Hope's Chance (41 page)

The weather was getting worse and we knew we couldn’t afford to stay much longer. My mother seemed to be getting concerned about it herself. I was surprised when we went to leave. She reached
up, hugged Chance,
and said something in his ear. He smiled and nodded his head before following me to the truck.

Chance

The day was going great. I had my girl around my arm, and we had just told her mother about us. She took the new
s
better than I could have imagined and Hope seemed thrilled about it.

The roads were really getting slick and I had to drive really slow in order to keep us fr
om sliding off into a ditch
. The entire ride home we had been the only cars on the road.
It made me nervous when we reached the country roads that a
snowplow
hadn’t even visited yet. I wasn’t used to driving such a big vehicle and I worried if I took a turn too fast we would be in big trouble.

“I’m just going to take my time Hope. I want us to get home in one piece.” I announced.

“Take your time.” She said as she scooted in the seat right next to me and buckled back up. “I hope you don’t mind me changing seats. I felt so far away from you.” She admitted.

“Have I told you how awesome you are?” I asked.

She put her head against my side. “Not in the last ten minutes.”

“I love you Hope.” I never hesitated when I said it, because it was the one thing I never doubted.

“I love you too Chance.”

We made it home in one piece and finally pulled down the long driveway. I almost choked when we pulled up behind a Jeep with Pennsylvania tags. “Oh shit!”

“What? Who is it?” Hope asked.

I should have known that our perfect Christmas would have come to an end sooner than later. I shook my head and placed it on the steering wheel once we came to a stop. “It is Susan’s.”

Hope grabbed my arm. It was snowing too hard for anyone to see us in the truck. “Who cares Chance. She can’t hurt us right?”

I shook my head again. “Here is the problem. She likes to drink and run her mouth. Knowing Buffy, she won’t tell her about us in fear that she will blab after a bottle of wine.
If she doesn’t know we are together, she is going to try to hook up. I swear to you that I have no interest in being with her, but not being able to give a reason could become difficult.”

“I appreciate your honesty. It will be fine. It is just a few days anyway. After that we can tell the whole world if you want.”

I looked into her eyes. “It is all I want Hope. I swear.”

“Th
en let’s go in and say hello to
Susan.
”

I was reluctant, but we couldn’t sit outside and contemplate our plan. It was going to be a long couple
of
days.

C
hapter 49

Hope

I wanted to picture Susan as some older woman who was overweight and maybe missing a few teeth. She was the opposite of that. In fact, she was the opposite of me. She had very long straight hair that was obviously
professionally
done. Her face was beautiful and the makeup she was wearing made her look like she was a movie star. Unlike Buffy, she was dressed classy in some kind of tunic sweater and her long legs were exposed with only a pair of leggings that accented her narrow hips. She had a glass of wine already in her hand and as we walked in the door, I watched as her eyes lit up.

The beautiful woman walked right past me and took Chance into a long embrace.  “Oh Chance, it has been so long. I have really missed you. I hope you don’t mind me coming in a couple days early. I just wanted to be able to catch up with you.
”
Before he could get a word in edge wise, she leaned in and kissed him straight on the lips.

I swallow hard and tried to keep from screaming. Buffy came up behind me and sensed my anxiety. She grabbed me gently by the arm. “Susan don’t be rude. This is Hope, Mark’s daughter I was telling you about.”

She slowly let go of my boyfriend and turned to face me. I watched as she looked from my hair to my feet, then finally extended her hand. “Nice to meet you. I guess I didn’t realize he had a kid in high school.”

“Actually Hope is in college.” Chance corrected her and gave me a wink before anyone could notice.

“Well you are very cute. I bet she has lots of hot young men coming over to swim in that pool with her.” She suggested.

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” My father interrupted.

I watched him walk into the room and Buffy take his side. They all were holding drinks and when Susan, the bitch, noticed Chance was empty handed, she took it upon herself to drag him into the kitchen by his hand and attend to his thirst.

When I
cou
ldn’t
see them any longer it made
me feel jealous.

“How was your visit with your mom today?” My dad asked.

“It was nice. She was impressed with Chance for some reason.” I tried to say
nonchalantly
.

“Well he is an impressive kid. It looks like he may be preoccupied for the next few days though. The way Susan talked, they go way back.” He replied.

He may as well have kicked me in the gut, or stuck his hand into my chest and ripped out my heart.

“So where is she sleeping? Do I need to get the guest room ready?” I asked.

Please don’t say the pool house. Please don’t say it……

“Actually, she put her things out in the pool house already. She said Chance wouldn’t mind.
Besides,
he needs to be around a good woman this time of year. I don’t want him being alone and depressed.” My dad explained.

I caught Buffy looking at me. The worry in her eyes was obvious. She knew I was about to lose it.

I could hear a woman laughing in the kitchen and felt the tears accruing. Before it was obvious to my dad, I excused myself.

“I am just going to go upstairs for a bit. It isn’t like I can drink wine with you all.” I admitted.

“I think Hope should be allowed to have a glass of wine with us Mark. It isn’t like she will be driving.” Buffy stated.

“She can have a glass at dinner.” He said.

