Once More Chance (Chance #2; Rosemary Beach #8) Read Free Page A

everything he ever wanted. Neither one of us had known what a normal, healthy family was like. Now
he did. Now he had that. But me . . . maybe I could have when Harlow was still here. Maybe.
    “I know you’re not in the mood to talk, but I’m just calling to check on you. Blaire mentioned that I needed to call you and see how you were before she went
upstairs.”
    Apparently, Blaire really had forgiven me. I wished I could tell Rush I was fine. That I could breathe normally and my chest didn’t continually ache. That I didn’t feel lost and
helpless. But I couldn’t tell him that. The truth was, I needed Harlow.
    “Were you OK when Blaire left you?” I asked him, knowing the answer already. I had been there. I had forced him to get out of the house.
    “No,” he replied. “You know I was a complete mess.”
    “Yeah,” was my only response. At that point, I hadn’t understood him. But now it all made sense. He had been ripped in two, and he was expected to live each day like everything
was normal, clinging to the hope she’d come back to him. “I’m sorry for making you leave your house and get out back then. I didn’t get it.”
    Rush let out a low, hard chuckle. “It might have helped me some. Don’t apologize. Sitting around thinking about it would have fucked me up worse. I didn’t have a job to lose
myself in every day like you do.”
    “Have you talked to her?” I asked, unable to help myself. I needed something. Anything.
    “She’s good. She’s safe. She asked how you were. I told her you looked like shit and you weren’t doing so great.”
    If she was listening to my voice mails, she would know that already. I wasn’t holding anything back when I called her. I was wide open with her, baring my soul. “Will she ever
forgive me?” I asked, closing my eyes, afraid of his answer.
    “She already has. She just isn’t ready to open up again yet. She’s dealing with a lot right now. Her mother and Kiro, then this . . . just give her more time.”
    If she’d forgiven me, why wasn’t she listening to my voice mails? Why wasn’t she at least answering when I called? “Tell her I just want to hear her voice. She
doesn’t have to talk to me long—just a minute. I want to tell her I love her. I want to tell her I’m sorry. I . . . just need to tell her I need her.”
    Rush was silent a moment. Anyone else would have made fun of how vulnerable I had become. Not him. “I’ll tell her. Get some sleep. Call me and check in some. Blaire
worries.”
    I swallowed against the lump in my throat. We said our good-byes, and I dropped the phone to my chest and closed my eyes, letting images of Harlow fill my thoughts. They were all I had now.

Harlow
    “Y our phone’s ringing,” Mase said as he walked outside toward me with my phone in his outstretched hand. I was on the swing that
had been hanging here in the yard since we were kids, alone with my thoughts.
    “Who is it?” I asked, afraid to look. I was getting weak. If it was Grant, I wasn’t sure I could ignore him anymore.
    “Blaire,” Mase replied, tossing the phone into my lap. “I’m heading down to the barn. Got some feed coming in, and I need to show Major what jobs I’m passing off to
him now he’s settled in. You need to talk to Blaire. Then think about calling Grant.”
    I touched Answer on my phone, then held it to my ear. “Hello?”
    “Hey. Haven’t heard from you in a few days. I wanted to check in and see how things were going.” Blaire didn’t know about the pregnancy. I trusted her with everything
except keeping secrets from Rush. She’d tell him, and I knew Rush would tell Grant. He wouldn’t be able not to. So I kept that secret close.
    “I’m doing fine,” I replied, not even believing my own voice. “How are things there?” I asked, unable to say his name.
    “You mean, how’s Grant? He isn’t doing well. Still the same pattern. Lots of work and little sleep. He doesn’t talk to anyone but Rush,