Second Chance (18 page)

Shana Pearls,
born Shane Pearls, had been a prostitute working the streets of Minneapolis. On
that particular night, her boyfriend threw her out with the only clothes she
had on. She was turning tricks when some A-hole decided to use her as a
punching bag. Injured and cold, she tried a shelter but they were full, and she
didn’t want to go to the emergency room for fear of arrest.

She was on the
west bank of the University of Minnesota campus when Katie met her. She
reminded Katie of her brother Tony, and Katie brought her home. Katie and Sue
knew the risk of taking in strangers like this but both agreed that if they
were killed by some lunatic they tried to help, that was still better than
living with the guilt of
I could have done something, but I didn’t
.
Shana stayed with them for about a week before heading to New York to meet Tony
regarding a job. Since then, Shana had been working at Hawthorne’s.

“What are you
doing in New York? I thought you were in Vegas?” Sue asked as Shana released
her.

“Oh, girl, it’s
Katie’s wedding! I can’t miss that,” Shana drawled, grinning.

“It’s great to
see you. How are you?”

“Peachy.”

Sue grinned.
“So…you’re my surprise, huh?”

“Surprise!” Shana
shouted with delight, spreading her arms and twirling around to show off her
shimmering red dress and beautiful made-up face. Shana looked like Lady Gaga
with Angelina Jolie’s lips and Peggy Bundy’s hair, except blonde. She still had
her Adam’s apple. “Come on, let me show you around,” Shana said, already
leading Sue into the midst of guests.

Shana pointed to
a tall woman with thick, wavy brown hair sipping a martini by the bar. “That’s
Patrick’s aunt, Becky Martiny, professor of sociology at NYU. Loves her martini
that one. Her cutie daughter, Erica, is the flower girl,” Shana shouted over
the music. “Erica’s a doll. You’ll meet her soon. Over there by the dance
floor, you see? The two yummy men with a brunette and a red head?”

Sue nodded.

Shana continued,
“They’re Toby Gray, his wife Gina, and Rufus Kallany with his wife Genna. Toby
is a linebacker and Rufus is a quarterback for some boring football team. They
are Patrick’s friends. Gorgeous, aren’t they?” Shana slightly turned and
pointed to a man opposite them. “Over there is Phillip Hamilton, another
groomsmen. Also, yummy. Too bad he’s not gay.” Shana turned to her. “Where does
Patrick meet his friends? I’ll like to know.”

Sue smiled.

Shana turned to
the stage with a small dance floor. “The cute blonde showing off his dance
moves and honorary bridesmaid is, of course, Tony Thorne.”

Sue laughed at
seeing Tony again. He was dancing to Lady Gaga’s
Bad Romance
, his
partner Raoul Hawks dancing with him. Shana led Sue to the side of the dance
floor with a stripper pole. “I requested Tony to put this in for tonight. You
know, to teach Katie some moves for her honeymoon,” Shana explained with
laughter. Shana took the pole, circled it once, walking like a model with books
atop her head then stopped in front of Sue. She smiled then backed up and
started dancing while holding on to the pole. Shana was very good and despite
her tall frame and her heels, she was quite agile and graceful. She gestured
for Sue to try as Britney Spears’
I’m a Slave for You
blasted in the
background.

Sue shook her
head no.

Shana wouldn’t
take no for an answer and Sue found herself holding onto the pole with Shana
moving her hips for her, guiding her to dance. She was uncomfortable at first
but Shana persisted and Sue discovered that pole dancing was quite fun. Her
injured ankle hindered her from moving too quickly but Shana showed her how to
move her hips, swaying seductively from side to side without causing too much
pain to her ankle. As soon as Shana let her loose, she tripped on her own feet
and fell backward.

A pair of strong
arms caught her and she heard a familiar chuckle.

“
Ahn-nyung
,
Shorty,” Jae whispered in her ear and kissed her temple as he steady her on her
feet. She turned to see an amused, heart stopping, handsome Jae. He was wearing
a suit. She had not seen him in a suit before and seeing him in a white dress
shirt with black tie, black vest and matching black suit made her heart skip a
beat.

