His Chance

Hailey - Chapter 22

Last night was just what I needed.  After my conversation with Grace about Mama having fallen again, all I wanted to do was stay in with Chance and spend every minute I could with this man that I love so much, and that is exactly what we did.  I don't know how he does it but he was able to take me from crying to laughing in about five minutes.  Our serious conversation about my Mama and our finances somehow transformed into us laughing and joking with each other and before I knew it, I was down on my knees in front of my husband again.
I have to say that I have surprised myself in the sex department.  I am so comfortable around Chance.  He makes me feel so safe and I don't feel embarrassed to be naked with him or inhibited about exploring our bodies with one another. 

After we made love, we had a light dinner from room service and Chance and I looked over the brochures from the houses that I had seen earlier in the day.  I showed him the one that I liked the most and he agreed that it was his favorite too.  He texted the agent to set up an appointment for the both of us to look at it again together and then we talked about his day and his schedule for tomorrow and then we settled down to watch a movie in bed before we fell asleep in each other's arms.

It's morning now and once again I'm not feeling quite right. Chance is in the shower getting ready to leave for practice and I'm still lying in bed. I guess I'm not used to the way food is cooked here in England. A lot of it is similar to what we eat back home but I've tried and enjoyed some new things and they just don't seem to agree with me. I've been doing my best to be adventurous in immersing myself in this new culture but maybe I should dial it back a bit. I think today I'll just start out with some tea and toast and see if I that will settle my stomach.

Chance leaves for practice and I try to decide what I want to do with myself until he returns. I would really like to work out this morning but running doesn't seem like such a great idea with an upset stomach so I decide to just walk for a bit around the neighborhood outside of our hotel. As soon as I walk out the doors of the hotel lobby and turn the corner, I realize that I've made a mistake. I'm startled by the paparazzi that are camped just outside the hotel grounds. They immediately start snapping photos of me and yelling my name from across the street and I don't for the life of me know what to do. I quickly turn around and run back towards the sanctuary of our hotel lobby. The bellman sees me and ushers me inside. He apologizes for the paparazzi's behavior and asks if there is anything that he can do for me. I explain to him that I just wanted to go for a walk to get a little exercise and so he tells me where I can find the hotel's gym. A few minutes later I'm walking on a treadmill instead and I can't help but think how weird it is that strangers want to take my picture. It's quite unnerving to me as I'm a pretty private person. I look at myself in the mirror and I immediately wish that I'd thought a bit more about my appearance before I'd left the hotel. I really just threw on some yoga pants and a sweatshirt and put my hair up in a clip. I certainly wasn't expecting to have my picture taken. I can only imagine what these pictures are going to look like as they caught me completely by surprise. I'm sure I looked terrible. Certainly they are not going to publish a picture of me  by myself without Chance. I'm not the famous one here but then I think about stories and pictures that I've seen over the years of celebrities and who they are dating and I just want to cringe. I immediately feel guilty for ever once having looked and read about other people's lives that have been put on display without their permission.  I really hope that I'm not going to embarrass my husband.  Should I text Chance and let him know about this while he is at work?  Maybe I should just call and talk to Drew about it?  I really don't know what I should do and the uncertainty of this whole situation is causing my stomach to be even more upset and I can't even continue my workout. I wind up running to the locker room and throwing up once again. 

This is crazy. I've got to pull myself together here.  I leave the stall and then rinse my mouth and wash my hands. I take the elevator back up to our suite. I sit on the bed for a few minutes and think about my new life. Whether I like it or not, I had better get used to this. Chance told me himself that it is just one of the thinks that comes along with being a professional athlete, or the wife of one, I guess. I need to try and keep this in the back of my mind at all times.

My cell phone vibrates on the dresser and I cross the room and pick it up. Knowing for sure it must be Chance texting me, I'm surprised to see an unknown British number.

HELLO HAILEY. THIS IS BELLA. I KNOW YOU DON'T KNOW ME BUT I'M MARRIED TO ZACH, CHANCE'S TEAMMATE AND FRIEND. WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO AFTERNOON TEA TODAY?

I'm so excited to read this. Chance has already mentioned Bella to me and has said that he thinks we will get along very well. Bella is an American too. I quickly text her back and accept her kind offer. She says she'll meet me in the lobby of my hotel at 3 because the hotel actually has one of the best afternoon teas in London. Great. I think this is going to be fun. I have plenty of time to get ready so I decide to read my book on English football for a while, that way, if I have any questions I can ask Bella about them. I text Chance and let him know about my plans. After that, I shower and get dressed and because I'm so excited about going to tea with Bella, I actually head down to the hotel lobby a full 30 minutes early. I'm such a geek.