SWNOVELS Chance: Chapter 10
Chance fixed scrambledeggs and toast and Rory ate more than she would have thought she could just an hour ago. Her stomach wasn’t queasy at the moment and it went down well. She spent breakfast wanting to ask him who he’d lost at thirteen, and how, but she couldn’t imagine a way to do it that wasn’t intrusive.
He’d been emotional, or as emotional as she’d ever seen him. He hadn’t looked it, but she’d heard it in his voice. It was the reason she’d given in. That and the fact she knew he wasn’t lying. He really would step between her and anyone who tried to harm her.
Ordinarily she’d rely on Liza Jane for self-defense, but she had to be honest with herself and admit that wasn’t the wisest idea right now. She was subject to random bouts of morning sickness, and she was more tired than usual. She wasn’t completely on her game, but she had no doubt she’d get back to herself soon enough. Just had to get used to these pregnancy hormones and keep her blood sugar under control.
After breakfast, she showered and dressed and started to drag the laundry down to the basement. Chance stopped her with a frown as he was coming out of the kitchen. Without a word, he hefted the wicker basket into an arm and carried it down for her.
The stairs were steep but it was light in the basement because she’d hung bright LED shop lights to replace the incandescent bulbs her grandma had used for so long.
“You could break your neck coming down those stairs,” Chance grumbled when he dropped the basket by the washer.
“Haven’t yet.”
“You need a laundry room on the ground floor.”
“No kidding, Sherlock.” She dropped the last item into the washer. “But until I win the lottery or inherit millions from a rich aunt I didn’t know I had, I’ve got to save up to build what I want. At the rate I’m going, probably get there in about five years.”
Maybe. And that was if she did some of the work herself.
“This isn’t going to be easy when you’re a few months pregnant.” He frowned as he looked around the laundry room. “The stairs are steep, and you’ll basically be carrying a bowling ball and a laundry basket.”
She started the washer and turned to him, irritation flaring. She was already feeling off kilter and he wasn’t helping. “I’ll figure it out. I assume you know where the mower is?”
He ground his teeth. “Saw it in the barn last night.”
“There’s a gas can on the shelf if it needs any.”
“Saw that too. Might want to start locking the gas up. Just until we know if that guy’s coming back again.”
“Let’s see if there’s any left when you’re done and we can talk about it then.”
“Honey, there’s a lot we need to talk about. And don’t think we aren’t gonna do it, either.”
“Never said we weren’t.” She gave him the sweetest smile she could manage, but they both knew it was fake. She was torn between wanting to hug him hard for the loss he’d suffered and wanting to wrap her hands around his neck for being bossy and annoying.
“After you,” he said, motioning to the stairs.
Rory went up in front of him, trying very hard not to think about him watching her ass as she walked. When they got to the top, she went to the little nook at the front of the living room that housed her computer. It wasn’t until she heard the screen door shut at the rear of the house that she could breathe again.
Being around Chance was like being around an electrical current. She buzzed with energy when he was near. Energy that made her jump and twist and ache deep inside.
Rory fired up her computer and sat down to work on some of the figures for the Dawg. She could have called Emma Grace to ask about that referral, but she decided it was a conversation best had in person.
The buzzing of the mower in the background had her looking out the window from time to time, watching Chance drive up and down on the zero turn mower that was ancient by current standards but still worked well enough for her purposes.
He wore a ball cap and he’d removed his shirt because of course he had. There was a pulse that throbbed low in her belly as she watched him. Finally, she shook her head and got back to the books. By the time he was done with the yard and the edges of the driveway down to the road, she’d moved the clothes to the dryer and fixed lunch.
It was simple, just a couple of turkey sandwiches with tomato, mayo, and cheese, and a few potato chips. She didn’t eat them often, but occasionally she indulged. Today felt like an indulgence day.
Chance walked over to the sink and turned it on, then splashed his face and dried it with a couple of paper towels. His hair was damp, his skin tanned, and she found herself wondering what it’d be like to have him there every day. To count on him.
Her stomach twisted as he sat down and drank half his water before looking at her. She picked up a chip and nibbled on it.
“Thanks for lunch.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll fix the grooves in the driveway and pick the rocks out of the beds after I eat. And I’ll get some groceries later if you tell me what you want.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, a stone forming in her belly. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the offer, because she did, but it reminded her too keenly of the days when she’d thought Mark was the perfect man for her. He’d taken care of everything, taken care of her, and promised he always would.
She’d trusted him, relied on him, and he’d broken every promise he’d made. It wasn’t that she couldn’t take care of herself, because she damned well could and she’d proved it, but she grew up with Gramps and Granny and she’d seen how it could be when two people were truly committed for a lifetime.
