Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
C hance dropped Summer at her twin’s house, declining an invitation to come in.
“I’ve got lots to do if I’m going to be gone a good chunk of tomorrow,” he told her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched as she went to the front door and unlocked it. Summer turned and waved before heading inside. It took everything he had not to get out of the car and go in after her.
He returned to the ranch, thinking about how he would need to rearrange his day as he went to his office.
Chance decided to call one of his old fraternity brothers from SMU.
Buzz Penniwell’s father had owned a few luxury car dealerships, and Chance figured that Buzz had probably gone into the family business.
He had lousy grades but a winning personality and would be great in sales.
“Where the hell have you been, Chance Blackstone?” Buzz asked, answering his phone. “I lost track of you after you went to Chicago. I think someone said you went west after that?”
“I worked for businesses in Denver and then Seattle. I moved back to Texas a couple of years ago, returning to help on my family’s ranch in Texas. My dad passed last spring, and I’ve been running Blackstone Ranch on my own since then.”
“Sorry to hear about your old man. Big Jim was the life of the party.”
Chance had invited his father to one of the parents’ weekends the university held.
His dad had stayed for the partying after the football game and family functions.
Everywhere he went, Big Jim Blackstone had made friends, even if they were decades younger than he was.
His dad had outdrunk every Greek at a pretty wild fraternity party.
It had made Chance feel odd, watching his dad, almost as if he were outside a house, looking in.
After that, he stopped asking his dad to come to parents’ weekends.
“I wanted to see if your family still owned car dealerships in Dallas,” he told Buzz.
Buzz laughed. “You just have to Google it to find out, Chance. Dad runs the BMW and Cadillac ones. My older brother is in charge of the Lexus one. My sister is managing one which carries Audis. Since I’m the youngest, I’m in charge of the Nissan dealership, not anything fancy.
Why? You in the market for a new car? I would think you ranchers would drive big ass trucks. ”
“I do. I’m happy with the one I have, but I have a friend who just moved back to Texas from New York. Obviously, without any subways to take to get around, she’s going to need a car. I told her I’d help her look for one.”
“Hmm, a lady friend. I remember you being a real player in college.”
“Summer is my best friend’s little sister,” Chance said defensively. “West Sutherland. He used to play for the Cowboys.”
“I didn’t know you were best friends with West Sutherland,” Buzz said excitedly. “He’s driven cars from dad’s dealerships for years. He turned the last one in, though, after he retired. Said he was moving back to his hometown and was going to coach football.”
“He is doing that exact thing. West is head coach for the Hawthorne Hawks and driving a pickup truck.”
“West was a solid guy. Not pretentious at all. Some of these celebs that we get in the dealerships act as if they own everything and everyone around them. Not West, though. He was a great guy to work with. Did some print ads and commercials for us in exchange for leasing a new model each year. So, it’s West’s little sister who needs help. ”
“Yes,” Chance said, feeling very protective of Summer because he remembered what a womanizer Buzz Penniwell had been. “If you’re going to be in tomorrow, we’d like to drop by. I’m not sure what Summer is looking for, but?—”
“We’ll get her fixed up, Chance. I promise you that. Dad will want West’s sister taken care of.”
“We probably won’t be there until about eleven. Does that work for you?”
“I’m usually in from about ten to seven on Tuesdays. I’ll see you then.”
“Sounds good, Buzz,” he said, ending the call.
Hopefully, Buzz would respect West enough to allow that respect to roll over Summer’s way. If not, he would step in and make certain that Buzz knew Summer was off-limits.
Chance went to the kitchen and fixed himself a sandwich, bringing it back to his office and working until almost eight.
He liked to wind down the hour before bed, so he closed out of the program he was working in and headed to the library.
It was a small room, with floor to ceiling bookshelves lining two of its four walls.
It had a comfortable couch with a TV on the wall in front of it and a great reading chair that he settled into now.
This room had been his mother’s refuge, and Chance liked to come here every night, wanting to feel close to the woman he couldn’t remember but still loved.
On the table sat a biography of Ulysses S.
Grant. He picked it up and read for an hour before setting it aside and going upstairs to get ready for bed.
He was still sleeping in the room which had been his growing up.
Tammy had wanted him to take over his dad’s bedroom, but it didn’t feel right to him just yet.
