Carwash

Just before he left, Chandler asked how Avery was doing.

"She's fine. I just need to find a babysitter for her. Well, I have one, but she's currently unavailable and I...."

"I'll watch her. Anytime. Just let me know," Chandler told her in a way that said he wasn't joking.

"Oh, I...I couldn't," Hadley said unable to look at him knowing it was so she could go out with another man—one her own age who was still very good looking.

"I'm happy to do it. Even if it's because you're...going on a date."

"How did you know that was the reason?" she asked amazed yet again at his insight.

"I didn't know," he told her. "But I do know you're a beautiful woman, and men are going to ask you out. It didn't take much to put two and two together. When do you need me?"

"Chandler, I can't," she said feeling incredibly guilty.

"Nonsense! I love that little kid. We can toast marshmallows using your natural gas fireplace so it sounds perfect to me."

"Are you sure? I mean, you have no idea how awkward this seems to me or how guilty I feel that you even offered."

"Come on, Hadley. We're friends, too, right? Friends help each other out so just tell me when."

She winced then said, "Tonight?"

"Sure. What time?"

"Um...can I call you?" she asked still wincing.

"Yes, and please relax about this. It's no big deal. I'd rather see you going out and being happy than sitting around alone."

He paused then said, "Of course I'd rather see you going out with me, but if that's not going to happen, then I'd still prefer you to have someone else in your life."

Hadley sighed then said, "You are such an amazing guy, Chandler Caulfield."

"Just not amazing enough right?" he said in a way that didn't sound pathetic or make her feel guilty.

That evening, Chandler arrived a few minutes early to make sure he had all the info Hadley needed him to have.

Avery was asking to roast marshamallows as soon as he walked in and she was still bugging him about it ten minutes later as he and her mother went over the list she'd made.

Hadley looked even more amazing than she had when she'd gone out with Chandler and he told her so. She thanked him and felt even worse about the whole situation and wondered how she could have agreed to let him come over and babysit her daughter when she knew the way he felt about her. Even worse, Hadley still wasn't sure how she felt about him. No, that wasn't true. She knew exactly how she felt about him as long as she could pretend he was at least thirty. But he wasn't so....

"I'll get it!" Avery called out again when the doorbell rang.

"Are you going to marry my mommy?" she asked when Mark stepped inside.

"I just might," he said as he looked at her mother.

"No, he is not going to marry me, honey," she said sweetly.

"Because you wanna marry Mr. Marshamallow Man?" she asked naively.

"Who's that?" Mark asked as he looked around.

"Him! Right over there!" Avery said pointing to Chandler who waved rather sheepishly.

"Who's that?" Mark asked again only this time he asked Hadley directly.

"Mark? This is my...boss...Chandler Caulfield. Chandler, this is someone I went to high school with about a million years ago," she said introducing them.

Mark shook his hand then said, "This kid is your...boss?"

Slightly annoyed, Hadley said, "Yes. He is. He owns two car washes in town, and the way things are going, he'll own several more very soon."

"Yeah, okay. Whatever. You ready to go? You look really hot, by the way," he said completely ignoring the 'kid' in the room.

Hadley looked at Mark then at Chandler then said, "Thank you again so much for watching Avery for me."

"I wouldn't miss it," he told her with a smile.

He went to shake Mark's hand and wish him a good evening, but the older man ignored it and said to Hadley, "We need get a move on. We don't want to be late. This place is very exclusive and it wasn't easy getting reservations."

Chandler didn't say anything, but he saw the distressed look in Hadley's eyes as she grabbed her purse.

"We're all set," Chandler told her. "Just go and have a good time, okay?"

"Bye, Mommy!" Avery called out as she pulled Chandler's hand to come with her to start their marshmallow roast.

Hadley wanted to be impressed by the limousine waiting for them outside, but she never had the chance as Mark talked about himself non-stop from the time they got in it until it dropped her off three hours later.

It was bad enough when he started in on how he was 'in the gym' for a couple of hours every day, but when he moved on to his 'half-mil-plus-bonuses compensation package' or the exclusive area he lived in with a maid and other staff, she couldn't believe this was the same kind, sweet boy she'd known back in high school.

