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I frown. “That’s terrible, especially since it’s not true.”
She shrugs. “I guess I’m quite gullible.”
That reminds me…
I take her hand and squeeze it. “You know, Barbara, there’s something I need to show you.”
“What?”
I go over to Veronica and borrow some papers from her. I show them to Barbara.
“Remember when my lawyer was asking earlier if your husband had gambling problems or debts?” I tell her. “You might not be aware of them, but here’s proof.”
Barbara gasps.
I touch her arm. “I’m sorry. I just thought you deserve to know.”
She looks at me. “You could have told the judge about these. You would have won easily.”
I shake my head and tap the papers. “These, they’re your problem. Well, your husband’s. You should resolve them privately.”
Barbara’s lips curve into a smile. “You really are kind. I should never have allowed my lawyer to bring up that incident in the library…”
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “We all make mistakes. What’s important is that we learn from them. The most important second chances are the ones we give ourselves.”
Barbara gives me another hug. “Thank you, Jenna.”
I pat her back. “You’re welcome, Barbara.”
Afterwards, she glances at her car. “I should get going.”
I nod. “Take care.”
After she leaves, Dax stands next to me again.
“All’s well that ends well,” he says.
“Yup,” I agree. “It seems everything has worked out. Everything’s alright now.”
“Almost,” Dax says.
Before I can ask him what he means, his hand touches my cheek and his lips press against mine. My heart stops. I can barely breathe.
As I kiss him back, I feel joy swirl in my veins. Yup. This is how it’s meant to be.
Afterwards, Dax strokes my cheek and touches his forehead to mine. He holds my gaze.
“I love you, Jenna.”
The words send my heart leaping. I feel like jumping up and down as well.
Instead, I give him the biggest smile as I cup his cheek. “I love you, too. I’ve missed you.”
He smiles. “So I guess this means we’re back together?”
I nod.
“You have to answer the question, Ms. Holt,” he says.
I chuckle. “Yes, Mr. Bender. We should never have broken up in the first place.”
“I agree. But hey, maybe this third chance will be the charm.”
I shrug. “Maybe.”
But I already have a feeling it will be.
Epilogue
Dax
The next New Year’s Eve…
“I can’t believe we made it,” Jenna tells me as she slides her body further into the Jacuzzi, up until the water is at her shoulder level. “So much has happened this year.”
She’s right, of course. As I rest my head on the edge of the tub, I start to reminisce on the most memorable events of the past year.
“We had a date on the very first day of the year.”
“We came here and we got back together,” Jenna adds.
“You met Chloe.”
Jenna looks at me. “Have you heard from her?”
“Last I heard, she’s in Paris working at a fashion boutique,” I answer.
Now that she isn’t one of my father’s women, she can do whatever she want.
“Then we had a fight,” I say as I go back to the previous topic.
“Before that, I met the wife of the man who was responsible for the accident that killed my Mom and my sister,” Jenna says.
“Is she still in jail?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “She never was in jail. She just paid a fine. But I guess that’s alright. I’ve learned to move on. I have to let others move on, too.”
I nod. Now, where were we?
“Then we celebrated Shanna’s first birthday. Speaking of which, what are we doing for her second birthday?”
“Well, Emily suggested unicorns,” Jenna answers.
I touch my chin. “Unicorns, huh?”
It’s fine, I guess.
“But I’d rather have windmills and tulips,” Jenna says.
“Like a Dutch theme?”
She shrugs.
“Well, we can have windmills and tulips and unicorns.”
Jenna chuckles. “Why not? Oh, and I’m inviting Barbara and her new boyfriend.”
“Sure.”
A few weeks after the hearing, Barbara got a divorce. Now, it seems she’s found herself a new boyfriend. A better one, I think.
“Then we got all famous,” Jenna continues with the recount.
“And we went to London.”
“And broke up because I thought we were half siblings.” She sighs. “I think that’s the part of the year I hate the most.”
“I agree,” I say. “And you know what else I hated?”
“What?”
“The dancing lessons we took last summer.”
“Oh come on.” Jenna slaps my arm. “You were great. But hey, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, we had that custody case which I won. And then we got back together. And then I moved in with you.”
“Then we went back to London to have a blast,” I continue.
And that second time sure was more fun. We got around. We did a lot of things. And Jenna and Walt had a teary conversation talking about Jenna’s mother, which made me feel like a third wheel. But hey, at least, my father’s not so much of a jerk now. Maybe nearly dying has changed him.