Ordinarily, she
would think someone dressed in mostly black the way he did would remind her of
a funeral director or a very serious businessman but, of course, it was Jae and
the way he wore that suit made him gorgeous. The suit fitted him perfectly. The
vest was snug, but not tight. It was closed by three buttons, creating a V neck
and an upside down V at the bottom that came just above his belt, exposing the
silver, horizontal oval belt buckle. A couple of small chains were hooked to the
small strip of fabric holding his belt on his right, draping across his front
to the back of his trousers. His jacket and trousers must have been tailored to
him because the length was just perfect.

He was grinning
at her with his lopsided grin and for an instant she wanted to wrap her arms
around him.
No! Focus!

Being the polite
hostess that she needed to be, Sue introduced Jae and Shana. Shana, sensing she
wasn’t needed, excused herself to tend to her girls to prepare for the karaoke
party.

“Hi, honey, who’s
the hunk?” Tony asked playfully, kissing her cheek as he placed a drink in her
hand.

“Tony, this is
Jae. Jae, Tony.” Sue introduced the two men who were regarding each other with
curiosity.

“Jae?” Tony pause
his half extended right hand as recognition of the name registered. His brows
furrowed and he retracted his hand. He turned to Sue. “Honey, is he the bitch
who screwed you over?”

“Tony!” Sue
gasped. “Be nice.”

“Is he?” Tony
inquired again.

“The one and
only,” Sue replied.

“In that case,
girrrl
,
I
am
being nice. If I wasn’t I’d be asking Raoul to drop kick his ass
and throw him out of my restaurant.” Tony openly regarded Jae with animosity
and gave him a look of disgust as he observed Jae’s tall frame. “It’s
not
a pleasure to meet you, bi-atch,” he said before turning his attention to Sue.
“It’s great to see you though.” He kissed her cheek, ignoring Jae. Tony
complimented her appearance and made her promise to have fun tonight. He warned
her about slimeball men before leaving her to rejoin Raoul and other guests.

“I’m sorry. He
can be quite blunt…and protective,” Sue told Jae. She took a drink from the
glass that Tony had placed in her hand. She coughed, choking at the bitter
aftertaste of her drink and the burning sensation she felt as the liquid went
down her throat.

Jae patted her
back until she stopped coughing. His hand lingered on her back even after she
was no longer coughing. They made their way to a spot that allowed them to talk
without yelling over the loud music.

“Who is Tony
Thorne?” Jae asked.

“Tony is Katie’s
brother.”

“Katie? Your
friend who’s getting married?”

“Yes.” She
paused. “How did you know I’d be here? And what are you doing here?”

“I have my ways.”
He shrugged. Gesturing toward Tony, he asked, “Did he come to South Korea with
you?”

“No. He only came
to visit me. Why?”

“He seemed
familiar. Have you been involved with him?” he asked. “Just curious.”

“As in dating?”
Sue asked, puzzled why he would be asking her such a ridiculous question.

“Yeh.”

“Even if I wanted
to, Tony wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

“I find that
difficult to comprehend.”

“Tony is in love
with Raoul,” she explained, gesturing toward Tony and Raoul, who were standing
by the bar. Tony had his back to her and when Raoul caught her looking their
way, he raised his drink to her and slightly bowed his head. Tony turned his
head to her and smiled. He noticed Jae still standing next to her and he
frowned then returned his attention to Raoul. Sue smiled at Tony’s reaction to
Jae and made a mental note to have a word with him later.

Sue turned her
attention back to Jae. He was looking at her with puzzlement, as if he was
deciding whether to believe her or not. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she
asked,

“Why are you
curious about my relationship with Tony?”

“Just curious.”

“Why?”

He hesitated
before he spoke. “I was misinformed.”

“About?”

“It is not
important.”

“To me it is.
Answer my question.”

“I saw him in
South Korea. I was curious if your relations with him extended to more than
friendship.”

“You saw me with
Tony? When?”

“Our last meeting
in—”

“Was that the
reason—why you broke up with me?”

“Let’s not talk
about that tonight. Let’s—”

“Just like that,
without talking to me…you thought I was playing you? That’s what you meant last
night isn’t it? About collecting men?”

