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

Melinda would never forget how Maddie Routh had sobbed as her husband lost consciousness.
    He’s gone, isn’t he? Talk to him. Michael! Michael, say something! Tell him. Tell him to stay with me. Tell him the baby needs him. Oh, God,
she’d cried.
    It’ll be okay,
Melinda kept saying over and over again, because it was all she could say. She’d been trained to deal with these types of situations. She handled them every day. She knew how to save lives, and she knew when a life was too far gone to the other side to be saved. She’d seen the look in Michael Routh’s eyes so many times before, and it was never good news.
Calm down. We’re going to get you out. Be calm,
she’d repeated.
    â€œI prayed with him,” Karen said, interrupting Melinda’s thoughts. “It was the weirdest thing. I haven’t been to church since I was ten years old. I never pray. But somehowI knew it was the only thing I could do for him. So I prayed the Lord’s Prayer, because it was the only prayer I could remember. Ever since, I’ve prayed it every night before bed.”
    â€œI heard you,” Joanna said. “I thought that was what you were doing.”
    â€œIt still doesn’t help,” Karen said, and she picked up her coffee and took a long sip.
    â€œDo you know anything about the baby?” Melinda asked. “Have you heard anything? Do they know anything here?”
    Karen and Joanna shook their heads, and Joanna went back to eating, only the bites were very small and tentative now.
    â€œI should go to work,” Karen said. “I can’t be late. I’ve got some favors I might need to call in.” She wadded up the napkin on her lap and placed it on the table.
    â€œWhere do you work?” Joanna asked.
    â€œA law office,” Karen said. “But I’m not a lawyer, so you don’t have to start hating me.” She smiled wanly. “You?”
    Joanna chewed, swallowed, seemed to consider what she might say. “I am unemployed at the moment. I kind of abandoned my job. My life, really. This is the only place I’ve been in a month. My parents are starting to worry I’ve died. I should call them.”
    â€œYes, you should,” Karen said. “Take it from me, it drives you a little crazy when you don’t hear from your adult kids.” She picked up her cell phone and waggled it in the air before dropping it into her purse. “Although I guess if my son’s worst problem was unemployment, I would throw a party.”
    â€œWell, that’s probably not my worst problem,” Joanna said blandly. “But that’s a story for another day, I suppose.”
    Melinda drained her orange juice, almost shocked to see it empty, and shook her head emphatically. “I’ve got to know,” she said. “I can’t just keep wondering forever what happened to him.”
    â€œWho?” Joanna asked.
    â€œThe baby. Maddie Routh’s baby. I have to know if he survived. I want to at least be able to say he survived. Isn’t it eating you up?”
    â€œI wouldn’t say ‘eating me up,’” Joanna said. She pushed a lock of hair behind one ear. “I mean, I’ve thought about them, but it’s not, you know, keeping me up at night.”
    â€œIt’s kept me up,” Karen said. “Not every night, but I’ve been up thinking about them.” She looked at Melinda. “You said ‘him.’ Do you know that it’s a boy?”
    â€œNo, that’s just what I was picturing,” Melinda said. She scooted the empty juice glass on the table between her fingers, knowing, but unable to admit to herself, that this was only partly about the Routh baby. It was mostly about her own. “But I can’t just keep picturing for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine myself at eighty years old, wondering whether the Routh baby is getting ready to retire, or died