the pool. The sun was warm, even early this particular morning, and I found myself sweating profusely as I finished touching up the fence. For a while I sat on a lounge chair and soaked up the rays, telling myself it was too early to crack open a beer. Somewhere I’d been taught that a person waits until at least noon to have their first drink.

  When I felt like my balls were literally sticking to the side of my legs, I decided to grab a pair of swimming trunks and hop into the pool. Even if the company was already there, I wouldn’t be bothering them. I avoided jumping in and causing big splash sounds. Instead, I just floated around for a while in pure silence watching the clouds in the sky, and wondering if my mother was up there somewhere looking down on me.

  When my hands started to prune up, I climbed out. Realizing all of the towels were in the pool house, I hurried to get inside. The morning breeze hit me right away, making me shiver even with the sun shining down. I made it inside within seconds and immediately began to strip out of my wet bathing suit that clung to my skin. I didn’t bother going into my bedroom, since I knew I was all alone. After all, it was my place.

  When I first heard the creak of the door, I thought it was just my sister. Then I turned around and discovered that I’d been wrong. This little brunette stared at me with wide eyes, and I was fully aware of what she couldn’t take her gaze away from.

  “What the hell? Who’re you and what’re you doing in here?” I’d raised my voice out of shock, knowing I had every right to be stern. She’d come into my home without even knocking.

  The petite brunette threw her hands over her face, pretending to be embarrassed, even though I knew what I’d witnessed. She hadn’t been very ashamed just seconds before. “Oh my God, I am so sorry! I didn’t know somebody was in here. My father said I could look wherever I wanted. Seriously I had no idea.”

  She turned her entire body around even though her hands were already covering her face. I finished pulling on a pair of boxers while trying to come to grips with who this chick could be. “You can turn around now, I’m decent.” I was still slipping on some basketball shorts, but at least I was covered. “So who’s your dad?”

  She looked almost angry. Her eyes widened, and I could tell that she felt I was the one in the wrong. “Why? Who the hell are you?” With her hands on her hips she appeared to think she was in control of the situation. I, however, begged to differ.

  “I’m Chance, Chance Avery.”

  “And?” Her right eyebrow angled up, as did her chin. She was like a teacher, waiting for a child to tell the truth.

  It was obvious that I wasn’t a child, and also a fact that she was invading my space. “And what?”

  “And why are you in my father’s pool house? Does he know you’re in here or do I need to call the cops?” She was threatening me. This was getting interesting.

  The last thing I needed was trouble with the law my first month here. “No, no! I’m Buffy’s brother. I’m doing work for Mark. How was I supposed to know he had a daughter? It’s not like he ever mentioned it to me before.”

  She exhaled heavily and looked down at the floor. I literally watched her body start to sag. “Figures, considering he hasn’t been a part of my life for a while now.”

  I wanted nothing more than to tell this chick to get lost, but after seeing the change in her, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl. She was apparently having a shitty day. “Why don’t you come sit down for a minute? I’m sure after seeing my bare ass you could use a drink. So what’ll it be?” While I waited for her response, I thought about what she’d actually seen. I was no flasher, but I did get a rise knowing how intrigued she seemed as she stared at my package.

  “What do you have?” Her head popped up, like I’d said something that interested her.

  “Bourbon and Coke.” The surprise on her face let me know that she expected me to say something non-alcoholic. I was certainly rusty with my people skills.

  It wasn’t as if I was expecting company. Had I known that I’d be barged in on, I wouldn’t have come in from the pool with goose bumps, leaving me losing inches by the second. From the look on her face I’d say she was still impressed.

  “Wow, that’s some variety. I’ve never had bourbon. Anything stiff would be good right now. This day couldn’t get any worse. Surprise me!”

  I gave her a half-smile and headed to the tiny kitchen area. Mark was pretty positive that the people who lived here before rented out this pool house. It had one bedroom, a kitchen, a small bathroom and living room, but it was perfect for me. It wasn’t like I entertained, or even had friends at all to come hang out.

  I decided to get her a bottle of water that I found in the door of the fridge. I wasn’t about to send her back to them with liquor on her breath. My
sister had bought the water insisting that if I drank soda all day after working in the sun I’d get heat exhaustion. Usually I just sipped water straight from the hose, after dousing my body in it to cool off. While heading back in her direction, I wondered if she would have liked seeing me do that as well. Women and their fantasies.

