Page 5 of Second Chances

Ugh, Henry groaned, realizing that the State Fair had started a couple of days ago and remembering that George had gotten them tickets to the John Fogerty concert the minute they had gone on sale months ago. Was that tonight? “Listen, I don’t think⁠—”

“Bullshit. I mean, you’re right, you don’t think, especially if that involves you having any kind of fun,” his brother chided. “You were excited when I got these tickets.” Right, but that was before a frustrating call with his ex topped off an exhausting week at the shop. “Come on, Henry,” George implored. “You don’t work tomorrow, unless you’ve decided that working seven days a week is the key to a better life. Come out, let your hair down, have some fun.” His brother sang a few lines from “Bad Moon Rising” terribly off-key.

Knowing George wouldn’t let up until he agreed, Henry said, “I need to run home and clean up first.”

“Please. You’re not only the better-looking brother but also the cleaner one. You have ten minutes, then your ass better be in Huron in an hour, which will leave us enough time for the beer garden before the show starts.” With that timeline, Henry actually had fifteen minutes, since Huron was only about half an hour’s drive from Beverley. Parking would be the question once he got to the fairgrounds, but Henry could use a good walk, maybe work off his annoyance with Melanie.

Forty minutes later, he was strolling up to the beer garden outside the grandstand and carrying a foot-long corn dog when two beefy hands grabbed his shoulders. “Dammit, George, you almost made me drop my supper!”

After looping an arm around his shoulders, his brother laughed and bit off a decent-sized chunk of the corn dog. “Well, lucky for both of us that didn’t happen.” He lowered his voice. “Look, there’s something I need to tell you-”

“Hi, Henry,” Nora, George’s wife, called from the chislic stand several feet away. Chislic, bite-sized pieces of meat (Henry was sure it was lamb, for Nora) fried and then sprinkled liberally with garlic salt, was the state food of South Dakota and his sister-in-law’s favorite. Her auburn hair caught the light from the fading sun, and he waved to her.

“Hey, Nora—” He stopped when he noticed who stood next to her. He faced his brother. “What is DD doing here?”

“Well, that’s what I was trying to tell you⁠—”

“When? When were you trying to tell me? Because it sure as hell wasn’t on the phone earlier.” It was bad enough that DD’s daughter and his son were in love and would more than likely be married one day. Well, that wasn’t bad, he corrected himself, because Henry loved Effie. Loving and compassionate, she was everything her mother was not. That wasn’t fair either, Henry supposed, even if DD did have the honor of being the first woman to break his heart. Still, she certainly hadn’t been the last (or the worst). Searching for DD’s husband and not finding him in the general area, it dawned on Henry that he hadn’t seen the man in over a year, when he’d brought their Mustang to his shop for a maintenance check. “Where’s Burnside?”

“I don’t know,” George shrugged. “Nora said something about him needing to rest. I guess the old man has been having some health issues.” Burnside, DD’s second husband, was at least a decade older and originally from Ohio. Though he’d lived in South Dakota for over twenty years, after marrying DD, the man had done little to fit in with her world. “Anyway, do you remember I got us a VIP table down front? It seats six?” Okay, it was coming back to Henry now—his brother and Nora, his sister Beatrice and her husband Brian, and Henry and…no one, as usual. He raised an eyebrow at George, who explained, “I thought Josh or Liam would take the last seat, but your son is too busy moving in with Effie, I guess. And my son is all torn up over some woman he met in New York.” Henry nodded. When Josh had recently returned to New York to tie up the loose ends of his life and career there, Liam had accompanied him. According to what Josh told him, he and Liam were supposed to go out for drinks one night in the city, but Josh got hung up in Brooklyn with Tess and Sam. Instead of meeting up with his cousin, Liam met a woman at the bar, and despite knowing nothing about her (including her name), he spent the night with her. And fell hard. Henry knew all too well how a woman could change the course of one’s life. George shrugged. “Anyway, DD is all upset about Burnside, understandably so, and Nora invited her to join us. I’m sorry. I would’ve told you sooner, but I only found out about her coming along tonight after I talked to you. You know how Nora is about her best friend.” And Henry knew how George was about his wife—he never refused her anything. “She made me pick up DD on the way.”