She'd barely said anything the entire evening, and when she finally managed to get a word in edgewise about her daughter, the one thing that came through loud and clear was his complete lack of desire to have children.

"Don't get me wrong. Kids are great. Hell, I'd even be willing to put up with having one around—for the right woman," he'd told her.

As the limo came to a stop, Mark said, "This doesn't have to end this yearly, you know. We could go back to my place and the driver could bring you home in the morning. After all, you've got the Boy Wonder upstairs watching your rugrat, right?"

When he reached over to brush her hair back, Hadley's skin crawled.

"I had a really nice time tonight, Mark. I've just got a bit of a headache so I think I'll pass," she told him trying to remain polite.

"It's your loss, babe," he said in a way that indicated he wasn't kidding. "I've changed a lot since high school, let me assure you."

"Yes you have," she said forcing a smile.

"So what do you say?" he said as he moved closer and tried putting his arms around her and kiss her.

"I say get your paws off of me. Now!" Hadley told him in no uncertain terms.

He reached over and opened her door then said, "Like I said, it's your loss."

"No doubt," Hadley said as she got out.

"If you change you mind, I'm up most of the night," he called to her.

The driver had jumped out and closed the door for her after Hadley refused to answer Mark. She rarely got angry, but she was very close right now, and had to take several deep breaths and remind herself the two people inside had no knowledge of what happened or why she was so upset before going inside.

"Mommy!" Avery called out as soon as she heard the door.

"What are you still doing up?" she asked after hugging her daughter.

"She wasn't feeling so well," Chandler told her. "Right after you left she said her stomach was bothering her. I took her temperature and it's up just a tad. I didn't want to ruin your evening as it doesn't seem serious."

Hadley put her hand on her daughter's forehead and asked how she was feeling.

"My tummy hurts," she told her mother.

"Let's get you to bed and I'll get some Tylenol for your fever, okay?"

It was a little after 11pm when she finally fell asleep, her red cheeks a sign the Tylenol hadn't yet kicked in.

Hadley had told Chandler he was welcome to go home as soon as she got there, but he wanted to make sure Avery was okay first.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. It's probably just a bug or a cold. Kids are always getting something," she told him.

"So how was your date? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Don't ask," she said in a way that answered his question.

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse," she said. "I can't stand arrogant people and arrogant narcissists are the worst or the worst."

"Ouch. He seemed okay from what little I saw," Chandler said omitting the snide comments and his unwillingness to shake hands.

"That's what I thought, too," she told him. "As they say, 'looks can be deceiving'."

"Don't give up, okay? There's some guy out there who's perfect for you. Just keep looking, and one of these days he'll walk right into your life," Chandler told her with a smile.

"I'm sure you're right," she told him. "As much as I don't like living alone, I'd rather live by myself than be in a relationship with someone who's in love with himself."

"I consider myself to be a Libertarian, but I totally disagree with Ayn Rand on at least one thing," Chandler said out of nowhere.

Hadley wasn't an authority on Rand or her philosophy of Objectivism, but she was familiar with it.

"Rand says altruism is a fault. I think it's a virtue. How can you possibly care about someone and not be willing to sacrifice for them? How can you not put their needs ahead of your own?"

Hadley and James had always put Avery's needs above their own and the needs of each ahead of themselves. Just hearing Chandler say that out loud touched her deeply and reinforced whatever it was she'd been feeling before.

"Yes! I agree completely," she told him. "I put selfishness right up there with narcissism."

"Yeah, those aren't traits I find desirable in anyone," Chandler agreed. "It's one thing to tell someone you love them. Anyone can do that. It's quite another to show them. And if you don't show them, do you even really love them?"

Hadley just stood there looking at him without saying a word.

"Is something wrong?" he finally asked when she didn't speak.

"No. Nothing's wrong. Except possibly with me for thinking age was such a big deal," she said quietly.

"I'm not pushy, Hadley, but I am here anytime you need me," he said just as quietly.

"Yes, you are, aren't you?" she told him as she looked into his eyes now not only impressed with him the way she'd been before but seeing, for the first time, a man who was wise, kind and caring well beyond his years.

"Well, I guess I should be going," he said. "Please let me know how Avery's doing in the morning, okay?"

"I will. I definitely will," she promised as she walked him to the door.