  When I returned to the living room, I sat in the chair facing her.

  “Hope,” she said.

  “Huh?” Was she asking me for something?

  “My name is Hope. Hope Ryan,” she explained as she took the bottle of water. “Thanks for this. I actually didn’t know if I could handle the bourbon after the meal I just had to eat.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  “No offense, but your sister isn’t much older than me. I guess I just wasn’t prepared ya know?” The girl named Hope seemed offended by my sister’s presence. I watched her drink down half of the bottle, considering what I should say next. I knew I had to be careful. She was obviously having a terrible time dealing with the age situation.

  I’d managed to pour myself half a glass of bourbon and had already taken two sips. The ice clattered in the bottom of the cup, while I swiveled it around watching it. “Nah, it’s cool. My sister can be hard to handle at first. She has a good heart though.”

  She smirked but refused to reply. I was intrigued.

  “What?”

  “Nothing! Well, I was going to say something, but you’ll just get pissed off.”

  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it wasn’t nice to start something and not finish it? If you’re going to assume something, the least you could do is share.” She looked up at me. Her eyes were like blue sparkles, and they glowed against her dark complexion. Summer had just begun, but she was already tanned. Her hair had streaks of different browns, but it didn’t look like it came from a box, it appeared to be natural highlights. She was strikingly beautiful.

  No wonder Mark hadn’t mentioned her to me.

  “Fine, I was going to say that she really likes the color pink. No, not likes, LOVES the color pink.” Her spontaneous assumption caused her to giggle, as if a color could determine one’s personality.

  I wanted to defend my sister, but something about this girl made me feel like she was just trying to break the ice. I hadn’t had a friend in a long time. I couldn’t bring myself to act like an asshole; I needed this. “I never noticed. I suppose she likes a whole array of colors. So what about you? What colors do you favor?”

  Did I really just ask that? How lame could I be?

  I was surprised when she answered abruptly. “Not pink. Anything but pink.” Hope had a problem with Buffy. In some ways I could even understand why. They were opposites, not to mention that my sister had her claws in the girl’s father. It made sense.

  “Okay. Are you always like this, or do you only have an attitude on the weekends?”

  “Like what?” She asked innocently, while folding her hands.

  “I don’t know. Flip. Sarcastic.”

  “How would you feel if you hadn’t seen or talked to your father in over a year? How would you act if he invited you over and ignored you because he was busy staring at his new eye-candy’s fake tits?” I was halfway into a large gulp of bourbon when the word “tits” came out of her pretty little mouth. The liquor went soaring everywhere. Once I stopped gagging from the utter shock, I turned back to face her. She’d stood up from the sofa and placed her hands on her hips. “Look, I’m really sorry that I barged in on you getting changed. Had I been told that someone was living out here, I never would’ve bothered you. It was nice meeting you, Chance. I’m going to get going before I lose my shit or my brunch. Have a nice life.” She stomped out of the pool house with attitude. There was no reason for me to run after her. From the way she was acting, I’d never see her again anyway.

  I got up and walked to the window, watching her head back toward the house, while I finished my drink. It was a damn shame that we hadn’t met under different circumstances. There was a lot about her that I would have liked to explore.

  I’d start with that killer body, and work my way right into her heart.

  3

  After I’d come barging back into the main house from my unexpected meeting with Chance, all I was focused on doing was going home. My father was in his recliner watching golf again, while Buffy filed her nails with her feet draped over the end of the couch. I had to laugh at that. My father and mother used to yell at me over and over for sitting that same way on a couch. How could he have changed so much? Furthermore, why hadn’t he come looking for me after brunch was cleaned up? Was this visit all some ploy to earn brownie points with his little honey?

  I didn’t hesitate as I made my way into the family room and announced that I was leaving. My father turned and gave me a smile, while Buffy came racing over, planting a big hug on me. I patted her a few times on the back and pulled away from her embrace. “Thanks for brunch. It was nice meeting you.”

  Not really!

