Page 3 of Irresistible Second Chance

I did see a message from Robert, “I don’t think I’ll be able to join you. Sending a consultant to help,” his message read.

“You’re right,” I said. “I wonder who the consultant is.”

Jesenia looked at the other sign that was in her hand which I now just noticed. I was walking around in a daze, I realized. How had I not noticed that sign? It read Covington and Associates.

Covington. It was a last name I hadn’t heard in a very long time. I’d grown up next to a family with that last name. Their parents had been friends with my parents. They’d had a son. Chris. We’d been inseparable as kids even though he was about 3 years younger. I hadn’t thought of Chris in a long time. We’d lost touch over the years. Maybe lost touch wasn’t the right word for it. I had deliberately avoided him for reasons I didn’t care to think about.

I reached into my purse, pulled out my sunglasses, and slid them on. “I’m tired from the flight; do you mind if I wait in the car?”

“Of course,” she quickly led me to the outside of the airport where a driver waited in front of a dark SUV. The driver took my bag and stored it away. I climbed in and rested my head against the seat. As I did, I tried not to think of Mark. I wondered what he was doing, and where he was. When I’d gotten home from work after he told me he loved someone else, I had found all his things gone. He hadn’t even left his favorite snacks. Even the pantry was wiped clean. It was almost as if he’d never been there at all, as if I had imagined our two years of marriage. I wiped away at a tear that fell down my face. Keep it together, I reminded myself. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t let Mark’s actions jeopardize my work.

I had left my dad to housesit. He would take care of things while I was gone, including the leak, and I asked him to promise to tell me if Mark came back. When I’d said that he’d looked at me with sadness in his eyes, before they hardened and he said, “If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t show his face here again.”

I’d only shrugged. The house was mine, so he had no reason to come back, and all his possessions were gone, but I found myself still hopeful that just maybe, he’d have a change of heart. I didn’t know if my optimism counted as hope or just plain idiocy.

I heard voices then, a man and a woman. Jesenia was back with who I assumed was the consultant. I made sure my face was dry from the tears and I was grateful for the sunglasses that shielded my eyes. I plastered a smile on my face as I heard the door open, and I turned and looked towards the person who was climbing in next to me.

My breath caught and my smile slowly disappeared, in its place was surprise and something else…something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“Sydney?” he asked sounding just as surprised, if not more so.

My heartbeat loudly in my ears as I stared at him, warm dark brown eyes that reflected back the same emotions that I was feeling. When I could breathe again, I simply responded, “Hi, Chris. It’s good to see you again.”

Chapter 2

He still gave the best hugs; I couldn’t help but think to myself as he enveloped me in his arms. It was a place I was way too familiar with and against my better judgement I laid my cheek against his chest and just exhaled for what felt like the first time that day. I let him hold me a little too long to deem appropriate for a married woman, but I didn’t care. After all, my husband was probably in the arms of another woman, and I was willing to bet it wasn’t nearly as innocent as this. I was ashamed to say that I needed a hug. Just thinking about Mark made my stomach feel as if it were twisted into knots. Suddenly my head began to hurt, and I forced myself to keep the sadness at bay. My heart was broken, but I had a job to do, and I didn’t want my first encounter with Chris after so many years to begin with me sobbing hysterically like the broken woman I suddenly realized I was.

I shoved my feelings aside, but it took pure emotional fortitude not to start crying right there on his shoulder. Gratefully, I didn’t start to sob and embarrass myself. Instead, I focused on his handsome face and warm brown eyes as his studied me and he smiled. I returned the smile and unabashedly studied him too. I’d never seen him in a suit and tie before. It suited him well. His attire made him look grown up and put together. I’m not sure why I expected anything else. We were older now. We weren’t kids anymore. He looked good, of course. His thin, gangly frame had filled out over the years and his face was fuller. He had a beard, and I reached up and touched it, unable to help myself. It tickled my hand. I stroked it again, liking the feel of it and said, “This beard is a keeper.”

As I did, he laughed. “I figured I look more respectable with a beard.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say respectable,” I joked. Then my tone changed as I stared at him. Chris was sort of my kryptonite but also one of the few people I knew I could be completely honest with. He knew the real Sydney. I didn’t need to pretend around him. “It’s really good to see you again, Chris.”

“Same, Sydney, it’s been way too long.”

“And whose fault is that?” I asked, pushing my sunglasses up towards my hair.

“Mine?” he said as if he doubted his response.

I nodded, “Exactly. I spend every Christmas with my father. Your parents told me you haven’t been home for the holidays in what? Almost a decade?” He made a noncommittal sound, not even bothering to acknowledge the question.

Could it really have been that long since I saw him? No, that couldn’t be right, I thought to myself. I did a little mental math and realized that I was right. Where had the time gone? We hadn’t seen each other since our early twenties, so long ago. Too long.

I settled against the seat as the car pulled away. I barely noticed because memories of my youth, or rather, our youth, started to surface as I sat next to him. I guess it was the same for him too because he started to reminisce on all the times we got into trouble as kids. As he did, I was very aware of how close his body was next to mine. It was weird being around the man Chris had become. As he started chatting, I was transformed to old times, better times.

Chris had been the boy next door. We hit it off as soon as we met, becoming friends fast and staying friends all through elementary, middle, and most of high school. It was easy since our parents were good friends, so we were always in and out of each other’s homes. His parents babysat me and my sister whenever my father was out of town. We’d grown up together even though we were a little over three years apart in age that hadn’t stopped us from bonding almost instantly. Luckily, our neighborhood was full of kids, so we all played together in the same cul-de-sac. We raced our bikes against each other and had gotten our fair share of bruises and broken arms together.

We’d been pretty inseparable until I went off to high school and thought I was too cool to hang out with a “kid” even though that kid knew me better than I knew myself. We saw each other on holidays when I moved away during college. He always had a new girlfriend with him. They all clung to him like their lives depended on it, which amused me to no end. He would meet up with me at my house to hide from them periodically, and we would sit on the swing on my back porch and just talk for hours about nothing and everything. That’s what I remembered about Chris. He was so easy to talk to. But that’s something most people didn’t know about him. They didn’t know that under that suave exterior was a guy with a big heart and even bigger imagination.

That’s why I had been so shocked when he’d gone on to college on a baseball scholarship. I figured he’d major in something like writing or graphic design, which were his hobbies. I guess in retrospect I should have expected he would go into sports because he was a pretty good all-around athlete in high school. He played every sport he could get into. Eventually, like his father, he went into baseball. He played in the minor leagues for a little while before he got his big break --- that’s when things changed between us. That also was the last time I saw him until now---outside the restaurant after his celebratory dinner.

I tried to pretend as I looked at him that the pain of that evening wasn’t still fresh in my mind. I could tell Chris anything, but when it came to what happened between us, that was a topic I avoided like the plague.

“It’s really good to see you again,” Chris said, warmly taking my hand and squeezing it. “If I had known you were going to be here, I would have lowered my fee,” he smiled then, that smile that was so endearing. “Second thought, I wouldn’t have lowered my fee. I like money too much.” I laughed. He was always a jokester. However, as he paused and stared at me, reading my face, there was no hiding that he wasn’t joking. He really did mean it when he said it was good to see me. I guess he hadn’t resented me all these years. Or at least if he did, he definitely didn’t now.

I didn’t resent him either, and I knew my eyes told him that. He had this way about him. Ever since we were kids, he could read my thoughts so easily by just glancing at my face. It was disturbing. I hated that he could see through my lies and nonsense so easily like no one else could.

He reached for my sunglasses before I could stop him.

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