Chances Are Read online

  Her grandmother would have understood her reasons, but she also would have shared the same concerns Maya faced now. What if Rishi still intend to go through with the marriage contract Maya’s parents had agreed to? Surely, after all these years, he would have found another girl to take to wife.

  Exhausted, she leaned back on the couch, hoping no one would notice her sitting there. She couldn’t make the call to her parents for another seven or eight hours, but maybe, if they were willing to help her with the costs of the surgery, they might also be willing to give her some money for rent for the next month. Though she already knew her family’s support was questionable at best, Maya clung to the hope that they would help her—because her life literally depended on it.

  A couple came through the door and walked past her, both of them sending curious glances her way. While some residents used the main entrance by the mailboxes, she knew a good number preferred to cut through the clubhouse on the way to a side entrance, which was closer to the nearest subway station and the outdoor parking spaces.

  Realizing she might look more natural if she had a phone or a book in her hand, she opened her purse to retrieve her cell phone. When it wasn’t in the inside pocket where she normally kept it, she pulled the prepaid phone she’d just purchased out and started digging through her purse.

  Certain that she’d put it in her purse that morning, she searched through the bag again, only to confirm that it wasn’t there. “Great,” she muttered under her breath. Between the hospital waiting room, the doctor’s office, the cab, and the drugstore, she could have lost it anywhere.

  Grateful to have the prepaid phone, she removed it from its packaging and activated it. She called the international operator and got the country code for India, knowing she should prepare for the inevitable. After jotting the number down on the back of her credit card receipt, she slipped her arm through the strap of her purse, leaned back on the couch, and let her eyes droop closed.

  * * *

  Ben heard his phone ring and dug it out of his pocket, hoping his sister was finally calling him back. He had called a couple of times but hadn’t been able to reach her. He had ultimately resorted to sending her a text message with a request to call him.

  When he saw that it was Heather’s name on his screen instead, he silenced the phone and put it back into his pocket. She was consistent. He’d give her that. Every day around eight o’clock her time, she tried to call him.

  Only once had he actually answered, and that had happened only because he’d been on another call and hadn’t checked the caller ID before answering. He had tried to explain during their most recent conversation that when he had suggested they take a break, he meant from each other. He still wasn’t quite sure she understood what that entailed.

  There was no doubt that Heather was beautiful and often the life of the party, but he was done investing time in a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere. Besides, he suspected Heather would only stay interested in him as long as his star was on the rise. He had little doubt that she would bail on him the minute he was out of the news. Even flying low on everyone’s radar after the season ended had left her a little restless.

  A little part of him wished someone would have caught a glimpse of him with Maya in his apartment building, if nothing else but to show Heather he was moving on. Admittedly, when he’d first spotted Maya in his place, for a brief moment, he had thought that maybe Heather had flown to DC to surprise him. It hadn’t taken long to see beyond their similar builds and hair color and focus on the differences. While Heather probably should have bought stock in several cosmetic companies, Maya didn’t appear to wear any makeup.

  Pushing aside thoughts of the two women who had recently complicated his life, Ben took the elevator down to his car and debated whether he should finish unpacking or head out to grab some dinner. He quickly decided in favor of a hot meal and headed for one of the local sports bars he had frequented during the baseball season.

  Not surprisingly, the hostess greeted him by name. “Ben, welcome back. I thought you left town for the off-season.”

  “I’m back for a while,” Ben told her. “Can you set me up with a table, Abby?”

  “Of course.” She picked up a menu and led him away from the bar and toward the tables in the back, where he normally sat.

  Ben followed her, raising a hand in greeting as they passed one of the waiters he had come to know over the past few months. He took the seat against the wall, the basketball game on the television monitors closest to him immediately capturing his attention.

  A minute later, a waitress put a glass of ice water down in front of him and proceeded to take his order. Feeling very much at home, Ben stretched his legs out, leaned back, and let himself enjoy the game.

  * * *

  Maya jolted awake, her heart pounding as she tried to identify her surroundings. It took her a moment to remember that she wasn’t in Ben’s apartment upstairs but, rather, was restricted to the common areas of the building. She looked around to find the source of the sound that had woken her and was surprised to find herself alone.

  She had managed to stay awake through most of the afternoon, only dozing a few times. During the early evening hours, the building had come alive with activity as people had come home from work and gone out with various friends. Feeling awkward with so many people passing through the clubhouse, Maya had gone outside to sit on one of the benches in front of the building. When the sun disappeared beyond the horizon and the chill of the evening had become too much for her, she’d taken refuge in the locker room that adjoined the weight room.

  The crackers she had taken from Ben’s apartment had provided her with a semblance of dinner, and she now had a sleeve of saltines tucked away in her purse so she wouldn’t have to dig them out from under the couch every time she needed to eat something.

  After darkness had fallen and the building had quieted, she’d returned to the couch in the clubhouse and given in to her fatigue.

