Chances Are

by Abramson, Traci Hunter

  Before he managed to step away, she put a hand on the package he carried and raised her eyebrows expectantly. “I gather there’s someone special in your life these days.”

  Ben started to deny it but found no reason to lie. “Yeah. I guess you could say that.” With a step back, he lifted a hand to wave good-bye. “I’ll see you later.”

  “I hope so,” she said in a tone that left little doubt that she would be more than willing to jump back into a relationship with him again. She certainly hadn’t been this friendly when he had broken things off eleven months ago.

  Anxious to get away from a potentially awkward situation with the ex, Ben hurried to the mall entrance and pushed the door open, glancing back to see Cassie still watching him; only now there was another girl standing beside her.

  Ben stuffed Maya’s present into his coat pocket, put on his gloves, and stepped outside. A gust of wind prompted him to dig his scarf out of his pocket as he made his way to the car. By the time he arrived home twenty minutes later, he’d all but pushed his run-in with Cassie out of his mind, and instead, he focused on what Maya would think of her present.

  * * *

  Maya hadn’t followed Facebook or Twitter for months, so when she walked by Kari and saw an image of Ben with his ex-girlfriend on the computer screen, she assumed it was an old photo. Then Kari turned to face her, a look of alarm and concern on her face.

  “I’m sure there must be a logical explanation.”

  “For what?”

  “For this.” Kari pointed at the screen.

  Maya looked a little closer, noting the way Ben and Cassie were embracing, the attractive blonde’s face tilted up as though about to kiss him, Ben’s hand planted firmly around her waist. His face was turned slightly away from the camera, so his expression was hard to make out, but Maya didn’t have any trouble filling in the blanks. The spurt of jealousy surprised her, and she had to struggle to keep her voice causal. “I don’t understand why Ben would have to explain an old picture of him and a girlfriend.”

  “Because this picture was supposedly taken last night, and Cassie is saying she and Ben are back together.”

  Maya looked closer at the photo and noticed the Christmas decorations visible in a storefront behind them. It definitely could have been taken recently. Maya had met Cassie several times last Christmas, but she remembered her hair being much shorter then. Her stomach tightened when she noticed Ben’s overcoat, the same one she remembered him purchasing only a few weeks earlier.

  Doubts rushed through her. He hadn’t been home when she’d gone to bed last night, nor had he told her where he was going when he left. In fact, his mother had been oddly quiet about where Ben had run off to after dinner.

  Maya’s heart squeezed in her chest. She remembered all too well how wrapped up in each other Ben and Cassie had been last Christmas. According to Kari, they had broken up a week or two later, but Kari hadn’t been sure what had prompted the breakup, which surprised her since they’d been together for several years. “Do you think it’s true?”

  “Of course not. Stories like these get blown out of proportion all the time. It’s probably just an old photo that someone put up.” Kari pushed back from her desk. “I’d better go tell Ben about it.”

  Kari was all the way to her bedroom door when Maya called out to stop her. “Kari, wait. It’s Christmas Eve. Ben doesn’t need to deal with this right now. If you think he needs to know about it, why not wait until after Christmas? Maybe it will have blown over by then.”

  “I guess you’re right. It just makes me so mad when people do things like this.” Kari stepped into the hall and said, “Let’s go get some breakfast and forget about it.”

  “Sounds good.” Maya headed for the door but couldn’t stop herself from looking back at the photo one last time and seeing the one thing Kari hadn’t: a small shopping bag with a jewelry store logo gripped in Ben’s hand.

  Her heart beat painfully, her stomach hollow. Ben himself had admitted that he had gotten stuck with her, and yet it was no secret that all of the girls who had come before her were ones he had chosen.

  As much as she wanted to forget about the image Kari had shown her, she found herself wondering if Ben was unwilling to discuss the future because he didn’t know how to tell her he didn’t plan on them spending their futures together.

  * * *

  Ben lowered himself onto the couch beside Maya while the rest of the family lingered in the kitchen. After dinner, she had moved away from the noise and commotion, probably his two-year-old niece in particular, and curled up on the sofa. Concerned by how quiet she had been at dinner, Ben had gone in search of her. “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Maya smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

  “You don’t seem like yourself. What’s going on?”

  She didn’t look at him, staring instead at the Christmas tree across the room, the white lights illuminating the otherwise dark corner. “I was just thinking how nice it’s been to have a real Christmas this year, to have a family to share it with.”

  He caught her wistfulness and the melancholy. “You were here with my family last year. It isn’t any different.”

  “It could be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She fell silent for a moment, and he could hear her emotions choking at her words when she managed to say, “This could be my last.”

  “I don’t like it when you talk like that.”

  “You have to be thinking the same thing.” She continued to stare at the lights on the tree. “You knew when you married me that it would probably only be for a few months.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “It is.” She shifted now to face him. She looked so serious, so sad. “I heard you talking to your parents Thanksgiving weekend. I know you think you were inspired to marry me so I wouldn’t be alone when I die. It’s just hard facing the end when I thought I would have so many more years than this.”

