Give Me A Second Chance Novel – I saw my husband Austin’s butt with a set of long limber legs wrapped around it that were so obviously not mine. A strange buzzing filled my ears, and for a moment, I thought I might faint. As my vision cleared, I took in the scene more fully. The woman’s legs were tanned and toned, her painted toenails a bright contrast to the sheets. Austin’s body was tense, as if he was caught in a trap he couldn’t escape. I couldn’t stay there, couldn’t bear to look at them for another second. My life as I knew it had just been irrevocably changed, and I had no idea how to pick up the pieces.
Austin “You sure you’re okay ?” Tim asked the question again frowning a bit at the way Austin’s face was drawn up in grim lines. He could only imagine how hard it was for his baby brother to watch other guys go on and do what he could do no longer. He had hoped that Coaching would help Austin, fill in that gap that he would be missing from not being able to play football but now he wasn’t so sure that was the best idea. Maybe he should have steered him into something else.
Austin turned to his brother and pasted a big smile on his face, ” Yep, I’m doing just fine Tim, don’t you worry about me. ” Tim glanced at his brother still not sure that he fully believed him when Austin held up his hand and fixated his fingers in the same way that they had always done back when they were in the boy scouts ” I Promise, Scouts honor, ” he added. Tim shook his head and sighed, ” Alright but if you want to talk then you know where to find me. ” ” That I do, ” Austin agreed and inclined his head back towards the school. All of the guys had already left and headed for the locker room and Austin knew that he needed to get back as well to finish up some last minute paper work. ” Walk with me ? ” He asked. ” Sure, why not. ” Tim said and fell into step beside his brother as they began their trek over the field. After several moments of companionable silence Tim spoke up, ” Hey, did you hear about Jed Sampson ? ” Austin almost stumbled at the mere mention of his name.
When he heard or saw Jed he thought about Jade, his old high school flame. It had been over five years since he last seen her and the pain that was etched in her face when she walked in on him and Tina that one afternoon still haunts him today. He made a lot of mistakes in his life but by far the worst one that he had ever made was when he dumbly decided to bed down with Tina. To this day he can’t come up with a decent excuse for his actions. She showed up on his doorstep in nothing but a damnable trench coat and when he opened the door, she dropped the coat and every red blood cell in his body went South. That one mess up cost him more than anyone will ever know. It cost him his heart. Swallowing hard, Austin replied stiffly as the memories swamped him, ” No, what happened to Jed ? ” ” He died, ” Tim stated simply.
Austin stopped and his mouth dropped while Tim continued to walk towards the gym. ” Jed Sampson died ? ” He repeated what his brother had just said having a hard time digesting the information that he had just been delivered. ” Yep, Oliver said he thinks that he had a stroke or something. Whatever it was he was dead as a door nail when he went to check on him. ” Austin shook his head back and forth trying to clear it, thinking about Jade. Did she know ? How would she take it ? Would she be alright ? For all he knew, Jade may not have even spoken a word to her father since the day that she left this town and him for good. Not that he didn’t blame her. And as if Tim could read his brother’s mind he added, ” Oliver also mentioned that Jade was coming back to town. He expected her to arrive sometime this afternoon. ” Again Austin had to stop. ” Jade’s coming back ? ” He asked numbly, ” Back here ? ” He said pointing down at the ground, ” to Hillsborough ? ” Tim wanted to laugh out loud. The usually cool and confident Austin wasn’t looking very confident right about now.
He had known about Jade and his little brother’s relationship back in high school. Tim was only a year older than his brother and he as well as everyone else in Hillsborough had thought the two of them were getting pretty serious. Then, one evening, out of the blue, Austin had come home and announced that she was gone. He holed himself up in room for almost a month before finally emerging and going out on a tear. He became a wild man and their parents worried about him daily. He went off to school focused only on women, booze and football. He barely survived the first year and then early on in the second is when he took that awful tackle, crushing his football dream.” Yeah, ” he finally told his brother,” It looks like our little Jade is finally coming home. Wonder why she ever left in the first place ? ” Austin shrugged his shoulders and quickly adverted his eyes from his brothers watchful stare. He knew exactly why Jade had left that day and never once looked back.
