Hope's Chance

Check out the other books by Jennifer Foor

The Somnian Series

Book One Ascension

Book
Two
Absum

Book
Three
Attero

Book
Four
Aduro

Book
Five
Abeo

Coming Soon

Tommy Ford Zombie Chronicles

I would like to thank everyone that continues to support me.

Without you, I would never stay so determined.

Thanks to everyone that helps me with all things book related

Special Thanks to:

Erica Willis

My ARC readers: Shannon, Jennifer and Heather

And
everyone who has made this series the success that it is. I am forever grateful.

Thanks to my family and my faith

With them, all things are possible

Chapter 1

Hope

It was finally the first day of summer, officially. I couldn’t wait for the dang school bell to ring yesterday. Everyone in my Chemistry class must have been staring at the large black and white clock at the front of the classroom. As the second hand made its way to the twelve, I gently grabbed my bag off the floor and wrapped it around my shoulder.

The halls were crowded as my peers ran around like maniacs. Papers were flying around in the air, like kids had just tossed them as they exited the halls. It was funny how on the last day of school the halls became empty within seconds.
I however
,
li
nger
ed
through them, knowing I wouldn’t be returning.
I had doubled up on classes and spent the last two summers enrolled with the misfit kids who couldn’t pass during the normal school year, just to be able to graduate a year earlier.
My birthday was late in the year causing me to have to be a year behind all of my friends.

It wasn’
t that I loved school, because I
hated it, in fact all I wanted was to never have a homework assignment again. What pushed me to the decision was my parents. They used to have such a great relationship, but two years ago my father decided to start banging his secretary. Shortly after, he decided that even she wasn’t enough for him.  Now the bastard was entertaining the notion of remarrying again. The woman was
just five
years older than me, and to make matters worse, he didn’t see that there was anything wrong with his actions.

When my parents first separated
,
my father moved all the way to Pennsylvania, to start over. He left my mother with a steep mortgage she couldn’t afford and eventually we had to move in with my
grandparents. According to my mother, which was usually not a good source of information, he hadn’t even paid child support for nearly a year now.

My dad had worked in Real Estate and always seemed to move somewhere new when the market went dry. To my astonishment he called me last month to inform me that he and
Buffy
, were moving back to
Virginia
. I never realized how much I missed having my father around until he called to say he was moving home. My mother wasn’t thrilled, but even through her animosity toward him, she seemed happy he wanted to make another go at having a relationship with me. All
of my friends had
dads that did everything with them, while I was the girl whose dad abandoned her for women close to her own age.

I looked around my room and wondered what I would wear to go see my father after nearly a year of him being absent in my life. Would he care what I wore? Did I need to make a good impression around his new girl-toy? I was overwhelmed with anxiety over this
morning’s
brunch with him. Finally, after a few hours, and an empty closet, I decided on a light blue sun dress. It
made
my olive skin pop and my blue eyes shine. I was going to curl my entire head, but noticed the clock and settled to throw my light brown hair up in a
subtle
pony tail with a blue bow that matched my dress. I had to smile when I took one final look in the mirror. For someone that had a diploma, I’d managed to make myself look about twelve years old.

My mother reluctantly handed me the directions to my father’s new house. She gave me a million eye rolls
before kissing me goodbye. I could tell she hated the idea of him being happy, and I had to admit I hated it too.

When I pulled into the community I noticed how large the houses had gotten.  Long private driveways separated every yard. I took a double take when I looked at the address my mother had written down
. W
hen I saw the matching numbers on a stone pillar leading down a matching stone driveway
I figured it had to be wrong
. My little Volkswagen Jetta putted its way down the driveway until I came to a stop behind a Land Rover SUV. The house had a stone front and ivy was growing up either of its sides. The windows and doors were trimmed in large white
wood with black shutters.

I stepped out of the car and made sure the wind wasn’t blowing my dress up above my ass, before making my way toward the door. It unexpectantly flew open and a young girl who resembled a plastic Barbie doll came walking toward me.
She was wearing a form fitting dress that could have been made from only spandex. It was bright pink with giant yellow flowers scattered over it. Her platinum blonde hair was curled as if she were going to model in the next issue of playboy, in fact, she kinda looked like
Kendra, one of the ex-playmate girlfriends
of Hugh Hefner himself.

