Emancipating Andie (10 page)

After checking out, they walked to her car and piled their bags back into her trunk. Chase slammed it closed and turned to get in the car, stopping in his tracks when he saw Andie getting into the passenger side.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She stopped halfway into the car. “I’m tired of driving,” she said simply before she slid the rest of the way into the seat and closed the door.

He stood there for a moment before a slow smile curved his lips, and he walked around to the driver’s side.

This girl was going to make him crazy.

And somewhere between his room and the car, he decided he was going to let her. For the next six hours, he was going to enjoy her company without questioning or chastising himself. There was no harm in allowing himself to have fun with her. And so what if he recognized the fact that she was beautiful? Lots of girls were beautiful. Acknowledging that didn’t mean anything.

For the rest of the trip, he was going to stop overthinking everything. It was only six hours, after all. Not even a work day. Trivial and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Chase slid into the seat and closed the door behind him, turning to look at her. “You’re sure about this? You don’t need a Valium or anything before we get started?”

She kept her eyes forward but held up her hand, flipping him off, and he clucked his tongue as he started the car.

“First a curse word, and now an obscene hand gesture? I’m appalled.”

Andie sighed. “I know. You’re a terrible influence.”

He laughed to himself before backing them out of the parking space, and as they headed down Route 17 back toward I-95, Chase noticed a large billboard on the side of the road, advertising some local news channel. There was a woman in a business suit with her arms folded, her hair perfectly coifed and her makeup flawless, smiling haughtily down at the cars that passed.

“That annoys me,” he said as he gestured out the window, and Andie turned her head, looking in the direction he was pointing.

“What, billboard advertisements?”

“No,” he laughed. “Did you see that woman’s name? Daisy Richards.”

Andie looked at him. “I don’t get it.”

“Did that woman look like a Daisy to you? A Daisy should have pigtails and a teddy bear, not a career in broadcasting and a designer suit.”

“So, the name Daisy pisses you off?”

“No,” he said. “I think it’s a great name. For a five-year-old. Doesn’t really work when you’re talking about a grown woman. I don’t like it when names don’t translate.”

Andie was quiet for a second before she said, “Kind of like Esther? It’s a great name for a grandma, but doesn’t really work for a baby. Or a teenager.”

“Yes, exactly! Or how about Destiny? That’s a stripper’s name, not a baby’s name.” Andie smirked as he added, “Could you imagine having a grandmother named Destiny?” He shook his head. “Nope. Doesn’t work.”

Andie turned to face him, looking thoughtful. “You know what, though? It seems like the ‘translation problems’ only happen with girls’ names. Most boy names automatically translate. Like you’d call a little boy Jimmy, and then he becomes James when he’s older. Or like Mikey. Adorable for a little boy, creepy for a grown man. But then he becomes Michael. Now, Michael? That’s a man’s name.” Andie wagged her finger at Chase as if she had just bestowed some great knowledge upon him.

“What about Chase?”

“What about it?”

“What kind of name is it? A boy’s name? A man’s name?”

When she didn’t answer right away, he added, “A ridiculously hot guy’s name?”

Andie laughed under her breath. “Idiot.”

“And I mean, the name
Andie
?” He trailed off, baiting her.

“What about it?”

“Well, for a boy it translates. Andy is the kid, and Drew is the man. But for you?”

She turned toward him, her arms folded.

“I can’t make the call, not knowing your real name and all. I mean, if it’s Andrea, that works. That’s versatile. Definitely translates,” he said with a nod. When Andie gave him no response, he said, “Not it, huh? Okay…how about…Andriana?”

She smirked at him before turning back to face the road.

“Not Andriana,” he said to himself. “Hmm, let’s see. Oh, I got it. Andrewina?”

She threw her head back, her laughter ringing through the car, and he found himself fighting his own laughter just so he could listen to the sound of hers.

A day ago he had thought that getting her riled up was enjoyable. But it was nothing compared to making her laugh, or seeing the way her entire face lit up when she smiled a genuine smile. When he could get her to let her guard down like that, even for a second, it almost felt like a reward.

