Unexpected Chance

by Annalisa Nicole

  The girls head into Savvy’s room while I head to the oven. I put on a pair of oven mitts and pull out two sheets of cookies. I walk over to Savvy’s room and see the two of them talking while they pack up Savvy’s stuff. I’ll just leave them to it. I head back into the kitchen and pick at the cookies on the sheet. I pop one into my mouth and they aren’t all that bad, just a little well done.

  “You didn’t just eat one of those did you?” Quinn asks, coming out of Savvy’s room carrying a box.

  “These aren’t that bad,” I say, grabbing another cookie.

  Quinn rolls her eyes, then heads back into Savvy’s room.

  After about thirty minutes, the girls have a small stack of boxes and a few bags lined up at the front door. Savvy has a small backpack and her purse in her hand.

  “All ready,” she says to me in the kitchen. She leans in, gives Quinn a hug goodbye, then walks to the front door.

  “See you Saturday,” Savvy says to Quinn.

  “See you,” Quinn replies, resting her hand on the open door.

  Savvy and I walk hand in hand to the motorcycle. I stop in front of the motorcycle, then look at the trashcan. The trashcan Savvy’s purse was thrown into.

  “Are you alright? You’ve been acting kind of strange since we got here?” she asks.

  “I’m fine,” I tell her, grab my helmet and get on the bike.

  She grabs her helmet out of the saddle bag and puts it on. I steady the bike for her as she gets on. She wraps her arms around me and again, I squeeze her to me.

  “Aiden?” she questions, squeezing me when I don’t start the bike.

  “I saw it,” I tell her in a quiet voice.

  “You saw what?” she asks in a cheery voice, completely unaware of what I’m talking about.

  “I saw what happened right here that night. Max had your condo under surveillance and I’ve seen the footage. I saw what they did to you. Savvy, I thought I lost you,” I whisper.

  Her arms loosen around my chest, and she gets off the motorcycle. She removes her helmet, then walks in front of me. Her eyes fill with tears as she searches my face.

  “No, please tell me you didn’t see the whole thing,” she whispers.

  I look into her eyes and see pain like I’ve never seen before. It’s breaking her heart knowing that I saw it. I wish I hadn’t have told her. I wish I hadn’t have seen the whole thing, but I did. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen if the building were burning down around me. I held onto that hope that at some point she’d get away. I felt like I had to tell her, though. I felt guilty, like I was keeping a secret from her.

  “I wish you hadn’t have seen that,” she whispers. I tear my eyes from hers and look at the ground. “Aiden, I’m fine. I really am, look at me,” she says, stepping closer to me.

  If I look at her, I may lose my shit. I don’t know if I can look her in the eyes right now. She sets the helmet on the ground, then straddles the bike in front of me, tossing her legs over mine, facing me. She wraps me in her arms tightly and squeezes as hard as she can. I should be the one doing this for her. She’s completely fine being back here. How can she be completely fine, and I’m not?

  She takes my helmet out of my hand, turns around and puts it on the handlebar. She pulls me into her and holds on tight again. In that moment, I let it go. Her warm body on mine in this spot gives me the reassurance I think I needed to let it go.

  I return the squeeze, then pull away from her. I put my forehead on hers and say, “I love you, Savvy.”

  “I’ve collapsed in love with you, Aiden. Oh shit,” she says.

  “What?” I ask, pulling all the way away from her again.

  “This morning, in the garage while I was looking at you sitting all hot and sexy on this bike, I was thinking of doing this exact position with you. Except I was naked and your pants were unzipped.”

  I wrap my hands around her upper arms and pick her up, then set her on her feet on the ground, grab my helmet, and put it on my head.

  “Get your helmet and get on, we need to get home, now,” I tell her buckling the strap under my chin.

  She giggles, picks her helmet up off the ground, puts it on and jumps on the back.

  Savvy

  Since I started working for Max again, my nights and weekends are free. I feel like I can breathe again. I didn’t realize just how much going to school during the day and working at night at the bar really took out of me.