“Ohhh yay! I’m so glad you’re here.” The Barbie doll
squeaked
. “Come here, let me get a good look at you.”

Oh my God this was a bad idea!

I stood like a statue while this large breasted bimbo tugged and pinched every part of me that I had assumed was a private place. When I finally thought she was finished
,
I started to move forward. That is when she reached over and grabbed both of my breasts.

“Oh my, what the?” I said shocked.

“Your breast
s
are so perky and natural. I told the doctor that is how I wanted mine, but he must have misunderstood.” She admitted.

“Um, I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Oh sweetie you should know I am just joking. Come on in. Your father is going to be so happy you are finally here. He has been talking about you non-stop.” Before I could say yes, or even Hell no, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the house.

She never let go of my arm as she pulled me through the large foyer and into a family room. My father was sitting in a leather recliner watching a golf match on television. He never even turned in our direction, even with the volume level of his Barbie up higher than my radio played. “Baby, look who I found outside.” She said as she let go of me and bounced herself onto his lap. Before he could even turn in my direction, she was slapping him with a kiss that may or may not of contained her entire tongue.

I cringed at the sight, but quickly gained my composure as my father pushed her aside and got up to head in my direction.

“Well look at my little girl, all grown up.” He took my hands into his and gave me a once over. “You look very pretty honey. It has been so long.” He leaned over to kiss me on the forehead. “I see you have met
Buffy
already? Isn’t she is keeper?” He said while gazing back at her.

I put on a casual smile, but in the back of my mind all I could think of was belting out that song from the eighties “Angel is a Centerfold”.

“We met outside Dad.” Was all I could manage to say.

“Why don’t you come on in and make yourself at home. We haven’t had time to furnish the whole house yet, but the kitchen is stocked and
Buffy
has made a nice spread for us to munch on.” He announced.

Buffy
grabbed my arm and pulled me through the house again. She took me upstairs and showed me the four large bedroom
s
, which  each housed
their
own bathroom. Two of the upstairs bedrooms looked out into the backyard. I saw t
he pool and fel
l in love instantly with it, before
Buffy
pulled me along to show off more of she and my father’s house.

When we finally had made it down to the kitchen, the food was ready to eat. “We have to take a break from the tour for a bit so we can eat before all of this food gets cold. Do you like fresh tea?” She asked.

“Um, sure.”

“Great. Here, you sit yourself down over there and we will join you.”
Buffy
pointed in the direction of the morning room. It faced the pool, which I couldn’t take my eyes off of. 

My
grandparent’s
house was small
,
to say the least. They never expected to have my mom and I move in when my mom lost the house. A small den had been converted into a bedroom for me, but it didn’t even have a real closet. I had to use one we bought at a store that took up half the room.

Brunch tasted fantastic, but my father barely spoke. He left the conversation up to his new squeeze. She tried to talk to me about fashion, music and finally television, claiming her favorite
show
was that horrible show on MTV called Teen Mom.
She made a point to mention how young my mother had been when she got pregnant with me.
I thought I was going to choke on a piece of French
toast
as she confessed to that. My father seemed
mesmerized
with everything that came out of her mouth.

I wasn’t sure if it was an instantaneous decision, but I was fully aware that I had lost my appetite.

“So tell me Hope, what is there to do is this town. Your father and I need to get out there and meet some people. We have this big house and nobody to entertain.” Buffy stated.

I cleared my throat and looked directly at my father, hoping in some way he could read my mind and snap out of whatever spell he was in. “Do you know of any bars or clubs that
Buff
and I could go dancing?” He asked.

Was this a bad dream?

“I don’t really know of any clubs or bars Dad. They really aren’t my thing, and besides I am only seventeen. I am not even allowed to enter into any of those type of establishments until I am twenty one.” I confessed.

“Well I guess things have changed a lot since I was a teenager.” Was all he said

I caught my father watching Buffy as she leaned over to clear his plate from the table. The bile began to surface in my mouth and I needed some air. “Do you mind if I check out the back yard?” I asked.

“Sure, make yourself at home.” My father said.

Fat chance!

My father remained seated
,
as I got up and walked toward the French doors leading to the pool yard. When I shut the door behind me
,
I couldn’t help but close my eyes and take a deep breath, than
kful I made it through the meal
without killing my father, or his bimbo girlfriend.