I’m sure he really did mean that you could call him for anything. – CookieChance was playing go fish with four of his cousin’s daughters. Molly and he had a long talk after he had left Alana’s house. Molly gave the advice he always gave. Women will tell you what they want, you just must listen. If they have a problem, they want you to fix, they will tell you; otherwise, shut up and listen. Tell her she’s special, more importantly, why you think she’s special. A long-lasting relationship will have times when you fall out of love each other. The key is not to do it at the same time. Words are just that. Show her how you feel. Now Chance sat at a poker table playing go fish for Hershey bars. He knew better than to challenge any of the girls to pool. Or poker. He was down to two bite size snickers.Molly’s little pretties were ruthless. Chance's phone rang and he was surprised to see that it was Rye. “Hey.”“Chance?” he could hear the tears in her voice. “Priss, come play for me.
Possessions are tangible. The memories of the people are more important. – Miss BeulahRYE’S THOUGHTSAbout four months after Michael Ray died, the family moved to a small apartment. The sisters would now share a room, and everything had to be consolidated. That first move after his death was the hardest. Everything seemed to hold a memory of him. Neither girl wanted to get rid of anything. But they did.Then they moved to Savanah with an old friend of Donna Leigh’s. Even more had to be sold.Sometime while they were in Savanah, things began to disappear. His flag. The golden necklace with his ashes in a charm. The teddy bear holding a picture of Mike. Their grandmothers pearl necklace. Rye had cried herself to sleep when she couldn’t find her necklace from Okinawa. She had asked Leigh Anne about it and their mother heard. Donna Leigh had beat Rye with a belt, screaming that the world did not revolve around her.She still had a small scar on her back where the buckle had ripped open
I make man glitter; furniture is a byproduct of the process. – SticksChance drove the silver hatchback to the old warehouse district in Monroe. He parked next to the brick and glass building that backed up to the river. From this side, you could see the ridge giving the city across the river its name. The sun was setting, and the bright yellows and oranges reflected off the water. As the lights on the businesses and bars came on, these also reflected on the water. They were occasionally disturbed by a small watercraft. It was not quite warm enough for the water skis to be out. Night fishers for trout would be setting up. He remembered going out with his dad and granddad. Smiling, he thought of more recently when he and his brothers would fish off the dock behind the warehouse. They should do that again.With that thought came another. Chance could see it clearly in his mind’s eye. Standing on the back dock teaching a little boy with a gray patch of hair how to bait and cast a line.
Do you want me to stay? I can be your first house guest. – ChanceOn the way back to her house, they stopped at a local pizza place and got a large pizza with everything. Chance was glad that she did not pick off half the toppings. Instead, she enjoyed it and relaxed and even got into the movie that he put on.After the movie, and then another, Rye could barely keep her eyes open. Chance suggested that he stay the night. He even said that he would stay on the couch. Since she didn’t want to stay by herself. Rye easily agreed. He sent a quick message to his mom saying that he wouldn’t be home tonight. There was no way that he was going to tell her that he was sleeping on the couch.Now at what Chance swore was an ungodly hour for the weekend, someone was banging on the front door. Throwing off the blanket, he walked from the couch to the front door. As he passed the hallway, he heard the faint sounds of the shower. Opening the door, he found exactly who he did not want to find. Old l
The only thing that women are good for is spreading their legs. The sooner you learn that the better your life will be. – Donna LeighRye stood in the hallway and saw all the women in her house. She was fighting off a panic attack when the dark-haired woman spoke. Reality slapped her hard in the face with what the other woman said. Why was he still there? What did he want with her? He had to have plenty of women that would give him their bodies. Was the black-haired woman another of his conquests? Is that all she really was?The tears in her eyes were threatening to fall when Chance stepped into view. He looked at her and seemed to be just as hurt as she was. But then she remembered that she should have known better. The anger inside her rivaled the pain. Angry with herself just as much as she was with him, she turned on her heel and started to return to her room.He called her by the damned nickname he gave her. Facing him she reminded him that she had a name. Then she reminded he
Bring your ass over, boy. Bring breakfast. – PatchChance punched in his code to his uncle’s house to bypass the keyed lock and opened the door. He was immediately greeted by Roxy, a pit bull that was rescued from a dog fighter that Patch was rehabilitating. Her gray scarred body wiggled with excitement as she made scratchy barking noises.“Hey girl.” Chance smiled at the dog. He scratched her bouncing rump as he tried to get inside the house. “Let me in and I’ll give you a hash brown.”“Bribery will get you everywhere with that one.” Jaye said coming over to help. “Come on, Roxy." She snapped twice and the dog went and sat at the woman’s feet. The dog sat on her haunches, looking at the woman as if she hung the moon.Or at least knew where the treat jar was.Jaye was what would be considered heavy set, but Chance knew that she was in very good shape. Like many of the others on Cookie’s crew, you did not want to get into a fight with her. Chance was man enough to admit that he had los
You poor girl. There’s a good puppy under those scars. – AliciaJaye reached over and squeezed Chance’s hand as Patch put his breakfast burrito down. He brushed a few crumbs from his beard and used a napkin to wipe his face. When he had decided that Chance had enough time to formulate his thoughts, he looked at his nephew and pushed him to look deeper inside. He might only be the veterinarian for the ranch, but in the past decade, he had picked up some knowledge. “What’s the real problem, son?” Patch asked. “Tell me why you’re here. Why, after all these years, this woman has you breaking all your rules.”Chance looked at his uncle and let out a soft breath. “Somehow, Rye made it out of all that, she survived it. But she feels like she doesn’t deserve anything. She believes that she failed because when she was twelve, she promised her dad that she would keep her mother and sister safe. One is dead and the other,” he let out a breath as he pictured Leigh Anne in his mind,
I just moved in. I’m still in the process of getting settled. But I knew that you wanted to see the house. – RyeRye watched the new caseworker walk through inspecting the little house. As the short, skinny Asian woman walked through the house, the same that seemed too full and bursting with everything and anything that she or Michael might need, suddenly it seemed lacking.Opening the pantry, the woman hmphed and marked something on her clipboard. “You don’t have much food.”“I just moved in on Saturday and my friends gave me a surprise housewarming and baby shower yesterday.” Rye said smiling at her and hoping that the woman didn’t see through her false bravado. After all, of all the women that were at her house yesterday, she really only knew two. There was no way that she was going to admit that.“I had planned to go to the store tonight after work.” Rye admitted as the woman opened to refrigerator and saw the remaining fruit, vegetable and meat and cheese trays.