Page 84 of A Second Chance At Forever

I didn’t move or say anything. I didn’t care why she lied. The point was, she lied about being pregnant with my child.

When I didn’t say anything, Nicole took a sip of coffee and began again. “I didn’t believe you when you said that I had nothing to worry about with Lennox. From the moment she came to town, you were different. You were reserved. I knew what she meant to you, and knew if she wanted you, she could take you and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. So when I was approached Sunday leaving work and given the pictures, I knew I had to do something before you were gone for good. That’s when I thought up the pregnancy story. I knew you would stick around to care for your child. I just thought that maybe I could get pregnant for real before you found out.”

I didn’t know what to say to her. “I can’t believe you would do something like that. I don’t even know what to say to you, right now.” I shook my head and rubbed my temples.

She reached across the table and tried taking my hand in hers, but I pulled away. “I’m sorry. I just panicked, I didn’t want to lose you.”

I sat back thinking over everything. Suddenly, a much more important question came to me. “Who gave you the pictures?”

“I don’t know, she didn’t tell me her name.”

She?

“What did she look like?”

Nicole wrinkled up her face, probably wondering why that was so important. “Well, she had long blonde hair, thin, kind of tall, and she had a small scar on her forehead.”

Ashley.

I knew it was Ashley when Nicole said she had a scar on her forehead. Lennox caused that scar when they got into the fight at the bar. Ashley took the pictures and showed them to Nicole, making her come up with the pregnancy story. I couldn’t believe Ashley would start shit again.

What the fuck is wrong with that girl?

“I need to go.” I pushed away from the table.

“Wait,” Nicole called after me.

I stopped with my hand on the doorknob.

“Do you forgive me?” she asked, lingering in the doorway behind me.

“I don’t know, Nicole. I can’t right now, what you did was wrong. I hope one day we can get past this.” I opened the door and left without looking back at her.

As I climbed into my truck, my phone rang. “Hello?” I answered while starting the truck to leave.

“Mr. Reynolds?”

“Yeah, who is this?”

“This is Mark with Ocean Water Insurance Company. How are you doing today, Sir?”

“I’m great,” I answered, waiting for the ball to drop.

“I’m glad to hear it. We have inspected the property and have a check ready for you. You are clear to rebuild.”

“Thank you, that’s great news.” I hung up the phone after listening to him spew on about the check being in the mail.

I started to make my way home, but decided to stop and check out the damage. I pulled into the parking lot and stopped in front of the burnt down building. The roof had caved in, bringing down the walls. The whole building was nothing but a burnt pile of my past. Something my dad worked hard for. The only thing that was holding me there, was gone.

I felt like I had let my dad down somehow. He built the shop from the ground up, he worked hard every day, and when he died he left it for me to take care of.

Now look at it, it’s nothing but burnt, scorched wood.

I leaned back in my seat, looking over the burned down shop. This is what I gave up my life for? This was everything to my family, and now it’s gone. Should I rebuild in my father’s memory? Should I take the check and run? Take Lennox and finally leave this town behind?

I couldn’t take looking at it anymore. I put my truck in reverse and backed away from my past that was nothing more than a crumbled mess. I turned the truck around and left without a look back. I made it home an hour later to find Alissa and Dane nowhere in sight.

“Where are they? They better not have left you here alone,” I said walking into the living room where Lennox was watching TV.

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