Page 5 of Reckless Chances
Chapter 3 – Emma
It hadn’t been an easydecision, but as Emma navigated her car down the hill that led to Chance Rapids, excitement filled her gut. It was the first time in six months that an emotion other than betrayal had overcome her body. As the colorful downtown houses came into view, she felt excitement and anticipation. She didn’t know why she had picked Chance Rapids. She was a city girl, through and through, but with the city came noise – and after finding out her best friend had been sleeping with her fiancé, she wanted to go somewhere quiet and, she hated to admit it – escape. Hibernate. Repair.
The first thing that had gone into the recycling bin was her bridal magazines. She and Alison had pored over those damn magazines, and when Emma flipped through the dog-eared pages featuring her dream gown – a princess ballroom style, tears had filled her eyes. She tried to rip the magazine in two, but the damn thing was so robust, it defeated her. She slammed the girthy book to the ground and grabbed some scissors from the kitchen drawer. Destroying the images of her perfect day was a cathartic thing to do, right?
The magazine had fallen open to an article about the next ‘big’ wedding locations – and a quaint mountain town, complete with wildflowers and snow-capped peaks caught her eye. Instead of demolishing the magazine, she slid down the kitchen wall and flipped through the pages, back and forth, reading and re-reading the article. She tore the destination pages out of the magazine and rolled them into a tube - creasing them didn’t feel right. The rest of the shiny pages went into the recycling bin, and even though Emma didn’t put much stock into the whole, trusting the universe thing, she decided to go with it. Since she didn’t know what to do or where to go, she might as well pack up her life and head for the hills, literally, after graduation.
She pulled into the driveway of the tiny Chance Rapids rental. The bungalow was bigger than the cookie-cutter townhouse she had shared with Adam and a fraction of the price. When her realtor, a pretty broker named Charlotte, had told her the rent, she had almost fallen over. The two joked that in the city, there would’ve been an extra zero on the price.
The white picket fence had almost been too much – the place was perfect, like a movie set. Emma ran her fingertips along the top of the fence and paused to smell one of the mountain roses that had just bloomed.
“Emma,” a voice called from the back yard.
She bypassed the front door and headed to the back yard where her landlord, a handsome older man named Jimmy was mowing the lawn with one of those old fashioned clickety manual mowers. He wiped his brow and smiled. “How are ya doing?”
“I’m good,” Emma said. And she meant it.
“Are those tradesmen showing up on time?” he asked.
Emma had been warned that the local labor force wasn’t overly reliable, that they would often skip work to go mountain biking, or if it was winter and a big powder day, the whole town shuttered its doors and headed to Sugar Peaks.
“So far,” she smiled.
“That’s good to hear,” Jimmy grinned. The man had golden skin and perfect teeth “My camper is packed and I’m heading out of town tomorrow. I’m going to give you the name of the local kid, Ethan, who is going to take care of the lawn while I’m gone.”
Emma wanted to offer to do it herself, but knew that with wedding season coming up, and the shop still weeks away from completion, she had enough on her plate. “Okay, Jimmy. Sounds good.”
The house on Aspen Trail was the first rental she had looked at, and as soon as she walked in, knew that it was perfect and had offered full price. Jimmy, the owner, was particular about who lived in his home, and it came with a laundry list of rules. He was heading to Alaska on a camping trip for the summer, and the rental term was just long enough for Emma to feel like she had a home, but not permanent enough to be scary.
Jimmy wiped his brow with his purple bandana and went back to cutting the grass, his muscled arms gleaming with sweat. Even though he was probably twenty years older than Emma’s twenty-two, she felt a hint of a blush creep along her neckline. Jimmy was the first man she’d checked out since her life had fallen to pieces.
Stop checking out your landlord, she whispered to herself and hurried into the house to get ready for her meeting with the electrician. She slipped out of her strappy sandals and into a pair of work boots. The heavy steel-toed footwear felt foreign on her feet, but she knew that if she showed up to the job site in heels, no one would take her seriously. She plodded down the street, the architectural drawings gripped tightly under her arm, her hair blowing in the warm breeze. Her heart was full as she smiled and offered a hello as she responded to every single person she passed on the way. Before moving to Chance Rapids, she thought that strangers only saidhion the street in movies.
The door to her shop was wide open and she was met with the smell of sawdust as she stepped inside. “Hello?” she shouted.
A drill screamed and a compressor roared to life, shaking the exposed subfloor. Emma followed the sounds and was met with the wide grin of her electrician, a cute guy named Freddie. “Hi,” he paused with the drill against one of the metal studs.
“How’s it going?” she smiled, and her gaze followed the white wires that Freddie had strung since her last visit.
“Great. Ahead of schedule.” He proceeded to drill, and Emma plugged her ears with her fingers. When the racket had stopped Freddie reached into his tool pouch and tossed her a package of earplugs. “Put these in unless you want to be deaf by the time, you’re thirty.”
“Thanks.” Emma held the package in her hand. “You wanted to talk about the displays?”
“Right.” Freddie set the drill on the floor and the two of them walked to the plastic-covered counter that had been custom built by a local woodworker named Josh. Freddie chewed on his bottom lip and nodded as Emma spread out the plans and pointed to where the display lighting needed to be placed. “That works,” he said. “But you need to frame the display it before I can wire it.”
“I guess that the framers forgot to do it.” She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t insisted that it be completed with the rest of the job. “I’ll have to give them a call.”
Freddie scrawled some notes in his workbook. “I’ll do what I can today, but we’re at a standstill until that display unit gets framed in.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Emma said. She rolled up the plans and the compressor roared back to life as Freddie continued pulling the wiring. She stepped into the fresh air of the street and placed a call to her contractor, leaving a message when he didn’t pick up. She headed back into the construction zone, put in the spongy earplugs, and sat down in the skeletal space that would one day be the coolers for the flowers. She spent the next four hours placing orders and starting accounts with greenhouses and suppliers. She was so absorbed in her work; she didn’t notice Freddie's approach until he nudged her knee with the toe of his well-worn boot. She pulled the earplugs out of her ears and looked up at him.
“I’m heading out.” Freddie looked at his fancy altimeter watch. “I’ve done all that I can for tonight. Let me know when the framing is done, and I’ll be back to get that display all sorted out.”
“Thanks, Freddie,” Emma smiled. “I left a message earlier but haven’t heard back yet.”
Freddie pursed his lips and nodded. It looked like he wanted to say something, but then stopped. “Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll come back.”
“Freddie?” A voice shouted from the front of the shop. Emma was surprised at how many people just ‘popped in’ to see what was going on. A gorgeous blond woman wearing an expensive-looking sundress and strappy heels stepped into the shop.
