Second Chance (3 page)

“Why, Michael,
one bite at a time of course,” she replied, grinning and proudly displaying the
candy bar in her hands.

Michael was still
grinning when he paid for their purchases.

“You may laugh
now, Mr. McHeney. Just wait till you have cravings. You’ll wish you had one of
these, too.”

“At least, I’ll
know where one is,” Michael replied.

Sue took hold of
his arm again as they made their way back to his waiting car. She saw McKs—the
lights—and for a brief moment she thought of Jae.

“You okay?”
Michael asked. Sue had stopped moving and Michael looked at her with concern.

“Oh…I’m sorry.
McKs… It’s soo…big.”

“You hungry? We
can grab something from there if you’d like,” Michael offered, gesturing toward
the fast food joint. Sue shook her head no and took hold of his arm again. They
walked in silence the rest of the way back to Michael’s car. The bright lights,
the people…it all became…just scary to her now. It no longer held excitement
and she silently cursed her stupid mind for straying.

“We could walk
around if you’d like,” Michael offered, seeing her change in mood. She had gone
from childish excitement to gloom in the span of a second.

“It’s all right.
Maybe another night,” Sue replied, placing Lily into her booster seat when they
reached his car. Lily offered her a gummy bear and Sue opened her mouth to
receive it. She dramatically ate the gummy, pretending to savor the delicious
bite. Lily giggled. Lily placed another in Sue’s mouth while Sue finished
strapping Lily in her booster. Sue discovered Michael watching her after she
finished the task and wondered how long he had been doing so. She couldn’t
fathom why she blushed. “It was delicious,” Sue told Michael, thinking her
action needed an explanation.

He smiled at her.

Sue sat silently
during most of the drive back to Michael’s townhouse. She listened to the
chattering between Michael and Lily on the proper ways to eat gummy bears. Sue
cracked a smile when Lily scolded Michael for biting off the head first.

High on sugar and
youth, Lily was restless with her new confinement once they returned to the
townhouse. To calm her, Sue played Lily’s favorite songs on the grand piano in
the family room. Sue had tried her best to dance like Yo Gabba Gabba as Lily
attempted at a song, but Sue tripped on her own feet and fell with such drama
that Lily laughed. Michael joined Sue at the dancing and together they made a
good duo. At least they thought so, but dance coordination was not Sue’s
strongest talent and she took to the piano instead.

Sue and Lily
tortured Michael as they sang and were entertained by his clumsiness at:

“If you’re
happy and you know it, wiggle your toes.

If you’re
happy and you know it, wiggle your toes.

If you’re
happy and you know it, if you truly wanna show it, if you’re happy and you know
it…wiggle your toes, touch your nose, stick out your tongue, tap your head,
turn around, flap your arms and say, ooh ooh ahh ahh!”

“Ooh ooh ahh
ahh?” Michael frowned as he flapped his arms. “You think I’m a flying monkey?”
The question was directed at Sue.

“If it’s any
consolation, you are the best looking monkey there is.” Sue smiled at him and
he smiled back.

Eventually, Lily
tired and fell asleep on the chaise by the fireplace. Sue stopped playing the
lullabies and children’s songs. She looked out the window into a snow-covered
backyard. Beyond that was nothing more than a tall wooden fence. Before she
could stop herself, she began to play Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata
. She
supposed, at that time, she felt just as lonely as the music she was playing.

Michael joined
her at the piano and Sue stopped playing. “Don’t stop. Please, continue,”
Michael encouraged.

“Do you play?”

“Not as well as
you.”

“Here. Play
something.” Sue scooted over on the bench and Michael sat next to her.

“Brace yourself
for a master-piece,” Michael said. He laced his fingers together and flexed
them before finding his place on the piano keys. He played Mary Had a Little
Lamb.

Sue laughed.
“Master-piece indeed.”

“Told you,”
Michael said with a grin. Still grinning, he artfully changed the keys and
smoothly transitioned into Beethoven’s
Fur Elise
.