As her laughter died down, Chase looked over at her. She was looking out the passenger window, a small smile on her lips, twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers.

“If you won’t tell me your name, tell me something else about you,” he said, the playfulness leaving his voice.

She turned toward him again. “What, another favorite?”

“No, not a favorite. Just something.” He thought about it for a moment before he said, “Tell me about your job. Did you always want to work for your father?”

“No,” she said with a small laugh. “I majored in English when I was in college. But I practically grew up in that restaurant. I worked there part time as a waitress when I was in high school, and then during my breaks from college, I would come back and train other waitresses, and then that just naturally progressed into being the manager…and so here I am,” she said with a shrug, still absently twirling a strand of her hair.

“So how is that related to your English degree?”

“It’s not.”

He nodded slowly. “Do you think you’ll ever do anything with it?”

She took a deep breath before exhaling in a rush. “I don’t know. I guess I could go back to school and get a teaching degree, teach some courses in language arts.”

“Is that what you wanted to do?”

“No. I wanted to be a writer.”

Chase was quiet for a moment. “So why not do that instead?”

She shrugged. “Because it’s unrealistic. Do you know how hard it is to get an agent, or a publishing house that’s willing to take on your project?”

“I’m sure there would be a lot of rejection involved, but you only need one person to say yes, right?”

Andie scrunched her nose, and he smiled.

“What about self-publishing?” he asked.

She shook her head. “You still have to get a fan base for your stuff. Figure out how to market yourself. Not to mention, I’d have to write an entire novel first. And a good one, at that. It’s just not as simple as you’re making it sound.”

Chase pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, glancing over at her. He knew he had to be careful here.

“Have you tried?” he finally said.

“Tried what?”

“Writing a novel.”

She pulled her brow together as she turned to look out the passenger window again. “No.”

Barely a second passed before she cleared her throat and added, “What about you? Colin said you freelance as a photographer.”

He smiled resignedly, seeing right through her attempt at changing the subject, but he decided to follow her lead. He could sense that pursuing his line of questioning would only cause her to withdraw, and he didn’t want any of that today.

“Yeah, I got into it right after I graduated. I’ve been at it for about four years now.”

She tilted her head at him. “Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.”

She smiled softly. “I just don’t want to seem like I’m being intrusive.”

“If I think you’re being intrusive, I won’t answer,” he laughed.

“Okay, well,” she shifted in her seat to face him, “if you love photography, wouldn’t it be more…I don’t know…
stable
, if you worked for some kind of studio? Like, doing wedding photos or portraits or something?”

“Nah,” Chase said with a dismissive shake of his head. “I can’t stand that formal photography shit. It’s so contrived.” He glanced in the side mirror as he switched lanes. “In a formal shot, people show you what they want you to see, or what they think you want to see. But in a candid?” He smiled. “You’d be surprised how much a person’s expressions or mannerisms reveal about her when she’s not paying attention.”

Chase could feel her eyes on him, and it was a moment before she spoke again.

“Where did you go to school?”

“Cornell.”

“Really?” she asked, bemused. “I didn’t know they had a photography program.”

“I went to school for veterinary science.”

She fell silent and he smiled, knowing he had shocked her with that little disclosure. He glanced over to see the most endearing combination of surprise and confusion on her face.

“How did you get into photography then?”

“I’ve always been into photography. It’s all I ever wanted to do.”

“Then why did you go to school for something else?”

Chase inhaled deeply, licking his lips, and Andie shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m asking too many questions.”

“No, you’re not,” he said. It was just that he hadn’t spoken about any of this in so long. But he realized then that he actually wanted to talk about it. More specifically, he wanted to talk about it with her.

“I went to school for veterinary science because my dad would have pretty much disowned me if I went for photography.”

“He didn’t approve?” she asked, and Chase laughed.

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“What did he want you to do?”

