Parting Chances (Fighting Chance #1) (22 page)

“Fine! I’m up!” I said to the room as I reached for my phone. Apparently, the world wanted me awake. My grumpy attitude changed when I saw that it was Eli who had just sent me a text. My thumb slide across the screen.

Eli: Good morning, beautiful. Have a great day with the family.

And here I thought when he called me Hales my heart went insane. But apparently, calling me beautiful made it beat out of control. Before I could respond, another text popped up. This time it was a picture. A picture of Eli, still in bed with the blankets draped just across his naked chest. He had a slight five o’clock shadow, but his lopsided grin was ever present. He stared at me with sleepy eyes, noting that he had probably just woken up. He had never looked better. Eli waking up might just be my favorite part of the day.

Me: Mornin’ to you too, sleepy head. That was a nice wake up call.

I flicked back to his picture and saved it as his contact photo. When I flipped back to my messages, small little thumbnails of that photo lined the left side of the screen.

Eli: I’d like a nice wake-up call too. ;)

Oh, hell. Did he really think I was going to take a picture of myself? I didn’t even wash my face last night before crashing. I’m pretty sure I was rocking some raccoon eyes.

Me: Yeah, a pic isn’t going to happen.

Eli: What?! Why not? :(

Me: Don’t give me a sad face. You have to give a woman time to prepare for photos!

Eli: But you’re adorable when you wake up.

Me: Psht. Adorable when I wash my face at night, maybe.

Eli: Please?! Pretty please?! PLEASE?!

I snorted at his begging and buried myself further into bed.

Me: Nope.

Eli: You just made my Christmas very unhappy.

Me: Oh, please. Save the pity party for someone who believes you.

The smile on my face got larger the longer we bantered back and forth. Eli was not going to give up until I gave him something.

Eli: You just don’t want to see me happy.

Me: Are you sure your 12 year old brother isn’t the one texting right now?

Eli: Ouch.

I giggled again, exited our conversation, and tapped on the camera. I brought the blankets up to my chin and focused the camera on my mouth. He wanted a picture, I’d give him one…just not one of my whole face. My mouth twitched up into a slight smirk as I hit the capture button. When I reviewed the picture I let out a chuckle, you could see the blanket and my mouth giving off that smartass smirk.

I opened my messenger back up and popped into our conversation, attaching the picture to a new text.

Me: Here you go. Good morning!

I had almost expected him to reply right away like he had been. But after two minutes of staring at the phone, nothing came. I reexamined the picture. I thought it was cute, me being my stubborn self and giving him the picture he wanted but on my terms. Maybe he hated it? Maybe he was mad I only gave him part of my face? Oh hell, I was going to over-analyze this all day. I threw the blankets off and crawled out of bed. The smell of bacon and eggs never ceased, and I hoped I hadn’t miss breakfast. I threw an old sweatshirt over my head, pulling my arms through the sleeves as my phone buzzed on the bed. I dove for it, still trying to push my arms into their correct spot. My graceful maneuver ended with me face-planting on the bed, two feet away from my phone. After finally freeing myself, I stared at the message.

Eli: Damn, Hales. You really are trying to kill me.

Me: Glad you enjoyed. Now I must go, bacon is calling.

Eli: A girl after my own heart.

Eli: Have a great day!

The smile that hit my face could probably have lit up the room. Instead of replying, I set my phone on the nightstand and went out in search of breakfast.

When I entered the kitchen, Dad, Caleb, and Emma were all sitting around the table, with plates mounded with food in the center. Dad smiled when I entered, and as I passed him, I leaned down and gave him a hug.

“It’s about time you got up. Two minutes later, and there would be no breakfast for you,” Caleb joked as he dug into the eggs.

“I love you too, Caleb.” I grinned and gave him a squeeze when I passed. I smiled warmly at Emma, but took my seat, still not comfortable enough with her to show a whole lot of affection. I mean, let’s face it. I’d met her once.

“Whoever made breakfast, thank you. My stomach appreciates you.” I loaded my plate with eggs, bacon, and fruit before I caught Caleb giving Emma a vomit-inducing loving grin. “Ugh, seriously, it is too early for that lovey-dovey crap. Just let me get through breakfast first!” I flashed them a smirk, so they’d realize I was just joking. Though, seriously, it would always and forever be weird to see my brother act like that with someone.

“Don’t even talk, sis. I saw you last night on the porch.” Caleb rolled his eyes in my direction and faked a gag. My face paled before little blossoms of red appeared on my cheeks.

“You…what?” I half choked on my eggs and reached for my orange juice and took a small sip. “I thought everyone was asleep!”

“Well…yeah. Like I was going to stick around and watch
that.
” Caleb shuddered at the thought.

“So what? You were being some peeping Tom?” I was mostly surprised Caleb didn’t open the door and give Eli a threatening glare. He’d always been the way too overprotective brother.

“No,” Caleb scoffed. “I got up to get something to drink, heard car doors slam, and checked to see if it was you. I saw much more than I bargained for.” He smirked, and my foot made direct contact with his shin. He let out a yelp and backed up from the table.

“Wait, so you have a gentleman friend?” Dad finally popped into the conversation. As if it couldn’t get any more embarrassing, he had to call him my “gentleman friend.” What the hell was that?

“Dad, he’s just a friend. He gave me a ride home.”

Caleb chuckled. “Didn’t know making out was a friendship requirement now. Or was that your way of thanking him for the ride?”