It was because of him and his stupidity. He was eighteen years old and one arrogant SOB that thought the world revolved around him. After that night he learned otherwise. — Jade The phone in Jade’s hand rang again bringing her back to the present. Breathing out she flipped open her phone and gave a tentative “Hello.” “Jade, is this Jade Sampson ?” The man’s voice on the other line asked. “Yes, this is she,” she replied hesitantly. “I don’t know if you remember me or not but this is Oliver Humphrey down in Hillsborough, we went to school together.” The name was familiar and through her sleep fogged brain Jade could vaguely picture a scrawny red head with freckles back from high school. But why are you calling me at 4 :30 in the morning ? She wondered idly. After the span of a heart beat she said “Okay ?” and waited expectantly for him to go on further. “Well you see ma’am, I am Sheriff now. Sheriff of Hillsborough and I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”
A chill prickled at the back of Jade’s neck and a knot the size of tennis ball seemed to get lodged in her throat. Swallowing past the knot she forced herself to ask, “What’s the matter ?” There was a subtle clearing of the throat on the other line and she could sense Oliver’s reluctance to tell her what had happened. The silence was killing her though. Exhausted and utterly frustrated she snapped, “Oliver, just tell me ! Is it daddy ?” Oliver breathed out a long winded sigh, “Yes Jade. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but your daddy passed away yesterday. ” Jade sat up on her bed momentarily stunned.
Even though she hadn’t talked to her daddy in years, the news of his death still stung deeply. It was even harder because of the way they left off their relationship. She felt the hot tear leak from her eye and ever so slowly drip down her cheek when Oliver spoke again, “Jade, are you there ?” Wiping away the lone tear from her cheek Jade numbly replied, “Yea, I’m still here Oliver.” “The thing is Jade, even though we know who your daddy is we still need a family member to come and officially identify him and then handle his burial and estate. Can… I mean can you do this ?” Jade closed her eyes. It’s not like I really have a choice in the matter is it ? She thought to herself sadly. “Jade ?” He asked again when she didn’t immediately respond. Blowing out a breath of air in a whoosh, Jade said, “Yeah Oliver, I’ll be there sometime late tomorrow evening.” The mere thought of returning home to Hillsborough almost took her breath away. Going back to the same house that she grew up in with her father, the memories from her childhood and then there was the man, the one that almost broke her. Jed was her father and for all of his faults, disowning her and such, he was a good man.
He was only a lonely widower who raised a daughter and did the best he could. She had some good memories of her father ; she knew that he had loved her the only way that he knew how. She just wished that he would have given her child Libby a chance. Jade then fiercely wished that she could have been the one to swallow her pride earlier and tried harder to rebuild the burned bridge between them. Now it was too late. Her daddy was gone and there wasn’t a thing that she could do about it. Another tear ran down her cheek, when Oliver spoke again. “Jade, write this number down and call me when you get to town. I’ll meet up with you at your dad’s place. I’m assuming that is where you are planning on staying ? ” Re-composing herself, Jade reached over and started to meddle through the drawer of her night stand looking for something to write down the number. Jade scrawled out the number and laid it on her night stand.
“Sure Oliver, will do. I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Have a good morning, Jade,” he ended with and hung up the phone. Jade closed her phone and laid it on the night stand beside her. She turned on the lamp and covered her face with her hands. Working all day, coming home to a sick child, going on little sleep and then getting the news of her daddy’s death was just too much for her. The tears started to come in earnest as she sat there on the edge of the bed. For the next half hour Jade silently cried a river, mourning over her father’s death. She knew that there would be no more sleep for her tonight. Sleep being a lost cause Jade stood up and went to her closet to pack. At this point she was only going through the motions. Soon Libby would be up and hopefully feeling better. Kids tended to rebound from those stomach viruses amazingly well.
Then she would return home. A home that she once ran from because of a careless mistake that she had made. She opened up herself fully to a man and he ruthlessly shot her down. He told her he loved her, but it had all been a bold faced lie. She was just another notch on his belt, another conquest he had conquered and another heart he had broken. Because she had loved so fully and so wholly, she lost her relationship with her father and now that too was gone from her forever. All that she had left in this life was her little angel, Libby. This time going home she would not make the same mistakes again. This time, she would do things right and to infernal with Austin Giles. Jade was coming home.