Chapter Twenty-Two
Marcus has sent her a text telling her that Chase would be here, but Emma still felt anxious about whether he would actually show up.
She moved out of his guest house without even saying goodbye and now she was standing in the street in front of a warehouse in Los Angeles because that's what her grandmother told her she had to.
Emma didn't even know what this place was and was a little surprised to find it was just a nondescript white brick warehouse with some stenciled letters on the door.
All she had was the address and she refused to dig into it anymore past that.
It would just make her overthink seeing Chase again.
Emma checked her watch and confirmed that yes, she was still early, so no, Chase probably wasn't blowing her off. She had given herself too much time to arrive, even after factoring in Los Angeles traffic, and then decided to wait outside rather than sitting in her car until one o'clock.
This was a bad idea, right? Or was it the best idea?
"Emma?"
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice Chase get there, standing in front of her with a small but awkward smile as her eyes met with his.
She took a deep breath and tried to smile back. "Hi."
"Hi." He shifted from one foot to the other as he continued to stare at her. "You look really nice today."
"Thanks."
She gave him an awkward half-turn to show off her favorite outfit that she bought recently.
She had decided to splurge and update her wardrobe with her inheritance, even though this was a bit of a retro look with her layered ruffled skirt and crop sweater.
It was a little nod to Nana's love for the eighties, and she felt good wearing it in front of Chase. He seemed to appreciate it too.
But what didn't feel good was the silence that crept over them now. She had never experienced a moment of awkward silence in the middle of Los Angeles like this and yet, here she was trying to find words to say to Chase.
"I, uh—"
"It's good to—"
And now they were talking over each other, not even able to get the basic rhythm of a conversation together. So Emma just grabbed the envelope from her purse and stuck her hand out toward Chase.
"My grandmother wanted you to have this."
Chase took it gingerly and gave her a small nod as he stared down at Nana's scrawl on the envelope. And there it was again: that awkward silence as her mind raced trying to figure out what to say next or do next — or how to just be with Chase.
"It's still sealed, you can check," she added quickly. "I honestly don't know what's in it or what S.I.U. stands for."
"Shake It Up," Chase said casually without looking up from the envelope. "Marcus figured it out."
She missed hearing Marcus's name and it bugged her that she hadn't talked to him more lately. And there was something else bugging her.
"Why does Shake It Up sound like it's a strip club?"
That finally got a laugh out of Chase and he looked up, his eyes crinkling around the edges from his infectious smile. "I thought the same thing."
"Right?"
She couldn't help but laugh in a way that reached deep down in her. It was the laugh she missed since she moved out of the guest house.
Emma instinctively moved closer to stand next to Chase and look down at her grandmother's writing. This was the right address. She was giving it to Chase as instructed, and he wasn't pushing Emma away. She would take it as a little victory.
"Do you know why my grandmother sent you here?"
Chase turned, his breath warm on her cheek, but she didn't dare turn toward him to see the look on his face. It would make her too nervous, too happy, too disappointed. Just too something. So instead, she kept her head down, trying to focus on the most important issue right now: the envelope.
"Would you like to open it with me?"
Chase's voice was warm but apprehensive. He must've felt the same way she did about all of this. So she gave him what he wanted — and what she wanted too. She turned and tried to put a reassuring smile on her face.
"Sure."
She threaded her arm into the crook of his elbow, which was probably too much but he didn't seem to mind.
Instead, he turned the envelope over and ripped through the top seam, pulling a note card out of the envelope.
It was kind of fancy, heavy-stock card with "George Gordon Law Firm" at the top in heavy ink.
Underneath was a note in Nana's handwriting.
"Chase, There is one last thing you need to do to complete the wishes of my will. First, take this card inside Shake It Up and ask for Macie or Dylan. Second, you must take Emma with you. Don't worry, I'll pay for it — sort of. Stay awesome! Nana"
Emma stared down at the card, bewildered by the whole thing. This was just another of her challenges? And really...
"What does 'Stay awesome' mean?"
Chase dramatically dropped his hands to his side. "That's my catch phrase in the Project Lyonheart movies!" He rolled his eyes and shook his head sarcastically. "I'm going to ask Marcus to send over a set of the DVDs to your new..."
