Page 27 of Just Another Chance

“So, he clearly wanted to talk to you. But then why didn’t he come over after or at least call?”

I shake my head. “I have no idea.”

“That’s strange. Maybe something happened?”

“What happened is he had told my sister he wanted to end things with me.”

“Oh, shit.”

The emotions begin to well up and I do my best to hold them back. But it still hurts. So damn bad. “Sorry,” I mumble and swipe at my eyes. “I knew we should talk, and I held onto the hope that maybe I’d seen wrong or didn’t know the whole story, but then Kayla told me that he wanted to break up with me. By that point, I was a mess. I had to get as far away from the city and Tanner as possible, so I took off.”

“Oh, no.” Her gaze fills with sympathy.

“Maybe it wasn’t my finest moment, but I felt so completely wrecked.”

“And he never tried to call you?” she asks gently.

I shrug. “I mean maybe. I don’t really know. When I left New York, I left my whole life behind, including my phone. I completely started over in New Jersey.”

“That’s heart breaking. I can’t believe you left– pregnant and alone– and moved to an entirely new city.”

“Stupid probably, but I didn’t know what else to do. I had to get out of here.”

“Not stupid! I think you were incredibly brave! How in the world did you manage to do it all on your own? I would’ve cracked.”

“It wasn’t easy and luckily my mom came over to help me. I had a difficult pregnancy, and she was there for me. That’s why I came back here.”

“To be with your mom?”

“She just passed away and Kayla called and said her affairs were left in shambles. I had to return and organize everything. Make sure everything is taken care of, you know?”

For a long moment, Heather just looks at me. “Do you know how glad I am that I hired you?” she asks. “And, even more than that, I’m really happy to say that I think we’re going to be good friends.”

A smile tugs at my mouth. “I could really use a good friend right about now,” I say.

The next thing I know, we’re hugging like we’ve been best friends for years. And it feels so good.

As the weeks pass, I thank my lucky stars that I walked into Heather’s flower shop first and that she hired me on the spot. We’ve become new besties and started hanging out together after work hours. She adores Owen and brings him little presents all the time. She also helped me find a small apartment near work. It’s not much, but it’s mine, and that makes it perfect.

Kayla and I decide to put mom’s house up for sale. Since she has her own place now in the city, and we certainly don’t want Randy showing back up and living there, we believe that it’s the best decision. Plus, it makes her babysitting Owen that much easier. Besides, having that extra money will help me pay off some bills my mom still had and give my sister and I some nice money to set aside for our savings.

Everything is starting to come together. But I think the thing that has me most excited is the fact that Tanner comes into the flower shop every day to visit me. He promptly arrives at 2pm when it’s my lunch break and takes me out to eat. Then he buys me more flowers and always tucks a little card inside. I have a stack of cards piling up and I keep them on my nightstand and flip through and re-read them every night before bed. They all say something short and sweet like “I missed you” or “You look beautiful today” or “What’re you doing Saturday night?”

In my favorite one, he wrote, “A.L.H.” which are my initials. Then beneath it, it says, “A…Lovely…Heart. It’s what I’ve always loved most about you.”

Loved?

I know that he doesn’t love me like that anymore. But maybe he could again? Am I being pathetic? Or just hopeful? I don’t know, but it’s a damn slippery slope. Heather thinks I should tell him about Owen sooner than later, but I’m still not quite sure how to break that piece of life-altering news yet. I suppose a part of me is scared he’ll jet after he finds out he has a kid. Another part of me is scared he’ll be furious at me for keeping Owen a secret for this long.

It’s such a twisted situation. Especially since I can feel myself falling for him all over again. And that’s such a scary and vulnerable spot to be in. I must be a glutton for punishment.

Every day while we’re at lunch, he asks me to go on a date on the weekend. And every day I tell him no and that it’s probably not a good idea to get more deeply involved. In all honesty, I’m terrified. I could never survive another heartbreak if Tanner decided to break up with me again. Once was hard enough. Twice would be beyond devastating.

So, I play it cool for as long as possible and keep him at arm’s length, firmly planted in the friend zone. But it’s getting harder and harder to do. Then, four weeks after he first walked into Heather’s Flowers, I’m sitting across from him, studying his perfect, strong-looking hands for a moment too long. Memories of what they used to feel like moving over my naked body make me start overheating. I want his hands on me again.Badly. So, I do the only thing I can– I cave.

When he asks me if I’m busy Saturday night, I throw caution and my heart to the wind, and I say no.

My answer catches him by surprise– me, too, actually– and his head jerks up from the salad he’s eating. “Are you serious?”

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