Page 140 of The Last Second Chance
“And when you came back?”
“When I came back and things started up again between us, I was so happy. Everything was falling into place, but I realized there was a chance that if I told you why I left you’d face that choice again. Me or your father. And I worried you’d choose me.”
Joey shook her head in confusion. “So I should choose neither?”
“Jojo, I know what it’s like to live without a dad. I don’t want you to ever face that. Especially not while Forrest is alive and well.”
“He hurt me just as badly as you did,” Joey said stubbornly.
“Baby, I know,” Jax brushed the fingers of his uncuffed hand over her cheek. “But now that you know the whole truth, you have to choose both of us or neither of us.”
“You screwed up so bad.”
“Oh, Joey, don’t I know it,” he said, wrapping his arm around her in an awkward one-armed hug. “I did it all for you.”
“Do you think maybe in the future you could do less stupid things for me?” she asked, her voice muffled against his shoulder.
“That depends, are you saying we have a future?”
“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Carter asked, leading Summer between the soap booth and the gluten-free funnel cake stand.
“I’m handcuffed, how do you think it’s going?” Joey muttered.
“If it makes you feel better, the vote was unanimous for you two to be the Cuffed Lovers,” Summer said, undeterred by Joey’s general mood. “It was pretty cool. The B.C. posted a live video of their meeting and everyone got to post their votes online.”
“I’ve been betrayed by everyone,” Joey said, bringing her hands—and one of Jax’s—to her face. She’d been conspired against by an entire town for months and had neatly fallen into their trap.
The elementary school kazoo band took the stage and began a horrific rendition of “What a Wonderful World.”
Beckett and Gia approached, hands over their ears to block out the racket.
“You guys back together yet?” Beckett bellowed over the noise.
“I hate all of you,” Joey yelled back.
“I can’t hear what they’re yelling about,” Summer shouted in Carter’s ear.
Jax took matters into his own hands and dragging Joey, led the way down a hallway. The first doorknob he tried turned and he pulled her inside and flicked the light switch. The others piled in behind them.
“A janitor’s closet. Seems appropriate for cleaning up messes,” Beckett said shutting the door behind him.
“Sooo, are you getting back together?” Summer asked.
“You mean, are they going to go back to just casually seeing each other,” Gia corrected her with a wink at Joey.
At least she had one friend in the crowd.
“What’s that smell?” Carter asked. “It’s like old vomit and sawdust.”
“Gross!”
“Can you guys just shut the hell up for a minute?” Jax said at a kazoo concert level.
A chorus of “sorries” sounded.
“Look, guys. I’m sorry. I can’t just bounce back like the rest of you. I can’t be like Carter and tell Summer it’s fine that she ran away when it ripped his heart out. I can’t be like Gia and just forget that Beckett tried to throw her at her ex-husband. I need time to process stuff like that.”
They looked disappointed. “I’m sorry you’re disappointed. But I’m just trying to be honest here. A pair of handcuffs and a screenplay isn’t going to make me suddenly forgive. Maybe I’m starting to understand now. But it’s going to take some time.”
