Chapter 6
Chase
He’d been upstaged by a dog.
Chase sighed and continued strumming the same three chords on his guitar. Ever since his return from the festival several hours ago, he’d been holed up in his room at the inn, trying to stay out of Thor’s way. Which also meant he wasn’t able to spend time with Izzy like he’d hoped.
The fading sunlight outside his window reminded him he only had half a day left in Romance. Any chances of getting to know Izzy better were slipping away. The quaint room he was in gave him some clues as to her interests. A set of musical note pillar candles next to a current copy of 1859 Oregon Magazine pointed to her love of music and her state. The painting of a little girl hanging over the bed, however, seemed out of place. Her heart-shaped face resembled Izzy’s, but the eyes staring back at him were bright blue instead of hazel. Who was this child and what significance did she have in Izzy’s life?
His fingers picked at the metal strings mindlessly. Since he’d taught himself to play the guitar at age fifteen, his world had opened up. He’d found fame and fortune, but the one thing he longed for the most—love—still seemed out of reach. He could sing about it, but without living it, his songs were just a shadow of the real thing.
The piece he’d started writing the night before was evidence of his lackluster love life. It was more of a jingle at this point; he was stuck on the second line of the chorus. And without the chorus, he had no direction for the verses. He’d spoken too soon. He needed to find Grace Bella after all.
He ran his hands through his hair, certain it was standing on end after wearing a cap for most of the day. Getting up from the bed, he decided a shower was in order. Hot water plus the great acoustics of a bathroom always gave him a burst of inspiration.
Halfway through the shower, he’d gotten zero ideas for his song, but he did have a great-smelling head of hair. The sweet coconut scent of the shampoo was one he’d come to associate with Izzy. As he finished rinsing the soap from his body, the bathroom light suddenly flickered, then went out. He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, fumbling for a towel in the dark. He had it wrapped around his waist when a knock sounded on his bedroom door.
“Chase? Sorry about the lights,” Izzy called out. “I was vacuuming and using the microwave and listening to music—”
He opened the door to find Izzy with her hair piled on top of her head and two flashlights in hand. She’d changed since he last saw her into a pair of black yoga pants and a gray top that bared one shoulder. She looked even younger than usual, even with a few worry lines creasing her forehead. “How do you manage to listen to music and vacuum at the same time?”
Izzy’s eyes flew from his face to his still dripping torso. Her mouth opened and closed and opened again, but no sound emerged for a good five seconds. When she finally spoke, her cheeks had darkened several shades of red. “It’s, uh, just something I like to do.” She handed him one of the flashlights and dropped her gaze. “I’m going to flip the circuit breaker. This is the second time this has happened this month. I better have Josh come look at it,” she muttered to herself as she turned to go.
“Is that your boyfriend?”
“No, no boyfriend. Josh is the electrician.”
So, there wasn’t anyone special in her life. “Good to know.”
“The only man in my life is a furry one.”
As if on cue, the high-pitched clicking sound of dog nails on hardwood echoed in the hallway. A black, moist nose appeared in the doorway and gave Chase a quick sniff. Thor wagged his tail and licked the drops of water trailing down his legs.
“Hey Thor.” Chase held out his hand to him and received a lick in return. “So, you like me now? Or am I just a substitute for your water bowl?”
“He just had some water,” Izzy answered for her dog, “so that can’t be it.” She studied the scene before her, then gasped. “Do you think something you had on earlier spooked him? Like your sunglasses or …”
“My cap?” He reached for the baseball cap lying on the dresser. “It wasn't the sunglasses. Jessie had a pair on, too. This must be the culprit.”
“Yes, your cap! I bet whoever hurt him had been wearing one, too.”
Sure enough, Thor caught one glimpse of the cap and backed away.
Chase tossed it aside and placed his hands on his hips, a proud grin crossing his lips. “Mystery solved. I’m one of the good guys now.”
“It seems like it,” Izzy murmured more to herself than him. “Um, are you hungry? I didn’t know if you had any dinner plans or not. I heated up some leftovers from breakfast if you want to share them.”
“Sure, that sounds great. I’ll come down in a minute.”
“Take your time.” She patted her leg and motioned for Thor to follow her. “Come on, boy. Let the man get dressed in peace.”
Izzy had called him a man. It seemed like someone was seeing him in a new light. The dog, for one, did. What a day. Things were finally looking up.
Chase toweled off and threw on a T-shirt and a clean pair of jeans before heading downstairs. The lights had yet to come back on, so he followed the brightly illuminated path his flashlight shone. He found Izzy seated in the dining area with two plates of food and glasses and Thor lying at her feet. A trio of candles made up the centerpiece. He greeted her and took a seat. “You didn’t say anything about a candlelit dinner. I would’ve dressed up,” he joked.
“This isn’t exactly by choice,” she sighed. “Flipping the circuit breaker didn’t work. I left Josh a message; hopefully he’ll call back tonight. In the meantime, I’m afraid we’re going to have to do things the old-fashioned way.”
“That’s fine with me. It’s more romantic this way.”
“Humph.”
The flickering light hid Izzy’s entire expression, but her tone revealed her disapproval. “You don't agree?”
“Let’s just eat,” she insisted, picking up her fork.
“Sure. I’m starving.”
“When aren’t you hungry?” she chuckled. “I guess it’s true what they say—guys don’t stop growing until well into adulthood. You’re lucky you have such a good metabolism. Once you reach thirty-five, it all goes downhill. Gravity really starts working overtime then.”