She’d thought she’d had that, but she’d been wrong. In retrospect, the signs had always been there. She’d just been too blind—and too hopeful—to see them. And she wasn’t ever letting it happen again.
Chance sighed. “I’m eating your groceries, Rory, so it’s only right I buy some. As for the driveway and the beds, I’m getting it because I’m already dirty and I might as well. Unless you want to get sweaty before you go to work?”
She hated it when he made sense. “Fine. But get what you like at the store. I don’t care.”
“Hoo-ah.”
“What?”
“Heard, understood, and acknowledged. I got you, Rory. You don’t care what I buy and you’ll begrudgingly accept my help outside because it’s one less thing to worry about since you don’t know when or if you’re going to feel bad again.”
There was a knot in her throat. She sounded like such a bitch when he put it that way. And maybe she was, but self-protection was more important than niceties. And she needed all the self-protection she could get with him.
He made her want things, and that was dangerous. She pushed back from the table. “You know, I think I’ll head into town early. I want to see Emma Grace before I have to start my shift.”
His gaze dropped to her sandwich. “You only ate half.”
Her heart was throbbing as she stood. “I’m not all that hungry. I’ll take it with me.”
“You took insulin based on what you were about to eat, right? Don’t you have to do something about that?”
“I’ll eat it on the way.”
He stared at her. Then he unfolded himself until he towered over her. “Shit, Rory, if you don’t want my company while you’re eating, just say so. You don’t have to run off with half a sandwich and eat it on the way so you don’t have an episode. For fuck’s sake, just tell me you want to be alone. I’m staying to protect you, but I don’t expect to spend every waking moment in your company. Especially not if my presence makes you this fucking uncomfortable.”
Rory closed her eyes and swallowed the fear. What the hell was wrong with her? She could handle this. She wasn’t a naïve Regency miss from one of her novels. She could handle the company of a full-grown alpha male. Even one who’d been inside her not all that long ago.
“I’m sorry.”
He stared at her. “For what? Hating me?”
She dragged in a breath. “I don’t hate you, Chance. I just… I can’t like you. I can’t let you in. It’s not personal. It’s me.”
“Honey, I say this with no malice whatsoever, but you can’t close the barn door after the horses escaped. We’re in this together. I’m in, like it or not. You still don’t have to like me, but you aren’t going to run away every time I walk into a room. It’s going to make raising a kid damn hard if we can’t even be in the same room, don’t you think?”
She sagged against the counter where she’d gone to get a baggie for the sandwich. “Honestly, Chance? I’m still working out the next few months in my head. I don’t have space for the next few years yet. The idea that we’re raising a kid together? I haven’t wrapped my mind around it. I’m still working on how to get through the next few days when I have to tell my best friend and my brother what’s going on.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. When he opened them again, she was struck by how blue they were. Like the Emerald Coast of Alabama and Florida, where the water was so pretty and turquoise that it took your breath away. She’d gone to Dauphin Island with Emma Grace and her parents for several summers when she was a kid. The water there wasn’t that color, but when Emma Grace’s parents would take them on a drive to Orange Beach, Perdido Key, and Pensacola Beach, the change was stunningly beautiful.
That was Chance’s eyes. Stunningly turquoise.
“Eat your sandwich, Rory. I’ll take mine outside and get back to work. We’ve got time to figure this out.”
Her heart throbbed as he took his plate and headed for the front door. She should stop him, but she couldn’t find the words.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she muttered to herself. Her issues weren’t his fault. And yet she panicked when he was near. She could feel those shields shoot up from the floor of her heart and surround it whenever he walked into the room.
She got stupid. Stupid and mean, and she didn’t like herself when she did those things.
Rory retrieved her plate and finished the sandwich, then decided to head into town. She grabbed her backpack and keys. Chance was busy tossing rocks from Granny’s flowerbeds back onto the driveway when she stepped onto the front porch. His plate sat on the porch near the steps, the sandwich and chips gone.
He looked up as she approached. The shirt was gone again, and she swallowed hard.
“You headed out?”
“Um, yes. I thought I’d see if I could get a minute with Emma Grace. I could call and tell her, but I think this is an in-person conversation.”
He leaned on the rake handle he’d been using. “If you could ask her not to tell Blaze just yet, I’d appreciate it. I want to tell my guys myself.”
“I don’t think she’ll have a problem with that. I’m not technically her patient, but I’m sure she respects patient confidentiality too much to blab my news to anyone else.”
He looked thoughtful for a second. “Think you’re probably right. If I don’t get over to the Dawg for dinner today, I’ll be waiting for you at quitting time.”
“You don’t have to do that, Chance.”
“Yeah, but I’ll be there anyway. Drive safe, Rory.”