  As soon as I made it out of the driveway, I began to sob. The sheer emotions that were running through my mind were enough to cause me to hyperventilate. I couldn’t have held back the anguish even if I wanted to. Once I’d gotten a few miles away I finally had to pull over to the side of the road, because I couldn’t see through the tears that had filled my eyes.

  It was inconceivable for me to understand why he’d moved back here. It certainly hadn’t been because of me. Was I just dreaming or had that really been the catastrophe that I saw it as? While I sat on the side of the road I felt my stomach knotting up. In just enough time I managed to unbuckle my seat belt, get out, and run toward the grass, where I vomited all of the food I’d eaten. I leaned against my car trying to gain some composure, and make sure I was completely finished hurling.

  All the times I’d wished I had my father back in my life, and when I got him it was nothing like I pictured it would be. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. There was no way I could drive home like this and explain what happened to my mother. She hated the guy. She’d go out, buy a gun, and then later be on the news for murdering him. Okay, maybe that was going overboard. I had to get myself calmed down first. It was my only option.

  While still trying to feel better, I noticed a truck pulling to the side of the road. A male driver got out and began to approach me. I always carried pepper spray on my key ring, but it was still stuck in the ignition of the car. My heart started to beat faster while I began to panic. I wasn’t on a heavily driven road. In fact, while I was puking there hadn’t been any cars that passed going in either direction.

  The man’s voice startled me, signaling he’d approached me at a faster rate than I expected. “Are ya alright, miss? Do you need some help?”

  He wore a baseball cap that covered his face. While giving him a once over, I noticed a long scar across his cheek. I’m not usually one to stereotype, but he gave me the creeps like he was straight out of a horror movie. He got about a foot away from me and reached for my arm. “Did you hear me, hun? I can take you wherever you want to go. Why don’t you come get into my truck? It’s got a bed in the back.” His long hair stuck out of the rear of his cap. I noticed right away how greasy it was, and how the odor of his body was pungent.

  The moment he got a hold of my arm, I froze in place. I couldn’t speak, and I surely couldn’t scream, not that anyone would be able to hear me on this part of the highway anyway.

  The man had managed to pull me another four feet away from my car before a motorcycle came driving toward us. At first I feared it would keep going, but the driver skidded in between our vehicles and immediately got his bike into a sitting position. The strange man had released his hold on me as the other person approached rapidly.

  “Are you okay?” He asked while still wearing his helmet. For some reason I felt safe answering his question.

  I couldn’t look in the direction of the creep as I replied. I shook my head frantically. “NO!” I took off to the opposite side of the vehicle, hoping to b
e free of danger.

  The men had words, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Their conversation was jumbled as my body continued shaking. I was losing control fast, and knew I needed to get back inside of my car and lock the door.

  I watched the motorcycle guy shoving the trucker in the direction of the rig. While standing there quietly, I saw the first man pulling away in his truck, and the other one heading in my direction. That’s when everything became black, and then I felt myself fall.

  After my encounter with Mark’s daughter, I needed a pack of cigarettes. I decided to hop on my motorcycle and head to the nearest convenience store. The weather was so nice, even beginning to get hot. The leaves on the trees had long been green, and it finally felt like summer outside. There was nothing like jumping on my bike and driving fast, feeling the wind hitting my body as I coasted down the road. It was invigorating.

  When I got about three miles from the house I spotted two vehicles pulled over on the shoulder, and one of the cars happened to be the same one that had been in the driveway earlier in the day. As I got closer I noticed that a man had his hands on her, and I didn’t even think about my next actions. My bike came to a halt and I immediately approached Hope and the stranger. “Are you okay?” I asked, simply wondering how she’d gotten herself into such a predicament.

  This chick was having a terrible day.

  When she answered with those desperate eyes, I knew she was in trouble. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Get your hands off of her,” I screamed at the trucker.

  Hope moved over to the side, holding her hands over her face while she wept. I advanced toward the guy, but not close enough to hit him. For all he knew I was her brother, or maybe even a boyfriend. At any rate, he was making it obvious that he was a stranger. “I was just offering the girl a ride.”

  “I bet you were.” The guy was disgusting, and from the look of him he hadn’t bathed in days. “You need to get back on the road, man. You’ve got no business being here.”