Second Chance Summer (Chance #1)(12)
Author: Emma Hart

She picks at a thread on her pants, looking at me with her head tilted to the side slightly.

“What?” I ask after a moment of silence, wondering what’s going on in her head.

“Kia,” she says softly. “You’re not your parents.”

“So everyone keeps telling me – but I don’t want to end up like them, either. I don’t want to find myself just like my momma in fifteen years’ time because Reese decided to take off. We’re just kids, really. How likely are we really to find everything we’re ever gonna need in each other?”

~

Mom teeters through the house on sky high heels, half-drunk, and I bite my tongue to stop myself saying anything. She’s dressed as trashy as the bar she works at just outside town, and I find myself really beginning to wonder where it all went wrong. She got that job a few months before Dad left, and it’s all too easy to imagine her drinking before he did. Maybe she just hid it well, or maybe I’ve blocked it all out. The few weeks around the time he left are a total blur to me, full of unanswered questions. I was never told why he left and I’m still not strong enough to ask.

I guess a part of me still believes he’ll come back. Even now.

She blows me a cursory kiss, grabs her purse, and strolls outside to the waiting cab. Even on her night off, she still goes back there. The door shuts behind her with a deafening bang, and I chew on my thumbnail. This house. It’s quiet, too quiet.

I could go and get my guitar. Play it out. Sing it out. Instead, I grab my cell from the coffee table with every intention of calling Luce.

But I don’t.

I dial Reese’s number.

“I wasn’t expecting you to call,” he says as soon as he answers.

“I wasn’t expecting to,” I admit. “Are you busy?”

“Are you offering to make me busy?”

“Are you being a jackass?”

“Probably.” He laughs. “No, I’m not busy. Why?”

“I need to get out.”

“I’ll come and get you.”

“I can drive to wherever I need to get to, Reese.”

“I’ll come and get you,” he repeats and hangs up.

Damn him. I hoist myself up from the couch and get ready to leave. Pajama pants aren’t gonna cut it, really.

A horn beeps outside, and I take my cell before running from the house. Reese leans over and opens the truck door from the inside, holding his hand out to help me up. I pause for a second, not looking at him, before my hand makes its own way into his.

His fingers are rough and hot as they curl around mine. I try to focus on where I’m putting my feet instead of the feel of his skin. I slam the door shut after me, taking my hand back, and Reese pulls out of the drive without saying a word. We drive across town in silence, and my eyes flick several times to the way his muscles flex when he changes gear.

“No questions?” I ask quietly, finally raising my eyes to his.

He stops the car outside his house and turns his face toward mine slowly, the faint glow of the light from his front porch casting shadows across it.

“No questions,” he answers. “Why would I? I know you, Kia, and I know you need company, not someone that will dissect your day.”

I smile, but I don’t feel it. My stomach churns and it makes it harder to tear my gaze away from his burning hazel eyes and hop from the truck.

It makes it harder, because he gets me. He gets me in a way not even Luce does, and it makes me want him even more.

I drop to the ground by the lake, the almost-set sun casting a lazy orange haze across the water. Above that, in the darkening sky, thousands of tiny stars faintly twinkle. Reese hits the ground next to me and lies down.

I watch the sun as it goes down, slowly disappearing over the horizon through the trees.

“I’m confused,” I say, breaking the silence. I lean back on my hands and look up at the stars.

“What are you confused about?” Reese rolls onto his side, propping his face on his hand.

“Why aren’t you mad at me?” I ask quietly.

“What?”

“Ever since I got back, you’ve made a huge fuss about me not comin’ back at Christmas, but you’ve never been really mad over it. If it bothers you so much, how can you spend time with me?” I look down at him. “If it really bothers you that much, how can you forgive me?”

“I haven’t,” he replies simply, staring into my eyes. “I haven’t forgiven you and I’m pissed at you, Kia. Shit, I’m real pissed, but I figure if I start yellin’ at you every time I see you, you’ll run in the opposite direction. So I might be mad, but my want to spend time with you outweighs that.”

“Huh.” I turn away from him again, thinking how much sense that makes in a crazy way. “I was thinkin’ last night.”

“About?” he questions.

“Last summer. It was the best one, right?” I pick at the grass. “I spoke to Adam last night, and we were talkin’ about that big water fight we had. Remember?” He nods, smiling. “When we were running all over town. I don’t know if anyone didn’t get wet that day.”

I feel his eyes flitting across my face, tracing the lines of my profile and settling on my lips. I hold my breath because I know exactly what he’s about to say next.

He chuckles low. “That was the first time I ever kissed you.”

“Don’t! Reese! No!” I’d screamed, hiding behind a tree. Reese laughed, shooting me with his pistol anyway. I pinned my back against the tree, breathing heavily, and he whispered, “Boo,” in my ear. I shrieked and ran away, laughing at us. My wet hair bounced around my shoulders, and my white top was clinging to my body and showing the bright red spots on my bikini top.

I looked over my shoulder and shot him with the last of my water. “Oh, shit!” I cried.

“You’re done for now!” he yelled, grinning like a crazy man. I could hear him running faster and see him closing in on me.

“Reese, Reese!” I shouted, seeing him get even closer. “Please don’t, please.” I laughed and stopped, bending over at the waist to rest my hands on my knees.

He stopped next to me. “Give in?”

“Yes,” I wheezed through my crazy laughter. “I give in.”

“Good.” He grinned, uncapping the part of his pistol that held the water. It hit the back of my head, soaking me even more, and I cried out.

“Oh. My. God,” I sputtered, straightening. “You did not just do that.”