Page 122 of Your Second Chance
I let out a bitter laugh, tears still falling. “Will he? Because I don’t even understand this.”
The room was quiet except for the sound of my uneven breathing. The walls felt like they were closing in, the weight of my anger, sadness, and anxiety suffocating me.
I missed my home. I missed who I used to be before all this.
And I missed Ollie—god, I needed him so much.
Luna handed me the phone. “I’ll be right here until you want me to leave.”
She gave my leg a squeeze as I dialed his number.
“Nove?” Ollie’s groggy voice came through the phone. “You alright?”
“I’m sorry I called so early.” My voice cracked. “I-I need to talk to you.”
I could hear sheets rustling. “I’m up. What’s wrong?”
Fresh tears instantly fell down my cheeks. “I-I was at her performance. I-I...”
I didn’t know how to tell him—the love of my life—that the daughter he’d been raising for almost five years had found her biological father. The thought of it would destroy him. The thought of it was already destroying me.
The pain was pulling me apart, limb by limb, like roots being ripped from the ground. Every branch of stability I had feltwas ready to snap, and the wind threatened to carry me away. Everything I thought I knew, every ounce of safety we’d built, was gone.
“He was there,” Ollie whispered. It wasn’t a question, but rather a statement. “You saw him.”
I nodded, knowing he couldn’t see me, but the silence that followed said he already knew the answer.
“Love,” he whispered again, softer this time, almost like a plea. “Love. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I choked out, my voice breaking as I tried to hold myself together. “Don’t leave us, Ollie. Please. Please come here. I can’t—I can’t live without you.” The words tumbled out. “I can’t imagine a world where you and I don’t exist. I’ll marry you tomorrow, I swear. Please don’t leave us. I can’t?—”
“Nova,” Ollie interrupted, this time firmer. “First, thank you for the sentiment of love,” he said, and then, to my horror, he chuckled.
“Why are you laughing?” I cried, the snot from my nose mixing with the tears streaming down my face.
I was a wreck, ugly and shattered. Luna silently got up and handed me a roll of tissue paper, her quiet presence grounding me.
“I—” Ollie started, his voice tinged with humor. “I didn’t realize it would take something like this for you to say how much you love me.”
“I’ve always loved you this much,” I sobbed, wiping my face with the tissue. “It’s... hard for me to express.”
There was a pause, the line crackling faintly before his voice came through, calm and certain. “Don’t say you can’t live without me, Nova. You absolutely can. You have before. You could, and you will.”
More tears spilled, shaking me to my very core. “You’re leaving me,” I whispered, the words tumbling out like a fact I was helpless to change.
“No. Stop,” he said quickly.
The phone clicked, and suddenly there he was, the video feed showing him lying in his bedroom back in the countryside. His soft brown eyes gazed at me, full of warmth and steadiness. “Love,” he murmured when he saw me, his voice so gentle it broke me all over again.
I looked a mess—bleary, red-rimmed eyes, tears and snot everywhere, but his expression didn’t waver.
“You’re so strong,” he said quietly. “You don’t need me, Nova. You never have. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be there. That I don’t want to be part of your life. You’re incredible, with or without me. I want to be with you. I’m choosing you.”
“I want you, too,” I murmured, clutching the tissue in my hand as I stared at the screen.
A soft smile spread slowly on his lips. “What happened with Austin?”
“Everything hurts,” I murmured. I closed my eyes. “I feel so....”
