Page 3 of Second Time Around

“Not exactly.”

“Well, what exactly did you do?”

“I ran into Barb at the grocery store, and we got to talking… Anyway, she mentioned that Beck moved back here, and…”

Jenna sprang off the couch and started pacing. “Hold on. Beck moved back to Michigan?”

“Not just Michigan, but here in Rochester, not too far from your house, actually.”

“Ohmigod.” Jenna picked up her pacing.

“I know. I thought it was so sweet that he came back because of Barb’s cancer.”

Jenna stopped pacing. “His mom has cancer?”

“She had breast cancer, but her prognosis is good, and she’s on the mend.”

An image of Beck’s sweet mom came to mind, and Jenna softened. “How long have you known about this?”

“I just found out a few weeks ago, when we ran into each other.”

Jenna’s and Beck’s parents had become friends while she and Beck had been dating, but that had been twelve years ago. Since then, her parents hadn’t mentioned them much, but Jenna suspected they occasionally got together for dinner. Her family had known better than to bring up Beck’s name, though, especially after what he’d done.

Now that she knew Barb was going to be okay, she went back to her original question. “So, about my phone number?”

“Right. Well, Barb mentioned that Beck wanted to touch base with you, and she was so sweet about it that I gave her your phone number.”

Jenna went back to the couch, perched on the edge of it, and shook her head. She’d mistakenly thought somebody at work had given out her number, when it had been her own mother! She wanted to be mad at her, but she couldn’t, especially after hearing the sad news about Barb. Still, she wasn’t willing to let her off the hook completely.

“Did you consider asking for his number instead? That way, I could have chosen whether or not to call him.”

“Oh, poop. I didn’t think of that.”

Jenna almost laughed at her mom’s substitute for a swear word. “I guess it doesn’t matter because I don’t plan on talking to him anyway.”

Lori sighed. “Twelve years is a long time to hold a grudge, sweetheart.”

“I’m not holding a grudge. I just don’t have anything to say to him, that’s all.”

“I remember when he came to our house every day for weeks after you broke up. I wished you would have at least let him apologize.”

While Jenna usually appreciated her mom’s soft-hearted nature, in this case, she didn’t. “An apology wouldn’t have changed anything,” she huffed.

“You never know. Maybe there was more to the story than what you thought.”

She’d been told the same thing from her sister, Stacy, and some of her friends, but she hadn’t heeded their advice. “Like you said, it was twelve years ago, and I’m not interested in dredging up the past.”

“Well, I’m sorry for giving out your number. I just thought you might be curious about him, that’s all.”

She hated to admit it, but her mom was right. She was curious about what had happened to him after they’d parted ways. She’d heard that he’d gone to college in Chicago and stayed there afterward. A mutual friend of theirs said he’d studied restaurant management and become a manager of a popular restaurant on Michigan Avenue. Whenever Jenna had visited Chicago, she’d wondered if she’d run into him, which was ridiculous given the size of the windy city. She’d never seen him there, nor anywhere else after high school.

As time went by, she’d lost touch with most of her high school friends and stopped being curious about Beckett Montgomery—or so she’d thought.