Read Online Second Chance Friends by Jennifer Scott - Free Book Online

they’d gotten calls on over the years. Only a few of them, but a few dead babies were more than enough. She could still see the looks of astonished, helpless grief on the mothers’ faces every single time. No,
grief
wasn’t a strong enough word for it.
Implosion
was more like it. An implosion of the heart, the back draft sucking the soul into such recesses of existence as to never appear again.
    She’d tossed the pill into her mouth and chewed, grimacing. Paul wouldn’t understand, and maybe it was wrong, but it was done, and she wouldn’t have to wrestle the wrongness again for another twenty-four hours.
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    With trembling fingers, she pulled the pamphlet Paul had left out from under her bowl. On the cover was a beige brickbuilding, in front of which stood a serenely smiling man and woman—the man standing behind the woman and both of them lovingly cradling her pregnant belly.
    â€œâ€˜Women’s Care Reproductive and Fertility Center,’” she read aloud. She gave a sardonic chuckle. “For when your birth control pills are doing a stellar job.”
    She dropped the pamphlet facedown on the counter. How could they look so damned happy about it? How could they not be terrified? Maddie Routh had probably once had that happiness, but the terror in her eyes the day of the wreck was nothing that Melinda ever wanted to experience. It was a terror not only of losing her husband, but of losing something more. Something all-encompassing. Did she smile when she wrapped her own hands around her belly? She must be going on three months along now.
If, that is, the baby survived the crash.
    Suddenly, not knowing the fate of Maddie Routh’s pregnancy was an indignity Melinda could no longer bear.
    Her mind turned to the older lady she’d run into last week at the diner. Karen. She’d said she’d come to the Tea Rose every day, sat in the same booth she’d been in the day of the accident, said it made her feel better. Maybe she’d sleuthed out information about Maddie.
    Melinda put her clean cereal bowl back into the cabinet and slid the pamphlet into her purse, first folding those smiling faces in on themselves—what she couldn’t see couldn’t hurt her, right?—and then grabbed her car keys.
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    Karen was just where Melinda expected her to be, sitting in the same booth, a cell phone cupped in one hand, a cup ofcoffee steaming in front of her. But she wasn’t alone. At first Melinda walked to the counter and started to pull out a stool, feeling intrusive, but then she got a good look at who was sitting across from Karen—the pretty blond girl who’d pulled the children out of the bus that day. Joanna, she’d said her name was.
    Guess Melinda wasn’t the only one with this idea.
    Guess the diner was a draw to all of them.
    She pushed the stool back in, offering a sheepish grin to the waitress who’d just shown up with a menu, and walked over to the booth.
    Joanna saw Melinda first, and the recognition seemed to dawn on her as slowly as it had on Melinda. Karen followed Joanna’s gaze.
    â€œOh, hi,” Karen said.
    â€œMelinda,” she reminded her.
    â€œYes, of course,” Karen said. “I remember.”
    Melinda gestured to the booth seat Joanna was sitting on. “Can I join you?”
    Joanna scooted over, and Melinda sat, just as Karen said, “Sure!”
    â€œI was just telling Joanna here that I’m waiting for a call from my son’s girlfriend, so I apologize in advance if I should jump up.” She flicked her eyes worriedly to the phone, which she still gripped tightly, as if she could squeeze a ringtone out of it.
    â€œNo problem,” Melinda said. “I’m actually on my way to an appointment.” She checked her watch, even though she knew it was hours before she was expected at the center.
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