Page 10 of Reckless Chances
Chapter 5 – Emma
As she rinsed the conditionerout of her hair, Emma tried to keep thoughts about Charlie out of her mind. All day, Emma’s eyes had darted to the front door every time it opened, her heart rate surging off the charts for no reason at all, as Charlie wasn’t the one walking through it. Freddie had come and gone, and she had done everything on her to-do list. She offered to help the drywallers, but they had sent her home and now for the first time since she moved to Chance Rapids, Emma found herself with time on her hands.
She toweled off her hair and got dressed in her coziest sweatpants. One thing she hadn’t been prepared for was the chilly evening temperatures of late spring. In the city, she still would’ve had the air conditioning maxed out at this time of year. She shivered and shifted the temperature lever on the furnace up a touch and then opened the fridge, scanning for something quick and comforting to eat, her eyes resting on the strawberries she had picked.
“Shootskidarny,” she muttered to herself. With everything going on, she had lost track of the days. The last thing she felt like doing was socializing. She wanted to eat and sleep - basically become a bear. She panicked slightly and pulled the bowl of berries from the fridge. She was supposed to be heading to a BBQ, not lounging on her couch in her sweatpants.
Holding the basket in her hand, and standing in the light of the refrigerator, she contemplated skipping the whole thing, questioning whether or not making friends was important to her. “Darn it all.” She shut the fridge door and rifled through Jimmy’s cupboards, hoping that he had a cake pan suitable for shortcake.
Two hours later, the whipping cream was whipped, the strawberries placed perfectly, and she had even clipped some lupines from Jimmy’s garden for a bouquet. She checked the address that Serena had sent, stepped into her bright pink Hunter boots, and strode out into the gray dusk toward Bristlecombe street.
Serena’s instructions said to look for a ski fence. She didn’t know what that was, but when she saw it, it made sense. It was literally old skis fastened together, and it made Josh and Megan’s house easy to find. Emma took a deep breath, stepped onto the porch, and knocked on the door. A pretty brunette wearing a sleeping baby in a sling opened the door. “You must be Emma,” she smiled, rubbing the back of the sleeping infant. “I’m Megan.”
“Hi, Megan, nice to meet you.” Emma held out the bouquet. “I brought you this.”
“Oh, that wasn’t necessary, but they’re so beautiful.” Megan took the bouquet. “You can leave your umbrella on the porch – come on in.”
Emma wiped her rubber boots on the sisal doormat and stepped into the warmth of Megan and Josh’s home. A fire crackled in the hearth, and she was met with the mouth-watering smell of barbecued ribs and cornbread.
“Emma’s here,” Megan announced over the music. The group who was huddled around the kitchen island all turned and she swore that every single one of them smiled at the same time as they said, “Hi, Emma.”
A handsome man wearing a plaid shirt dried his hands on a tea towel and took the strawberry shortcake from her hands. “Nice to meet you, Emma. I’m Josh.”
“Pleasure.” She held out her hand.
Josh shuffled the cake in his arm so he could shake it.
Emma looked to the group, hoping to find one familiar face. “Here, take my seat,” an impossibly tall man slid off his stool and pulled it out for Emma, extending his hand, he said, “I’m Logan. Nice to meet you.”
Emma shook his hand. “Charlotte O’Hare’s Logan?”
His eyes crinkled as he laughed. “I guess that’s how the introductions are going these days. Yes, I’m Mr. O’Hare. How do you know Charlotte?” Logan asked. “Wait, before you tell me, what are you drinking?”
“Have you got a beer?” She didn’t want to be too demanding and slid onto the barstool.
“We sure do.”
He opened the fridge and she heard the clanging of glass as he rattled off names of beers. “Are you okay with something a little hoppy?” He looked up over the door.
“Sure,” Emma smiled. She wondered if everyone in Chance Rapids was ridiculously good looking. So far, every single man she had met, looked like he had wandered off the pages of an outdoorsman magazine.
Logan popped the cap off a large bottle and poured most of it into a glass. He handed her both the glass and the bottle. “Thank you.” Emma raised her glass and Logan raised his and they drank. He was right, the beer was hoppy, but there was another ingredient that finished it off smoothly. She picked up the bottle and examined the label. It was a cartoon of a snowman and the beer was called ‘A Snowball’s Chance.’ “Is that carrot I’m tasting?” she patted her tongue on the roof of her mouth trying to identify the flavor.
“Maybe.” Logan raised his shoulder. “You’ll have to ask Charlie.”
Charlie.
Her heart leaped into her throat. Of course, he was going to be there. She heard voices from the back deck and wondered if the deeper one belonged to him. She smoothed out her hair, hoping that the humidity and the walk in the rain hadn’t ruined the beachy waves she’d carefully created with her flat iron. She knew that it was too soon to be excited about a man. She had enough on her plate; moving to a new town and starting a new business - the last thing she needed was to get her soul crushed by a man. Inviting a bartender into her life would be a terrible choice – probably the worst she’d made in years – other than getting engaged to Adam. She shivered with the thought of him. Looking around the room, she saw happy, loving couples. But the skeptic in her wondered what really went on between all of them. They couldn’t ALL be this happy with each other. She took a sip of her beer and tried to focus on what Josh, Logan, and Megan were talking about, but couldn’t stop her eyes from darting to the French doors, wondering if Charlie was standing out there, just a few feet from where she was sitting. Her heart thudded against her ribs and she realized she was holding her breath. The conversation came back into focus, and they were talking about the same article she had read. One about Chance Rapids being the next new ‘it’ destination for weddings.
“Is that why you started your business here?” Megan asked. She subtly bobbed and rocked her baby as she crunched tortilla chips, laughing as she brushed the crumbs off her baby’s little cotton cap.
“It is,” Emma smiled. “I have always loved flowers, and I needed a new start. The idea just kind of came to me one day and I went with it.” She shrugged, hearing how ridiculous it sounded when she said it out loud.
“That’s amazing,” Megan continued to eat tortilla chips. “Sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet. Right, babe?” She leaned toward Josh and he turned and kissed her on the forehead.
“Of course,” he smiled and agreed without hearing what the heck they were talking about. Out of her peripheral vision, the French door opened and as much she tried not to look, her eyes were drawn to the deck. Behind a heaping plate of ribs, was long dark hair and a big smile. She recognized the woman immediately, Charlotte, her realtor. Behind her, her breath caught in her throat, and then she felt ridiculous when Freddie followed behind with a plate of burgers.
Knowing that Charlie wasn’t here at all, Emma could let her guard down. Her body had been as tense as a bow and now she melted into the warmth of her new friends and one too many ribs. She wiped her hands on a paper towel, “That was amazing,” she declared. “I haven’t had ribs in years. Thank you.”
