Page 39 of Second Chance Serenity

I sigh. “He’s been asking for forgiveness since he came back. I know we’re supposed to forgive others as we have been forgiven, but?—”

“It’s easier said than done,” she says.

“Exactly. I can’t forget what he did. Every time I see him, I’m reminded of the night before he left. Of the—” I close my eyes. “He’d promised me forever, and then I woke up the next morning and found out he’d left without so much as a goodbye.”

She’s the only person who knows why I’m so upset. That Michael and I went well past what we should have done as seventeen-year-olds who snuck away and pledged their forever’s. “How am I supposed to get over that?”

“I’m not sure, honey. Have you tried talking to him about it? Explaining why you were so upset, and allowing yourself to hear his reasoning?”

“He wrote me letters,” I tell her. “For the first few years, I’d get one a week. Then, it was once a month, and then they slowed to one a year—on my birthday.”

“What did they say?”

“I never read them,” I admit. “It seemed pointless to rehash a past I wanted so desperately to forget. I was ashamed of myself, of what I allowed us to do, and what that meant for my future.”

“Honey.” She pulls me in tighter and runs her hand up and down my arm. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of yourself. You were young. In love. Sometimes, things happen.”

“I gave in when I’d always told myself I wanted to wait. But I thought he was it. I truly believed I would marry Michael Anderson. Then the next day he was gone. I felt used. Discarded.”

“I can completely understand why you would feel that way, Reyna. And you will hear no excuses for that boy from me, even though I love him like a son.” She smiles at me. “But he did love you, and I’d be willing to bet he’d grant you an explanation if only you’d ask.”

Truthfully, I know he would. He’s been begging me to listen since the moment he walked back into Hope Springs with an Army duffel and a new darkness in his eyes. Honestly, probably even before then, if the letters contain what I think they do.

But how can I guard my heart if I open it to listen and forgive?

My cell rings, so I pull it out of my pocket and check the readout.

“I’ll leave you to it. Come see me soon.” Kyra kisses my forehead, then smiles at Jaxson and heads back up the shoreline as I answer the call.

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

“Your mom can’t come to the phone right now,” a familiar deep voice says.

My blood turns to ice as panic claws through my insides, shredding every other thought until all I can feel is fear. “Where is she? What did you do?”

Jaxson is at my side in an instant, his firearm out as he scans the beach.

“You should have believed me when I told you I could get to everyone you love, Reyna. Now you’re going to find out exactly what I meant.”

CHAPTER 13

Michael

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know how this happened.”

Reyna stands beside her mother, both of them visibly shaken as we scour the bank’s security cameras. Sheriff Vick offers her a kind smile. “It’s not your fault. He likely walked in with the other patrons, then slipped into the back while no one was paying attention.”

“Or he paid an employee.” Elijah pauses the video. “Isn’t that Sheryl Pierson?” he asks, gesturing to a blonde woman who’s reaching into Felicity’s locker.

Anger burns me up from the inside.

“Sheryl? Why would she steal my phone? We’re not close, but I don’t understand why she would take it.”

“Did she know your passcode?” Elijah asks. He’d tracked the phone down, and we’d found it discarded in a trash can on the beach only half a mile away from where I’d been talking to Kyra.

Half a mile. That’s almost no distance at all.

“No. At least, I don’t think so.” Her eyes widen. “Actually, yes. This morning she’d asked if she could borrow my phone to make a call. I’d given it to her so she could unlock it since I was watching the front.” She covers her mouth with a shaking hand. “I didn’t see her again after that. What if she didn’t steal it, but whoever took it managed to get her first?”

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