Read Online No Second Chances by Marissa Farrar - Free Book Online Page A

are.” I stepped back, freeing the doorway. “Please, come in.”
    “Oh, only if you have time,” she chirped. “We wouldn’t want to interrupt.”
    I silently observed that they already had interrupted me, but I didn’t say anything. I also noticed how Taylor had remained silent so far. I guessed she wasn’t sure how to figure out the situation yet either.
    “Mom?” the boy said suddenly. “Is this the lady who only has one leg?”
    Taylor’s perfect lips parted and she clamped her hand over the boy’s mouth. “Oliver!” Brushstrokes of pink painted her throat.
    Mom? So Taylor was a mother now? She must have gotten pregnant young. I did the math and relaxed slightly. She hadn’t been that young.
    I forced a smile at the boy, Oliver. “Yes, I’m that lady who only has one leg.”
    “Cool!” he mumbled from behind Taylor’s hand. “Can I see it?”
    “Oliver!” she exclaimed again.
    I laughed. “It’s fine, honestly. Though I’d rather not start flashing on the doorstep. The neighbors might complain.”
    Taylor laughed a little, too, and I felt a fraction of the awkwardness dissipate between us.
    “Come in, please,” I said again.
    I led them into our compact living room, and they both took seats on the couch, Oliver perching on the armrest.
    “Can I offer you a drink? Coffee? Something cold, perhaps?”
    “Oh, no, we’re fine,” said Jasmine, but I could tell what was behind her words. She probably didn’t want the invalid shuffling around after them.
    “So, how have you both been?” I asked, sitting in the comfy chair opposite them. “It’s been a long time.”
    “Yes, it has.”
    I’d kept in touch with Jasmine sporadically over the years, but I hadn’t had any contact with Taylor, and Jasmine had known not to mention her.
    I turned to Taylor. “So, you’ve been busy.” I glanced at her son.
    “Umm, yeah, Ollie has definitely done that.”
    “I’m bored,” the boy complained. “There’s nothing to do here.”
    “Sorry,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “I don’t have any kids’ toys or anything. I glanced out of my window. “You’re welcome to play in the yard, though. My old treehouse is still out back. Hopefully it isn’t completely rotten by now.”
    Taylor looked relived. “Yes, that would be great, thanks.”
    She shooed the boy out the back, and then, after making sure he wouldn’t fall through the floor of my old treehouse, came and sat back down again. “That’s better. We can actually talk now.”
    “So, really,” Jasmine said. “How are you?”
    I shrugged. “I’ve been better, I guess.”
    “So the rumors are true?”
    I nodded and lifted the leg of my pants. Both women grew pale. Taylor put her hand to her mouth. I was shocked to see tears in Jasmine’s eyes.
    “Oh, my God, Gabi,” my old best friend said.
    “It’s okay.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to reassure them, but I did. “I’m alive, and that’s the main thing. The soldier I was stationed with when this happened didn’t make it. He had a young family and everything.”
    Taylor shook her head. “That’s awful.”
    “Yeah, it was, but I’m a lot better now.” The truth was I’d used the thought of Tom’s death to pull me through the hardest times. Even in the early days, when I’d felt like there was no point in fighting any more, I reminded myself of him, and how he would have given anything to have survived with only a lost limb. If our positions had been reversed, he would be here now, holding his baby daughter and kissing his wife. He’d have been able to see his little girl grow into a woman, and would have happily walked her down the aisle on her wedding day, thankful for his prosthetic leg.
    The thought of him caused tears to threaten, so I glanced away, not wanting them to see my weakness, and knowing they would never truly understand.
    “So what about you guys?” I threw back to them. “You have a kid now, Taylor. That’s amazing.”
    “Yeah, he is.