"If you need to take her to the doctor tomorrow, by all means, just go, okay?" he said as they stood at the door.

"Thank you, Chandler," she told him.

She looked down then said, "I think tonight helped me see things a lot more clearly."

"I won't ask you to elaborate," he said quietly with a bit of a smile.

"Thank you," she said as she looked back up at him. "And thank you so much for watching my baby tonight. She really loves you, Chandler."

"Well, I love her, too," he told her.

Chandler told her goodnight then as he turned to leave, Hadley gently grabbed his forearm then kissed him on the cheek.

"I should babysit for you more often," he told her as his body ached to hold her and actually kiss her.

"Chandler?" she said without replying to his comment.

"Yes?"

"If...if, you know, if you still wanted to maybe...get together sometime...."

"I would. I'd like that very much," he told her as he turned back around to face her.

"Me, too," she said sweetly as she looked back up at him.

"Well, goodnight then," he said again and turned to leave.

Again, she gently grabbed his arm.

"Chandler?" she said again.

"Uh-huh?"

"I...I wish I'd...gone out with you tonight," she told him her eyes locked with his before looking down again.

"Me, too," he said.

The third time he turned away and she took his arm he knew something was different.

"Chandler?"

He didn't answer this time. He just looked into her eyes.

"Would you...would you...kiss me?"

Her voice was soft and gentle and full of emotion as she stared into his eyes.

He put his hand on her shoulder and for the first time, softly pressed his lips to hers as she put an arm around his neck and kissed him back.

"Like that?" he asked quietly when it ended.

"Uh-huh. Just like that," she said with a warm smile.

"I really should go," he told her.

"Okay. Goodnight and...thank you. Thank you for keeping an eye on Avery so I could open my own eyes to...to something I might have otherwise missed."

He could tell by her eyes she wanted him to kiss her again so he again kissed her one more time before leaving without saying another word.

When he left, Hadley stood there for some time thinking about what had happened that night. She started with the kiss and worked backwards to the time Mark arrived and realized she'd been making way too much out of their age difference. Chandler was far more mature and a much better man than Mark could ever hope to be with his money and his gated home and the gym he had inside it.

She couldn't say she was in love with this much-younger man, but she knew she had feelings for him and that she'd never let age alone stand in the way of her finding out. And if it turned out he wasn't this perfect guy Chandler mentioned who'd one day just up and walk into her life, she knew she'd be better off for having gotten to know him.

For the first time since James passed away, Hadley felt very hopeful about her romantic future.

She was up at 5:30am and just as she was finishing a cup of coffee she heard Avery call out for her. She ran into her room and knelt beside the bed and asked what was wrong.

"My tummy hurts really bad!" she said before she started crying.

"Okay. We're gonna take you to the doctor," her mom said as she scooped her up.

Hadley could tell her fever was way up, and the way Avery was crying told her this was serious. She threw a few things in a bag, grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, then carried her daughter to the SUV.

They got to the ER of the nearest hospital in just ten minutes as there was mercifully no traffic on the roads yet. Hadley checked them in, and a few minutes later a nurse took them back and checked Avery's vitals.

"Her temperature is 104.2," the nurse said. "I'll let the doctor know right away."

She wasn't aware that anything over 104 for a child moved the patient up the triage list, and within ten minutes a doctor showed up and began asking questions as he poked and prodded.

"I'm going to run a blood test while we do a CT scan real quick, but I'm pretty sure this is appendicitis," he told her. "Her abdomen is distended leading me to believe she's getting close to rupturing so we need to move quickly."

Hadley stayed next to her daughter trying to soothe her (and her own nerves) as a nurse drew blood so the lab could check her white cell count.

It was now 6:30am and Hadley knew who to call.

"Chandler? It's me. I'm at the hospital with Avery and...."

"I'll be right there," he said, cutting her off, as he was getting dressed.

He flew out of the house and drove straight to the hospital and found her just as the blood results were coming back.

"I'm now 100% certain it's appendicitis," the doctor told her just as Chandler came in.

Hadley threw her arms around him and told him what was happening.

"She'll be fine," Chandler assured her. "They do this all the time, okay?"

"Okay," she said trying not to cry.