“He wanted me to be a doctor, like him. Oh wait, excuse me,
a surgeon
,” he corrected with a roll of his eyes. “God forbid you referred to him as merely a doctor.”

He shrugged, running his hand through his hair. “I wasn’t interested in being a doctor,” he said, his voice losing the sarcastic edge. “So I picked what I thought would be the next best thing. At least in his eyes.”

“And it wasn’t?” Andie asked, and Chase turned his head to look at her. If he had seen sympathy or pity in her eyes, he would have ended the conversation right there. He didn’t want to be pitied. But the only thing he could find behind those expressive eyes was genuine interest.

“No, it wasn’t,” he said, meeting her gaze before turning back to the road. “He used to send me applications to schools with pre-med programs all the time, with little notes saying it wasn’t too late to change my mind, that he could pull some strings and get me in. I made the dean’s list almost every semester I was there, and you know what he’d say? ‘This will look great on your medical school applications,’” he mimicked, deepening his voice. “Never once did he acknowledge it as its own accomplishment. He would tell people that his son was at Cornell. I guess that was prestigious enough for him, but if they asked what my major was, he’d tell them it was undeclared while I was choosing a med school.” He laughed, shaking his head.

Chase took a deep breath, pulling himself out of the memory. “After a while, I started to think about transferring. I figured med school couldn’t be as bad as being a constant disappointment. But then he left,” he said with an indifferent shrug.

“He left?”

“I’m sorry, I should have been more specific. He moved in with the nurse he’d been screwing behind my mother’s back for three years.”

Andie’s eyes went wide as her mouth dropped a little.

“You know what the messed up thing was, though? For a while after, I kept thinking I should have just gone to med school. That if I had just sucked it up and did what he wanted me to do, he would have been happy, and then he would have stayed.” He looked over at Andie. “But I know that’s not true. He was who he was. Nothing I did was ever gonna be good enough for him.”

Andie sat there with her eyes downcast, fiddling with her fingers. “How old were you?” she asked.

“Nineteen. I was right about to start my third year at Cornell. I almost didn’t go back. I mean shit, the only reason I started that stupid degree was for him. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I worked my ass off there. And I wasn’t gonna let him take that from me. So I finished my degree. That being said, if your dog or ferret or hamster ever gets the flu, you know who to call.”

Andie laughed softly before her expression straightened again. “Do you still talk to him?”

He shook his head. “He calls sometimes. I’m not sure if it’s because his conscience gets the better of him every so often or because he’s bored and just looking to push someone around, but either way, I’m not interested.”

It was silent for a moment before Andie said, “It sounds like you guys were better off without him.”

“
I
definitely was, that’s for sure. But my mom?” He shook his head. “She was devastated. I never understood why she loved that prick, but she was lost without him. Most of my time was spent taking care of her after that. Just trying to put her back together.”

“Well, I’m glad she had you,” Andie said with such conviction that Chase felt a slight pang in his chest. He smiled gently at her.

“Are you and your mom still close?” she asked.

“She died four years ago.”

He heard the soft intake of breath before she whispered, “Chase. I’m so sorry.”

The ache in his chest intensified. And not because he was talking about his asshole father, or because he was thinking about his mother. It was because of the way she said those words. It was an automatic response for someone to say they were sorry when a loved one died. It was rote. Robotic, even. A formality.

But the sincerity and the compassion she had injected into those four words washed over him, making him feel entirely vulnerable, yet at the same time, completely at peace.

“You know that thing you said yesterday, about everything happening for a reason?” Chase took a deep breath before he looked over at her. “I never believed that before, but I hope you’re right. I hope it will all make sense to me one day.”

She smiled sadly, and when he noticed her eyes were glassy, he cleared his throat, looking away from her. Chase tightened his hand on the wheel, fighting the overwhelming urge he had to reach over to her.

“There’s a positive to all this, though,” he said, wanting to convince her. “I mean, I spent the first part of my life trying to please my father, and the second part of it living for my mother. And now I don’t live for anyone but myself.”