Short stories, vignettes and such: Roxie. V

Roxie - Chapter 5: Second Chances

His eyes never wavering from hers, Chase reached up and slowly removed his mask. Roxie was speechless as the five years since she last saw him melted away, as if they never existed. Memories tumbled all around in her mind - the joys of being with him and the heartache of running away all fought against each other as she struggled to determine exactly what she was feeling. Years of ‘what ifs’ gone unanswered, and now he was here, back in her life. Or was he?

Chase remained silent, watching a myriad of emotions playing across Roxie’s face. He saw the pain in her eyes and the confusion on her face. More than anything, he wanted to sweep her up in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright. But he knew he couldn’t. Not just yet. He allowed her a few more minutes to digest what had just transpired before speaking.

“You know, I never forgot about you,” he whispered softly.

“Oh, really? Is that why I never saw you again? Did you even bother to try to find me?” asked Roxie, hurt and angry.

“You were in a freakin’ circus! Do you know how hard those things are to track down?”

“Did you try www dot circus performers dot com?” asked Roxie.

Chase looked at her, completely bewildered. “There’s such a site?” he asked.

“No, I just made that up,” said Roxie, relaxing just a bit.

Chase laughed, relaxing a little too. “I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor,” he told her.

‘No, just my heart,’ thought Roxie to herself. She wondered how long she could stand there, talking to him. She knew that the longer she stood there, the harder it would be for her to leave. She took a step back, confused. Chase immediately picked up on that, and feared she would run again. He wasn’t going to give her that chance.

“You still have your mask on,” he reminded her with a smile.

“Oh.” Roxie’s hand automatically went up to her face. “I didn’t realize,” she said as she untied the mask. Nervously, she held it in her hands, playing with the feathers, avoiding eye contact with Chase. When she did venture to look up at him, she kept her gaze level with the bottom half of his face. That was a mistake, too. Her heart skipped a beat as she stared at that disarming smile she loved so much. Willing herself to look away, she shifted her gaze, but caught her breath as she fixated on the chain around Chase’s neck. Hanging from it, just peeking out from the collar of his shirt, was a small wedding band. In the same instant that Chase realized what Roxie had seen, she had spun around and was heading through the throng of party goers. Cursing under his breath, Chase ran after her.

“Roxie, wait!” he said as he grabbed her arm. Roxie whipped around to face him, struggling with her composure. She didn’t trust herself to speak, but she did anyway.

“What happened in the last five years, Chase? Did you marry? Have kids?” She knew she had no right to be upset, or even to ask. He had every right to have led his life to the fullest. She didn’t want to know, but she had to know.

Chase released his grip on Roxie’s arm, and softly ran the back of his fingers along her cheek, as if he could smooth away the anguish she was trying so hard to hide.

“It’s not what you think,” he said. Taking her hand, he walked to a quiet corner of the crowded balcony, partially to allow them a bit of privacy but, mostly, so that it would be harder for Roxie to run again. Taking a deep breath, Chase began to explain…

“That last afternoon, I tried so hard to make you see – to make you understand, what we had together. I knew you wanted to see it, Roxie. I knew you did.”

“Chase, I – ”

“Shhh! Let me finish.” Chase smiled down at her as he continued. “I had allowed you to control the tempo, to decide when you were ready to take things to the next level. I was willing to wait for you to come into it on your own.” Chase stopped, caught up in his own memories. After a moment he looked intently into Roxie’s eyes and whispered “I was always willing to wait.”

Roxie’s head was swimming. He was willing to wait for her? But all that time…and the ring…

“But the ring?” she asked, still confused.

Chase’s hands went up behind his neck as he began to unfasten the chain. “That night, I called a friend of mine, said I needed him to make something for me. Told him it was time sensitive.” Roxie’s brows came together as she tried to grasp what Chase was saying.

“I told him I needed a ring.” Chase chuckled as Roxie’s eyes widened in surprise. He continued, “my friend specializes in intricate jewelry design. I had an idea for a one-of-a-kind ring, but I had to go to his shop to go over the sketches. But it was several hundred miles away, it took longer than I thought and when I got back – ” Chase held up his hands – “the circus had already packed up. You were gone.”

Roxie closed her eyes, recalling the past. She remembered it so well. That night, and the next night, and the one after that – she had been on auto-pilot, just going through the motions of her performances. She remembered being relieved that Charlie had pulled the show earlier than expected, she just wanted out of that town and -

“Charlie packed up early!” she said out loud.

“Yes, he did. I thought I’d still have time. But in my haste to leave, and my frustrated state of mind, I didn’t think to grab a copy of the itinerary. I had no idea where he was heading next.”

Both stood silently for a few minutes, lost in their thoughts. Chase came out of his first and looked closely at Roxie, trying to read hers. Her composure had softened; she looked up at him and smiled. Chase held her gaze as he slid the ring off the chain into his hand. “I put the ring around my neck for safe-keeping and vowed never to take it off, until the time I could give it to you. It was my way to keep you close to me. You’ve always had my heart, Roxie, and I know I carry your heart with me. I carry it in my heart. I am never without it.” Chase’s voice was barely a whisper as he finished, but his words reached Roxie to her core. With his free hand, he gently brushed away the beginning of a tear underneath Roxie’s eye. As she fought back others, he slid the ring onto her finger and whispered, “now, you will never be without mine.” Roxie could only stare at the ring in disbelief, she felt as if any minute she was going to wake up from a dream.

As if on cue, the clock tower across the street began to chime midnight. The flurry of activity on the balcony brought Roxie and Chase out of their reverie. They glanced around the throng of people who were excitedly removing their masks, and spied their own masks lying on the floor.

Roxie looked up at Chase. “We’ve already removed our masks, now what are we supposed to do?” she asked.

Chase gave her his best smile. “Pretend its New Year’s Eve,” he answered as he leaned down to kiss her.

The end.