Chandler let go of her then bent over and let Avery see him.

She was still crying but reached up to hug him.

"My tummy hurts really bad, Mr. Marshamallow Man," she said through her tears.

"They're gonna fix you all up and make it feel better," he assured her.

"Will you be here when I'm all better?" she managed to choke out.

"Yes. Of course I will," he told her.

She hugged him tight before the nurse said to Chandler, "We need to take your daughter down to the OR now."

"Oh, she's not my...." he began saying as he felt Hadley's hand slip into his.

"Thank you," she told the nurse who promised they'd take good care of her.

She kissed Avery on the forehead and told her how much she loved her as they wheeled the gurney out.

As they turned around, a hospital administrator was standing there with a clipboard.

"Mrs. Kimball? Good morning. I've Athea Pinknay. We need to have you sign a release and discuss payment options. Can you and your husband please follow me?"

"Oh, I'm not her...."

"Yes. We'll come with you," Hadley told her as she squeezed Chandler's hand.

Hadley signed the release immediately then braced for the bad news knowing she didn't have any insurance.

The ER visit alone was just over a thousand dollars and when she saw the bottom line for the entire procedure, she felt ill. The CT scan cost was nearly $4,000 and the total for the surgery, the OR, and everything...so far...was a staggering $30,752.

"Now this doesn't include post-operative care," Ms. Pinknay told her. "Since you don't have insurance, we need to work out some kind of payment plan. How would you like to take care of this?"

Hadley knew she had about $12,000 left in savings and there was maybe another $22,000 left from her husband's $50,000 life insurance policy. She could pay for the hospital visit but would be wiped out financially. Payments were her only real option so she said she'd divide the cost into as many monthly payments as the hospital would allow and signed an agreement to that effect with her first payment due in just thirty days.

Chandler didn't say a word as he watched Hadley fighting back tears from the stress of her daughter needing surgery and compounded by the additional stress of having to pay for it all herself.

She never once complained, though, and several times she leaned on Chandler's shoulder or just held his hand.

"Thank you for being here," Hadley said after they left the administrator's office.

"You couldn't keep me away," he told her as they walked hand in hand.

"Chandler? I...I loved what you said about loving and giving last night," she told him out of nowhere.

"I meant that," he told her sincerely.

"I know you did. And...."

She turned toward him and tried to smile as she said, "And you're proving it by being here for me. For Avery, too, of course."

"As I said, you couldn't possibly keep me from being here for you," he told her again. "Both of you."

As he did, she fell into his arms and cried, the stress finally demanding a release.

Chandler stood there and held her until she was strong enough to go sit in the waiting room. Neither of them had eaten, and yet neither of them felt like they could.

Two hours later the same doctor came out and told them the operation went perfectly and that Avery was being taken to a recovery room where they could go see her in a few minutes.

Hadley cried again with sheer relief and thanked the doctor several times before he moved on to his next patient.

"Come on. Let's go see our little girl," Hadley said as she again took Chandler's hand.

There were tubes and beeping sounds, and Hadley was shaking when she saw her baby laying there so small and helpless.

She waited patiently until she opened her eyes.

"Avery? Honey? Can you hear me?" her mom asked.

She nodded but didn't speak.

"You're gonna be all better," her mom said forcing herself to be strong.

"Did Daddy watch over me?" she asked very quietly.

"Yes, he did," Chandler said answering for Hadley. "And he always will, sweetie."

"I still want you to be my new daddy," Avery said barely able to talk.

"You just try and rest and get better, okay," he told her before kissing her forehead.

They sat there for another hour before Hadley finally said, "You don't need to stay any longer. I'll be fine now."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm sure," she told him.

"If I leave, you have to promise to keep me updated whenever anything changes."

"I will. I promise," she told him.

"Okay then. I have some things I need to take care of. Can I get you anything before I go?"

"No. As long as you promise you'll come back then no, I don't need anything...else," she said her eyes staring into his.

"We'll get through this. I promise," he told her as he put a hand on her face.

Hadley nodded then said, "Yes we will. Together, right?"

"Yes. Together," he told her.

By noon, Chandler had the funds he needed. He'd explained it all to his father who'd agreed to loan him the money after Chandler said he'd sell both locations if necessary.