Page 71 of Second Chance Serenity

“I love him.” I say it out loud for the first time in years, and the admission lifts a huge weight from my shoulders.

“I know that. I want to know if you’re going to do anything about it. My vote? Yes. If you’re asking. We did just meet and all, so I’m not entirely sure where you stand on my opinion.”

Laughing, I take another drink of coffee. “You know, I like you, Bianca.”

“I like you, too, Reyna.” She gently taps her coffee cup to mine.

“As far as he and I are concerned, I’m not entirely sure what to do about us yet. But I’m trying to figure it out.”

With a second cup of coffee in hand, I step back into Michael’s room. He’s sitting up in bed, staring out the window, though when he hears me enter, he turns his head and smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Hey,” he greets softly.

He looks worn out. Stressed.

“Hey. I brought you some coffee. But if they show up and yell at you for having it, you didn’t get it from me.”

He chuckles as I set the cup on his bedside tray. I take a seat in the chair beside his bed. “I’ll keep the secret.” Michael takes a drink of the coffee, then leans back and groans. “That’s good. But given how long it’s been since I had coffee, it could technically be terrible.”

Silence settles between us as we drink our coffee. I lean my head back in the chair and close my eyes.

“Lance said that Jaxson can stay at your house. If you wanted to go home.”

I open my eyes and stare at him. “You want me to leave?” It hurts to think he doesn’t want me to be here.

“No. Not at all. Not even a little bit. When you walked out the door with Bianca to go to the cafeteria, I about lost my mind.”

Relief settles over me, and I get up from the chair to sit on the edge of the bed. After setting my coffee beside his, I take his hand in mine. The feeling of his large, calloused palm against my smaller hand takes me back to happier times.

To wearing his letterman jacket and walking through the park, not a care or concern. We’d had our whole lives planned out, and I’d been so certain of our future. It never occurred to me that he was struggling with his present.

“I don’t want to leave.” I lift my gaze to his.

“I don’t want you to go.” His gaze drops to my mouth, then darts back up to my eyes. I lean forward, ready to give in to my desire to taste his lips again. To restart what never really seemed to end in the first place.

And then the door opens.

“Michael!” Michael’s mother rushes forward, and I stand, getting out of the way just in time for her to throw her arms around him. Delilah cups his face and stares down at him. “You scared us!”

“You really did, son.” A man in a wheelchair rolls in, and I immediately recognize Michael’s father.

Unexpected anger churns in my stomach as I stare down at the man who drove Michael away from me. Who didn’t think I was enough to make his son happy—or whatever his ridiculous reasoning was.

“Reyna, it’s good to see you.”

“I think I’ll go call my mother.” I need distance from him. From all of this. “Mrs. Anderson, it’s good to see you.” I walk out the door, breathing easily as soon as I’m not sharing space with Michael’s father anymore.

“Reyna?”

Why? Forcing a neutral expression on my face, I turn toward Michael’s father, who has wheeled out into the hallway. “Yes?”

“I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Are you?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them.

His brow furrows. “Of course I am. Just because you and Michael didn’t work out doesn’t mean I ever stopped caring for you. You were at my house practically every summer, hanging with Margot and Michael.”

“And why didn’t Michael and I work out?” I snap, stepping toward him. The fury is blazing in my veins now, and even though I know I should stop, that he’s here to check on his son who nearly died, I can’t. Because the hurt is right there, cheering the anger on.

“I’m not entirely sure,” he replies. “Though I sense you believe I had something to do with it.” The man was a cop before his injury. I would even go to the range with him and Michael on the weekends. He taught me to shoot, taught me some self-defense right alongside Margot… I loved Michael’s entire family.

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