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

waitress appeared with a plate that she set down in front of Joanna. “Can I get you anything?” she asked Melinda. “Coffee?”
    â€œJust some orange juice,” Melinda said, feeling a wave of anxiety push in on her stomach as she remembered Paul’s note under her cereal bowl. She doubted she’d even be able to handle the orange juice. Wouldn’t Paul be filled with hopeful delirium if she were to show up to the fertility clinic vomiting? The waitress left, and Melinda watched as Joanna stared down into her plate.
    Bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy, two sausage links. Melinda swallowed a few times, her hands never leaving the bench, where they pressed into the vinyl on either side of her.
    â€œThat looks delicious,” Karen said. She sipped her coffee, one eye sliding over to the screen of her cell phone.
    Joanna unrolled her silverware and smoothed the paper napkin over her lap. She leaned forward to dig in and noticed Melinda staring at her.
    â€œEverything okay?” she asked.
    Melinda swallowed again, tried not to inhale the scent. “Yeah,” she said, forcing a smile. “Fine.”
    Karen narrowed her eyes. “You sure?”
    Melinda nodded, tearing her eyes away from the plate. She tried not to think about the greasy egg coating her tongue, the back of her throat. Tried not to hear the children’s cries when she looked at the school bus yellow of the yolk.
    Joanna and Karen looked alarmed, Joanna’s fork poised over her plate.
    Melinda tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a cough. “It’s just that’s what I was eating that day. The day of the crash. Big breakfast.”
    â€œOh,” Joanna said. “I can . . .” She gestured to the booth behind them, indicating that she would move to it.
    â€œNo, no, I’m just being stupid,” Melinda said. “Kind of a bad morning. I’ll be fine. Please. Eat.”
    â€œYou’re sure?” Joanna asked, and Melinda nodded, waving her off.
Get a grip, Melinda—you look like a freak,
she thought.
    Joanna took a few bites and Karen sipped her coffee, and soon the orange juice arrived, and Melinda thought it a good thing after all. The juice was cold against her throat, which she hadn’t realized was burning, and the sugar actually helped calm her stomach.
    Finally, Karen let out a lengthy sigh. “Well, I guess I’m not going to hear from her this morning after all,” she said, letting her phone clatter to the table. She rubbed her forehead with her palm. Melinda noticed that the older woman didn’t wear a wedding ring. “This is so ridiculous, you know?” she asked, peeking through her fingers with one eye, and groaned, let her hands drop back to the table. “Coming here every day, I mean,” she finished. “I come here, I sit at this table and stare at the grass. The whole time I’m telling myself it makes me feel better to be here, but the truth is, it doesn’t. I feel . . .” She trailed off, rested her chin in her palm for a moment as she stared out the window, shaking her head. Joanna dropped her fork and reached across the table, putting her hand on Karen’s arm.
    â€œLike you can’t forget her,” Melinda said quietly. “Right?” she said louder, forcing the other two to turn back to her. “Maddie Routh. You can’t forget about her. At least that’s how I feel. I came here today because I can’t stop wondering about the baby.”
    â€œMe, too,” Joanna said. “I think about her all the time. I wonder if I could’ve saved her husband if I hadn’t been helping those kids.”
    â€œYou had to help the kids,” Karen said. “Who wouldn’t help the kids first? It’s natural. We all did.”
    â€œI know,” Joanna said. “But I was the first one out there. And he died.”
    They all gazed out the window again.