Page 35 of One Little Chance
“We’ll be here to help when you get back,” Sarah promised, reaching out and giving my arm a squeeze.
“I think we need some music or something. Put on your Christmas playlist, Sarah?” Jenna said.
Sarah opened her phone and after a few clicks, Ella Fitzgerald’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve” crooned from the speakers. “This is totally your song with Jordan,” she said, returning to the outlay of makeup products.
I sipped my mimosa, listening along to the song, so grateful I hadn’t given up my one little chance.
Chapter 17
AUTUMN 2023
Summer was sweet as cotton candy and dissolved just as quickly. I had summer break off work, so Jordan and I made up for lost time. It was our own summer bubble, spending lazy warm evenings catching up on the chapters of each other’s lives we’d missed.
There were small-town whispers as we met up on Jordan’s lunch breaks or walked hand in hand at the Sweet River Summer Festival.
One old high school teacher of ours joked when he got behind us in line at Coffees and Commas, “Have I gone back in time? Am I back in Sweet River High School? It’s Sophia and Jordan cuddled up again!”
We didn’t care. And mostly, people celebrated.
As we pushed grocery carts through the market or discussed work struggles, it felt good to be doing adulthood arm-in-arm for the first time. It didn’t feel like we were picking up from where we left off years ago. It felt like we were growing something new—something made to last. Our years apart made us better partners for each other now, like all along God knew we’d find our way back together and had been preparing us for it.
Months passed of this brand-new bliss until autumn came and our little couple bubble had to burst.
The school year began. Jordan helped me set up my classroom and acquainted himself with my coworkers. We showed up together at football games and potlucks. Our names were a duo in people’s mouths again:Jordan and Sophia.
Jordan’s family had been busy traveling a lot over the summer, so we went from phone calls with his parents here and there to weekly family dinners returning in the fall.
Sitting at their long, walnut family table felt surreal. I was back somewhere so familiar, but it felt so different.
Growing up, the Silk family dinners felt like a cozy, happy place where I got to eat Pat’s divine southern cooking, tease Jordan with his siblings, and maybe fall asleep on Jordan’s shoulder while we watched a football game in their living room by the fireplace. I always felt like a page in their story, nestled in somewhere I belonged.
Now, I felt anxious.
We started family dinners again in September. During the drive over to the first dinner, I broke out in nervous sweats. I hadn’t been to the Silk’s house since the funeral, which was such a different situation. This time, I was returning as Jordan’s new girlfriend but also his ex-childhood sweetheart.
The air between his sisters and I felt sort of awkward. I wasn’t sure.
His parents greeted me with bear hugs. Pat remembered my favorite dip and had set it out as an appetizer.
“Just for you,” she said with a wink.
Sarah and Jenna smiled at me when I walked in but kept their distance, barely engaging in conversation. The air was tense.
I knew I could win them over. I was set on winning them over.
But, as fall flew by, and so did family dinners and football games and back-to-school fundraisers with Jordan’s nieces and nephews, they kept me at a distance. They were polite, but the warmth from years prior was completely snuffed out. The comfort that was once there was completely gone.
Halloween night, Jordan and I showed up at Jenna’s house for trick or treating dressed as a cheeseburger and fries. I skipped up her steps, trying not to bump my red carton into Jordan’s big ole bun.
She cocked her head to the side standing in the doorway. Her shiny, blonde hair was tucked behind her ear, as she said, “Oh, I didn’t realize Sophie was coming.”
“Of course she is.” Jordan shrugged. “I’ve got to spend the holidays with my girl.”
Jenna’s eyes locked with Sarah’s, and even growing up without sisters of my own, I knew the unspoken conversation happening between them.
“I’m sorry. Am I intruding on a family thing?” I offered to try and chip away at whatever ice was between us.
“No, no, it’s okay.” Sarah brushed the air with her hand as if brushing away my insecurity.
