Page 24 of Chance

Fueled by another shot of adrenaline, she pounded her fists on his chest. “How could God let this happen to me?”

He finally let go, clearly confused.

“Chance, I don’t believe in God anymore. I don’t believe in a God who hasn’t answered my prayers in a long, long time. I don’t believe in a God who killed my parents when I was eight. Who took my grandparents too early. Chance, how can you even say that?”

She’d prayed so many times after Brian had started abusing her, and it hadn’t stopped.

He took her hand and held it between both of his own. “Kelly, I don’t want to debate God tonight. Though I do want the truth from you. What happened? Woman, what happened to you?”

For a long time, she only stared into those beautiful blue eyes. They reminded her of the Wyoming sky. Her grandmother had always said that when you rode a horse out on the ranch, the sky went on forever. Then she would laugh when people called Montana ‘big sky country.’ Like they can claim the sky, she would say.

“Talk to me, Kel,” Chance murmured.

Kelly didn’t want to bring anyone else into this. She wanted to make this choice by herself, and she didn’t need Chance Cross standing in front of her. “If there is a God, He must think this is a huge joke on me.” She yanked her hand away and stormed down the hallway to turn on the lights. Boxes were everywhere, and she would’ve been embarrassed by the mess if she wasn’t so furious with this man who had known her forever. “I guess you can come in, because it’s apparent you’re not leaving. In fact, I need all of these boxes moved to my room. Why don’t you focus on that?”

She was just saying it to be rude, but Chance immediately picked up a box from the stack. “Where’s your room?”

“No. Just put it down. I’m mad at you, and I wanted to boss you around.”

His jaw clenched. “Tell me what room to put these in.”

She felt like an idiot. She felt naked and vulnerable and completely caught off guard. How had she gotten to the point where this man was hauling boxes for her? Frustrated, she pointed to the room on the left and turned on the light in there. “That one. In the corner, please.”

He obeyed, then moved past her. “Stay here. I’ll get the others, and you can direct me.”

“Don’t. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“But you did, and I’m glad you did. I want to help you.” He snatched away a box she’d started to pick up.

She threw her hands in the air. “You can’t do that. This is my place. If I want to move boxes, I will.”

He pointed to the couch. “Go sit down, would you? Moving stuff makes me feel manly. You wouldn’t want to take that away from me, would you?”

His words made her smile, and she hated it. “Stop it. That’s misogynistic.”

Chance just pointed to the couch again. “Woman, sit down. Let me move the boxes, please.”

She could hardly believe he was talking to her in a civil way and actually being nice to her. Much to her annoyance, she was tired and did need to sit down. The emotional shock was getting to her. “Fine,” she said, relenting and moving to the couch.

It didn’t take Chance long to move all the boxes into that back room. In fact, it was probably less than ten minutes. By that time, she had her shoes off and her feet on the coffee table. She had propped herself up with a pillow and closed her eyes. Chance Cross knew. She was angry and hurt and mad—mostly at herself for being in this situation, but somehow she also felt relieved.

“Do you need water?”

Kelly hated that he was so good. She’d tried to forget all these things about him, but it was impossible. She dreamed about him. And she did think of him—a lot. More than she wanted to admit. “No. Thank you. And thank you for moving the boxes.” She hoped he would just get up and leave. Boom. Done. They could ignore each other for however long he was here doing this old thing. That was fine with her.

Chance sat on the couch across from her. “Kel, talk to me. I know you’re pregnant. Talk to me.”

Her eyes cracked open. “What gave it away? The throwing up? I used to call you Sherlock because you were always evaluating people.” She wagged her finger at him. “Even when we were young, you always sized people up and created a story about them or their motives. To tell you the truth, when I heard you were the sheriff, it didn’t surprise me. You’re the youngest sheriff in Cross Creek. Grandma always liked to keep me in the loop with what the Cross family was doing, even though I told her repeatedly that I didn’t care. Especially not about you.”

She knew the last part was hurtful, and Chance’s mouth turned down in a frown. Did she want to hurt him? Sort of. It was confusing and complicated, and she didn’t want to dwell on the fact that he was being nice to her.

“I never liked Brian,” he said.

She couldn’t help but scoff at the ridiculous statement. “You didn’t know him.”

Chance shrugged, and then the side of his lip turned up. “Do you ever like the guy who took your place? I mean, when you told me you didn’t want to marry me, it hurt, Kel. It hurt for a long time.”

His honesty disarmed her, and she softened. She turned onto her side to face him. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, and she meant it. “I wanted a life outside of Cross Creek.”

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