Page 47 of Second Chance Serenity

“I’m not questioning that.” The name Caves adorns his uniform along with a rank I don’t know enough about to recognize. “But once you start the process, you have to see it through. And you look like you’re running from something.”

“Not running. I just need a chance. Time away from my town.”

“You could take a vacation.”

“I don’t want a vacation. I want to do this. I want to be something.”

The recruiter studies me, and I can see that he genuinely cares enough to make sure I understand just what it is I’m signing up for. “Do you know what job you might want to do?”

“Anything.”

“The first step is to take the ASVAB. Once we have your scores we can go from there.”

I think about Reyna. About how we went and took our SATs together. This is somewhere she won’t follow me. Do I really have the strength to leave her behind?

“You will never make anything of yourself if you marry that girl,” my father said. “You’ll end up right where I am. Broken and stuck in this town for the rest of your life.”

“Then tell me where to be and I’ll be there,” I tell him. “When can we go?”

My father wants me to go pro. He wants me to play ball for money. All I want is to marry Reyna. Start a family. Work in the shop and build a life here. But I’ll never be allowed to do that. My father will never grant us any peace, so my only option is to leave.

To show him that he doesn’t have control, and then maybe…maybe she can forgive me.

Someday.

But even as I listen to the recruiter detail the entrance process, I know that it’s unlikely she ever will.

“Give me something to do.” I plop down in the desk chair across from Lance. He glances over from his computer and arches a brow.

“Feeling a little pent-up?”

I pop a piece of gum into my mouth. “I need to do something. Anything. I can’t get my mind off of Reyna and what a massive mistake her going to Boston is.”

“We’re all going to Boston,” he replies. “And I’ve already started coordinating with her event security. They seem like a great team.”

“Good for them. It’s still a mistake.”

“Possibly, but it’s important to her. And you know how we handle things like this. Our client’s needs come first. She needs to go? We make it happen safely.”

I shake my head. “I’m going insane. I can’t do my job because she insists on Jaxson doing it, I can’t convince you all that we need to put our foot down and refuse.”

“If we do that, she fires us and goes anyway.”

“Carter won’t fire us, and he’s the one technically paying us.”

“Michael.”

I know I’m behaving like an angry teenager. That if it were any other client I wouldn’t be acting this way. But Reyna changes things. She always has. “Fine. But give me something to do. There has to be a client somewhere who needs something. A kitten stuck in a tree? I can handle it. Just give me something.”

He chuckles and pulls a neon yellow sticky note off of the bottom of his monitor, then offers it to me. “Mrs. Redding called and asked if we’d add an additional panel at the back door of her bakery so she’s not having to sprint across the store to turn it off. Think you can manage an install?”

“Done.” I snatch the sticky note from him and jump to my feet, more than ready for the distraction.

After grabbing an extra panel and a bag of tools, I head out to my truck and make the short drive toward the bakery. I put the truck into park and climb out, taking my bag and the panel with me.

The moment I step inside, Mrs. Redding glances up from the customer she’s helping. “Hey, Michael, you here to add the other panel?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

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