“It’s not
important now. What mat—”

“Not important?”
She took a step away from him. “You have no idea how much your words haunted me
from that day on. You have no idea how hurt I was. How much you’ve hurt me. I
was going to surprise you. I was going to introduce you to him. He was like a
brother to me, who came to visit me because I sent him a letter telling him I
might not be returning to Minnesota as planned.” She spoke faster with every
word, trying to explain to Jae and trying to make sense of what she just now
discovered. “That day… I was crying because I just found out my brother passed
away, and I couldn’t find you. I looked for you but I couldn’t find you and
Tony was there.”

“Suzy, I’m
sorry.”

“
Sorry
can’t heal me,” Sue said taking a sip the drink in her hand. She grimaced. She
was going to need all the help she could get to get through this night.

“What exactly do
you mean by that, Sue?”

“It’s not
important,” she said, limping away from him.

She finished the
drink in her hand and searched for Katie.

For the rest of
the evening, Sue stayed away from Jae and focused on being a hostess. Michael
wasn’t kidding when he said the theme for the karaoke was love, Valentine’s
Day, and country. Country music, that is. “To make it interesting,” he told
her. She thought he was just joking. So did Shana.

Michael and Sue
started the party by singing a duet for Katie and Patrick. As host, Michael
emceed the party and picked everyone’s song.

Michael thought
it would be charming to have Sue sing a Jennifer Simonson song. “Jennifer
Simonson is not country,” Sue protested.

“She went
country,” Michael retorted.

“She might have
gone country, but
Love Me Sinfully
is not country,” Sue continued to
protest, even as Michael lifted her off her seat. Michael carried her onto
stage for the song and before she realized it, she was already on stage with
her audience shouting and hooting.

“All right
everyone,” Michael announced. “Sue has a treat for us. She’ll be singing
Love
Me Sinfully
.” The audience cheered and Michael gave her the microphone.
Encouraged by the alcohol, fueled by her anger toward Jae and frustrated at
Michael for making her do this, seductively, she grabbed onto his arm, yielding
him to stay with her on stage.

The band began to
play the music and Sue began to sing. Lowering her voice into the most
seductive tone she could muster she sang:

“
Imagine you
and me…holding hands…

Tenderly
loving in the dark of night…

Sue used Michael
as her dancing pole, utilizing the dance moves Shana had shown her earlier in
the evening. She stepped back enough to point at him with batted eyes then
pointed at herself as she sang the verse:

“
Imagine you
and me…kissing tenderly…”

She drawled in
her Jennifer Simonson impersonation and smiled. She slowly moved around him,
touching him as she sang:

“
Your lips on
my lips…can you imagine how perfect we can be?”

Sue laced her
fingers into his fingers, pressing her body to his, facing him, she sang:

“
You and me,
loving in the day…”

She abruptly pulled
away, still facing him, she sang:

“
Imagine you
and me…our body in tender embrace…

Can you
see…how perfect we could be?”

In one swift
motion, Michael had Sue in his arms and his mouth was devouring hers. The song
was forgotten. They might as well have been alone in that room as they kissed.
The alcohol made her courageous, made her relaxed. The kiss felt nice. She
hadn’t felt like this for a long time, carefree and wanted. She wanted Michael
to take away the hurt she felt. She wanted him to erase all her memories of Jae
and all the traces of him from her. She could learn to like this man. He was
here and real. He was safe and he was Michael. He was…

In the time they
had spent with each other, he had renewed a desire in her to move on, to live,
to stop hiding. Tonight, she had answers to some questions that had haunted her
mind for way too long and it was time to forget about Jae.

No more. He
was another lifetime ago, remember? Michael is here, give him a chance.

Still, the
thought of losing Jae forever, letting go of him forever, made her heart ache
that numbing ache that lingered in her soul. The kind of ache that has no
origin where she could treat but the kind of ache that was just there.

Tears welled in
her eyes and she clutched onto Michael for dear life.

He lifted her
into his arms and she wrapped her arms around him, still holding onto the
microphone. She kissed him with a fierceness that she had not shared with
anyone but Jae. She kissed him with all the hurt she was feeling and he in turn
kissed her with a desire he had not had with another woman for quite some time.