Sue quietly
listened to Michael played the piano.
I shouldn’t have invited him to play
the piano
, she thought.

“Thank you,”
Michael said.

“For what?”

“For helping with
Lily tonight. I would have been less…calm.”

“You are
welcome,” she said.

Michael received
a phone call and excused himself to answer it. Sue returned to the piano, but
she could no longer will her fingers to play a note. She stared at the keys
until she heard a cry from Lily and quickly abandoned the piano. Lily was
looking for her mommy and Sue lay down next to her to soothe her.

Weariness from
the day finally caught up with her and Sue fell asleep on the chaise, next to
Lily.

Michael watched
Sue sleeping next to his niece. Sue had not panicked as he had when Lily fell
and injured her arm. She had immediately taken control of the situation,
instructing him to call for help while she calmed Lily.

In the emergency
room, while he held onto Lily during the casting, Sue had distracted Lily and
him with that stethoscope. She had looked at Lily so longingly and so
affectionately that Michael couldn’t stop thinking about her nor had he stopped
looking at her since. Gone was the ice queen he had met at the airport.

There was
something about her. The way she smiled. The way she laughed. So unguarded with
his niece, he wished she would do the same with him. He found himself watching
her the whole evening.

What was it about
her really? She looked nothing like Judith; in fact, this woman had turned out
to be everything the opposite of Judith. Judith didn’t want children. Judith
never teased him, never ate chocolate nor found any enjoyment in candy stores.
Judith, ah, Judith.

Michael tucked a
wisp of Sue’s hair behind her ear and she stirred. He smiled. Ah, yes, she was
nothing like Judith. Judith wouldn’t be caught dead sleeping on the couch with
a five-year-old in her arms or wipe the runny nose of a teary eyed
five-year-old.

The doorbell rang
and Michael answered. His sister, Heidi, was at the door along with his three
teenage nieces.

“How did it go
with Lily?” Heidi asked.

“We, ah, missed
it,” Michael replied. “Shhh, girls, Lily and Sue are sleeping,” he told his
nieces. They were already talking excitedly when he opened the door. They all
lowered their excited voices before entering the townhouse, unzipping their
coats and modeling their new T-shirts.

Heidi frowned.

“There was an
accident and we missed it,” he said closing the door.

“What kind of
accident?” Heidi asked, alarmed.

Michael led his
nieces and sister to his study where he recapped the evening in full detail to
his sister. Heidi turned pale when Michael told her of Lily’s injuries and
assured her that Lily was fine. Sue had kept an eye on her all evening and Lily
was in great care, he told her. Heidi went into the living room to get a look
at her daughter and the woman her brother had so fondly spoken about
. At
least this woman had a heart
, thought Heidi.

CHAPTER
4

“I thank you for
joining me this evening,” Khyba said into his microphone flashing a
breath-taking smile. He wiped his sweaty forehead with his white muscle shirt,
exposing his six pack abs and the audience cheered. Laughing, he teased the
audience by pulling his shirt and they cheered in response. He danced, tugging
at his shirt, exposing a well-sculpted body. His cargos hugged his hips as he
proceeded to rip his shirt and the audience was deafening. Music played,
dancers danced and Khyba moved perfectly into steps as he tore off his shirt
completely and tossed it into the audience.

The music ended
and Khyba stopped dancing. The stage darkened, the background changed and a
soft, acoustic guitar played in the background. He quickly took a gulp of water
from a bottle a stage assistance handed him, threw on a shirt and positioned
himself as a spotlight found him. “This last song is special to me and I hope
you love it as well,” he said. The audience became silent and he sang in
Korean, “I vow to you upon my soul, to cherish you I would…”

As he sang, his
eyes roamed the crowd. He couldn’t see any of their faces, only the lighted “K”
they held and the reflection of signs they made. Every time he sang the song,
every time he performed, he searched for her.

There was an air
of mystery surrounding him. Not so much the man he was or the man Father
thought he ought to be. Maybe it wasn’t mystery so much as it was curiosity.
Yes. It was more curiosity than mystery. But the curiosity was not about him.
It was Khyba and the mysterious beauty who inspired the song he sang.

