A Second Chance (21 page)

Zach nodded. “Yep, that’s her. She’s a
little more mature now.”

“
Too bad,” Curtis sipped his
water and wrinkled his nose at Zach. “Maybe her dad will let us use
the yacht for our party, since he was lenient enough to let you use
it for your honeymoon.”

“
Let’s focus, shall we?”
Zach returned his attention to Carlos. “Are you okay with all of
this?”

Carlos rearranged his silverware on
the table. “A bachelor party? Sure. I’m game.”

“
How about we just all meet
up at a sports bar and throw back a few,” Zach offered.

Curtis shook his head. “You’re all
getting soft on me.”

“
Yeah, sounds great.” Carlos
scratched his head then looked out the window.

“
Do you even want to do
this?” Zach asked softly.

He turned his attention back to the
table. “I’m all for it.”

“
Won’t be like the first
one. Man, you were smashed.” Curtis leaned his arms on the
table.

“
So were you, and you were
underage. We could have gotten arrested.”

“
You know, I work seventy
hours a week. I save lives. I think I deserve a little
release.”

The other three men at the table shook
their heads at the most educated man among them. “You’re right.
When you get married, we’ll go all out,” Zach promised.

“
Great.”

Soon the topic of bachelor parties
past and future were forgotten, and meals of greasy hamburgers and
french fries were consumed. Zach bragged about Tyler. Curtis gave
too many details about a date with a cute resident. John talked
about the inspection he was going to head off to, and Carlos sat
quietly.

John finished first. He handed Zach a
wad of folded-up dollar bills and shook the hands of the other men
at the table. “I guess I’ll see you all in a few weeks,
then.”

“
It’ll be interesting to see
which one of us ends up with the better date.” Curtis
grinned.

“
Well said, in this company.
I promise to treat mine like a lady and have the most respect for
her the next morning.” He winked at Zach.

Carlos and Curtis both narrowed their
eyes at John in reaction to his comment about their sister, and
Zach laughed. “I’m kidding. I’ve met her. She’s a very nice lady.
We’ll have a nice day together.” He waved his hand. “See ya’ll
later.”

“
Funny guy,” Curtis told
Zach.

“
John—he’s
harmless.”

A moment later Curtis was excusing
himself and following a group of nurses out the door. Carlos shook
his head as he watched his brother amuse the women with his
charm.

“
So, are you going to give
it to me straight?” Zach scooted closer to the center of the booth.
“You really don’t want a party, do you?”

“
Oh, that’s fine. I could
use a night out with the guys.”

Zach nodded. “So is everything set and
ready for the wedding?”

“
I think so. I’m not allowed
too close to the
bridal
bible
,” he scoffed. “But I think we have
almost everything set.”

“
Regan is so excited she can
hardly see straight. She hasn’t entertained since Tyler was
born.”

“
Kids take a lot outta
you.”

“
They sure do. I wish I
could help her out more with the house and Tyler, but I have so
much work.”

“
Work will always be there.
Just stay under her radar. Pick your socks up off the floor. Load
and unload the dishwasher. And never believe her when she just says
the word
fine
.”

Zach gave him a slow nod. “I’m glad I
have you to set me straight.”

“
Well, I wish I would have
had the knowledge up front.”

“
Kathy’s lucky that you’ve
been trained.”

Carlos reached for his wallet and
settled up his part of the bill. He wasn’t comforted by the thought
that being trained meant that he’d screwed up the first time. Had
he flown under Madeline’s radar, maybe he wouldn’t be getting
married for a second time, he’d still be married to
Madeline.

Zach reached for his water. “You guys
going to have kids too?”

Carlos shrugged. “She’s mentioned it.
Her parents have mentioned it. I guess we’ll see what happens. What
about you guys?” He quickly changed the subject.

Zach took a drink. “Oh, yeah. She
wants them close together. So I suppose we’ll start trying when
Tyler is about a year old. Does that sound about right?”

“
Don’t ask me. My kids just
kinda happened.”

“
Yeah. Too much thought
takes all the fun out of it.”

“
I suppose.” Carlos looked
at his watch. “Well, I should be heading out.”

“
I’ll call you and let you
know what the plans are.”

“
Thanks.” He shook his
brother-in-law’s hand and headed out of the diner.

Lunch hadn’t settled with Carlos. The
food was fine—it was the whole conversation. No, he didn’t want a
bachelor party. He didn’t need to go out and live up the single
life one more night. He’d never been a fan of the single life.
Curtis seemed to be the only person who needed to live on the wild
side once in a while. Sooner or later, Carlos thought, his brother
was going to get caught by something wild, and it would want to
tame him. Wouldn’t he be in for a shock?

Things at home just hadn’t been right.
They hadn’t been any different either, he realized. He was
preoccupied. Kathy seemed distant. Even the kids seemed just tossed
back and forth between them all.

He was used to it happening when it
came to the kids at school. Once spring hit, no one could
concentrate. But the fact that it was happening in his own home,
with his wife to be, and himself, was throwing him off.

He just needed to relax. Everything
would be just fine.

But even he couldn’t make himself
believe his own lie.

The way Madeline looked at it, there
was no time like the present. Her boss had offered her vacation
time, and she thought she should use it wisely. There was never a
good side to having cancer, unless your boss had gone through it
and knew when you deserved to celebrate your remission.

Carlos’s wedding was in less than two
weeks, and she really didn’t want to be there.

That wasn’t true. She did want to be
there, but she didn’t want to be a guest.

