Page 59 of Second Chance Savior

My eyes sank closed. No. I couldn’t handle this now.

“Hey Charlie.” I cleared my throat. “What’s up?”

“Dinner’s soon. Are you okay?”

“I’m good.”

“You disappeared. You have a habit of doing that.”

I shrugged as if I didn’t know what she meant.

“Are you thinking about your dad?”

I made a face at the view, my back still to her. “Not really, no.”

My father had passed from liver failure. He’d taken with him all the stress my mom had put on herself to be the ideal Hollywood wife. The disapproval he’d shown me and Ross. We’d tried to mend fences after his diagnosis, but the great Dash Park had spent more time cementing his legacy with his fans than with his family.

“I’m fine Charlie, really. Be there in a second.”

Instead of leaving me alone, she stood at the railing beside me. “Pretty different view from the woods where we used to hang out.”

“That’s for sure.”

“Do you ever miss those summers?”

Summers in Colorado. The closest thing I’d ever had to a feeling ofhome.

“It was a long time ago,” I said softly.

She was quiet. The seconds ticked by, each one excruciating.Please go, I thought. And at the same time,Please don’t go.

“You’re right,” she said. “It was a long time ago. I’d better go inside and help.”

I didn’t breathe until I heard the patio door close again, and I knew she was gone.

I’d told myself so many times that this was finished. This time, I had almost believed it. Until I’d seen that ring.

She was my brother’s fiancée now. I had a great girl waiting for me in Tahoe. I was such an asshole. They all deserved better.

It was a disease, this secret weakness inside of me. Only getting worse with time.

“Why aren’t you strong enough to get over this?” I murmured.

I’d never even been with Charlie, never kissed her. Was that the reason this plagued me? The agony of wondering what could have been?

I would’ve given anything to cut out the parts of me that loved her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Charlotte

Twenty minutes.

That was how long the cop car sat behind us as we drove along the curving mountain highway.

Then finally, the car turned off the road. We waited a bit longer. Nothing happened.

I remembered how to breathe.

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