Page 7 of Fall for You (Second Chances #7)

Alana

A s I drove home I replayed everything that happened with Ronnie today. That kiss had been unexpected. And Earth shattering.

I’d been about two minutes away from stripping her bare and fucking her with my hand, the same way I did when we lost our virginity together. Even all these years later I could recall every single detail of our first night together.

I was ready for a repeat, but then Ronnie pulled away and while I knew it was the smart thing to do, it still hurt.

The invitation to breakfast was an impulse, and I’d fully expected her to say no.

When we were in high school, we loved to go to the diner for breakfast. We always felt so grown up sitting in a booth in the corner, eating our fill of pancakes and bacon and drinking coffee while we talked about everything and everything.

Ronnie asked me about New York and I knew I needed to talk to someone about it eventually.

I hadn’t even talked to my family – all they knew was that I’d lost my job and couldn’t find another one.

Only my bestie Vera knew the whole story and that’s because she’d had a ring side seat when it happened.

I was afraid people would judge me if they learned the truth.

When I got home Chloe was sitting on the couch watching a movie. As usual, she was dressed totally in black, except for the colorful socks that she kept hidden under her Doc Martens, her only touch of whimsy. Today’s socks had pumpkins on them.

“Hey Chloe,” I said, dropping down next to her. “Where are Mom and Dad?”

“The parental units went out for dinner. It’s their monthly date night,” she said, wrinkling her nose with distaste. “They left money for us to order pizza.”

Great, I was thirty years old, and my parents were leaving me pizza money like a teenager.

“I figured I’d give you until six before I ordered without you.”

I bumped my shoulder against hers. “Thanks for waiting. What kind of pizza do you want?”

The one thing about my little detour at my parents’ house was that I was getting to know my little sister. She was a cool kid once you got past her bravado.

“Vegetarian.”

She said it almost defiantly, like she thought I’d argue. I was sure my parents would have argued. Like most Midwesterners, they both thought a meal wasn’t complete without meat.

“Vegetarian it is. Do you want anything else?”

Her cheeks turned pink, and she mumbled “Chocolate milk.”

I rolled in my lips to keep from laughing at my tough-as-nails sister wanting chocolate milk like she was a little kid. Then again, she was at that weird stage where she wasn’t a kid but wasn’t grown up yet either.

Heading into the kitchen, I grabbed the menu off the side of the fridge and ordered the pizza, along with a chocolate milk for Chloe and a Dr. Pepper for me.

“They said forty-five minutes to an hour,” I told her as I came back out and plopped on the couch next to her.

“They always say that,” Chloe said. “But it’ll be thirty minutes. They’re usually super fast on weeknights.”

“Awesome.”

“How’s school?” I asked after a few minutes of staring at the TV.

“It sucks.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I remember that. The first two years were the worst.”

Chloe turned to stare at me. “You hated school too?”

I nodded. “I was a mostly in the closet lesbian, hiding my true self from my parents, teachers, and all but my closest friends. High school was a tightrope, made worse by the fact that I wasn’t part of the ‘in’ crowd either.

And there was a group of queen bee girls who ruled the school, they made fun of anyone who wasn’t in their little group.

But at least I had cross country. And my best friend Ronnie. That helped me get through.”

“The same Ronnie who works at Patterson Farm?” she asked.

I nodded.

“I heard she’s a lesbian too.” Chloe gave me a searching look. “Were you two ever…?”

“Yeah,” I answered softly. “We were. Back in high school.”

I had my sister’s full attention now. She turned to face me. “What happened?”

“I got a scholarship to NYU and Ronnie was going to U of I so we, uh, broke up,” I explained. “She was really mad at me for leaving, and we never spoke again until I came back to town.”

“Are you two going to get back together?” she asked.

That hot make out session in the corn maze flashed in front of my eyes and I resolutely pushed it away.

“No.”

“Why not?”

My sister had never shown this much interest in my life before. Then again, I usually just saw her for a day or two when my family would visit me in New York or we’d get together at our grandparents’ house in Wisconsin for Christmas.

“Sometimes the past is best left in the past,” I hedged. “What about you? Is there a special girl or boy in your life?”

I wound up having a great night with Chloe.

We ate our way through an extra-large pizza as we watched a movie and chatted.

I was pleasantly surprised at the way my sister opened up to me, telling me about high school, her interest in art, and after swearing me to secrecy, the boy she was ‘hanging out with’.

For my part I answered her questions about my life, including telling her the high level details of what happened in New York. It was the first time I’d talked about it to anyone other than Vera, and I was surprised how good it felt to get it off my chest.

“Do Mom and Dad know what happened?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“I won’t tell them,” she said. “You can trust me to keep a secret.”

“I know I can.”

By the time my parents came home, we were both fast asleep on the couch, leaning against each other and sharing a blanket. Mom woke us up and sent us upstairs and before she headed into her bedroom, Chloe gave me a quick hug.

“I had a great time tonight,” she whispered.

It meant the world to me. “Me too.”

Even though it was after midnight in New York, I knew Vera would still be awake.

Alana: Hey cupcake, how’s the big city?

Vera: Oh you know, noise, pollution, creeps staring at my tits on the subway. The usual. What have you been up to?

Alana: I kissed my ex-girlfriend when we were lost in a corn maze.

There was a long pause as the little dots appeared and disappeared on the screen multiple times. Finally my bestie responded.

Vera: Tell me everything right now.

Alana: I was there to plan for pictures for the Fall Festival I’m in charge of marketing for. We got lost in the corn maze and she had this crazy idea for me to lift her up so she could find the way out. So I made a step with my hands and lifted her up, but then we lost our balance and fell over.

Vera: This sounds like something out of one of those Hallmark Channel Christmas movies.

Alana: I love those.

Vera: Everyone does, that's why they play them for months before Christmas. Then what happened?

Alana: We fell on top of each other and somehow we were kissing.

Vera: AND???

Alana: It was super hot. But then it was over, and we agreed it couldn’t happen again, but we decided that we could try being friends again.

Vera: You’re going to marry this girl someday. Mark my words. Just promise me one thing.

Alana: Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.

Vera: Yeah, that too. But promise me that my bridesmaid dress won’t be hideous. You know I look terrible in pastels.

Alana: I promise. If I get married you can pick your own dress.