I jumped out of my chair and tackled Caleb to the ground in a second. I couldn’t really do any damage to him, since he was double my size, but the boy was still ticklish, and I knew the exact spots where it was the worst. He laughed at my attempts of injury, barely holding me off when I went in for the kill. My fingers dug into his hip, and he started twisting like a maniac.

“No, no. Stop it! Stop!” Caleb pleaded with me. But after his comment, I didn’t release him. In fact, I felt like he needed more, so my other hand reached around and gripped just above his knee. “Haley! STOP!” Caleb jerked trying to escape my hands, while Dad and Emma just sat at the table watching our spectacle with amused expressions. He was finally able to grab my hands and push me away. Then he hid behind Emma.

“Oh honey, don’t think I’ll protect you. And Haley just gave me all sorts of ammunition.” She grinned wickedly at him.

“Great. Thanks, Haley. I was doing so well.” He plopped back down in his chair and finished up his breakfast while I returned to my seat.

“Wait, are you telling me that Emma never knew you were ticklish? How is that even possible?” I crunched on a piece of bacon as I watched the two exchange looks.

“Yeah, how is that possible?” Emma repeated.

“Because Emma is not as mean as you. I’m only ticklish if you really dig your fingers in. Emma isn’t that vindictive.” He gave me a pointed glare, to which I laughed.

“Well, you’re welcome, Emma. I find that sneak attacks are the best approach,” I told her as Caleb threw his hand up.

“I can’t win,” he muttered.

“Welcome to my world, son.” Dad turned to me. “So, this boy. Just friends? Or something else?” All eyes focused on me as I digested Dad’s question. What exactly was Eli to me? We hadn’t fully discussed what our relationship was, but I would have to say we were more than just friends. Because Caleb was right. I don’t just go around making out with my friends.

“Um…something else.” I squeaked out.

Dad’s face broke out into a huge smile. “Good. Maybe we’ll meet him on Friday.”

“Why would you meet him on Friday?” I asked the obvious question. I mean, I knew he was going to be picking me up then, but I was hoping maybe we could get away without him having to do the whole “meet the family” thing. Dad’s gaze turned to Caleb and Emma, so I focused mine there too.

“We’re getting married,” Caleb said. I nodded because this was a known fact.

“On Friday,” Emma added. My mouth dropped open.

“Why?” I knew it wasn’t the best thing to say, but they had shocked me.

“Mom.” It was the only thing Caleb said. The room fell silent as we all took in that single word.

“Your mom is…” Dad began, but I held up my hand.

“I know, Dad. She’s getting worse. She only has a few days to weeks left. I know.” My voice was soft, barely above a whisper. It was the part I didn’t like about coming home—having to face the issues head on.

“The thing is, we knew this was happening,” Caleb began. “When Em and I started dating, we knew Mom didn’t have much longer. So, yeah, we may have rushed the engagement. But this isn’t rushed. This was planned as well as it could be. We told you back in September it would probably be around Christmas. Emma wanted a winter wedding. We weren’t sure if Mom was still going to be around or not, so we never set a solid date. It was just when we got here that we decided we were going to do it. We had the officiant on stand-by for months now. Emma’s parents are flying in tomorrow to spend Christmas with us and be at the wedding. We told you in the beginning it was going to be small. Right now, all we want is to be married…and for Mom to be there.” When Caleb finished, I reminded myself to breathe. Emma was wiping tears from her eyes, and Dad was smiling at Caleb with so much pride.

“Well, okay then,” I said. “So do you need any help?” The whole room seemed to exhale, as one, in relief. Clearly, they thought I was going to argue with them until I was blue in the face. But what Caleb and Emma were doing made sense. And if I were anywhere near marrying someone, I’d want to do it before my mom passed too. I was glad that she’d be able to see one of us get married.

Emma finally broke the silence. “I think we have most things settled. But there are the small things left that I could use help with.”

“Anything you need, I’m here.” I smiled at the almost married couple, and Dad reached out to give my hand a squeeze. We finished our meal in comfortable silence before Dad and Caleb left to do their usual last minute Christmas shopping. Emma and I cleaned the kitchen while she chattered on excitedly about the wedding details.

Maybe this break wasn’t going to be as hard as I thought it was going to be. Now I had something to look forward to—a small beacon of happiness in the otherwise bleak world of this Cavanaugh household.

Emma’s parents arrived the next afternoon, adding even more people to the house. There really wasn’t much to help with for the wedding. The house was already decorated, thanks to Dad and me during Thanksgiving. The only people attending were immediate family—who were already in the house. All Emma needed help with was the driving around since she didn’t know the town well. We had to pick up the flowers and make bouquets and arrangements out of them. Emma’s mom was going to make the dinner, so grocery shopping was done. The one thing that made this more than just getting married at the courthouse, aside from it being at my parents’ place, was that Emma really wanted her dress. Her mom and I went along with her to pick it up. It was a simple floor-length white lace gown. Nothing overly fancy, but perfect for a Christmas wedding at home. And she looked beautiful in it. We had stopped at the mall afterward and picked out a simple dark red swing dress for me since Emma had asked if I would be her maid of honor. My duty included signing as a witness on the marriage certificate; I thought I could manage that.

When we got home, Emma and her mom went to work on the flowers while I went in search of my own mom. I hadn’t seen her yet since I’d been home. Dad had said she just slept most days, thanks to the pain medicine. And I knew Mom would never be okay with me just sitting there staring at her, the whole “live your life” thing and all. I had kept my distance for as long as I could, but now I knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open. Meg was sitting in the chair by the window, reading a book. She glanced up when I entered and gave me a tired smile.