If he was going to repay the debt, he had no choice but to learn to deal with the teenager—and the mother. I can do this, he told himself and forced a smile to his lips. “I’m Chance, the new tenant,” he said to Crystal, realizing he was probably stating the obvious.
The teenager’s smile grew. “I’m Crystal. Welcome to Sweetwater.”
“Thanks.” He inhaled the aroma of ground beef that peppered the air. “It smells wonderful. What are we having?”
“As I told you earlier, nothing fancy. Just tacos. I hope you like Mexican food. Crystal and I love it.” Tanya gestured toward the counter. “Everyone’s going to put their own together.”
“I like anything I don’t have to cook.” He took another few steps farther into the kitchen, committing himself to spending some time with his landlady and her daughter.
Tanya handed him a plate with big yellow and blue flowers painted on it. “You don’t cook then?”
“Not unless you call heating up a can of spaghetti cooking.”
Crystal giggled, patting her dog. “Even I can do that.”
“My daughter’s taking a Foods and Nutrition class this year. Hopefully she’ll learn more than heating up what’s in a can.”
Chance noticed the instant school was mentioned that Crystal’s cheerful expression vanished and the young girl dropped her head, her attention glued to her lap. Did she struggle with schoolwork? He made a note to find out. Maybe he could help her with her homework, then he would be one step closer to being able to leave Sweetwater, to appeasing his guilt.
“You go first.” Tanya swept her arm across her body, indicating he prepare his tacos.
Chance took two large empty shells and filled them with the meat sauce, cheese, lettuce and diced tomatoes. His mouth watered in anticipation of his first home-cooked meal in years. After he doused his tacos with chunky salsa, he made his way to the round oak table in the alcove with three large windows overlooking the deck and backyard.
He sat at one of the places already set with utensils, a blue linen napkin and a glass with ice in it. When he noticed a pitcher on the table, he poured himself some tea, then doctored it with several scoops of sugar.
Crystal positioned herself next to him and put her plate on her yellow place mat. “Mom said you’re from Louisville. I went there once, when I was nine, and took a riverboat up the Ohio River.”
As Tanya settled into the chair across from him, Chance said to Crystal, “I’ve never ridden on a riverboat. Did you like it?”
“Yeah! I’d like to take one all the way to New Orleans. I’ve never been to New Orleans. I haven’t seen very many places.” She glanced down at her wheelchair, then fixed her large hazel eyes on him as though that explained why she didn’t go places.
A tightness constricted his chest. He couldn’t imagine being confined to a wheelchair, every little bump in the terrain an obstacle, not free to move about as you wanted. He knew about that and had hated every second of his confinement. “You’ll have time,” he finally said, feeling a connection between him and Crystal that went beyond her father.
“That’s what Mom says.”
“I promised her a trip when she graduates from high school.” Tanya poured tea for herself and her daughter. “She’ll get to pick where, depending on my budget.”
“Mom’s got a saving account for the trip at the bank where she works.”
“That’s a good plan.” After he picked up his taco carefully so as not to make a mess, he took a big bite, relishing the spicy meat sauce. “Mmm. This is good.”
Tanya smiled. “Thanks.”
She and Crystal bowed their heads while Tanya said a prayer.
When she glanced up at Chance, he’d put his taco back on his plate, a look of unease in his expression. “I don’t have the time to cook like I want to, but I do enjoy getting into the kitchen when I can,” she said, hoping to make him feel comfortable.
“I’m glad you invited me.” Chance caught her gaze and held it for a long moment. He realized he meant what he had just said. The warmth emanating from both the mother and daughter spoke to a part of him that he thought had died in prison.
Finally Tanya dropped her regard and ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “What kind of job are you applying for with Nick?”
“As an assistant for his office in Sweetwater.”
“Nick said something to me about expanding his company’s presence in Sweetwater. I guess this must be the beginning. Since he and Jesse got married, I know he doesn’t like to travel to Chicago as much as he used to. What have you done before?”
Tension knifed through Chance. He should have expected questions about his past. That was the last thing he wanted to discuss. “I was a financial advisor.”
“Was? Not anymore?”
“I’m looking for something different. That’s why this assistant’s job interests me.” That and the fact Samuel paved the way for him with Nick Blackburn. But even with Samuel’s reference, the job wasn’t a sure thing. He would have to convince Mr. Blackburn he could do the work, definitely a step down from what he’d done in the past where he’d had his own assistant.
“What happens if you don’t get the job?”
“I’m still staying for a while. I’ll just look for another one,” he quickly said to ease the worry he heard in her voice.
He needed the conversation focused on someone else. Angling around toward Crystal, he asked, “Besides Foods and Nutrition, what else are you taking?”
The teenager downed a swallow of tea. “I’m taking the usual—U.S. history, English, algebra and biology. I’m also in the girls’ choir.”
“In high school I was in the show choir. I enjoyed it.” Chance felt Tanya’s puzzled gaze on him and shifted in his chair, feeling uncomfortable under her scrutiny as though she could see into his heart and soul. Their emptiness wasn’t something he wanted exposed to the world. He busied himself by taking another bite.
“I sing in the choir at church. We can always use another man to sing.”
He heard Tanya’s words of encouragement and gritted his teeth so hard that pain streaked down his neck. Church. Religion. God wasn’t for him. He’d believed once, and his whole life, his family, had been taken away from him. He stuffed the rest of the taco into his mouth and occupied himself with chewing—slowly. Averting his gaze, he stared out the window at the backyard and hoped the woman didn’t pursue the topic of conversation.
“I thought about auditioning for the show choir, but I didn’t. I can’t dance very well in this thing,” Crystal slapped the arm of her wheelchair, “and you have to be able to sing and dance to be in it. If I can’t do it right, I don’t want to do it at all.”
The teenager’s words cut through the tension gripping Chance. He looked back at her and managed to smile, hearing the need in the child’s voice that twisted his heart. “Besides singing, what else do you like to do?”
“I like to draw.”
“Why aren’t you taking art in school?”
“I can’t take everything. I’ll probably take it next year.” Crystal shrugged. “Besides, Mom’s teaching me. She’s very good.”
Chance swung his attention to Tanya who looked away when his