Page 26 of A Second Chance

“Apologize,” Rebecca said.

“Yes,” Hannah added. “A good apology is a start.”

“I did.”

“When?” Autumn asked.

“Tonight. I just came from there. Oh, and ran into Eli on my way back—”

“What did she say?”

He shrugged. “I explained what happened. We talked… she cried… we left it at that. I don’t know if she believes me.”

“How did you leave it?” Autumn asked.

“She was tired, so we said goodnight.”

“Did you tell her you’d like to see her again?”

“I didn’t think that was the right time.” She’d been in his arms crying into his shirt. This thing that happened between them might break them both.

They all nodded. “There’s plenty of time for that,” Rebecca said.

Jason stretched. “It’s best if we’re just acquaintances… maybe friends one day.”

Rebecca laughed. “That thinking worked out well for me.” She bought up her left hand and wiggled her fingers, the wedding rings glittering in the overhead light.

“What? Did he, like, blackmail you or something?”

They all laughed.

Rebecca smiled. “Oh, he has other talents.”

Autumn snorted, almost spitting out her wine.

Jason wrinkled his nose. “Dear god, I don’t want to hear that.” He dropped his head to the table with a thud. The ladies howled with laughter.

***

It’d been a week since Jason stood on her front porch with his story. Gwen wasn’t proud of it, but she’d avoided him ever since. Per Tristan, he’d been working at the gallery, getting their electricity back up and running. With his help, she avoided Jason by not showing up while he was there. She’d taken up residence and made a few small pieces at a table in the workroom of the new-age shop where Avery worked. But inevitably, her good luck would run out, and as she pulled up at Autumn and Dan’s cabin with a variety of cars and trucks out front, she suspected her luck was over.

She’d considered declining the invitation, but the part of her that liked to please people had taken over and said yes. And she shouldn’t let a man keep her away from her friends, she reminded herself, as she passed Jason’s black truck parked at Ben and Brandon’s. Gwen sat for a moment in the parked car and steeled herself to get through an afternoon with him there.

The Backyard, as they called it, was an open field that led to a tree line then the plateau rising above them and wrapping the right border of the property into an alcove. The rocky face was bare in patches as the golden leaves turned brown and floated to the ground. She found everyone behind the cabin, a line of men and Autumn with bows shooting at targets in varying depths toward the trees. The group of men were all different – Dan stood over six feet of muscle; Weasel was the tallest and lanky; Justin a little shorter than Dan with a far smaller build; and Jason, thinner than he’d been when they met, and clocking in at just under six feet tall with broad shoulders and strong arms. She couldn’t help that his body drew her eyes, that he commanded her attention without trying. They were laughing and chatting away with words she couldn’t discern. The archers faced the opposite direction and didn’t notice her arrival.

Near the cabin sat the rest of the group, Hannah and Ben were in lawn chairs. While Rebecca and Brandon played with Danny, who was on a small plastic play contraption with a slide coming off the side. The toddler smiled on his way down the slide and ran around to climb up again while the adults cheered. Jason stood poised with an arrow aimed; he paused, then released the shot through the air. The arrow lodged into the side of a target in the shape of a deer. The group cheered.

Gwen walked up to Hannah. “Autumn shoots a bow?”

“Jason taught her a few years ago. But she only shoots at targets, no animals.”

Autumn shot at a round target and it hit near the center. “Good aim too,” Gwen said.

“Pull up a chair,” Ben said. “Take a load off.”

She tore her eyes off Jason’s butt in those jeans and grabbed a lawn chair.

After a few minutes, Autumn spotted her. “Hi,” she yelled across the lawn drawing the attention of the men who looked her way.

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