“It’s fine, Tully.”
The girls hadn’t really done any damage. Yes, they’d cried and screamed, but he was used to that. He’d only been concerned that they would disturb his mom, but she’d slept through the entire thing. The person he actually felt deserved an apology was Jamie. She’d gone above and beyond her duties to get the nurses to leave the room.
When the elevator stopped, Tully pulled up the strap and he and Chase exited the elevator into a room filled with industrial-sized washers and dryers. It looked like a Laundromat on steroids. The air was hot and stifling. They quickly made their way to a door in the back corner, and when they opened it, Chase saw his bus parked about a yard away.
“Marcus wants to know how long you plan on being here and I need to give the magazine a location for the shoot Saturday,” his assistant rattled off.
Damn. Chase had completely forgotten about the Hits magazine shoot and interview. “See if we can postpone,” Chase said as he climbed up into the bus.
“How’s your moms feelin’?” Chip asked, cigar hanging from his lips, fedora tilted on his head.
“Doctor said she has a good shot at a full recovery.”
“Good. My old man had a stroke and came back stronger than ever. If she’s a fighter, she’ll be just fine.” He nodded as the engine of the bus roared to life.
Well, she wasn’t a fighter, but Chase hoped that she would still be fine.
“Where we headed?” Chip asked as his hand hovered over the GPS.
“3902 Crescent Drive.”
Chase was going home.
Chapter Five
Krista pulled into her driveway and slumped her head over her steering wheel. She wasn’t even sure if she had enough energy to walk the short distance required to make it inside of her house. She wanted to take a bath and go to bed.
Her sister Haley’s car was in the driveway, but fingers crossed, Haley would be across the street with her fiancé and her soon-to-be stepdaughter. Her two younger sisters Jessie and Becca were both staying with Krista and Haley at the moment, but Krista was hoping that either they weren’t home or at least, she could slip in unnoticed and make it upstairs before any questions were asked. She loved her sisters. She really did. But sometimes it felt like standing in front of a firing squad when they sniffed the blood of a juicy story, and Chase coming home was definitely a juicy story.
As she stepped onto the hard concrete of the driveway, Krista’s bones ached. With every step she took, her body reminded her of the workout she’d put it through during Mr. Yates’s session. As suspected, he’d had extremely limited mobility, which pointed to the conclusion that he had not been doing his prescribed exercises. So Krista had put him through the paces. Sometimes she wished that she could go home with her patients and force them to follow the protocol she’d laid out for them, because if they did, their results would be so much better so much faster.
Sighing as she put her key in the front door, she knew that she had to accept that she couldn’t will her patients to want recovery and results. Her job was to give them the best shot at it, but she couldn’t do it for them. Which was extremely frustrating for someone with Krista’s personality. If she set her mind to something, she made it happen. It didn’t matter what she had to sacrifice, what she had to endure, what she had to deprive herself of—results were all she cared about.
As soon as she entered her house, she was met with a large flash of brown fur and found herself knocked flat on her butt. Lifting her hand and trying to move away from the tongue bath she was receiving, Krista couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hi, Bear. Did you miss me?”
All one hundred pounds of muscle and fur wiggled as Bear continued to shower her with kisses and love.
“Good boy,” Krista said, scratching him behind his ear. “You are such a good boy.”
After a few minutes of giving Bear love and attention, Krista was able to scoot back from him and push up to a standing position. When she did, she saw that she might have sung Bear’s praises too soon. All of the throw pillows on her couch were ripped open, their stuffing scattered around the floor.
“Bear.” Krista tried to sound authoritative. “Did you do this?”
Bear sat like a good boy at her harsh tone and looked up at her, wagging his tail frantically across the tiled entryway. With his tongue hanging out of his mouth, he looked as happy as could be.
Going for stern, Krista pointed at the destruction that was strewn about her living room. “That’s a ‘no’.”
He answered her with a happy bark and ran to the back door, his nails click-clacking on the hard surface. Following behind him, she realized that her bath would have to wait. For the second time in this twenty-four hour span, she needed to clean up after Bear.
Using both hands, she pulled on the handle of the sliding glass door. It had a tendency to stick and she had to throw all of her weight into it for the thing to even budge. The moment that there was enough space for Bear to slip through, he was outside in a flash. Using just as much force, she pushed the door closed.
Standing for a moment, she caught her breath. What kind of shape was she in if opening and closing her sliding glass door winded her? She definitely needed to start running again. For months—no, years really—she’d neglected her own physical fitness. Mainly because she’d been solely focused on her schooling and career. The few precious hours in the week that weren’t totally devoted to those two things she liked to spend relaxing or with friends and family, not working out. In high school, she’d run track.
Only because Chase had run track, a small, annoyingly accurate voice in the back of her head chimed in.
True, she conceded to her own inner conscious. That might have been why she’d started running track, but she’d stayed in it because she’d loved not only the thrill of competition, but also the way her body felt after she’d pushed it to the very limit to which it could be pushed. And, she clarified—again to her own conscience—she hadn’t started merely because Chase had run track. She’d joined the team because she’d thought that he was cheating on her with Kylie Stewart, who was on the track team with him and ran the 200m. When Krista had confronted Chase about it, he’d denied it, but Krista had not taken his word for it and decided that it was safer to do a little recon of her own. So freshman year, she’d joined HC High’s track and field team. As a junior and senior, she’d broken state records that she still held strong to this day.