  She looked outside now to see the darkness of night was complete. A glance at her watch showed her the time had come. While the sun wasn’t up in Washington, DC, right now, it was shining brightly over her home in India.

  Drawing up her courage, Maya located the country code she had found earlier and proceeded to dial the phone number for her parents’ home from memory. Her father’s voice sounded in greeting, and Maya felt an ache in her heart.

  “Pita?”

  He hesitated briefly before speaking sternly in Hindi. “You must have the wrong number.”

  “Pita, it’s me, Maya.”

  “The only Maya I know is dead to me. She left, disgracing herself and her family.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes, and she nearly hung up. Reminding herself that she didn’t have any other options, she forced herself to continue. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I need your help. I’m sick.”

  Silence hummed through the phone.

  She took his silence as a good sign. “I am going through treatments for cancer, but I will need to have an operation.” Maya drew another steadying breath. “The hospital won’t allow the doctors to operate unless I can pay some of the money up front.”

  More silence. Then her father spoke, and she thought she could hear anguish in his voice. “What hospital? What doctor?”

  After so many years of hiding her location from her family, it took a moment for her to respond. She reminded herself that if her father did agree to help with the money, she would have to give him enough information to send it to her or the hospital. “I’m being treated at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. My doctor is Dr. Schuster.”

  “And this doctor thinks he can cure you?”

  “We hope so.” She swallowed hard and offered him the truth that she hated to face. “It’s my last chance.”

  Again, it took him a moment to respond, as though he was trying to control his emotions. “I see.”

  “I’m not asking you to give me the money. I wi
ll pay you back. I just need some time to get better first.”

  “If I do this, will you honor the marriage contract between you and Rishi?”

  Disappointment engulfed her. She had so hoped that after all these years Rishi would already be married. She closed her eyes, praying that her father would forgive her for running away, for choosing Christianity and freedom over her family.

  “Please don’t ask me that,” Maya pleaded. What would she do if she had to choose between a life as Rishi’s wife or death as a free woman?

  “It sounds as though little has changed over the years.” A combination of hurt and regret sounded in his voice, only to be replaced by anger. “I never should have allowed my mother to meet with those missionaries. They ruined her, and now she has ruined you.”

  “No, Pita. She saved me.”

  “Then why are you calling me? Talk to her.”

  “Grandmother is gone.”

  Uncertainty and something else sounded in her father’s voice when he asked, “My mother is dead?”

  “Yes, Pita. I’m sorry.” Her heart squeezed in her chest. “I hope time has helped heal the difficulties between us.”

  Now his anger and grief seemed to erase the compassion she’d heard a moment before. “There is no difficulty if you will remember your heritage.”

  Maya closed her eyes. She wanted to live. Truly she did, but a sense of panic came over her at the thought of agreeing to her father’s terms. “I’m sorry, Pita, but I can’t do that.”

  “Then I can’t help you.”

  She bit back a sob and tried to hide the tears in her voice. “Please give my mother and my brothers my love.”

  Her father’s only response was to hang up the phone, leaving Maya alone with her fears and an overwhelming sense of loss.

  Chapter 11

  Maya held her book in her hands, staring blindly at the pages. She couldn’t believe she didn’t have any place to live, anyone here who cared about her. The years struggling to make ends meet with her grandmother and then the year feeling so alone while in foster care seemed like paradise compared to this.

  The phone call with her father had plummeted her hopes of finding a quick solution to her problems. She repeated the conversation over and over in her mind, reminding herself that it was no more than what she should have expected. For seven years, she had lived without her family, and they were obviously doing fine without her.

  A tear trickled down her cheek, and she brushed it away. She turned her eyes upward and wondered why God was letting this happen to her. No matter how hard she prayed, it seemed like every desired answer was being denied almost as quickly as she could utter a request. What had she done to make God want to reject her so completely?

  She knew she probably should have accepted the money Ben offered her to get a hotel room for the night, but she hadn’t been able to do it. At first she had been so shocked by the offer that she had turned it down instinctively. Then she had seen the pity in his eyes and had been too embarrassed to recant her refusal.

  Maya waited until the morning rush of residents departed before she made her way into the locker room, a change of clothes and her toiletry bag tucked into her oversized purse. She was lucky that no one had come in while she showered and changed, but she had learned one thing over the past twenty-four hours. Being homeless was exhausting.

  After returning to the clubhouse, she slipped her dirty clothes into her suitcase, trading them for a baseball cap Kari had given her. She pulled it on now, feeding her long hair through the hole in the back.

  When Ian and Jessica told her they were going to be gone for a few days, she had been relieved when they’d left on a Tuesday, since Wednesday was one day she never had to go into the hospital, but today, she would have welcomed the diversion.

  Sitting around the clubhouse rereading an old book normally wouldn’t have bothered her, but between the treatments and the early morning exchange with her father, all she wanted was a quiet, private place to curl up and hide. She also wouldn’t mind something to eat to break up the monotony. Saltines weren’t exactly appetizing when eaten for four meals straight.