  “Maya, neither one of us will know why things happened this way until we’re on the other side of it. In a few months, you could be cancer free and complaining about how I’m too loud when I get home after my games or how my road trips are too long.”

  Her elegant eyebrows lifted slightly, a small glimmer of hope crossing her face. “You know, that’s the first time you’ve talked about what life could be like after my surgery.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve been trying to find out what you expect from me, what you envision for us if I survive. You never want to talk about it. It makes me think you don’t expect me to be around for the future.”

  Ben stared at her, stunned. Had he really made her think he didn’t want her around? Or even worse, that he didn’t want her to survive? He reached for her hand, his eyes intense and focused when he spoke. “Maya, I am so sorry. I never meant to make you feel that way. I guess I’ve just been afraid to plan for something that has so many unknowns. I hate knowing that you’ll be having your surgery right when I have to leave for spring training. I want to be here for you, and talking about it makes me feel like I’m letting you down.”

  Tears swam in her eyes. “You could never let me down. Besides Kari, no one has ever done so much for me. Not even my own family.”

  “You miss them.”

  “I miss who we were before my father promised me to Rishi.”

  “You know, we could go to India,” Ben suggested. “Maybe next off-season, after you’ve recovered, we can visit them. Assuming they’ll let us.”

  “I don’t know if my father will ever forgive me for disobeying him. He feels I’ve shamed him, that I’ve shamed the family.”

  “Supposedly, time heals all wounds.”

  “Sometimes time makes them deeper,” Maya said softly. “I’m just glad Rishi seems to have finally given up on me.”

  “I guess we should be thankful for the miracles we do have this Christmas.”

  Maya nodded. “I suppose you’re righ
t.”

  Chapter 32

  Maya looked at the mountain of presents beneath the Christmas tree, already nervous about whether Ben would like her gift for him or not. She had been creative in coming up with this one.

  Unlike last year when she had sat next to Kari on Christmas morning, this year it was Ben who sat on the loveseat beside her. Now that she had already experienced one year of an Evans family Christmas, she had a better idea of what to expect. Ben’s older sister, Danielle, lived nearby and had arrived with her husband and two-year-old daughter a little before eight in the morning. Once little Ava was there and saw the presents, the house woke up quickly.

  Kari took on the role of Santa’s helper, passing gifts around to everyone, occasionally sitting down long enough to open something for herself. Choosing a gift for Kari had been nearly as difficult as buying one for Ben, but Ben had saved her on that one by helping her put together a fun sightseeing package for Washington, DC, along with plane tickets for her to come visit that summer.

  They had done something similar for his parents, only for them, the vacation was for Jamaica, a place his mother had mentioned always wanting to visit when she was in DC at Thanksgiving.

  By the time Kari handed Ben the present from Maya, he already had quite a stack of various clothing and assorted gifts beside him. He read the card and turned to Maya. He lowered his voice and whispered, “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  “It isn’t much,” Maya told him, gripping her hands together.

  Ben kept his eyes on hers as he slid a finger beneath the tape and started opening the gift. Then he shifted his attention to the contents beneath the shiny silver paper.

  The nerves in Maya’s stomach loosened when Ben looked down at the binder she had decorated and laughed. On the front, she had stenciled the words Game Plan in large letters. Inside, she had typed her personalized résumés on the various pitchers he had faced during his first season.

  “Maya, this is great!”

  “Do you really like it?”

  “Are you kidding? I’m going to have to hide this from my teammates. They’ll all try to steal it.”

  Relief flowed through her, and she smiled at him. “I couldn’t think of anything else to get for you. Usually, if you want something, you just go out and buy it.”

  “That’s true.” Ben motioned to his sister. “Hey, Kari. Can you get the present from me to Maya? It should be over there on the left.”

  Kari shifted a couple of larger gifts aside, picked up a much smaller one, and handed it to Maya. “Here you go.”

  Maya curled her fingers around the small box. “I think everything you’ve done for me the past couple of months is more than enough.”

  “I wanted you to have something to remember this holiday by.” Ben motioned to the present impatiently. “Go ahead. Open it.”

  Maya carefully peeled away the wrapping to reveal a ring box. She looked over at him, confused. If they had really been dating, she would have thought he was giving her an engagement ring. Since they weren’t really involved and were already married, she didn’t know what to think. The image of him hugging his old girlfriend earlier in the week confused her even further.

  “Go on.” Ben prodded again.

  She lifted the lid, and her breath caught. The ring inside featured a square-cut emerald, not unlike the one her grandmother had given her. This one was slightly larger than her grandmother’s, probably five carats, and had two square-cut diamonds flanking the emerald, the platinum band simple and elegant. She also knew from her experience selling her grandmother’s ring that it must have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

  “Ben, this is beautiful.” She lifted her eyes to meet his and shook her head. “But I can’t accept this. It’s too much.”

  “No, it’s not.” Ben took the ring box from her and removed the ring from it himself. “Here. Try it on.”

  She tried not to notice that he reached for her left hand rather than her right. Then he slipped the ring on her finger and gave her a satisfied smile when it fit. “See, it’s like it was made for you.”