She blew out a breath. At what point
were her feelings for him going to go away? She deserved to watch
him get married and be happy. He’d watched her marriage for years.
Only truth was, she hadn’t been happy.

Madeline searched the travel website
for the best deal. She was headed to Cancun, without Arianna,
though maybe they’d take that trip some other time. For now, she
just needed sun, and it needed to be as far away from Carlos Keller
as possible.

Twenty minutes later, she had booked
her flight and printed her itinerary. Now all she had to do was dig
out her passport. She and Matt had gotten passports two years
earlier. It was on a whim. They didn’t even have plans to go
anywhere.

She opened her closet and found the
firebox that held all her important papers. Inside were the birth
certificates of her children, social security cards, and of course
the unused passports of both her and Matt. She’d have to send him
his.

Deeper into the box she found her
marriage license to Matt. She took it out of the box and crinkled
it into a ball. What a worthless piece of paper that was. She let
out a growl of frustration and opened the ball of paper and
flattened it out.

Further in the box, she found a manila
envelope that contained the final documents from her marriage to
Carlos.

She shook her head. What an unhappy
box. Unused passports and forfeited marriage licenses. When she sat
the metal box down on the floor to look in the envelope, she heard
a clanking noise. She knelt down to take a look and noticed
Carlos’s wedding band loose at the bottom of the box.

She fell to her knees on the carpet
and took out the ring. It wasn’t fancy. A small, round, piece of
gold was all he’d worn to symbolize their unity. She held it to her
chest. She’d been twenty years old when she bought that piece of
metal. Twenty years old, and she’d known what she wanted more than
anything. No matter how angry they were at each other, they’d never
taken their rings off until the day the papers had arrived saying
their marriage was obsolete.

She slipped it on her middle finger.
It was much too big. She wondered if he’d like to have it. Then
again, maybe Eduardo or Christian would like it. She stood and
walked to her dresser; atop of it stood a wooden jewelry cabinet.
She opened it and took out a chain. She’d wear it around her neck
and when she thought about it, or if someone asked about it, she
would make her decision on who would get to keep it.

She felt the weight of the gold on her
neck as she went about gathering suitcases and other items she
could pack for her trip. No time like the present to get
packed.

The shuffling of several pairs of feet
walking through the front door caught her attention. She’d have the
kids the week before the wedding. She was supposed to have them the
week after too, while Carlos and Kathy were on their honeymoon. How
come she hadn’t thought of that? She’d booked her trip to miss the
wedding, but hadn’t thought about being needed for the kids while
they were on their honeymoon. She’d see if maybe Arianna would stay
with them. If she was already heading home maybe she could intrude
on Regan, though she didn’t want to do that. It would be too far
for her to drive them to school every day.

How come it always happened that the
moment she’d done the first selfish thing for herself in almost
fifteen years, the guilt was taking over. Her family needed her and
she was escaping. Madeline shook it away. No. She was leaving and
she was going to enjoy herself. Her kids were old enough not to be
a burden to anyone. It was going to be fine—she hoped.

“
Hey, Mom.” they all shouted
as they passed her on their way to the kitchen.

The thought that she wouldn’t see them
for a week, or talk to them either, squeezed her heart. She was
going to miss them so much. “Hey, guys. How was school?”

“
Boring,” Christian was
quick to answer.

“
Maggie invited me over for
a sleepover this weekend. Can I go?” Clara asked.

“
We’ll have to see.” She
moved up behind Eduardo and gave his head a rub. His hair had come
back in, but it was curlier than it had been. “How are you
today?”

“
Fine.” He grabbed a bottle
of water and a banana and headed to his room.

Unable to resist, she followed
him.

“
You doing okay?” She leaned
on the doorjamb and watched as he situated himself into his
room.

“
I’m fine.”

“
Okay, if you say so.” She
watched him. He looked so much like his father. She gave it another
moment and then turned to leave.

“
Mom,” he called, and she
turned with a smile. He opened his banana and took a bite. “Do you
remember Tasha?”

“
Girl in choir that you
wanted to ask to homecoming?”

“
Yeah, that’s
her.”

She remembered that she was two years
older, a junior, and he’d had eyes for her since he started high
school.

Eduardo rubbed the back of his neck
with his hand. “Well, she asked me to prom.”

“
Really?” Her voice rose as
she spoke. “Well, that’s good, right?”

“
Sure. But I can’t drive
her. Doesn’t that seem stupid?”

“
Not if you don’t have a
license, it doesn’t.”

“
I really want to
go.”

“
Doesn’t she
drive?”

“
Yeah, but I want to do this
right. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you or Dad to drive us
either.”

Madeline gave a shrug of her
shoulders. “I can understand that.”

He set the banana on his desk and
dropped his shoulders. His eyes were bright, and she knew his head
spun with a million thoughts. Eduardo rubbed his hands on his pants
and looked up at her. “But what do you think if I asked Uncle Zach
if he’d let us use his company’s limo. I’d pay for it,” he was
quick to add.

“
How do you suppose you’d do
that?”

“
Well, I was thinking maybe
I could work for it.” He sat on his bed; the Tennessee Titans
bedspread reminded her that he was still her little boy, while the
man inside of him fought for new freedoms. He bit down on his lip.
“You know I’d like to be an architect after I graduate from
college.” She nodded, pleased he’d added the bit about college.
“Well, I was thinking maybe Uncle Zach would let me work at his
place for a few hours after school, and I could just learn stuff. I
could also help out around the office. Like an intern. I know I
can’t touch much, but what do you think if I ask?”