  Maya heard footsteps and looked up to see Ben down the hall, heading for the weight room. She quickly tugged down her baseball cap, bowed her head, and lifted her book so her face wasn’t visible in case he happened to glance past the weight room and into the clubhouse area where she was sitting. As soon as she heard the weight room door close, she peeked out from beneath the bill of her cap.

  She knew it was a gamble to hide out in Ben’s building, but until she found a better option, this was the only place she could stay warm and dry. Not to mention that she still had Ben’s key, so she could get into the building and access a reasonably clean bathroom.

  The problem now was not just that someone might notice her camped out in the clubhouse but also that she was flat broke. The credit card she had applied for hadn’t come yet, and at this point, she had no way of knowing when it might show up.

  She remembered her childhood home, where servants took care of every need and food was always plentiful. She could have that life again, she reminded herself. All she had to do was agree to marry a man she didn’t love, a man who would treat her like a piece of property and likely forbid her from following her religious beliefs.

  She continued to stare at the same page for nearly an hour, the words blurring before her as her doubts and fears plagued her. Another door opened, and Maya looked up, this time to see Ian and Jessica heading right for her.

  “Maya, what are you doing down here?” Ian asked, obviously surprised.

  Maya ignored his question and asked one of her own. “What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were going to be gone for a few days.”

  He grinned. “I got the job.”

  “We came back early so we can start packing. He starts a week from Monday.”

  “So soon?” Maya asked.

  “Yeah. I can hardly believe everything is happening so fast.”

  “Who’s going to take over managing here for you?”

  “Actually, that’s already all worked out. The owner of the building has been wanting his nephew to take over for me for a while. That was the main reason I was looking for a new job.”

  “Oh.” The weight room door opened again, and Maya glanced over to see Ben emerge. She quickly ducked her head in case he headed for the front of the building instead of back toward the elevator. She was relieved to hear his footsteps head away from her.

  When Maya heard the elevator ding, she looked up to see Jessica staring at her suspiciously. “Is something wrong between Ben and you?”

  “Just a little misunderstanding.” Maya sighed. She wasn’t sure if it was her loneliness or Ian and Jessica’s kindness that made her willing to confide in them. “I was supposed to stay in his apartment for the next few months while he was living in California. Now that he’s back, I’m without a place to stay.”

  “He kicked you out?”Jessica asked incredulously.

  “It wasn’t really his fault. He didn’t know I was still staying there, and I didn’t expect him to come home for a few more months.”

  “Wait, what?” Jessica looked confused. “Why didn’t he know you were here?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. I thought Kari had worked it out with him, but now I’m having my doubts. Ben’s acting like Kari never told him I was coming here at all.”

  “Oh, wow.” Ian shook his head. “What are you going to do now? Are you moving back to Nashville?”

  “I can’t.” Maya’s lower lip quivered. All of the exhaustion and turmoil of emotions welled up inside her, and she tried to fight back the flood that was trying to get out. “These treatments are my last chance.”

  Jessica sat down beside her and put a hand on hers. “Is the cancer that advanced?”

  Tears spilled out onto her cheeks. “If they can’t shrink the tumor, it’ll eventually kill me. I found out yesterday that even if they do shrink it, I can’t a
fford the surgery to remove it.” Her hands lifted and fell in a helpless gesture, tears now streaming down her face. “And now I don’t have any place to live.”

  “Well, you can’t just stay down here,” Jessica told her. “Where are your things?”

  Color rose to Maya’s cheeks. “There’s one over there and another under the couch.”

  “Ian, can you get her stuff? We’ll bring it into our place until we can work something out.”

  “Sure.”

  “Come on, Maya.” Taking Maya by the arm, Jessica helped her up and led her down the hall to their apartment.

  * * *

  Ben rubbed a towel over his wet hair, feeling much better now that he’d worked out and showered. His interview had gone well, and he’d already called his teammate Gavin and made plans to get in some batting practice with him the next day. He’d also made a trip to the grocery store so he could have a glass of juice if he wanted to without having to go out to a restaurant. He supposed he should have put a little more effort into his grocery shopping so he could fix a meal or two himself, but he figured he could deal with that after he figured out a routine and knew if he really would have the time or inclination to cook.

  After tugging on a pair of worn Levi’s and a long-sleeved Washington Nationals T-shirt, he padded barefoot into the living room. He’d just picked up the remote control when someone knocked on the door. Dropping the remote back on the couch, he headed for the door and pulled it open.

  “Hey, Ian. Come on in.”

  Ian followed Ben inside and sat down in the living room across from the seat Ben chose for himself. Ian leaned back only to shift forward again to rest his elbows on his knees. Restlessly, he tapped his fingers together.

  Sensing his uneasiness, Ben asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “Actually, yeah. I’ve got this situation that I have no idea how to solve.”