Hope's Chance (8 page)

“I came home.” I took a bite of bacon. “Why?”

“You know that bar we were at last night?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Someone went missing.”

I dropped the bacon on the plate. “You’re kidding?”

“Just tell us that you did in fact come straight home Chance.” Mark chimed in.

“I swear to you.”

“Did anyone see you driving alone? Did you stop anywhere that may have caught you on camera?”

Shit!

“No, I was alone. I swear to you that I wasn’t involved. I came straight home.”

Buffy looked over at Mark and then back to me. “The police are running
surveillance
. If they see your picture…”

I interrupted. “Okay, I get it Buff. I won’t go anywhere or leave town. Trust me, I know the drill.”

“Chance we aren’t accusing you of anything. It has to be a coincidence. A terrible coincidence.” Buffy said, but I knew what she was thinking. She was starting to second guess her faith in me. I was alone. I had no friends and now my own sister doubted my innocence.

I had suddenly lost my appetite, so I stuck my plate in the dishwasher and headed back to my apartment. I hated that everyone just assumed I was guilty. There was only one person that could prove my innocence, but I had already burned that bridge. The last thing I wanted to do was get her into trouble after I had crushed her spirits. I would get through this alone, like I always did before.

I waited all day and night for the police to put my face to the mug shot in the data base that they had of me. I watched the clock, wondering what was taking them so long. Finally when I had exhausted myself  with anticipation, I fell asleep on my couch.

Loud knocking woke me up.

I stood up and stretched before heading to open the door. Two uniformed officers stood on the stoop. “Good evening Mr. Avery. We were wondering if we could have a word with
you.
”

I held my hand up and pointed inside. “Sure come on in.”

The officers sat down on the
couch that
thankfully was laundry free. “We are sorry to bother you tonight.  Our database got a hit on you being
at
a bar last night.
Since you are in the national database we were wondering if you could
confirm that you
were in fact at this bar last
night.
” He said as he showed me a picture of the outside of the bar.

“That’s right. I had dinner with my sister and her boyfriend. When it got late, I headed home.”

“Were you alone Mr. Avery?”

Damn.

“Yes.”
I lied.

“Mr. Avery we have you on the outside surveillance cameras leaving with someone.
The footage is not very good, but it was clearly a woman.
Would you like to tell us what really happened?”

“A girl asked me for a ride home. I dropped her off outside of her co
mmunity it was around ten thirty
.”

They looked at each other and began writing down information. “Where was this community you dropped her off located?”

“It was off the main highway. I can’t be certain. She told me where to turn.” The lies kept on pouring out of my mouth. I was burying myself again.

“I see.” He grabbed something out of his uniform pocket. “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“No, am I being charged with something?”

“Just don’t leave town kid. And if I were you I wouldn’t leave the house. We will be in touch.” He said as he laid his card on the table in front of me. “Here is my number in case you remember exactly where the girl lives.”

I saw the officers out, and watched my sister approaching me. “The officers said you left with someone. I knew you didn’t sleep naked. Why couldn’t you just tell us? Who was she?”

“Sorry Buff,
I need to get some sleep. It has
been a long day. Goodnight.” I said as I closed the door on her.

I ran my hands over my face. I was in a heap of trouble
just like last time
. This couldn’t be happening to me again. Could it?

Chapter 9

Hope

I hadn’t gotten much sleep, so when the alarm clock started blaring in my ear I picked it up and threw it against the wall. Immediately my mother came rushing in the room.

“Hope? Your grandmother is trying to rest. What was that noise?”
My mother asked.

“Sorry Mom. It was nothing.” I said as I covered my head with my pillow. Once I heard my door close I took the pillow away and stared at the ceiling.

I heard my phone vibrating and picked it up.

Hope? Are you awake?

Obviously. What do you want
Rylee
?

When I got up this morning
,
I was eating my cereal and I saw something I couldn’t believe.

This better be important
Rylee
.

The night we went to the bar someone went missing from there. Can you believe it?

That’s horrible. It doesn’t really involve me though.

That is why I am calling you. The paper had an image of the guy they suspect.

Is it the guy that you left with?

No, it’s the guy you left with.

WHAT?

Yep, they don’t have a name, but I remember a hot guy when I see him.

It has to be a misunderstanding. He left with me. We were together until yesterday morning.

Do you think he returned once you fell asleep.

Um,no…

How can you be sure. You can sleep through a train wreck.

Rylee
, he fell asleep inside of me. There isn’t
any way
he left me to go back and kidnap anyone.

Oh shit! Sorry. Well I think you need to talk to him.

Forget it. He doesn’t want to ever see me again. He made that clear.

Well, it would suck for a fine specimen like that to be locked away for something he didn’t do.

Whatever
Rylee
. I will call you later.

After I hung up with her I got on my lap top and read the article online. It didn’t give many more details than
Rylee
had already told me, but she was right about the picture. It was Chance.