  It’s Saturday morning, and believe it or not, it’s after ten and Aiden and I are still in bed. We’re lying on our backs, Aiden’s arm is under the back of my neck and wrapped around me. I have my fingers threaded in his and we’re talking about our week, when there’s a loud banging on the front door. Only about ten people bang on our door this early in the morning, and they’re all related to Aiden.

  “I’ll get it, you get dressed. It’s probably Ava and Quinn,” he says, kissing me. He puts on a pair of basketball shorts, then leaves the room.

  I pull the sheets over my head and sigh. But it’s not just Ava and Quinn’s voices I hear. It’s all of them. The entire Wellington clan is in our house.

  “Wake up, sleepy head,” Ava’s voice says as the bedroom door is opened. Two seconds after that, she plops on my bed next to me.

  I flip the sheets off my head and tightly hold them up to my chin. “Dude, I’m naked under here,” I say, looking at her like she’s crazy.

  “Last time I looked, we’re both girls and have the same parts, and besides that we’re sisters. It’s not a big deal. Hurry up and get dressed and get your ass out here. Jax made us an amazing brunch. The girls are unpacking everything right now. We’re all hungry and eager to get this wedding planned,” she says, getting off the bed. She closes the door behind her and I flip the sheets over my head again.

  God, I love this family.

  I brush my teeth, get dressed, and throw my hair up on the top of my head in a messy bun. I walk into the family room and not only are all the girls here, but all the men are here, too. Are the men going to help plan the wedding? There are magazines stacked on the coffee table, and binders of wedding invitation samples lying all over the couch. Jax is in the kitchen setting out trays of food, kids are running around crazy, squealing and having a good time. This . . . this right here is what I was talking about. This is what I want for my own house one day!

  I walk into the kitchen and look at the food. It smells amazing. And of course, Ava brought wine and champaign. She’s mixing together a pitcher of mimosas as I stand there with my mouth hanging open. I walk over to the cupboards and start taking out plates and setting them on the counter.

  “Oh, we don’t need that many. We only need seven,” she says, setting the pitcher next to the yummy smelling quiche.

  “Seven? There are at least twenty people in this house right now,” I reply.

  “Yeah, seven. Me, you, Shay, Chloe, Amelia, Quinn and Willow. The men and the kids are leaving. This is only for us girls,” she says with a smile.

  “Well then, eight. Aiden hasn’t eaten either,” I tell her, putting the rest of the plates back in the cupboard.

  “I’m not staying in this house with all of you. You all together scare the crap out of me,” Aiden says, kissing me on the back of the head.

  “Why don’t you go out to brunch with the guys, then?” I suggest.

  Asher and Max laugh from the other side of the room. Aiden looks at me with a serious face and says, “Babe, bro’s don’t do brunch.”

  “Bro’s don’t do . . . what kind of crazy nonsense is that?” I ask him confused, setting the extra plate back in the cupboard.

  “I’ve got to go to the hardware store, among other manly places today. You ladies have the house to yourselves to plan, gossip, talk, cluck, or whatever it is that you ladies do together,” he says.

  “No badass get-together planning,” Max warns, looking at Chloe.

  “I need to go to the hardware store, too. You mind if I tag along?” Max asks behind me.r />
  “Let’s roll. We can grab a burger or something after,” Aiden says.

  I stand there with my hand on the counter, cock my head and look at Aiden like he’s nuts.

  Ava comes up behind me and whispers, “Isn’t that the same thing as brunch?”

  “That’s what I was just thinking,” I whisper, turning around to look at her.

  “Lunch isn’t the same thing as brunch,” Aiden clarifies.

  “Brunch date, lunch date, what’s the difference?” I ask.

  “It’s not a date. We’re two men going to the hardware store doing manly things, then grabbing a burger afterwards. And the difference is about an hour and the word brunch,” he clarifies.

  “It’s brunch,” Ava whispers so they can’t hear. We’ll let them have their hour so the macho men can remain macho men and do manly things.

  “Anyone else need to go to the hardware store?” Aiden asks. “Then to grab a burger . . . and a beer,” he adds.

  All the men turn him down since they’re all on kid duty.