I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs to my room, hearing Susan laughing even when I made it to my room
, made me want to get in my car and drive away
.

I flopped down on my bed and began crying my eyes out. I don’t know why I couldn’t handle things, I knew he wasn’t doing anything with her, but it hurt so much anyway.

I hadn’t realized that I had fallen asleep until a knock at my door woke me up. Chance came walking toward me. “Hope baby, are you okay?”

“No! I can’t stand it. I hate her for touching you. This isn’t fair. I feel like a kid being punished.
”

“They asked me to come get you for dinner. Hope I am so sorry she is here.” He confessed.

I finally looked up at him. He knew I had been crying, it was obvious. “She is sleeping in the pool house Chance.”

“The hell she is. No fucking way Hope. I won’t let that happen.” He promised.

I started to feel better just hearing him say he wouldn’t allow it.

He leaned down and played with the ring on my finger. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. “You are my future and nothing will come between us Hope. Please know that.”

“Okay.” Was all I could say. “Is dinner ready now?” I finally added.

“Twenty minutes.” He said. Chance leaned down further and pressed his lips against mine. “I love you Hope. The only person who will be in my arms tonight is you.”

I watched Chance walk out of my room and I got myself out of bed. I ran over to the mirror and started doing my makeup to hide the redness. I decided to change my clothes, for some revengeful attention at the dinner table. I wouldn’t be treated like a child.

The tight black dress was low cut and accented ever
y
curve of my body, especially my large breasts. Susan could kiss my ass. I had one feature that she did not and I was fully prepared to have Chance staring at them during the whole meal.

I let my hair fall down my back and the natural curls fell right into place.

The voices were coming from the dining room, so I ran into the kitchen
.
I took two shots of some white liquor that my father drank with coke. They went down smooth and since I hadn’t heard anyone calling me, I took one more shot.

My hands ran down my dress and I made sure it was sitting perfectly as I walked into the room. Everyone stopped talking. Chance was in the middle of taking a drink and he started to choke.

“Hope you look amazing.” Buffy announced.
She pointed her hand to sit across the table from Chance.
“Sit down. I poured you a glass of red. I hope you like it.”

“Thank you.” I tried not to
make
eye contact with Chance, but I could feel his eyes burning into my body.

When I caught a glimpse of
Susan,
she seemed to also be staring me down.

Most of the dinner discussion was Buffy and Susan reliving their youth through stories. They included Chance in a few, but after the first bottle of wine
,
I noticed Susan getting a bit too open about her and Chance sneaking around when they were younger. At one
point,
he actually got up from the table and got himself a beer.

The liquor was really showing it’s ugly face by the time dessert was served. Buffy had made some fancy shit that she probably spent hours making. I could barely feel my fingers, so poking at the pretty
designed
cake was funny. I found myself laughing out for no reason.

“Hope are you okay?” My father asked.

I was sick of hearing that bitch talk about all the places she had fucked my boyfriend. I looked up and smiled. “Just dandy Daddy.”

Chances stare
burned into me and I
couldn’t
help but laugh at him. In fact, I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Hope what is wrong with you?” My father demanded. “You couldn’t be drunk from one glass of wine.”

“Plus some shots!” I said while still laughing.

Chance looked upset with me. I couldn’t have him mad at me. He tried to mouth me the word sit down, but I stood there staring at him.

With no regard for us or our future, my drunk self did something horrible. I pointed across the table
at Chance
and Susan
.

“Do you want to hear about my first time?” My body started swaying and in the corner of my
eye,
I saw my father coming at me. “My boyfriend forced me to sleep with him and after several attempts he raped me while other kids at the Country Club sat there watching. Then he fucked my best friend the same week.”

My
father
had come up behind me and grabbed me. He
was
pulling me out of the room apologizing to everyone for my actions.

“Let go of me.” I screamed.

“You are embarrassing yourself Hope.
What is the matter with you? Why would you drink so much? Did Trevor try to call you? Do you miss him?” He asked.

I stood on the first step and looked my dad in the eye,
by
this time Chance and Buffy were standing in the doorway. I looked over at Chance. “I miss my boyfriend. I wish we were together but we aren’t. He is with someone else now.” I cried like a little baby. My dad didn’t know I was talking about Chance and my drunk self couldn’t determine what I was even saying. He obviously
wasn’t
really with her.

I ran upstairs to my room and locked my door.
Finally,
after a few hours, I saw Buffy standing over my bed. “Take these.” She handed me two pills. “Hope, I am so sorry. I can’t
believe
she was throwing herself on him like that.”

I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to know if Chance hated me. “Where is Chance?”

“Downstairs with your dad and Susan.” She explained.

“I can’t watch them Buff. It hurts too much.”

She shook her head and hugged me. “I never should have kept this from your father.” As she continued to comfort me, she spotted my ring, which in my drunkenness had turned diamond up. “Oh my God is that?”

“Chance gave it to me. It was his promise to me.” I confessed as tears ran down my face.

“Why are you crying Hope? I should be the one crying.” She admitted.

I let her hug me. “He will never forgive me for tonight. I was such an ass.”

“That man is in love with you Hope. Nothing will change that. Please calm down. I will make sure he comes upstairs. Just give me a few minutes.”