My mother came into my room and I closed my laptop. “Are you going to get up and help out around here, or mope in your bed all day?” She asked.

“Do I have a choice?” I said sarcastically.

My mother wasn’t having my flip comment. She got right up in my face like she always did when she lost her temper. “Listen here young lady. As long as you live in this house you will pitch in.
I am sick of your attitude
every day. I worked my ass off to give you a good life. We didn’t have much but we made it work.”

I tried to grab her arm but she pulled me away. “Don’t Hope. You have your diploma now. It is time for you to be responsible. What are your plans?”

“I…I have no idea right now.”

“Well after the conversation I had with your asshole father yesterday
,
I would say you better decide fast.”

“What do you mean? Why did he call?” I started worrying Chance had spilled the beans about our night together. Or worse, maybe someone had told my father he saw me running down the road.

“I had a bad day at work. I got laid off last night. When I got home I called your father and gave him a piece of my mind. He is living in that fancy communit
y, but has never made an effort
to pay me a cent in child support.”

“Oh, so what happened.”

“He thinks it would be a good idea for you to move in there for a while.”

“What? No way Mom! No way.”

She sat down on the bed beside me. “Honey, your grandmother is doing bad. She needs to go into a home. In order for me to afford for her to do that, I will have to sell the house. I don’t have a choice.”

“There has to be another way.” I begged.

“Hope, your father has a huge house. I have been in the neighborhood. He has plenty of room for you. He seemed excited about you coming to live with him.”

I started crying. The first reason was about my grandmother. The second was the fact that my mother had no job, and the third…well that
was
the fact that I would have to see Chance again.

“Please don’t do this.” I fell into her lap.

She stroked my hair. “When you turn eighteen you can live wherever you want honey. It is just until the end of the year.”

“Where will you go?”

“While the house is for sale I will stay here. Once the sale is finalized
,
I will find a place to rent. I will find another job, even if it is cleaning hotel rooms.”

My mother held me while we both cried. This was so sudden. It had to be a nightmare.

Chance

“Chance wake up.” I heard my sister say.

“What?”

She threw me a pack of cigarettes. “
Here
I know you want one.”

“Thanks.”

I started opening the wrapper while she sat down in front of me. Instead of sitting on the
chair
she sat on the table.

“T
ables are made for glasses not asses Buff.”

“Shut up and listen to me Chance. I need to talk to you about something really important.”

This was it, Mark was makin
g her kick me out. He didn’t want
a suspected felon living on his property. I would be homeless and jobless.

I lit up the cigarette in the house, which was something I never did. I took in the biggest drag.

“Mark’s daughter is coming to live with us.”

The smoke attacked my lungs and I began gagging. I hunched over trying to get myself to breathe. “What did you say?”

“Her mother is having financial difficulties. She and Mark discussed it last night. It is best for her. We have plenty of room here at the house. She just graduated High school
and she is such a nice girl. M
aybe she even has some older friends
you could get to know.”

“Did you just say High School?”

“Yeah, Mark said she will need to stay with us at least until she turns eighteen.”

I froze in place.

“If you are worried about the police… don’t. Her mother has no idea what happened to you.
Everything
will be fine.” She said
assumingly
.

“Maybe I should just start making my own meals out here.” I suggested.

“Don’t be silly. We can all eat together, as a family.”

Buffy leaned over and gave me a kiss before walking out of the pool house.

I was in deeper shit than I ever could have imagined. Hope was only seventeen. I didn’t need to worry about going to jail. Her father was going to murder me.

I didn’t know what to do. I was panicking. I even considered turning myself into the authorities, confessing to something that I hadn’t even done. It would have been better than Mark finding out I had slept with his
underage
daughter.

I had dug myself in so deep that there was no escape.  I couldn’t live with Hope. I couldn’t be near her. I had been horrible to her. She hated me.

I was probably the biggest regret of her life.

I grabbed my keys and my helmet and headed out of the house. Even if my sister started chasing me down the driveway
,
I wasn’t going to stop. 

Chapter 10

Hope

For the next week I begged my mother to reconsider her arrangement with my father. I could tell that it was the hardest decision she had ever made, but she would
n’t budge on the outcome. I had
even asked
Rylee
’s parents if I could live with them, but my mother refused the offer when they made it, claiming I needed this time with my father.

Once my car was filled to the brim with all of my belongings, I hugged my mom. We had shed enough tears in the last week to fill a river. When I got into the car and pulled away, she waved one last time. She was only a phone call away. I could see her whenever I wanted.

I couldn’t be mad at her. My grandmother’s
Alzheimer’s
had gotten so bad that she didn’t know us anymore. She needed to be under full time supervised care.

My mother managed to get a job at the front desk of the Nursing home. She said the hours were crappy, but the pay was good. She would be able to easily afford a one bedroom apartment on her own. That put my mind at ease.