Big Daddy

I decided I’d go and straighten up his house a bit. There was a bar in the kitchen that seemed to be a catchall, and I decided I’d at least organize the stack of mail and throw away all the expired pizza coupons.

I went to the kitchen and sat on a barstool knowing he’d be a while. Once I got the pile done, I’d go upstairs and see if I could change sheets or at least dust the tops of the dressers. Anything was better than sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous after what I had disclosed to Chance. Though he had held me and comforted me, he had admitted that he wanted children. Maybe my admission that I wasn’t sure I could have any, would drive a wedge between us. Maybe he would decide he didn’t want to get involved with me and my mess after all, if there wasn’t a real future for us.

No, I couldn’t do this to him. He had taken me in, sent his niece away, and now he was risking his life to save me from Nick. What was I thinking, letting him do all of this for me? I had upended his entire life, and what could I offer him in return? Certainly not the one thing he really seemed to want: a child.

I vowed that once the storm was over, I would demand he drop me at the nearest bus stop and flee to Canada like I’d planned to do before I let him bring me back. He’d been through enough already, he deserved a quiet, peaceful life.

My heart ached at the thought of leaving when I’d just started to realize that I was falling for him, but Chance deserved so much more than what I could offer him. I went upstairs and threw my clothes back into the small suitcase and brought it down and placed it next to the door.

Chance came in with an armful of wood and nearly tripped over it. “What the hell?” he asked, looking down as he dropped the wood in the bin.

“Chance, listen. I don’t want to do this anymore. When the storm lets up enough for us to get down the mountain, I want you to take me back to the bus station.”

He shrugged out of his coat and groaned. “We’re not doing this again Dream. You’re not running anymore, period.”

“Listen, this is my life and I won’t have you controlling me like he’s done for the past ten years!” I yelled, trying to put any distance I could between us. The twitch in his jaw told me I’d hit a nerve.

“Are you seriously comparing me to that asshole?” he asked, incredulously. “Have I once laid a finger on you? And I sure as shit didn’t force you to fuck me all over this goddamn house!”

Good, I’d made him mad. This was the emotion I was way more comfortable with from a man. How sick was that?

Before I could say anything else to fan the flames, Chance grabbed his coat and stomped back outside into the cold.

CHAPTER 19 – CHANCE

I had to get away from her or risk yelling at her again, and I knew she’d had enough of that in her life with Nick. I had no idea how she could compare me to that fuckhead, but if I kept it up, that’s exactly what I was going to sound like.

I knew it was a defense mechanism. I’d seen the shift in her when she’d told me about the miscarriage and about her being afraid that she couldn’t have kids. She was deflecting because she thought she was less of a woman, less of a person if that one part of her was missing. Boy, if I didn’t know how that felt.

None of her problems mattered to me. I could see the beauty in her, and I knew she deserved better than what that asshole Nick was giving her. That’s how I knew my feelings for her were the real deal.

My phone rang, and I took a deep, calming breath and answered it even though the number wasn’t one I recognized right away, but at least it was local. “Yeah?”

“Chance?” Liza’s voice was but a whisper, and it seemed that she was unsure she had the right number.

“Yeah, Liza, it’s me. How are things going?”

I’d told the woman if she needed anything to call, but I’d expected Dream to have given her the new cell number to reach her directly.

“Hey, that man is outside the diner.”

“You have power there?”

“Yeah, we have lights. Talk is there’s a tree down on the road, and it’s got the power lines messed up over on your end of town. So the asshole shows up here, and this time he’s not just hanging around in his car. He’s come inside asking me when she’s on her next shift. He must have noticed she’d not been here in a couple of days.”