His voice trailed off as he caught himself. Emma figured he probably wanted to say "her new place" but that would require them to acknowledge that she lived somewhere else now and Chase didn't even know where.
But he quickly saved the conversation, steering them back to the task at hand by clearing his throat and pulling the card back up to read. "Well, Nana said we have to take this card and go inside together, and we can't disappoint Nana, can we?"
"No, we can't disappoint Nana."
There was still something nagging Emma about this whole challenge, and there were times when she wondered if Nana ever realized what she would be putting her granddaughter through when she did it.
It wasn't all fun in Vegas, that was for sure.
But Emma could also admit that there were things about the challenge that she missed now that it was over, especially when it came to spending time with Chase.
She hated it at first, but now she missed it.
That's why she wouldn't disappoint Nana. She was going to savor this last challenge with Chase, whatever it was. So when he opened the door for her, she could feel that spark again of stepping into his world with him for the next adventure.
It was a typical-looking warehouse inside with shelves and boxes. A few of them had glasses set up in front or one of those divided containers big enough for lemon slices and cherries.
"Oh, Shake It Up is a bartender store." Emma took in a huge shelf of champagne glasses with unique designs on them next to a display case of martini shakers. "I have to say that this is definitely better than Nana sending us to a strip club."
"Speak for yourself," Chase muttered loud enough for Emma to hear, forcing her to swallow her laugh.
She followed him as he wandered down the large, central aisle to a desk in the back of the warehouse where a worker was wrapping up glasses and packing them in a box. He gingerly placed the glass in the box before finally turning to them with one of those retail smiles.
"Can I—"
He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes taking in Chase, and Emma could see the recognition on his face. She still found these types of things awkward, but Chase always seemed to take it in stride.
"You're Chase Warwick."
He nodded. "Yeah, hi."
"And then are you Emma?"
Well, that was new. Everyone knew who Chase was, but Emma? Now she was intrigued. "I am."
The man smiled and pointed to the name tag on his t-shirt. "I'm Dylan. I was wondering when you guys would come in."
"Wait, you knew we were coming?" Emma asked.
"Your grandmother is Dorothy, right?" Emma nodded.
"So she came in here last year maybe? She said she had a surprise planned for Chase Warwick when she passed away.
" A sad look came over Dylan's face when he realized why Chase and Emma were here, and he put his hand to his chest. "Oh, no. Is she gone?"
Emma took Chase's hand to steady herself. "It's been a few months."
"I'm so sorry. She was only here once, but she was so nice and spent hours talking to us. Her request was a bit unusual, but she charmed Macie and I so we made a note of it for later."
"Um, OK." Emma turned to Chase to see if he could help at all, but he looked as bewildered as she was. "So, what exactly was my grandmother's request?"
"One second," Dylan said before heading back to an office, returning with a piece of paper and a woman.
"Oh, my gosh. You're Chase Warwick!"
"Uh, yeah. Hi."
"I love the Project Lyonheart movies," she gushed. "I'm Macie, by the way!"
She held out her hand for Chase to shake, and Emma watched him put on that fake Hollywood smile of his as he introduced himself (even though she obviously knew who he was) and thanked her for the compliment.
"Macie, this is Emma," Dylan told her.
"Oh, Emma!" Macie gave her the same sympathetic look. "Your grandmother made quite an impression on us when she was here last year. She was so much fun."
"Thank you."
Macie's smile quickly returned as she clasped her hands together. "But she told us to have fun, and that's what we're going to do."
Emma looked over at Chase, who still seemed to have no clue about what was going on. She also couldn't tell how Chase felt about this turn of events, which was good because she was having trouble figuring it all out as well.
"Um, I'm sorry, but Emma's grandmother never explained why we needed to come here."
Huge smiles spread across the faces of Macie and Dylan, who seemed to be ready to burst with whatever secret they had been keeping.
"So." Macie dramatically stepped up closer to them. "Dorothy has requested that we go shopping together to get some things specifically for Chase."
"Your grandmother said you would pay," Dylan added with a smile directly at Emma.