Page 57 of Second Chances
Chapter 24
He was driving fasterthan he should. His truck was in two-wheel drive and he loved the way it felt when he slid and fishtailed around the corners, his anger, his hurt expressed in reckless driving. As he rounded the corner before the covered bridge, he saw a silver Lexus creeping along the road and had to swerve to avoid hitting the car. The man in the car leaned on the horn and gave Josh the finger.
Josh knew that he deserved it, but still felt offended at the gesture. He pulled his truck over before the bridge and leaned his forehead on the steering wheel. He was a wreck. How could he have fallen in love with Megan in less than two months? How could he have fallen in love with someone who was lying to him about who she really was?
He thought back to their first kiss, to the first time he saw her when she dropped the wine, and the events of their time together melded into a series of memories. He realized that he had fallen in love with Megan, with her smile, the crinkles beside her eyes, the easy way she had about her, the way that she treated everyone equally. He loved the way her ass felt cupped in his hands, the way she kissed his neck, her tenderness, the way she embraced new adventures with him, even though he knew that she was scared.
He took a deep breath. He loved Megan. He needed her in his life.
He realized that she must have had a good reason for what she did and that he couldn’t just drive away from her. He couldn’t let something so good slip between his fingers without knowing why. He needed answers.
He turned the truck around and headed back up Sugar Peaks Way, determined to get some answers, to find some way to justify what she had done, to find some way that he could make Megan Brittle his.
He rehearsed his speech as he followed the curving switchbacks up the mountain road. He stopped short as he was about to turn into the driveway when he saw the silver car that he had almost run off the road parked there. The angry man who had flipped him off was standing in the doorway, hugging a woman holding a bouquet of red roses. Josh’s heart dropped when he realized that the woman wasn’t Charlotte. It was Megan.
“Her real life,” he muttered to himself and sped away, leaving the mountain house in his rear-view mirror.
