Chapter 36
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
APRIL
Watching that video of Chance proudly declaring his feelings for me to the entire world cracked my heart in half.
No, it’s more accurate to say that it cracked the protective chasm around my heart.
And now my heart is beating, open and vulnerable to the elements.
Beautiful. He called me beautiful in front of the entire world.
“April, are you wheezing?” May squeezes my shoulder. “Do you need to sit?”
“I’m fine,” I breathe.
Rebel peers at me with eyes that can see right through me. “Did it change something? His speech, I mean?”
Admitting that it did would make me a hypocrite. I’m well aware. A few seconds ago, I’d been very firm about how broken, insecure, and unsure I was about a relationship with him.
One love confession from Chance later and I’m still all those things but, somehow, they don’t seem to matter.
“Can you handle the afternoon clients for me?” I ask Rebel in a daze.
“Of course.”
Without another word, I grab my phone and purse and take off running.
“Is she doing it? Is she finally getting out of her own way?” May asks Rebel in excitement.
I don’t hear my best friend’s response, but I’m pretty sure she’s smiling.
Sunshine bounces against my straight hair, leaving its heated fingers on my shoulders and cheeks. The grass is withering from the humidity, and yet the heat of the day is nothing compared to the burning meteor that tore a hole through my chest.
It’s her and no one else , he’d said with a sure look in his eyes. So sure. How can Chance be so certain when life is so unpredictable?
It’s total and utter foolishness to believe that two people can be faithful to, serve, honor, and protect each other for the long term. It’s even more insane to believe that two people can actually like and enjoy each other’s company for decades.
And yet, I think… with Chance…
Every cell, every fiber, every bone in my body longs to believe that it’s possible if it’s with him.
The drive to the airport feels like it takes hours. Chance isn’t picking up the phone and I’m slightly panicking as I rush to a customer service desk.
“How can I help you?” the perfectly dressed woman in the tailored suit asks.
I lick my lips. “Can I… I’d like to buy a ticket? Can I do that here? Or…” I fumble with my phone and it almost crashes to the ground. “Do I need to buy a ticket online?”
She looks me up and down. “Yes, you can purchase a ticket here.”
“Great.” I sigh in relief.
“By the way, you look familiar.” She taps a manicured nail on her chin. Her eyes rove my dirty mechanic jumper, my wind-torn hair and makeup less face. “Are you that mechanic? The one who’s dating Chance McLanely, the hockey player?”
I smile in discomfort.
“Oh my goodness.” Her eyes do another slow rove. Her nose turns up in distaste. “Wow… you really are a mechanic, aren’t you?”
I wipe my hands over my hair, hoping to clean up a bit. The move only brings her attention to the dirt under my nails and something inside me splits.
You’re just too much like the guys, April. Sometimes, you feel like one of the bros to me. That dark voice in my head amplifies my own desire to hide.
I tuck my hands behind my back. I should have gone home and changed before rushing to the airport. I smell and I’m too dirty…
She’s so beautiful that sometimes all I can do is stare. Chance’s words from the press conference wash over me.
I inhale deeply and remember why I’m here.
Chance believes in me. He believes in us.
I’ve never done something as impulsive as buying a plane ticket to visit a man, but I’ve also never met anyone I wanted to trust more.
Being with Chance for real will bring me face to face with my insecurities. I’ll be constantly placed under a microscope. Constantly having to defend why I’m ‘good enough’ to be with him. If he was brave enough to take that leap in front of the entire world, why can’t I make a decision within my own heart?
Lifting my chin, I stare the rude woman right in the eyes. “I was gapping spark plugs on a six-liter engine—that’s a big engine by the way—when I suddenly missed my boyfriend and wanted to see him. Hence why I’m here.” I set my elbow on the desk and she leans back. “So can you please help me with that? You are a customer service rep, aren’t you? ”
I make sure to deliver the question in the same, condescending tone in which she’d given to me.
The woman nods tightly. “Of course. Can I have your ID?”