  “You don’t need Jade then, do you?” Aiden asks me, then he closes his eyes, hangs his head, and sighs.

  “Who’s Jade?” Adrian asks.

  “Nobody, never mind,” Aiden says, trying to cover for himself. I smile and recall that this isn’t the first time he’s called his car by her name.

  “No, I don’t need the car. You boys have fun on your non-date at the hardware store and non-brunch cheeseburger and a beer lunch,” I tease, making sure I emphasize the word car.

  “Oh, my God, you let her name your Tesla, Jade?” Max asks, laughing, then punches Aiden on the arm.

  “What are you talking about? Why don’t you tell the boys who Rhiannon is?” Chloe says.

  “Who’s Rhiannon?” Kyle asks, coming into the kitchen.

  “No one,” Max growls, giving Chloe his famous death stare. She bats her eyelashes at him, grabs my hand, and pulls me over to the other side of the kitchen. Max stalk’s behind her, gets right up to her ear and whispers, “Don’t be surprised if you can’t find your leathers when you get home,” he says, swatting her on the ass, then he kisses her on the lips.

  Chloe giggles, then he winks a wink at her that sends goosebumps down my arms, then he turns around and heads toward the garage.

  Aiden comes over to me, kisses me, then says, “Call me if you change your mind and you need the car.”

  “You mean Jade,” I reply with a smile.

  He pulls away and does a low growl in the back of his throat that sends goosebumps not up my arms, but straight to my core.

  “Have fun today,” he says, then follows behind Max out the garage door.

  The rest of the men and the kids, except baby Sammy, leave. Adrian is so sweet. He offered to take Sammy with him and bring him back in a few hours so Shay could nurse him, but Shay insisted it was alright, she’d keep him.

  In a matter of a few hours, we got everything planned for the wedding. Everything except my wedding dress. Chloe needed to leave for a shift at the hospital. Sammy started to get a little fussy, so Shay left too. Quinn had a study date planned, and Willow and Amelia also needed to get home. That left only Ava and I.

  “I know some really nice dress shops we can go to,” she says, straightening up some of the wedding magazines on the coffee table.

  “Alright. Do you think you can take me to the place you bought Jax’s watch, too?” I ask with a smile.

  “Sure, let’s go.”

  We head out to the street where her little red sports car is parked. Immediately I start thinking of names to name her.

  Ava looks at me with a grin and says, “You’re not naming my car.”

  “But, I just thought of a really cool name,” I whine.

  “No,” she answers.

  “You don’t even want to hear it?” I ask.

  “No,” she answers again. I get in the passenger seat and literally bounce and dance in the seat just dying to tell her the name. She pulls away from the curb and heads downtown toward all the shops.

  “Oh, alright. Oh, my God, you’re such a brat. Just tell me already,” she yells.

  “Dahlia,” I spit out with a smile.

  Chapter 14

  Aiden

  After a month of planning and waiting to make Savvy my wife, the day is finally here. Savvy and I chose not to go with the whole ‘you can’t see the bride before the wedding day’ just like Ava and Jax did for their wedding. In this case, I’m glad Savvy isn’t superstitious about it. Not only because I need to give Savvy her wedding gift before the girls and the hairdresser get here, but because I wouldn’t have missed this feeling I have in my chest waking up with my arms wrapped around my beautiful soon to be wife on our wedding day.

  “Good morning, beautiful,” I say, kissing her on top of her head.

  “Good morning, husband to be,” she says, taking in a deep breath. “Pinch me,” she continues.

  “What? I’m not going to pinch you,” I reply.

  “No, really, you need to pinch me. I need to make sure I’m not sleeping or dreaming and this is really my life. I’m really going to be Savannah Wellington today?”

  “You really are going to be Savannah Wellington today, babe,” I say, giving her a squeeze. “I think you’re the one who needs to pinch me. Is the beautiful angel that’s wrapped in my arms, really going to become my wife today?”

  “Oh, Aiden,” she says, and buries her face in my side.

  “We have a few hours before everyone gets here. What should we do with that time?” she asks, lifting her head up, then she places her chin on my chest.

  “Actually, I want to give you your wedding gift before the girls get here,” I tell her.