His publicists
had released an elaborate story of romance involving a mysterious beauty who
had given him his name before she stole his heart.

If only they
knew.
He never mentioned her name. He had only revealed that a special girl
had come up with the name for him a long time ago. Her name was too painful to
mention, too painful to remember. He had given nothing more.

A special girl
indeed.

The last image he
had of her was of a puppy-eyed seductress in a purple dress, crying beneath the
weeping branches of a willow tree. In the brief period he had come to love her,
that time was the first and only time he saw her in a dress. He wished he could
have left her smiling, laughing. But he had told her they didn’t
fit
and
left her crying.

If he had known
how much that image of her would haunt him, he wouldn’t have done what he did.
Had he known he would miss her every day of his life since, he would have
allowed her to explain. Maybe he would have learned the truth and it would have
hurt like hell but at least he wouldn’t be haunted by the image of her looking
at him the way she had done. Maybe then, he wouldn’t be scanning the faceless
audience for the one face that still haunted him.

It had been eight
years and seven months and he still wondered if she missed him the way he
missed her. He wondered if she looked into the faces of strangers, searching
for him. Maybe it was those questions that led him to look for her, to search
for her, only if to learn she was doing fine and had moved on. Perhaps that
knowledge would set him free and he would be able to move on with his own life.
He would be able to return home and face Sister Jamie and Father, and Sister
Mary would forgive him from her grave.

He couldn’t
remember the feel of her skin or the scent of her hair, but he could remember
the way she looked when she was mad. “Oh, sa-nap!” she’d say. Or the way she
held onto him when he kissed her. “I love you,” she’d say.

“I vow to you, to
love you for eternity…” He closed his eyes and he could feel her finger tracing
the bump on his nose. “I vow to you, to cherish you…” He could feel her soft
lips on his chin. “I pray each night we’ll meet again, to show you that I’ve
kept my vows…” He opened his eyes and stared into the darkness. “I vow to
you…to love you…”

CHAPTER
5

Three days had
passed since her exciting first day in New York. Michael was picking her up for
dinner. They were heading to Shinobu New York and would be meeting Katie and
Patrick at the restaurant. After that first day with Michael and Lily, Sue had
spent the next two days resting, unpacking, spending time with Tony, and
exploring the neighborhood. The night before, Michael had stopped by with an
array of fruits and crackers. They had made fondue with the giant Hershey’s
candy bar and spent the evening at the townhouse. Michael spent time in his
office, working. Sue spent time with him in his office, reading.

This morning,
Michael had invited her to lunch, but she had declined. She wanted to go to the
American Museum of Natural History and didn’t think he was interested. She
spent most of her day there, taking her time to explore all their exhibits.

Tonight, she was
heading into the heart of the city and was deciding what to wear. “No scrubs.
No sweats,” Katie had ordered so the only sweats she packed were the ones she
wore during her travel. Looking through her luggage, she picked a knee-length,
spaghetti-strapped, royal blue chiffon dress to wear for dinner. She wore her
hair down. The last time she had done that was many years ago. She picked a silver
bangle, which she slipped onto her left wrist, then decided that the
silver-strapped heels would look best with her outfit. It hadn’t snowed and the
walk ways were clear so the heels would be safe to wear. Besides, she wanted to
wear something nice and heels made her feel sexy.

Sue threw her
head back in laughter when she saw Michael. “We match,” she explained when he
looked confused. He wore a white dress shirt, a blue and gray striped tie, dark
navy slacks with a matching blazer and shiny loafers. His hair was
conservatively cut and combed, making him look like a Tommy Hilfiger model she
saw on billboards.

They had
reservations but there was a private party being held at the restaurant, and
they had to wait for their table. While they waited, they heard other patrons
whispering that the restaurant owner/chef Shinobu Matshu was present,
personally catering to an important client.

“Who do you think
is here for the chef to be in New York?” Michael asked Sue.

“Don’t know,” Sue
replied. “Maybe Ms. O?”