Shaking his head, Henry assured George, “It’s fine. I’ll let you buy me a drink to make up for it,” he said, trying to assure them both that he was, indeed, fine. But he wasn’t, not by a long shot. The brothers met up with the women at the entrance to the beer garden, and before entering, an inexplicable sensation coursed through him. He glanced up at the Ferris wheel, watching it slowly spin, and a woman in one of the buckets caught his eye. With hair a lustrous dark brown, there was something familiar about her, and even though he couldn’t quite make out her features, he gasped as if punched in the gut. Forgetting DD, erasing his earlier conversation with Melanie, his hungry gaze locked with hers.

“Henry?” George’s voice forced Henry’s eyes back to his brother. “You ready to head in?” He wasn’t, but when his eyes searched the Ferris wheel, she was gone.

Standing in line for the Ferris wheel at the South Dakota State Fair, Amy fanned herself. “Lottie, how long has it been since we’ve been to a state fair?” It was Labor Day weekend, and Amy and Isobel, both nurses at the same Sioux City hospital, had surprised her with tickets to the John Fogerty concert tonight.

Charlotte shrugged, wiping the sweat from her brow with a tissue from her pocket. The temperature had reached almost ninety degrees, but she welcomed the heat. “Isobel, how old were you the last time we took you to the Iowa State Fair?” Charlotte asked her daughter, who was sipping freshly squeezed lemonade next to Amy, troubled that she couldn’t remember immediately. Of course, considering the fact that Charlotte was still adjusting to the recent upheaval in her life, a lapse in memory wasn’t too shocking.

Isobel, switching out her lemonade for a caramel apple, said, “I went every year with my friends in high school, but the last time we went as a family I was fourteen, I think. Remember how Dad loved to play those games?” Their marriage may not have been a love affair for the ages, but her ex had always excelled at being a father.

A month had passed since Amy and Isobel had helped her move into her charming rental house in Beverley, and Charlotte was still acclimating to the town. Along with Mr. Beans, the Beverley Carnegie Library and Beverley Bake Shop had become familiar haunts. She’d actually met Ashley, the bakery owner, at the library, where they’d bonded over their love of Judith McNaught’s historical romances. With each trip to downtown Beverley, a tiny spark of hope bloomed in her chest that she might see the man from outside the auto shop again, but she hadn’t been lucky so far. She was, however, ridiculous, remaining on the lookout for a man who had no idea she even existed.

Amy nudged Charlotte, “Remember when we were teenagers at the fair? Strolling around, looking for hot guys?” Lowering her voice, Amy asked in an exaggerated whisper, “Speaking of hot guys, have you had any luck finding the stud on the bench?” Flushing, Charlotte shot her friend a warning look. “What?” Amy flashed her a look of wide-eyed innocence.

“What’s this about a hot guy, Mom?”

Great, Charlotte thought, just what she needed—her daughter finding out she had a crush on some nameless, random man she’d seen only once in her life. Trying to maintain some of her composure, Charlotte shook her head. “It’s nothing…he’s nothing.” He wasn’t, though, not considering how she’d thought of him on an almost daily basis for the last several months.

“Aww, come on, Mom, please tell me if you’re interested in someone,” her daughter begged.

Amy linked her arm through Isobel’s. “Well, dear child, the first time we were in Beverley, we saw a man across the street from the coffee shop.”

“You mean that auto shop on the other side of the street?”

“The one and only,” Amy confirmed, grinning.

“Ooh, I’ve seen a few good-looking guys going in and out of that place.”

“Mmm, this one was super fine…had on this baseball cap…now, I’ve never known your mom to go for that look, but on him…”

Isobel grinned. “Mom, is this true?” Charlotte stayed silent, unsure whether she should deny or confirm it. “Mom,” Isobel, several inches taller, threw an arm around her shoulders, “it’s okay to be attracted to someone else. In fact, I think it’s impressive.”

“Okay, can we please move on?” Charlotte shook her head. “For one thing, I haven’t seen him again, and for another, I have no idea where to even find him.”

Amy announced, “Well, I wouldn’t mind finding a hot guy now, to be honest,” pouring some water from her bottle down the front of her chest, under her blouse, instantly making the outline of her bra visible.

Charlotte shook her head. “Subtle, Ames, really subtle.”