Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Of course she did. Of course the final challenge from Nana would once again include Emma spending money on Chase.
Seriously, what was her grandmother's obsession with Emma spending money on Chase and not the other way around?
And yet with all that planning, Nana never had a clue that she was leaving millions of dollars of inheritance to Emma.
Never a clue that Emma would be paying for a private jet to Vegas or a five-thousand-dollar hamburger or rent for Chase's guest house.
But this last challenge seemed more in line with what Nana's assumptions were about how big Emma's inheritance would be.
A fun little shopping trip for barware for Chase.
Nana probably assumed they would show up here after a fancy dinner that would be all she needed to complete her inheritance challenge for Emma.
Nana had been so wrong about so many things with this challenge, and after all this, Emma really wondered what her grandmother would think about the month she spent with Chase.
"So where would you like to start first?" Macie asked them enthusiastically.
Chase got that brilliant smile on his face that Emma missed. "Martini glasses."
He turned and gave Emma a big smile that she couldn't help but return, basking in Chase's enthusiasm for this. If they had to go on this one last adventure for Nana, martini glasses were the perfect choice.
"OK, let's go!" Macie said enthusiastically. "Dorothy said that might be your first choice."
She marched right past them while Chase and Emma could barely keep up as they walked through aisles of bar supplies before getting to the glasses they wanted.
It was a sight to behold. Martini glasses on both sides of an aisle that was longer than the typical Costco aisle Emma would wander through with Nana. Even Chase looked impressed.
Macie took his hand and Emma ignored the ping of jealousy in her chest as she watched them walk from glass to glass with Macie showing off this one and that. There were glasses with different colors, glasses with etched designs, big glasses, little glasses. The place had it all.
"What about these?" Macie asked him, holding up a pair of green-tinted martini glasses.
Chase scrunched up his nose. "Nana didn't like green."
Emma had the same thought, and it was just another one of those little moments when she realized that perhaps Nana knew what she was doing when she paired Emma with Chase. Maybe he knew her grandmother more than she realized.
"Oh! What about these?" Chase held up a hot pink martini glass with streaks of neon blue in it.
"They look very eighties," Emma said.
"I know!" he said with a huge smile on his face. "These look just like the ones from the Project Lyonheart set."
"Oh my gosh, yes! I'm so glad you recognized them," Macie exclaimed. "Your set designer bought them here. I didn't want to push those on you since you probably see them at work all the time, but I do love them."
Chase held them up to the light, the smile growing on his face. "Think Nana would approve?"
Emma took the whole scene in. In front of her was the man she got stuck with because of her grandmother. The man she once despised, thinking about the money she had to spend on him.
The man she had been falling in love with.
And standing here, watching him look in awe at a martini glass, she had to admit that Nana would probably approve of all of it.
"I think those are a great choice."
Chase's eyes met hers, sparkling in a way that made her feel warm inside. Then he turned to Macie, and Emma watched as the woman got sucked into Chase's charm. Emma knew from experience that it was hard to resist.
"Can we get four of these?" he asked. "And do you have other glasses with this design?"
"Oh, maybe wine glasses like that?"
She saw Chase's eyes light up as he looked at her. Because yes, she still remembered that night by his pool with that slice of chocolate cake when he said he needed wine glasses.
Macie looked dazed for a moment before finally snapping back to reality. "Yes, we have plenty of wine glasses!" she gushed. "Let me get four of these to Dylan to wrap up and I'll take you to our wine glasses. There are a few with a similar design that I think you'll love."
When they were finally done shopping, Chase had a set of four martini glasses, some stemless wine glasses, and a wine decanter all with the same design. Dylan and Macie packed everything up neatly in a box with plenty of packing paper to protect the glasses. Emma paid.
The sun was bright as they got outside to the little parking lot and Chase stowed his new glassware in the trunk of his BMW, gingerly closing the trunk with his stuff inside.
Then he turned to her, that smile still there, and she couldn't help but smile back. There was something about it that she still found intoxicating even if she had stepped away for a month.