My heart thumps in a wild craze and my palms leak enough sweat to flood the desk. Yet, I feel looser than I have since the breakup with Evan.
I never used to care what people thought of me. But after Evan demolished my self-confidence—no, after I allowed Evan to demolish my self-confidence, things changed.
I miss the old April. I miss the real April.
I want her back.
As I’m rummaging in my purse for my ID, my phone rings.
It’s Bobby.
“Hey, Miss April,” Bobby says in that good-natured drawl, “I really, really need your help. The Zamboni’s gone in again and the children’s figure skating competition is coming up this weekend. I need that truck back on track. I can’t have the little ones getting hurt on uneven ice.”
“I’m a little tied up at the moment. Could you call Stewart Kinsey?”
“Kinsey’s not picking up the phone. I think he found out you fixed the Zamboni last time and now I’m on his ‘blocked’ list.”
I remain quiet.
Bobby presses, “If you can’t help me, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
I chew on my bottom lip. Although I want to see Chance now, I can’t bear the thought of anyone’s precious son or daughter getting hurt when I could do something to prevent it.
“Alright.” I sigh. “I’ll be right there.”
“You won’t be flying with us today?” The clerk arches a brow smugly.
I debate buying a ticket for later today, but I don’t know when I’ll be done with the Zamboni. I thought I’d fixed it properly last time. If it’s broken down again, there might be a deeper, more complex issue that I can’t solve before the flight.
“No thank you.”
Turning away, I return to my car and drive to the stadium. On the way, I call Chance again but it goes straight to voicemail.
I back into the stadium’s parking lot. There’s a giant banner of the team hanging on the front of the stadium. Chance is slightly ahead and in the center of the group.
“Why aren’t you answering?” I grumble to the humongous image.
With a slight shake of my head, I grab my tool box from the truck bed and enter the stadium. The lights are off, which is strange. Did Bobby forget that he called me down here? And where’s the Zamboni?
“Bobby!” I call, moving carefully down the stairs in the dark. “Bobby, where are?—”
My words are cut off when the spotlights over the stadium burst to life. They illuminate the Zamboni that’s working very well as it vrooms over the ice in a peculiar pattern.
I slow down, inhaling sharply. From this vantage, looking down at the ice, the Zamboni is leaving a mark behind.
What is that?
I back up the stairs to get a higher view and the pattern becomes clear.
It’s the shape of a heart.
I cover my mouth with a hand. Why is Bobby doing this? I know he’s head-over-heels for his wife, so that must mean…
“Tink,” Chance’s deep voice rumbles behind me.
I spin around, jumping so far in the air that it really seems like I can fly. “Chance, what are you doing here? I thought the team wouldn’t be back in town until tomorrow.”
“I left early.” He takes a step forward. The rest of the stadium is still dark, but the light bouncing from the ice illuminates his handsome face. “I missed you.”
My throat pulls tight. All the things I wanted to say to him get lost between my head and my lips. Breathlessly, I gesture to the ice. “Is that for me?”
“Yeah.” He tilts his head. “I wanted to do something special for you. Next time, I’ll set up candles and rose petals everywhere.”
I squint in thought. “Is it legal to light candles in an ice rink?”
He pauses and thinks about it. “You know… I’m not sure.”
I laugh, my shoulders, neck and back loosening. My heart is finally at ease seeing him and I… I’m just so happy.
His eyes soften on me. “Whoa.”
My lips freeze. “What?”
“Your smile just made my heart flutter.”
I laugh and shake my head.
“I’m being serious,” Chance insists.
I chuckle again, unable to stop smiling at him. Now that I think about it, I started smiling and laughing a lot more after meeting Chance.
Chance remains a few feet away, but his gaze is so tenderly caressing that it feels like he’s touching me when he says, “I really missed you.”
I take a step forward. “Me too.”
“Yeah?” He seems surprised.
“I saw the press conference.”
“I meant every word.”
My fingers fall to the pockets of my jumper. Pressure builds in my head and I take another step forward. “Chance?”
“Yes, Tink?”
“There’s… something I need to tell you.”