No Second Chances by Marissa Farrar

Author:Marissa Farrar [Farrar, Marissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Warwick House Press
Published: 2016-07-25T18:30:00+00:00

***

Cole returned the next day as promised.

My pain had subsided, and I’d gotten out of bed and taken a bath. I was dressed and mobile again, and some days I had to be thankful for achieving the small things. I was even more thankful to be dressed when a knock came at my front door.

I opened the door to find Cole balancing a stack of something in a brown paper bag. His biceps bunched either side, and the muscles in his forearms strained.

“Hey, you’re out of bed,” he said, from around the side of the pile.

“Yeah, I’m feeling much better.”

“That’s great. I didn’t know you’d be up and about, so I brought you something. I guess you can still make use of them, though.”

“Cole, what on earth is all this?”

“They’re all the books I remember you loved to read when you were seventeen.”

I laughed. “My taste in fiction has changed somewhat since then.”

The hurt on his face surprised me.

“I still love to read my old favorites, though.” I reached out to take the books from him, but he pulled away.

“I’ll carry them through. They’re surprisingly heavy.”

He carried them into the living room and set them down on the coffee table. They almost overbalanced and we both reached for them at the same time, our hands meeting. I looked up at him as we steadied the pile, and caught him grinning down at me. I smiled back and we locked eyes, our fingers touching. My heart flipped in my chest, and I dragged in a breath, forcing myself to pull away from him and stand straight. I needed to stop imagining these little moments of friction between us.

“These are great, Cole” I said, nodding to the books, my eyes skimming down the spines for the titles. “It’ll be a real trip down memory lane.” I wondered if it was really a good idea to be remembering anything else from when I was seventeen. Just having Cole here was bad enough.

“You’re welcome.” He glanced around. “So, where’s your dad?”

“He’s popped out to the grocery store. Knowing him, he’ll be a while.”

“As long as he doesn’t get himself stuck in any more gates.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know. I still don’t understand how he managed to do that.”

Cole frowned slightly. “Tell me if I’m out of line, Gabi, but has he ever tried to get any help?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he’s even accepted he has a problem. I thought after he lost his job—”

“He lost his job?” Cole interrupted. “I figured he’d just retired.”

Of course, Cole wouldn’t have been privy to all the town gossip when he’d been behind bars.

“No, he was fired. He was on duty with a blood alcohol level several times above the legal driving limit, and of course he’d been driving as well. He lost his license and was put on suspension that day, and then lost his job during the hearing. I thought that would have been the nudge he’d needed to get help, but he just carried on.

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