She crossed the kitchen and knelt down, opening the cabinet beneath the sink. She pulled out a white plastic garbage bag so that she could collect all of the stuffing Bear had decorated the front room with as she made the decision that she would start running again, at least three times a week to start and then move up to five. Her health should not be compromised because of her job or social life. People assumed because she was naturally thin that she didn’t need to exercise, but being in the medical field and seeing how people’s bodies betrayed them, Krista knew better. Everyone needed to do some form of physical activity and eat right. It didn’t matter what the scale said.
Krista flipped the light switch on and got to work cleaning up the stuffing. She was amazed at just how big of a mess four throw pillows could make. Bear had gone to work on them, and it looked like a bomb had detonated in their living room. After collecting all she could by hand, she pulled the Dyson out of the closet. Krista and her sister Haley didn’t have fancy taste. Most of the furniture they’d bought to fill their house had been from Goodwill. Haley loved antiques, so she’d filled the house with those, and Krista didn’t really care what things looked like as long as they were clean. But the one big purchase they’d both agreed to splurge on was their vacuum. They’d gotten a top-of-the-line machine, and every time Krista plugged it in and heard its hum, she was happy. Sure, she knew that most people did not find joy in cleaning, but she always had.
Just as she was unplugging the cord from the wall, she heard Bear barking from the backyard and the front door swung
wide open. Her sister Haley rushed in and then stopped short, causing her two younger sisters Becca and Jessie to run smack dab into her back.
Krista smiled at her sisters. “Are you guys practicing your Three Stooges routine?” The reference to their dad’s favorite show did not even garner one smile from Larry, Moe, and Curly.
Instead, her older sister Haley’s hands flew up in the air. “Is it true? Is he back?”
“Yep,” Krista confirmed as she pushed the button to retract the vacuum cord.
The door shut and all of her sisters plopped down on the now clean-of-fuzz-and-stuffing couches.
“Yep? That’s all you have to say?” Haley asked in disbelief.
There was scratching and howling coming from the back door, and Krista, knowing that this convo with her sisters was not going to be short and sweet, decided that she would rather have it without Bear providing the soundtrack.
“Hold on,” she said as she rounded the corner and once again opened the sliding door, the Ice Cube and Mack 10 song playing in her head. “You can do it. Put your back into it, put your back into it, put your back into it.”
After Bear came barreling through the open door, she grunted as she shoved the glass door shut once again. She made a mental note to see if she could fix the slider now that she had a house guest who would require her to open and shut it several times per day.
As she came around the corner, Bear was happily cuddled up between Haley and Becca, getting loved on. Krista flopped onto the floor and let her head fall back against the wall, not even having enough energy to make it across the room and join her sisters on the couch.
“Are you okay?” Haley asked, her brow furrowing with concern.
Haley was a nurturer by nature, and being the oldest of four sisters definitely brought out her inner mom.
“I’m fine,” Krista assured her. “I just got zero sleep last night, had a couple of patients whose sessions were really physically demanding, and then obviously you’ve heard the reason that, for most of the day, I was strapped in and holding on tight as my life took me on my very own emotional roller coaster ride.”
All six of her sisters’ eyes stared at her and no one spoke. Finally Jessie’s brown eyes glanced at both Becca and Haley before landing right back on Krista.
“Sorry you’re tired. But you have to tell us what happened.”
Jessie’s apology for Krista’s exhaustion sounded less than sincere, but Krista knew that her sisters were not going to drop this. “I was in Abby’s room, checking on her, and he just…walked in.”
“What did he say when he saw you? What did you say?” Haley asked.
“He asked if I was okay and said I looked tired—”
“You do look tired,” Jessie interrupted stating matter-of-factly.
“Thanks, Jess. I know,” Krista replied flatly. Her sister was nothing if not brutally honest.
“Then what happened?” her normally quiet youngest sister Becca asked.
“Not a lot,” Krista shrugged. “Jamie came in and I had to go back to work. I did ask how long he planned on being in town but he said he didn’t know.”
“How did you feel seeing him again after all these years?” Haley asked with concern filling her voice.
“I felt…” Krista began but then stopped. She wasn’t trying to be secretive or keep anything from her sisters. She just didn’t know how to explain what she’d felt. After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Krista explained, “I felt like I was going to throw up and also like it was Christmas morning and I’d just opened up the toy I’d wanted all year.”
“Was it awkward?” Jessie asked, her face scrunching up like she’d just sucked on a lemon. Jessie was a cynic by nature and did not believe in love. Not the knock-you-on-your-ass brand of true love anyway.
