Page 78 of Once Upon A Second Chance

“That’s not true,” he says immediately. He reaches for me again, and I see the desperation in his eyes now—the part of him that’s realizing he’s already lost this round.

But I don’t let him touch me.

I can’t.

I shake my head once, sharp and final.

“Save it,” I whisper.

For a long moment, neither of us moves.

The clinic begins to come alive again, staff returning to their duties after the lunch break, patients checking in for their appointments. A dog barks outside somewhere. The normal world continues like nothing's breaking apart in my life…in my heart.

Finally, slowly, he drops his hand.

He swallows hard.

“Okay,” he says, voice raw. “Okay. We’ll talk more later, when we have more privacy.”

And then he turns—shoulders stiff, head down—and walks down the hall.

I watch him walking away and, for the first time in a long time, I realize—

Sometimes love isn’t enough to undo the ways people have already broken you.

Not unless they’re willing to fight harder than this.

Chapter Seventeen

Richard

I don’t remember driving home.

One second I’m standing in the break room with Penny, the next I’m walking down the hall of the clinic wondering how I can fix this. Like she might forgive me without me deserving it.

And the next thing I know, my day’s over and I’m back at the motel, sitting on the edge of the bed, my keys still digging half-moon indents into my palm.

The room smells like old coffee and cheap soap. The air conditioner hums in the corner, too loud, too cold. I sit there, hunched forward, elbows on my knees, staring at the threadbare carpet until the pattern starts to blur.

My heart is still pounding like I ran all theway here on foot.

No one.

The word ricochets around inside my skull, brutal and final.

No one.

No one.

No one.

I want to claw the memory out of my head. Want to take it back. Want to rewind the last few hours and say something else,anything else,even if it meant standing there and picking a fight with my mother.

But I didn’t.

Because even now—after everything—I still flinch when it comes to them.

I drop my keys onto the floor with a sharp clatter. My hands shake when I run them over my face.