“I will.”
She didn’t argue with him about meeting her after work because it was pointless. He’d be there, even though he had a job and usually started early each day.
She stepped off the porch and headed for Clyde. She unlocked the truck and climbed inside, then rolled down the windows and started him up. The engine roared to life with a guttural purr that she loved. Especially since she was the one who kept it that way.
Rory made it to town in ten minutes, as usual, and parked behind the Dawg. She waved at the regulars as she climbed the stairs to her office on the second floor. Theo’s apartment was at the front of the building while the office was at the back. She knew she wouldn’t run into her brother because he was in the kitchen, going through supplies in the walk-in and making sure everything was in good shape.
Theo had always wanted to go to culinary school, but he’d never managed it. He’d worked in restaurant kitchens since he was a teenager though, first at the Dawg and then at a few different upscale restaurants in Huntsville. He’d learned the business the hard way, but he was a damned fine chef even if he didn’t have a degree in it.
Rory’s heart thumped as she thought about telling him her news. He was going to hit the roof. Not because he thought she wasn’t entitled to her own choices in life, but because of the diabetes and the potential complications.
Hell, he’d be glad that Chance was staying with her. Rory frowned as she remembered Chance the way he’d been when she opened her bedroom door that morning, shirtless and bossy, looking so damned fine she’d wanted to jump his bones. Then he’d lifted that box and her stomach had cratered.
He’d been super pissed, but he’d gotten it under control. And, truthfully, though it wasn’t the way she’d wanted him to find out about the baby, she was glad it was over.
Even if he’d gone all alpha caveman on her. She had to admit, if only to herself, that having him tell her he’d do anything to protect her and the baby turned her into a puddle of mush. It wasn’t a proper reaction for an independent woman, but nobody ever said she didn’t love the idea of a hot alpha male who was infatuated with her.
Not that Chance would ever be that guy, but it was a fun fantasy.
Rory unlocked the office and went inside. It was spacious, with antique furniture and comfy chairs. The walls featured old advertisements and photos that dated back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The building had been a hardware store at one time, but that’d been at least eighty years ago.
The desk was an old roll top that sat unlocked and open. She went over invoices and orders there, and she updated the spreadsheets she kept in the cloud so she could also work on them at home. Instead of sitting at the desk, she sat in one of the old armchairs by the window and took out her phone to send a text to Emma Grace.
Rory:
I need to talk to you in person sometime today. I can come over there before 2:30, or you know where to find me starting at 3:00.
It took a few minutes, but a reply pinged her phone.
Emma Grace:
Just finished with a patient. I’ll come to you. Need to pick up a coffee at Kiss My Grits anyway. Want anything while I’m there?
Rory sighed. She would flipping love a coffee but more than two small cups a day was out according to the internet. The slight twinge of a headache tickling her brain didn’t appreciate the news, that’s for sure.
Rory:
No thanks. See you soon.
Twenty minutes later, she got a text from Emma Grace.
I’m walking into the Dawg.
Rory:
I’m in the office.
Emma Grace:
Be right there.
The door opened and Emma Grace walked in with her coffee and a bag. “Wendy just took some lemon blueberry scones out of the oven. I couldn’t resist. I got enough for you if you want one.”
Rory’s stomach rebelled at the idea of lemons right now. Must be a pregnancy thing, because she usually loved lemon anything.
“Thanks, but I’m good.”
Emma Grace frowned as she took a seat and studied Rory. “Looks serious, babe. What’s wrong? Did Chance say something I need to make him regret?”
Rory shook her head as a well of emotion crested inside. What the hell was wrong with her? Was this a hormone thing? Because she was not a fan.
“I, um, I need some help, Idgy.”
When they were kids, Rory had given her friend the nickname Idgy from running together her initials. EG. Ee-gee. It’d morphed into Idgy over time. She’d only started using it again when Emma Grace moved back to town, and usually only when she was feeling particularly sentimental or emotional.
“Honey,” Emma Grace said, taking Rory’s hand and squeezing it. “What’s wrong?”
Rory reached for the box of tissues and swiped a couple, pressing them beneath her eyes to stop the flood. Emma Grace rubbed circles on the back of her hand, waiting patiently while she got herself under control.
“Sorry,” she said, giving her friend a quivering smile. “It must be the hormones.”
Emma Grace’s gaze sharpened. Not much got past her. “Hormones? You aren’t saying…?”
Rory gave an exaggerated nod. “Yes. I’m p-pregnant.”
Emma Grace’s eyes were a little wide. “How do you feel about that, Ror?”
“I feel a lot of things. Happy. Scared. Worried. Doubtful. I’m not sure I can handle it, and yet I want to. I want to keep the baby.” Her eyes filled again. “When will I ever get another chance?”
