Page 17 of Second Chance with Seth

The drive to Hart’s Creek is a very familiar one. For a while, when I first started seeing Everly, I used to make this same journey, every Friday night, leaving Concord the moment I finished work, my bag already loaded into the trunk of my car. I was impatient to see her, and I can’t help smiling at the memories, even though I’m more nervous now than I think I’ve ever been before.

I used to be excited when I made this journey, not nervous… not even when I drove it in reverse after that first day we spent together. It wasn’t even a whole day. It was an afternoon and most of a night… and while I know how that sounds, it wasn’t like that. All we did was drink coffee, have dinner, take a walk… and talk. Man, did we talk.

Everly told me how her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was five years old, and how she’d been taken in by her Aunt Clare. I’d met her at the coffee shop… although I guess ‘met’ might be overstating it. She’d served me coffee, and said goodbye to me when Everly and I left, after I’d persuaded her to have dinner with me. Even so, I could tell just from that brief encounter that Aunt Clare was a kind woman, and that Everly was very attached to her. That was understandable. Not only had Aunt Clare taken her in and raised her, but she’d given Everly part-ownership of the coffee shop. It meant a lot to her.Anyone could see that… but I suppose I could see it better than most, because I’d been studying her. I’d noticed that, as well as having silky blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and a perfect, slim figure, she was also shy, insecure, full of self-doubt, and the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

She was kind, too, and I think it was her kindness that made it so easy to tell her about my parents’ divorce.

“When did it happen?” she asked, after I’d initially raised the subject. That was unusual for me. It’s not something I often tell people about, although I don’t really know why.

“I was seven when my dad left,” I said. “He ran off with another woman. I never knew who she was, and if my mom did, she didn’t tell me.”

We were down by the creek, walking in the moonlight, and she stopped then, looking up at me. “Does that mean you didn’t see him again?”

“Yeah. He disappeared from our lives.”

Looking back at that conversation, and everything that’s happened since, I can’t help wondering if I’m so very different from my father. Everly and I may not have a child, but I still abandoned the woman I love… although at least I didn’t leave her for another woman. I guess that’s something.

Everly didn’t make that connection on the day I walked away from her. She didn’t accuse me of being like him, although she had every right to. The idea may have crossed her mind since, though, and that thought leaves me cold.

Because I held nothing back when I told her about my father’s departure, and the effect it had on my mother… and on me.

“What did you do?” she asked after my initial revelations. “I mean, what did your mom do?”

“She found us a small apartment, which she had to work two jobs to pay for, and I guess she just got on with things, like people do.”

“What about you?” She tilted her head, looking up at me as we started walking again.

“It was a big change, obviously. I wouldn’t say we’d lived a life of luxury before my dad left, but we’d had a nice house, cars… nothing ostentatious, but very different from the life we led after he’d gone.”

“Did you go to college?” she asked, and I realized then that I hadn’t explained what I did for a living.

“Yes. I studied architecture.”

She smiled up at me. “How did you manage… financially, I mean?”

“I worked my ass off.”

She giggled, and although I was already holding her hand, I gripped it a little tighter, determined not to let go.

“Doing what?”

“Anything I could. I worked in a diner, a couple of fast food restaurants, a clothing store, and even a coffee shop.”

“A coffee shop?”

“Yeah, but it was nowhere near as nice as yours.” She giggled again, and I resisted the temptation to put my arm around her.

“I assume you graduated?”

“Naturally,” I said, giving her a smile. “I even found a job, which was more down to luck than anything else.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t all luck,” she said, and I leaned in to her a little, to let her know I appreciated the compliment.

“It was mostly luck,” I said. “One of my tutors knew this guy called Aiden, and he was looking for an entry-level architect. I was obviously looking for work and my tutor put A in touch with B.”

“And that gave you a start?”

“It gave me more than that. I’m still there… although I’ve progressed from entry-level, I’m relieved to say.”

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