The confidence in her voice had returned, as if she were speaking from experience. “Thirty-five? How would you possibly know anything about that?”
Izzy stopped eating and set down her fork. “How old do you think I am, Chase?”
“I, uh, I have no idea,” he stammered, before taking a drink to wash down a bite of bacon. “I mean, definitely not more than thirty.”
“I’m thirty-six.”
His jaw dropped. Eleven years was a bit of a stretch. “Oh, wow. I had no idea.”
“I know you didn’t. But now you understand why I feel so old next to you. And why you shouldn’t be talking about having romantic dinners with me,” she added with a wry smile. “A few more years and I’d be old enough to be your mother.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “You are nowhere close to that. My mom’s fifty-two. The only thing you have in common with her is your strength”—he smirked—“not to mention, your stubbornness. Oh, and the fact that you’re both left-handed. The two of you would get along well. She’d love to hear about this place and how you got it up and running on your own. She had to do a lot of things by herself after my dad left, so she’d respect that about you. I'm sure she’d cook for you, too.”
“Cook for me? You can stop your crazy talk, young man. I am not ready to meet your mother.” She raised both hands and shook her head. “Why did I even say that? Now I’m talking crazy. This is what being near you does to me.”
He’d never been so happy to take the blame for something—again. There was no denying he’d left an impression on her. “So, you do like me.”
“What?”
“You feel something for me. Admit it.”
“No,” Izzy refuted, her tone unconvincing. “Fine, maybe a little. But it doesn’t matter. You’re leaving tomorrow. Your life is in California; mine’s here in Romance—”
“Exactly,” he cut in. “We’re in Romance of all places. There’s no better place for two people to find each other than here.” Chase reached across the table for her hands. “California’s only a plane ride away. We can make it work.”
Izzy pulled away, her callused fingertips grazing a path across his palm. “I appreciate the sentiment, Chase, but we can be friends, nothing more.”
“But don’t you feel our connection? You have to admit there’s something there.”
“We’re two people who happen to enjoy the same music,” she shrugged. “But we’re two very different people. It’s not just the age; it’s everything else. You’re a pop star, for crying out loud. You could have any woman you want.”
Before he could reply, a cell phone rang. Izzy fished it out of her pants pocket and answered, “Hi baby—” She held up the black screen and frowned. “Darn. My phone’s out of battery.”
“Didn’t you say there’s no boyfriend in the picture?”
“There isn’t. That was my daughter. I need to call her back or she’ll worry.”
“Your who? You never mentioned you had kids.”
“Just one. She’s away at college. I wasn’t hiding that fact; it just never came up,” she remarked casually, using the same line he’d used earlier about his celebrity status. “Can I use your phone?”
“College? How is that possible?”
“Oh, it’s possible, all right. Ask anyone in this town and they’ll tell you all about how I turned wild after my daddy died and got pregnant before graduation.”
So that’s what she had meant about trying to escape her past. Still shocked, Chase drew his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “The screen’s a little cracked, but it still works.”
“Thanks.”
Once she finished leaving a voicemail, he continued with his questions. “And the father? Where is he?”
“He cheated on me, so I broke things off. He left Romance before she was born.”
He nodded, letting all this new information sink in. Izzy was stronger than he realized. “You really do have a lot in common with my mom. How do you manage it all? It must be such a load on your shoulders to have to do everything by yourself.”
“I had my mom’s help early on. I worked odd jobs and saved up money over the years. We got by.”
“And now you have to pay for tuition. I know what that’s like. I’m helping to support my brother through school.”
“I’m happy to pay for it. I never got the chance to go, so I’m glad my daughter gets to have the experience. I have some money coming in from a, um, freelance gig that helps cover some of the expenses.”
“You’re amazing, Izzy.” He shook his head in appreciation. A single mom, an entrepreneur, and a woman who seemed unfazed by his celebrity status—what a rare find. “I like you even more now after knowing all this about you.”
She scoffed. “You don’t give up, do you?”
In the next second, the entire room lit up and the sound of music flowed from the adjacent room. Chase blinked quickly as his eyes adjusted to the light. Seeing Izzy’s grin lifted the corners of his mouth into one of his own. “To answer your question, no, I don’t give up. Not on something I believe in.”
The smile disappeared. “Your food’s getting cold. Do you still want the bacon? It doesn’t look too appetizing.”
He glanced down at his plate where the bacon grease had solidified into white chunks. “I’ll heat it up now that the microwave’s working.”
“Let me.” She took his plate. “You’re my guest.”
Before he could protest, Izzy walked off to the kitchen with Thor following close behind. He picked up his phone to check the time just as the screen lit up with an incoming call. “Hello?”
A young woman answered. “Hi, this is Gracie Sutton. I got a call from my mom at this number. Her name’s Izzy—Isabella Sutton. May I speak to her, please?”
Gracie? Isabella? Who was this? “Are you Grace Bella?”
“No, I’m Grace. My mama’s Isabella.” The voice paused before asking, “Who is this?”
“I’m Chase Lockhart.”
“Chase Lockhart as in the Chase Lockhart? No way! Your song was just on the radio—I mean, my mom’s song, well, more like you singing her song. Wait—what are you doing with my mama? How did you find her?”
Apparently, he’d found the woman he was looking for in Romance. But why had she been keeping her identity a secret from him?