“Oh, honey. I understand. Completely. If this is what you want, you know I’m going to support you. I’ll help you find a high-risk obstetrician.”
“Thank you. That’s what I hoped you’d do.”
“So, uh, what about the father? How does he feel? Or have you told him yet?”
Rory snorted at how hesitant her friend suddenly was. “Listen to you being all polite and professional, madam doctor. You know damn well who the father is. And yes, he knows. He found the pregnancy test box, and he’s decided he’s moving in and bossing me around whether I like it or not.”
“Oh, my. How do you feel about that?”
“Angry. Annoyed.” She put her forehead in her palm. “He fed the chickens and collected eggs, then he mowed all the grass. He was picking the rocks out of Granny’s flowerbeds when I left, and I’m going to bet I won’t see even the hint of a groove in the driveway tonight. It’s nice to have help. But Idgy, it’s Chance. He’s not the staying kind.”
Emma Grace sighed. “I don’t think you really know that, honey. He wants to be there with you, right? That says something, don’t you think?”
“He’s not staying for long. I let him do it because of the man who was at the farm last night, and because of how angry the construction guys got when I said no. It’s not permanent.”
“Did he find anything?”
“No.” Rory told her friend about her low sugar episode that morning and about Chance taking off work and how he planned to poke around again in the daylight. She also told her about the upgraded cameras and the hard drive he wanted to install.
Emma Grace nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. It’s dark out there and you’ve got a lot of ground to cover, plus you aren’t there most evenings. You need to know who’s poking around in the dark.”
“It’s someone looking to steal copper or parts from the sheds, that’s all. But if it makes him feel better, then fine. I can’t stop him anyway.” She bit down on the inside of her lip to stop herself from getting emotional again. “D-do you think I’m making a mistake keeping this baby? With the diabetes, and being a single mom—what if I’m biting off more than I can chew? What if something happens to me and I’m not there for this kid while they’re growing up?”
Emma Grace was at Rory’s side in a heartbeat, wrapping her in her arms. “Honey, I think a lot of women wonder if they’re ready for such a step, diabetic or not. What you’re feeling is normal, but it’s understandable you’re even more concerned because of your condition.” Emma Grace let her go and knelt at her side, brushing a strand of hair off her cheek and tucking it behind her ear. “Honestly, something could happen to you. It could happen to anyone. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. If you start down the path of all the what-ifs, you’ll make yourself crazy. If you want to keep this baby, then yes, your life is going to get even more complicated. But you’ve got me and Blaze, you’ve got Theo, and you’ve got more friends than you realize. My mother is going to show up armed with cake samples for your shower and fabric samples for the nursery when you tell everyone the news. She’s probably going to volunteer to babysit, and she won’t be the only one. You aren’t going to be in this alone.”
Rory closed her eyes and nodded. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“You’re welcome.” She took her seat again, picked up her coffee, and sipped it. “Now tell me which room you’re planning to turn into the nursery. Auntie Idgy needs to know how big it is so she can buy the biggest stuffed bear ev-ah.”
Rory laughed. “You aren’t buying a giant stuffed bear. Now make it a giant pony, we can talk.”
“How about a real pony?”
“Oh Lord, you’re going to be that kind of aunt, aren’t you?”
Emma Grace’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “What are aunts for if not to spoil their nieces and nephews silly?”
“I want you to remember that if you and Blaze decide to have a kid. The road goes both ways, girlfriend.”
“I know it does, Ror.” She glanced down at her smart watch. “Crap, I have to get back to the office. My next patient will be there in a few minutes. I’m prescribing you some prenatal vitamins and anti-nausea meds, by the way, so get over to Beadle’s and pick them up this afternoon. I’ll do some research and have an obstetrician for you by the end of the day. You’ll want to make an appointment with your endocrinologist and your primary care doc, too.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.” If Mr. Beadle was still the pharmacist, she wouldn’t be caught dead buying prenatal vitamins in fear Mrs. Beadle would blab it all over town. But Mr. Beadle died a couple of years ago, and the new pharmacist didn’t gossip about patients. Thank God.
Emma Grace was on her feet. “Not kidding, Ror. Call those two today.”
“I will.” Rory stood and hugged her friend. “Chance asked that you not tell Blaze yet. He wants to do it.”
“I won’t say a word. And babe?”
“Yes?”
“If Chance wants to help, you need to find a way to make it easier for the both of you. Not saying you have to get married or have a romantic relationship, but you do need to have a relationship with him. Try to make it a friendly one.”
Rory swallowed the knot in her throat. “I hear you. And I’m trying.”
“I know you are. But he’s not Mark. He’s Chance. Try to remember that.”