  “Really!” she says, perking up.

  I get out of bed and look out the window to see if her surprise has arrived yet. Yep, right on time. I reach into the nightstand and take out a small box and hand it to her. “Before you open that, you need to get dressed and come into the kitchen with me.”

  She jumps out of bed, slips on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, grabs the box and my hand, and pulls me into the kitchen. “Alright, I’m dressed and in the kitchen. Now can I open it?” she asks.

  “Now you can open it,” I nod.

  She rips the wrapping paper off the box and tears the lid off with a huge smile. She looks inside the box, then her smile fades.

  “Aiden, we talked about you not getting me a new car,” she whispers, looking at the key.

  “I didn’t get you a new car,” I tell her and lead her to the front door. I open the door, turn her so she’s facing the street, and stand behind her. I point down the street and wait for her to see it. Sitting at the end of the street is Ruby.

  Just as I take a step on the walkway, the driver starts the car and drives down the street, and comes to a stop in the driveway. I lean around Savvy so I can see her face. Tears are streaming down her cheeks as she looks at the one material thing I know she treasures the most.

  “Ruby,” she whispers.

  A few days after the night she was carjacked, I asked Max what happened to Savvy’s car. He told me it was in the warehouse and completely undamaged, that one of his men had brought it back to his PI firm and parked it around back. I would have rather bought Savvy a brand new, safe, reliable car, but I know how she feels about that. So the next best thing was to have Ruby totally restored. The engine was completely rebuilt, new leather interior seats, carpet, dashboard with added air conditioning and power windows. I know what a kick she gets out of my green steering wheel, so I had a red one put in her car. I also added a state of the art GPS system with hands free.

  Ruby is as safe as any new car I could buy for her. This is also probably the most expensive VW Rabbit in existence. But to see this look on Savvy’s face right now, I’d have paid ten times that amount to do this for her.

  Savvy

  I never once asked anyone what happened to Ruby. Not because I don’t care or think about her anymore. In fact, it’s
the exact opposite. I’ve thought about her at least a million times a day. Every time I thought I had the courage to ask about her, I’d chicken out. I just couldn’t do it. It was somehow easier to just not know the possibility that she had been totaled at the warehouse, or lit on fire and burned to the ground, or driven over a cliff, Thelma and Louise style, and gone forever. The last thing I remember about her, is being over the moon happy about staying with Aiden and putting things in her trunk to take back to his place. Then . . . well, again we know what happened next.

  The car driving toward us has a nice, shiny new, deep cherry red paint color, and she looks like she just rolled off the showroom floor. But I’d never mistake this car for anything. It’s my Ruby. Aiden restored Ruby as my wedding gift. He’s the absolute most beautiful man, inside and out. This must have cost him thousands and thousands of dollars to get her in this condition. She was never hurt or destroyed. She’s been in Aiden’s safe hands all this time.

  Ruby comes to a stop in the driveway, and I’m rooted to the floor. I’m stuck to the walkway in a state of shock. I can’t help the flow of tears streaming down my cheeks. They just keep coming and coming. I finally come unglued. But it’s not to run to Ruby and hug her hood. I turn around and throw myself into Aiden’s arms, repeating over and over, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

  Aiden picks me up off the ground. I wrap my legs around his waist and squeeze him as hard as I can. God, I’m the luckiest girl on the face of the planet. I hear Ruby’s car door open, then close. There was no loud lurching noise or creaking noise either, she sounded beautiful. I hear someone walking up the sidewalk and I expect it to be one of the guys.

  Aiden sets me down on my feet and says, “Ruby isn’t your only wedding gift.”

  I feel a gentle tap on my left shoulder. Aiden gently takes me by the shoulders and turns me around. If Aiden weren’t still holding my shoulders, I’m pretty sure I’d be on the ground and on my ass. She’s aged some. Her hair is a beautiful shade of grey, her eyes have a few wrinkles around them, but they’re the kind of wrinkle that only adds to her beauty. But just how I’d know Ruby anywhere, I’d know this woman anywhere. This is the woman that made me want to become what I’m working so hard for.