“Because your feelings are real.” Mia eased the photograph out from under Nichole’s fingers. “And in this moment, so were Chase’s.”
Nichole cradled her face in her hands. “You heard him yesterday. He’d claimed it was all one big hoax.”
Then that morning he’d tried to pay her off like her ex. Claimed it was all he could offer. Ordered her not to love him. As if he could dictate her heart. Even she struggled to command her heart to withdraw. To let him go. She shoved the pictures and the memories away from her.
“I was at the pet store this morning helping Sophie with more rescues.” Brooke slid a sealed large folder-sized envelope across the table toward her. “Sophie asked me to give this to you.”
“What is it?” Nichole turned the envelope over and noted the unfamiliar law firm name in the corner.
“It’s from Drew Harrington.” Brooke hesitated as if she was working to regain her voice. “Chase asked him to look into Fund Infusion. Drew wanted you to know what he’d found.”
“Solid financials and fair business practices, I’m sure.” Nichole fingered the envelope and willed her sudden disquiet to retreat. Surely Vick and Glenn hadn’t deceived her too. Played for a fool twice in one day would be something of a new low.
“Want us to open it?” Brooke chewed on her bottom lip.
Nichole shook her head and slipped her finger under the sealed flap. The folder inside contained detailed financials. Nothing fraudulent or illegal was on the profit and loss statements. Fund Infusion was legitimate like she’d told Chase. Nichole skimmed through several pages before stopping abruptly. Everything about Fund Infusion was genuine. Everything except the company’s intentions for In A Pinch.
“What’s wrong?” Josie scooted closer to Nichole.
Brooke reached across the table and touched Nichole’s arm. “If it’s bad, we can fix it together.”
“We can’t fix this.” The same as Chase’s money couldn’t fix her broken heart. Nichole swallowed. Nothing removed the distaste. The bitter sting. “The investors want to buy my app to kill it.”
Mia gasped. “That’s not fair.”
“That’s their right if I sell my app to them.” Nichole pushed the folder away. “Their largest client is my only competitor.” And just like that, her future as an authentic and talented app designer with a program successful on a national level was ruined.
Had Chase known last night? She’d seen him talking to Drew Harrington.
“Why didn’t Chase tell you?” Josie read through the paperwork in the folder.
“I wouldn’t have listened,” Nichole admitted. She’d needed to believe in Glenn and Vick. Needed to believe she could secure her own family’s future. “But Chase offered me money today to launch In A Pinch myself.”
But he hadn’t offered her his heart. Or his love. I don’t even know who I am. Nichole squeezed her eyes closed. She knew who he was. He was the man she loved. The man she wanted to share her life with. And the man who couldn’t or wouldn’t accept her love.
“Did you take it?” Mia asked.
“Please tell me you have the money,” Brooke said.
“I refused.” Nichole stood and paced away from the table and her friends.
She’d accepted the money from her ex, used it to start her new life with Wesley. She hadn’t really wanted her ex’s heart. She saw that now. But she wanted Chase’s trust and his love more than his money. She could provide for her family and take care of Wesley like she had been for years. And now she finally understood her grandmother was right. Love was enough and all she’d ever really needed. Except she didn’t have Chase’s love.
“What if Chase actually wanted to help?” Josie rose and walked over to Nichole. “Maybe he thought he was giving you exactly what you needed for your future.”
“I need him in my future, not his money.” Nichole clutched Josie’s hands as if pleading with her friend would make Chase understand. “But he doesn’t believe me.”
Josie held on to Nichole and looked into her eyes. “Maybe you have to show him.”
“Show him what?” Nichole glanced at Brooke and Mia.
“That his love matters to you more than his money.” Brooke stepped around the table. “More than football.”
Nichole winced. “I possibly ruined his football career. Football was his life.”
“Was his life,” Mia repeated, and joined their group huddle in the middle of the kitchen. She held up the picture of Nichole and Chase. “But he could have a new life with you and Wesley.”
“I don’t know.” Nichole skipped her gaze away from her friends. Another risk. Another jump. Could she take it?
“Do you love him?” Brooke’s quiet voice pulled at Nichole.
She never hesitated. “More than I thought possible.”
“Then you need to fight for that. You need to fight for a life together.” Josie pointed at the picture. “Fight for the love in this photograph.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Nichole confessed.
Her friends wrapped their arms around her and laughed. “It’s a good thing then that we do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHASE KNOCKED ON the office door, peered inside and skipped over any greeting. “Surgery is scheduled.”
His sister spun her chair around and stood up. “Good to know.”
Chase stepped into Mallory’s office. Too restless to sit, he tapped the folder containing his pre-op paperwork against his leg. “It’s next week on Tuesday.”
“I’ll check the schedule, see who’s staffed that day.” Mallory folded her hands together on her desk and watched him. “But our docs are the best. They’ll take good care of you.”
Chase stilled. The folder quieted against his thigh. “I’ve been down this road before.” Just not without a recovery plan on the other side. Not without a strategy that would return him to the football field as soon as possible.
“You haven’t been down this road with a broken heart before.” Mallory frowned. “Unfortunately, modern medicine hasn’t discovered a medical cure for that specific condition yet.”
He had an injured shoulder, not a fractured heart. “I wasn’t looking for a cure.”
“That’s