She knew she needed to go and find what she was looking for when it came to who she wanted to be and the life she wanted to have for herself. But that month away had made her realize that one of the things she wanted for herself was Chase.
Chase turned to her and gave her an awkward half-hearted smile. "Well, it was good seeing you again, Emma," he said quietly.
Nope. That felt too final for her. She couldn't let this be the last time she saw Chase and have their conversation end with stupid niceties. She had to stop hiding what she felt.
"I'm sorry I left the way I did."
Chase seemed to be taken off guard a bit by her confession but tried to put on a smile that seemed to be hiding something more.
"It's OK," he said soothingly. "This whole thing was a lot."
"I just..."
She took a deep breath and looked at him, really looked at him. This whole thing had been a lot, a strange experience that both of them were thrown into, but Chase stuck with her through all of it. She at least owed him an explanation. She owed him the truth.
"I'm still trying to process all of it and figure things out and the only thing that makes sense to me in all of this is you."
He took a timid step forward as if testing out how close he could get to her. He was trying to stick to her boundaries or whatever boundaries made sense anymore. But his trepidation was annoying her so she took the last step, threw her arms around his neck, and pulled him in for a kiss.
It took a moment for him to respond, which freaked her out even though his surprise was her fault. But he finally answered her kiss with one of his own, one of those kisses that was tender and perfect and told her so much about how he really felt.
Then he pulled away a bit, his forehead still resting on hers. "You're the only thing that makes sense to me too." He stepped away from her again, his eyes shimmering in the California sun as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So, would you like to move back to the guest house?"
"Not yet," she said quietly. "The guest house was nice, but I like my new place too and I've never actually lived on my own so I want to try that for a bit."
"This is really the first time you lived alone?"
"I went straight from college to Nana's place," she explained. "So I kind of like being by myself for a little while and learning what I like."
"And what have you learned so far?" he asked with a warm smile.
"Well, I like being close to the beach but not too close."
"How close are you to the beach?"
"Santa Monica! It's amazing." She could feel her smile getting bigger. "I like trees on my street. I found a better couch than the one in your guest house. It's red."
"Nice," he said cheerfully.
"I like making Nana's chocolate chip cookies."
"They were so good!" Chase remembered. "And she still never told me the secret ingredient."
"She told me," Emma said teasingly. "Oh, and I like tea cups and saucers."
"You like..." He looked at her as if he was puzzled for a moment, trying to process that confession. "Well, a red couch and tea cups sounds eclectic, and I mean that in a good way."
Eclectic. Emma liked that description. It was different than some of her things when she lived with Nana.
It was definitely different than when she rented the guest house from Chase.
It was her. It was what she had finally figured out she liked.
Tea cups and tree-lined streets and Chase Warwick.
She was sure that she at least liked those things.
She could figure out the rest from there.
"So before you go back to your eclectic place, can I ask you a question?"
She pushed back a step, giving herself some extra room but still being close enough to Chase that she wouldn't let him get away again.
"Go ahead," she replied quietly.
He pulled her hand into his, his fingers warm against her skin. "Would you like to get some authentic Wisconsin cheese curds with me?"
"What?"
"Seriously, the best restaurant for Wisconsin cheese curds in Los Angeles is right around the corner, and they taste just like my hometown cheese curds," he said enthusiastically. "We could leave our cars here and walk over. Super simple."
Her laugh was back and it felt good to be that close to him and enjoying all that Chase Warwick meant to her. The challenge was about money, sure, but it was also about finding Chase, and that was the part of the challenge she had missed the most.
Although there was one detail she was ready to give up.
"We'll get some cheese curds, but you're picking up the bill."
"Nana said you have to pay for everything!" he replied incredulously.
"Not anymore. You're buying."
He pulled himself closer to her, his breath teasing her cheek, as he leaned in and whispered some of the sexiest words she had ever heard him say.
"You win. I'm buying."