Page 65 of Second Chance

“You’ve been good at keeping things from her for years. You’ll be able to pull this off.” Chris glares at me as if he knows my deepest, darkest secret. I’m in love with his girlfriend.

“Fine.” I couldn’t believe I was doing this for him. Was I making the ultimate sacrifice? My heart for his? In the end, it would be her heart I broke. “You better fucking take care of her.”

“I will,” he says, almost gloating that I’d given in. It was clear Chris and I could no longer be friends from that point forward, and we weren’t.

The words echo in my head as I realize I’ve been dreaming of prom night. I’d missed him over the years once the friendship dissolved. Thinking back, I could accept he wanted to keep Mati because she was the only person he had left. When I went—and I would go—there would be no looking back on my part. Chris didn’t have the means to follow me, nor did he want to leave. Blue Ridge was home to him and always would be. For me, I didn’t look in the rearview mirror, even when my heart tempted me to glance back.

My eyes remain closed, but I rub at my throbbing temples. My back aches and I shift to find I’m almost falling. My eyes flip open, and I remember I’m on Mati’s couch, in her house, where she lived with him. The room wobbles as I sit upright. I need some serious coffee. Light streams in through the front window and I see my keys on the coffee table, along with a glass of water and some pain pills. A crumbled scrap of paper gives me a phone number. Under it lies an envelope with my name on it. Instantly, I recognize the handwriting.

Damn him.

I swipe the envelope off the table and dial the number left for me. I’m assuming it’s Mati’s, but to my surprise, a male voice answers.

“Giant Brewing. This is Jax.”

29

High School and Hallways

[Mati]

Fleck Denton and his flecking cryptic comments, just fleckity, fleck, fleck. My mind is out of sorts as I stand on the sideline watching the girls run drills.

“Jump at the net.”

“Hannah, dig.”

“Why is there a hole in the center?”

My voice cracks as I snap at the girls, taking out on them my feelings of inadequacy. He treated me like some groupie when all I was trying to do was take care of him.

Fleck him.

But then he has to be all crude, causing tingles in neglected places by saying what he said.

I’ll imprint on you, your soul, and you’ll never forget me.

As if I’ve ever forgotten him or that night—prom night—when everything shifted. The dance. The song. Chris and Denton had words. They didn’t fight, not like my brothers who would throw a punch or two until Mama interceded and then they’d make up. Chris and Denton would argue, and within a day or two things were all good again. Not that time, though. Chris and Denton remained distant for weeks. The night before graduation, Denton broke my heart, and then he disappeared after the ceremony. I heard him drive off in the night, leaving me behind.

The mention of Chris last night changed everything. Like a splash of cold water, I woke up and wondered what I was doing sleeping next to a man who wanted me to act like a groupie. Take me deep. Not to mention, the implication of Chris as the reason things changed—the reason we lost Denton—haunts me and I recall what Hollilyn told me a while back.

Jax said his daddy told Denton to leave.

How could Chris do that? Why did Chris do it?

“Tanisha, jump,” I yell, redirecting my thoughts to my middle and her lack of height at the net.

“You okay?” Alyce asks me, her arms at her sides as she stands next to me.

“What is she doing?” I bark, my head nodding at Tanisha. I think I growl.

“Not Tanisha,” Alyce says. “What are you doing?”

I turn on my assistant coach, a glare beaming from my eyes until I see hers widen in surprise. Her head snaps back as if I’ve struck her, and I take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble.

“What’s going on?” Alyce lifts a hand to touch my arm, but I flinch back. I don’t mean to be so cold, but I can’t handle her tender spirit. I’ve been fighting tears all morning, after seeing Denton flat on his back on my couch, mouth gaping open, one arm over his eyes, the other dangling near the floor.