  She looked down at her hand still resting in his, the gem gleaming in the sunlight streaming through the window. Her heart fluttered, and she let herself revel in the joy of wearing the ring Ben had chosen for her. She knew she shouldn’t accept it, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse a second time. She looked up at him, certain her love for him reflected in her eyes. “It really is beautiful.”

  He gave her hand a squeeze, brushed a kiss across her cheek, and said quietly, “So are you.”

  * * *

  “Are you going to tell me what’s really going on with you and my brother?” Kari asked.

  Maya looked up with a blank expression on her face. “What do you mean?”

  “Maya, you’re wearing his ring.”

  Her eyes lowered to the brilliant emerald. “You were there when he gave it to me. It was a Christmas gift. That’s all.”

  “Men don’t give jewelry that goes on your ring finger as gifts unless there’s something going on,” Kari insisted. “So what’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  Kari studied her friend’s face. Either Maya was a better actor than Kari thought, or she truly didn’t recognize the sparks snapping between Ben and her. “It’s a beautiful ring.”

  Maya’s cheeks flushed slightly when she nodded. “It really is.”

  * * *

  The day had been a dream. She couldn’t have ever imagined experiencing a Christmas like this one, everyone happy and welcoming, the love of the Evans family making everything feel like a fairy tale.

  The ring Ben had given her remained on her finger. She supposed it was silly, but she felt like if she took it off, the fairy tale might end.

  They had all stayed up much later than she normally allowed herself, and even now, Ben and Kari were still visiting with some cousins who had come over for Christmas dinner.

  She had wanted to stay up and share in the fun, but exhaustion had finally taken over, enough so that even Ben had suggested she go to bed.

  She had expended what little energy she had changing into her pajamas and then had let herself collapse onto the twin bed she had claimed as her own in Kari’s room, too tired to follow the rest of her bedtime routine.

  The thought that she should at least go brush her teeth registered in her brain, but instead of following through, she slipped beneath the covers and quickly fell asleep.

  * * *

  Ben awoke from a deep sleep and prepared to kill whoever was pounding on his door at this ridiculously early hour. It had to be an early hour because he hadn’t gone to bed until nearly three o’clock this morning, and it was still dark outside.

  He squinted against the red lights illuminating the time on his bedside alarm clock: 4:29 a.m.

  The pounding continued.

  “What?” Ben yelled out grumpily.

  “Ben, wake up,” Kari called urgently through his locked door. “Something’s wrong with Maya.”

  His mood changed instantly, and he forced his body to sit up. “What?”

  “I think she needs to go to the hospital,” Kari added, and Ben could hear the worry in her voice.

  Throwing the covers back, Ben quickly got up and pulled on the jeans he had discarded on the floor the night before. He grabbed his wallet and keys off his dresser, putting both in his pocket, and then yanked open a drawer to retrieve a sweatshirt. Kari was lifting her hand to knock again when he pulled the door open.

  “What’s wrong?” Ben asked, already heading for Kari’s room.

  “I don’t know. She rolled over, and I heard her cry out in pain. When I asked her what was wrong, she didn’t answer. I got up to check on her, and her face was all pale.”

  The light was already on in Kari’s room, and Maya was curled up in a ball. He could see the perspiration on her face, not unlike when she had caught that virus after he had forgotten to pick her up. He put a hand on her forehead. She wasn’t
running a fever, but she winced in pain when he touched her.

  Ben turned to Kari. “Do me a favor and go find her pain pills.”

  Kari looked at him, confused, but she stood and headed for the bathroom.

  “Maya? Can you hear me?”

  “Mmmm.” Her eyes fluttered slightly, but she didn’t open them.

  Ben fought back the sense of panic that tried to surface, and he took her hand in his. “Maya, you need to wake up.”

  Her eyes fluttered again, this time opening enough that she could peer at him beneath her lashes.

  “Did you take your pills last night?”

  Her eyebrow furrowed in the way they did when she was concentrating. “Don’t remember.”

  Kari rushed back in with Maya’s pill organizer in her hand. “Is this what you wanted?”

  “Yeah.” Ben shifted and took it from her, flipping the compartment open from last night to reveal all of Maya’s pills still inside. “I think we found the problem.”

  He started to hand it back to her and then noticed that the two previous compartments were also still full.

  “What is it?” Kari asked.

  “It looks like she hasn’t been taking her medicine.”

  “I saw her take her pain medicine with dinner last night.”

  Ben shook his head. “The pain medicine is the only one she doesn’t take with the others.” He dug his keys out of his pocket. “Go pull Mom’s car around. I’m going to take her to the ER.”

  Kari grabbed the keys from him and headed downstairs. As soon as she left, Ben stuffed the medicine dispenser in his hoodie pocket and pulled back Maya’s covers. Then he leaned down and picked her up, grabbing the top blanket to wrap her in. By the time he made his way down the stairs and out the front door, Kari had already pulled into the driveway and was waiting with the passenger side door open.

  “Thanks,” Ben told her, helping Maya into the car and buckling her in himself. He closed the door and circled to the driver’s side. “I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”