Page 9 of One Little Chance
“I guess I knew everything I wanted early on.” My eyes filled with tears but in a good way.
Chapter 5
JANUARY 13TH, 2023
Me
Are you at your shop dad? I’m at Coffees & Commas and want to grab you a big thank you coffee for all the unpacking and furniture building!!
Dad
You don’t need to do that, but I’d love to see ya. I’m here! Tell Claire at the front and she’ll come get me.
Weeks later, after I’d moved into my new place on the same block as my old dream house, I went to visit my dad at work. He owned the auto shop in town. He’d been putting in hours helping me unpack, hang art, and build furniture, so one wintry afternoon, I decided to bring him a warm coffee as a small gesture of thanks.
Snow was on the ground as I scurried through the parking lot. I greeted the receptionist at the front desk so she could let my dad know I was there. I turned away from the desk towardthe lobby when Gabriel Hernandez, leaning on a crutch, and Emma, Jordan’s girlfriend, who was suspiciouslynever withJordan, greeted me. Gabriel was charming as ever with his dark curls and charisma. We started to chat. It was friendly enough, but my mind was screaming at Emma through the small talk,Are you still dating Jordan? Where is Jordan? Is Jordan single?
Emma wasn’t sharing any updates, anxiously toying with her long blonde hair and laughing along to Gabriel’s chatter.
I had to finally bring Jordan up myself. “How are you?How’s Jordan?” I had an inkling that maybe things had blown up around the time I moved back to town, hence his red-rimmed eyes and puffy cheeks on Christmas Eve.
“I hear he’s doing well…” Emma said, and I was about to burst from lack of explanation until bless her, she added, “We’re actually just friends now.”
I didn’t want to say I was happy or ecstatic, but I was relieved—and maybe a reckless kind of hopeful. The conversation was a blur after that, ending shortly after, but its effect on me lingered.
My mind reeled…Jordan was single. What did that mean? Did that mean anything at all? Was it allowed to mean something to me?
I left Dad’s shop in the afternoon, snow coming down thick like fog while I drove home. As I turned onto my block, my heart tugged in my chest until I drove straight past my new place, not stopping until I arrived in front of that old dream house down the street where all my old dreams still lived. I hadn’t forced myself to box them up and carry them out yet.Maybe someday the house could still be mine? No one else had claimed it yet.
Putting my Corolla into park, I recognized the white truck parked in front of the house across from me.
The truck’s engine was loudly running. I squinted and saw Jordan laughing in his front seat.My chin dipped down.Oh, so funny, Jordan catching me revisiting our old spots.
I unbuckled and stepped out of my car with him stepping out of his at the same time.
He rubbed his hands together in the cold. “Fancy meeting you here?” he said. His sandy hair was messy like he’d tousled it before sliding out of his truck.
“I live down the street now in one of those townhouses across the park.” I gestured behind me as if that explained my presence here. Snow crunched under my boots.
“Remember how we used to come here all the time as teenagers? We’d dream about the future and talk for hours. I guess I never stopped. I still come by here to think,” he said. “Is that weird?”
“No, not weird at all. I was planning to come here to think, myself.”If I was still coming back to our old spots, at least he was, too.Snow landed on my hair and my clothes. He dusted it off his coat.
I gave a little shiver, the cold seeping through my puffy white coat.
“Truck Chat?” he asked.
Truck Chats, our old term for long talks we’d have in his truck. It was a different truck back then than this fancy new model I was currently climbing into. But the term still filled my chest with a familiar warmth.
A fight? We needed a Truck Chat. Just watched a good movie we needed to dissect. Truck Chat. Stressed about school? Truck Chat. Planning the holidays? Truck Chat. Needed a pep talk? Truck Chat.
“I’ve been long overdue for a Truck Chat,” I said, relaxing into his front seat. I was hit with the familiar piney, spicy scentI’d always known as Jordan’s. A scent that still showed up in my dreams.
Here he sat blood spikingly close, his breath fogging up the window shield, grinning at me like we were old friends, smelling like my teenage dreams. A Truck Chat, like no time had passed.
“How’s it being back in town?” he asked, waking me from my thoughts.
“It’s been exactly what I needed.” I warmed my hands with the truck heaters. “I’ve been eating at all my favorite spots. Catching up with everyone. It’s pretty wonderful how Sweet River welcomed me back like no time has passed.”