Over the past few years, all five of the girls’ male cousins had fallen in love and gotten married. And a few months ago, their older sister Haley had also found her happily-ever-after. Just last week, she’d gotten engaged. So the topic of love had been discussed quite a bit. Krista’s fellow middle sister believed in friendship, companionship, and lust. Her thought was that if you were lucky enough to share those three things with the same person, then people thought you were ‘in love.’ But really you just had a friend you liked to hang out with a lot and see naked. Krista knew that Jessie only held that belief because she hadn’t experienced the soul-crushing reality that was love.
“No.” Krista shook her head. “It wasn’t awkward. It was kind of like no time had passed at all.”
“Are you going to talk to him?” Becca asked as she continued to pet Bear’s head as it rested in her lap.
“Yeah, I guess. If I see him. But right now, all I want to do is take a bath and go to bed,” Krista said as she pushed off the wall and stood up then started up the stairs.
Bear came bounding up the steps beside her. She knew that the second she was out of earshot her sisters were going to pick apart Chase’s return and what that meant. Usually she would want to be a part of any gossip fest, especially if it had to do with her.
Not this time. This time it was too real. Too raw. She just wanted to be by herself and try to process all of the emotions warring inside of her. Stepping inside the bathroom, she turned the faucet all the way to ‘H’ and closed the door, waiting for her bath to fill.
Alone. Finally. Just as she was pulling off her scrubs, she heard a bark at the door. Opening it, she found Bear sitting like a good boy, rapidly wagging his tail.
“Come in,” Krista said as she turned to the side to give all one hundred pounds of him enough room to enter.
As Bear plopped on the tile happier than a clam, Krista decided that alone time was overrated and maybe a little company wouldn’t be so bad.
* * *
The bus pulled to a stop as Chip announced, as he always did when they’d reached their destination, “We’re here.”
Chase pulled his attention away from the guitar he held in his hand and lifted his head to look out the large window on the side of the tour bus. It took him a moment to recognize the rundown house in front of him. The grass was overgrown, the paint was chipping on the siding, and the roof looked one good rain away from collapse.
He’d known that it was a better chance than not that since his father had passed several years ago his mom would have let the maintenance suffer, but he’d had no idea that it would be this bad. After setting his guitar down in his case and shutting it, he picked up his overnight bag, dipping his head under the thick strap and placing it around his neck so that he had his hands free to carry his instruments.
“What are you doing?” Tully stood, blocking his exit, his shaggy blond hair falling in his face.
“I’m going to stay here. If you guys want to hang around, you should check out the Lighthouse B&B.”
“You’re staying here?” his assistant asked, brushing his fallen hair out of his line of vision as he leaned down and peered out the window, his light eyes widening.
“Yeah.” Chase stepped closer, but Tully didn’t budge. He said his name to get his attention. “Tully.”
Tully looked up, his expression still shocked. Then shaking his head slightly, he asked, “Are you sure it’s safe? You? Here? No security?”
“I’ll be fine.” Since he still wasn’t moving, Chase lifted his guitar case and moved around him.
“We can wait and see what measures management has taken at the hospital, but we may need to call in security, Chase.” Tully was using his I-know-you’re-not-going-to-like-this-but-tough-shit voice.
“Fine.” Chase was in no mood to argue. He’d had a long twenty-four hours and he just wanted to crash. Why in the name of God he’d instructed Chip to drive him here, to the place he’d spent the last ten years trying to forget, he had no idea. But here he was.
“You sure ’bout this?” Chip’s eyebrows rose in question beneath his pinstriped fedora.
Chase nodded once.
“You don’t want
some company?” Chip’s brows somehow lifted even higher.
“No.” Chase might not have been sure why he was even here, but he was damn sure that he didn’t want any company to witness his questionable decision to come back to this house.
“You holla if you change your mind, ya here?” Chip’s Louisiana drawl always grew more pronounced when he was being ‘paternal.’
“Will do,” Chase agreed as he maneuvered down the steps with his bag and guitar.
Making his way up the cracked driveway, he glanced around the neighborhood and saw that all of the other houses on the street were well maintained. Anger rose up inside of him, but he pushed it down. He wasn’t sure if he was angry with himself for not checking on the situation with his mom earlier, his mom for letting things get this bad, or his deceased dad for being such an asshole that it had caused Chase to not take one step back in this town since the cold December day he’d left when he was seventeen years old.
He could hear the large tour bus idling behind him and he turned his head, motioning for Chip to leave. The one thing Chase didn’t need right now was any more attention being drawn to the fact that he was back in town. Watching as the bus pulled away from the curb and headed down the street, Chase took a moment before going inside.
Logically he knew that his father would not be on the other side of the front door. He was dead. In the ground. Not sitting in his recliner, waiting for any excuse to lose his temper and start swinging.
Shaking off the inner dread that had filled Chase’s senses, he set his guitar case down and reached up above the door to grab the extra key. As he did, he realized he had no idea if it would still be there. His finger ran across the wood frame and…there it was, exactly where it had been the day he’d left all those years ago. Somehow that fact did not make him feel any better about being here.
His heart beat loudly in his ears as he slipped the key into the deadbolt, turned it, and heard the small click. Removing the key from the lock, he returned it to where his mom had always insisted they keep it.
Crazy Love - Krista & Chase Page 5