your apartment. Would it be convenient for us to look at it now?” Vicky asked.
“You married?” the woman said, glancing from one to the other.
The comment discomfited Vicky, but before she could answer, Chad said, “No, ma’am. I’m the one who needs to rent an apartment. Vicky lives a few blocks from here.”
“Just checking,” the proprietor said. “I won’t have unmarried people living together in my house.”
“That suits me,” Chad said.
Mrs. Lashley had the reputation of being a plainspoken woman, but Vicky hadn’t expected such candor from her.
“Mrs. Lashley,” Vicky said. “This is Chad Reece—he’s from out of town.”
She nodded. “I could tell that from his slow, Southern drawl.”
Striving to hide her amusement, Vicky continued, “He’s been in OSU hospital and he needs a place to stay while he recuperates. He wants to be close to the hospital until his surgeon releases him.”
“I won’t take a lease for less than a year.”
Thinking that Mrs. Lashley didn’t need to rent the apartment as much as Vicky thought, Chad said, “If that’s the case, we won’t take any more of your time. I don’t know how long I’ll be staying. Thank you. Let’s go, Vicky.”
Mrs. Lashley followed them out on the porch, and they were halfway down the short walk when she said, “Well, I could lease it for six months.”
Chad turned and smiled. “Let me look at the apartment.”
Mrs. Lashley stood aside and they entered a wide entryway that ran the length of the residence. Coming inside out of brilliant sunlight, they were plunged into semidarkness. Wooden shutters covered windows that were curtained with white lace panels. Mrs. Lashley flipped a switch and a chandelier spread light on the stairway to the left of the hall. She walked sprightly up the wide walnut treads. Chad counted thirteen steps as he held on to the sturdy, carved handrail and slowly followed Mrs. Lashley and Vicky to the second floor.
“The apartment only takes up half of this floor,” Mrs. Lashley explained. “I have a daughter and grandchildren who visit from time to time. I keep the other rooms for them.”
At the top of the stairs, the hallway extended the length of the house as it did on the first floor. The two rooms on the left had been turned into a comfortable apartment, and Chad thought at once that it was the kind of retreat he needed. A partition divided one of the rooms into a bedroom and a bathroom with a claw-foot tub, a shower stall, a large marble pedestal sink and a toilet. The other room was a combination living room and dining area, with a small kitchenette off to the side. The rooms were sparsely furnished, but they suited Chad’s present needs.
Chad asked the price, which was less than his Pittsburgh apartment. Motioning Vicky to one side, he asked, “What do you think of it?”
A flash of humor crossed her face. “I’d snap it up in a hurry if I could afford it. You won’t find anything better than this unless you want to move into an expensive condo.”
He shook his head. “No, I think this will suit me just fine.”
He turned to Mrs. Lashley. “I’ll lease the apartment, and if I leave before the six months is over, I’ll pay you the full amount.” She had stipulated that he would need to pay two hundred dollars to hold the apartment until she checked his references. He took the money from his wallet and handed it to her and gave her the names of his lawyer, his accountant and his pastor in Pittsburgh.
“I’ll call in a few days to see when I can move in.”
Driving away from the Lashley home, Vicky said, “You made a good choice. The rooms are comfortable, and you’ll have an interesting landlady.”
Chuckling, Chad commented, “She seems that way. And this location will be perfect for my needs. The doctor doesn’t want me to drive until I see him again, so there’s no need to rent a car. But they told me at the hospital that the bus service is good, so I can explore Columbus while I recuperate.”
“The Lanham Taxi Service operates daily, too,” she suggested with a sly grin in his direction.
“I figure I’ll be calling on that service often, but I’ll try not to make a nuisance of myself.”
Vicky had learned the hard way not to push her company on a man, so when she left Chad at the hotel, she didn’t make any comment about seeing him again. Any overtures of friendship would have to come from him. She didn’t look back as she drove away.
Chapter Four
After three days of loneliness, anxiety and indecision, Chad finally called the manager of his NFL team.
“How are you, Chad?” the manager asked. “Your father notified us when you were released from the hospital, but he didn’t have a phone number for you.”
“I didn’t feel like talking when I was in the hospital and I’ve only been released a few days. And thanks for the roses—they sure brightened up the room.”
“We wanted you to know we were thinking about you.”
“Well, what’s the bad news?” Chad asked, pacing the floor but trying to sound nonchalant. “I think I know, but I’ll make it easy on you and ask.”
The man hesitated, and the seconds seemed like hours to Chad. “It’s the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life, but we have no choice except to release you from your contract.”
Bile rose in Chad’s mouth, and he felt as if a mule had kicked him in the stomach. He had feared this decision was inevitable, but hearing it from the manager’s mouth drove the final nail in the coffin of his dead hopes. He wasn’t a crybaby, so he forced himself to say cheerfully, “Well, it was a great life while it lasted. And I’m thankful that you guys gave me the opportunity.”
“I’ve never understood why bad things happen to good people, but somewhere down the road, we’ll know the answer.”
“That may be true,” Chad said, and he couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice. “But I’m going to need some answers before I regain the unquestioning faith I used to have.”
Chad laid aside the phone and leaned against the wall. He couldn’t even envision a life without football. But now that he knew with finality that he would never play pro ball again, he had to come to terms with the future. He paced the floor of the room, annoyed because he kept dwelling on his bad fortune rather than on the many things he had going for him.
Financially Chad was worth several million dollars so his livelihood was no problem, but he wasn’t comfortable with so much money. He was heavily insured, so no doubt the expensive surgery wouldn’t cost him anything. And if he remembered, the insurance company would be responsible for compensation for several months after his operation. His father managed a grocery store, and his mother had stayed home to look after her son. They couldn’t afford any luxuries for themselves or for Chad. If he wanted anything extra he had to make the money to buy it. How well he remembered his teen years when he had worked one whole summer to earn enough money to buy a bicycle! Then he received his NFL signing bonus. Suddenly, he was rich.
Instead of going on a spending spree, he went to a reputable investment broker for advice. He invested the majority of his signing bonus. He put a million dollars in an account for his parents, enabling Mr. Reece to retire from the store with a good income over and above his Social Security. Chad’s lifestyle didn’t change that much. He knew what was important in life—and it wasn’t material possessions.
He made more money on his investments than he ever spent. So why couldn’t he be thankful that he had no financial worries instead of fretting over his disrupted plans? In twenty-five years he’d had more opportunities than most people did in a lifetime. So what was his problem?
He could