Still, Tammy had cleaned out the drawers and closets, and the bedroom was his for the taking whenever he decided he wanted to sleep there.
He didn’t need to set an alarm. His internal clock always seemed to go off at the same time each morning.
When it did, Chance rose and dressed, going to the kitchen.
He had even beat Tammy downstairs today, and so he started a pot of coffee for the two of them.
He scrambled himself four eggs and fried up bacon to go with it.
Two slices of sourdough toast, slathered in butter, completed his meal.
Chance was halfway through breakfast when Tammy appeared, pouring herself a cup of coffee and taking a seat at the table beside him.
“You’re an early bird today,” she noted, stirring sugar into her cup.
“I’m going to take Summer Sutherland car shopping later. I want to get in as much work as I can before I pick her up.”
“Summer was always such a sweet girl. Autumn, too. I know Meg and Joe are so glad the girls and West have come back to live in Hawthorne.”
Tammy looked at him as she sipped her coffee. “Any particular reason why you’re helping Summer out with car shopping instead of West? Or Joe?”
He had always been able to talk to Tammy about anything. His dad was all business, with the only other topic he was interested in talking about being sports, especially football. Tammy had been the one Chance had poured his heart out to from the time he was a young boy.
“With you leaving, I’m not sure who I’m going to bounce ideas off,” he began. “I haven’t said this to anyone—not even Kelby—but I may be interested in Summer. More than interested,” he admitted.
She smiled gently. “I haven’t seen Summer for years, but I know the Sutherlands raised their kids right. West and Autumn are such lovely adults, and I’m sure Summer is the same. Have you asked her on a date yet?”
He shrugged. “We had coffee yesterday afternoon at Coffee Hour. Talked for a couple of hours.”
Tammy beamed. “You saying more than two sentences tells me that you are definitely interested in her. I don’t know the last time you sat down with a woman for that long.”
Chance raked his hands through his hair. “It’s been a good while.” He grinned sheepishly. “Maybe … never? Things are just so easy with her, Tammy. Our conversation flows back and forth. It’s like she was always there, yet I never realized it.”
“Well, she was younger than you, honey. And she was West’s little sister. I know guy code usually declares that a hands-off situation.”
“Do you think I should tell West that I’m interested in her?” he asked.
“You don’t need anyone’s permission to be seeing Summer. She’s a grown woman. But if you do start dating, I think it would be the courteous thing to let West know. I believe he would be all for it.”
He finished his last bite of bacon and rinsed his plate, putting it in the dishwasher. He had already cleaned the cast iron frying pan he used to cook the bacon and eggs.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he told Tammy.
“I’ve got my book club in town,” she reminded him. “There’s some leftover meatloaf in the fridge if you want to heat that for your dinner.”
He grinned. “The only purpose of meatloaf is to have leftovers the next day so you can make a cold meatloaf sandwich, smothering the meatloaf in ketchup.”
Tammy laughed merrily. “You and Kelby and your ketchup.”
Placing his hat on his head, he lifted his jacket from the hook by the door and slipped into it. “Bye.”
The early morning hours went by quickly, and he returned to the house, showering and shaving.
For once, he put on a shirt other than flannel but still wore his jeans and boots.
He decided to leave his hat at home and then went to his truck.
He texted Summer to let her know that he was on his way, and she replied with a thumbs up.
Already, his heart was speeding up at the thought of seeing her again. Spending today in her company.
When he pulled into the cul-de-sac, he saw Summer sitting in a rocker on the large porch. She stood and came down the porch stairs to meet him as he pulled into the driveway.
She got into his truck. “Good morning. Or since you’ve been up for so long, it must feel like afternoon for you.”
He laughed. “This’ll be a nice change to my day.” As he backed out of the driveway, he asked, “Did you look at cars online? Find anything you like?”
“You’re talking to the girl who always did her homework, Blackstone. I also drove both Eli and Autumn’s cars when they got home from work. Then I went over to Mom and Dad’s and drove her SUV. That’s what I think I want, an SUV. I like riding up higher. I can see more of the road that way.”
She bit her lip, and he noticed it must be a habit of hers when she felt unsure about something.
“I’ve never owned a car. I haven’t even driven since I was in college.”