Page 45 of Second Chance Fate

“That girl you met in Daytona Beach on spring break when we went to my uncle’s funeral. Do you remember her?” A wrinkleappeared in Josh’s forehead. “She had really dark hair. What was her name?”

“Rebecca.”

“Yes.” Josh’s eyes lit up, and he pointed at Caleb. “That was it, Rebecca. That’s crazy; I can’t believe you remember her name.”

His friend started to put his towel back in his bag when he froze and slowly turned back to look at Caleb.

Josh’s chest was rising and falling in shallow breaths that had nothing to do with his exertion on the court. “The day Audrey hired Taylor, she told me that Taylor doesn’t go by her first name; it’s her last name. Her first nameisRebecca. Is she…” Josh’s jaw dropped mid-question, and his eyes widened as his gaze cut to Owen, who was shooting from the free throw line. He dribbled, lined up, bent his knees, lifted the ball in the air, kept his elbow tucked beneath it, cocked his wrist back, then shot it with a smooth, fluid wrist snap. The ball was all net, and as he lowered his arms, he cracked both of the knuckles on his middle fingers with his thumbs.

Caleb watched some of the color drain from his best friend’s face. He looked back at Caleb. “She’s Rebecca…and he’s eleven. He’s…”

Before Josh could finish that thought, both of their phones rang.

Caleb looked down at his phone, which was on his bag, and saw Viv was calling him.

“Hello,” he answered.

At the same time, he heard Josh answer the call from his wife, “Hey babe, I’m?—”

“Caleb, is Owen with you?” Viv sounded stressed. Vivnever sounded stressed.

Even though he knew the answer, Caleb’s eyes automatically locked on Owen who was standing beside the purple-haired Hart twin.

“Yes.”

“Okay, don’t freak him out, but his mom passed out, we called an ambulance, and they are taking her to Pine Ridge General.”

“Is she okay?”

“The ambulance just left, she was still…out of it.”

Caleb felt his entire world stop spinning. It was as if time stopped, everything around him got quiet. All he could hear was the sound of his own breath and a high-pitched ringing in his ear. He’d heard people describe that happening, but he’d never experienced it before.

“Caleb? Caleb?!”

He heard Viv say his name loudly, and it snapped him back into action. In that moment, everything became crystal clear. It didn’t matter what he was feeling. The only thing that mattered was Owen. And Viv was right, he couldnotstress him out. But he also couldn’t lie to him.

“Sorry, yeah. I’m here. I’ll get Owen to the hospital and take care of everything. Thanks for calling.” Caleb disconnected the call, grabbed his bag, and stood.

Josh’s hand landed on his shoulder. “Do you want me to drive?”

“No, I’m good.”

His friend’s fingers squeezed tighter, preventing him from walking down the steps of the bleachers. “Are you sure?”

Caleb turned to look at Josh. “Yeah. I’ll call you if I need you.”

Josh held his gaze, staring into his soul for several beats before giving him a sharp chin nod and dropping his arm.

As Caleb crossed the gym with purposeful strides, he only had a few seconds to formulate how he was going to break thenews to Owen without making him panic and possibly end up in the hospital himself, or worse. He knew he needed to remain calm and composed. The greatest chance of Owen staying calm would be Caleb projecting everything was okay, it would signal to his son’s brain that it was okay, even if it was only on a subconscious level.

Caleb said a prayer that God would give him the right words, the right energy, that he would be everything his son needed him to be and everything Taylor needed him to be. He also prayed, nobeggedGod to get Taylor through this. Caleb tried to bargain, saying he would gladly take her place, even though he knew that wasn’t how God worked. Whatever it was that she was experiencing, she did not deserve it. Caleb had lived a privileged life, with loving parents and a supportive community. She’d never had any of that. She wasn’t the one who should be in the ambulance right now, he was. Owen needed her, not him.

He was a few feet away when Jonah noticed him and motioned for Owen to turn around. Owen turned around with a mile-wide smile that radiated the carefree happiness of youth, something Caleb hadn’t seen Owen enjoy much of because of his illnesses. The second he saw Caleb, it dropped.

So much for projecting everything was okay.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Owen asked.

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