Everyone Deserves a Second Chance Read Online Free Page B

uncertainly.
    "If I'd have known Marcus had company I wouldn't have just
barged right in." The woman smiled and set a basket down on
the kitchen counter. Finally she turned and held out a hand.
    "I'm Brenda."
    Lindsey took her hand. "Lindsey. Pleased to meet you."
    Brenda's eyes went wide. "Lindsey? Lindsey Patrick, the one
who left him?"
    "I see he's told everyone in the county." Lindsey said
with an irritated grumble. Slowly she took a seat at the kitchen
table.
    "A man as good as he is, he deserves better then what you did
to him." Brenda leaned her bulk against the counter and looked
at Lindsey disapprovingly.
    "Look, I doubt you even really know what happened. Gossip in a
small town tends to get blown out of proportion as it travels.
Don't judge me before—"

"I thought I heard your voice!" Marcus said coming into
the house with Garrett and an older girl in tow. He smiled at
Brenda and placed a kiss on her lips before reaching for the basket
on the counter. "Yum, blueberry muffins, my favorite."
    "Uncle Marcus says I can ride Rusty next year!" The
little girl jumped up and down, her pigtails flying around her
head. Her hair was the same amazing red of her mother's and her
eyes were just as green.
    "Uncle Marcus may reconsider when mom says no." Brenda
smiled at Marcus as he took another bite of a muffin to hide his
grin. The little girl stopped jumping up and down and got a sad
look on her face.
    "But—"
    "We'll have to wait until next year comes, now won't we?"
Her mother replied with a grin.
    The little girl sighed and hung her head in a pout. She crossed her
small arms across her chest and stomped out of the kitchen to fling
herself onto the couch in the living room.
    "Lauren, stop that."
    The little girl jumped up giggling and ran to Garrett. "Tag,
you're it!" she called before racing out the front door.
    Garrett waited only a second before he followed after her yelling,
"No fair! You had a head start!"

"I can see you two have already met." Marcus said as he
finished the muffin and reached for a glass of orange juice sitting
on the kitchen table.
    "Yes, we have." Brenda said with a frown. "You
should have told me you were having company Marcus, I would have
brought your muffins a different day."
    "It's, uh, unexpected company. Besides, you know how much I
love your muffins." He gave her a boyish grin that she
returned with an amused smile and a shake of her head.
    "Well I better not stay long then, I have to get Lauren to
school. She wants to know if you're still going to let her ride in
the fall parade this Saturday. I told her it was all right with me
as long as it was all right with you."
    "Yeah, that's fine. Besides, I'd break her little heart if I
told her no after all the practice she's been doing." Marcus
chuckled as he glanced out the window at the two kids playing in
the yard.
    "Okay then, we'll see you tomorrow night." She took up
the empty basket, pecked Marcus on the lips, said a brief goodbye
to Lindsey, and then was out the door calling for Lauren.
    Both Marcus and Lindsey watched her as she rounded up her hyper
daughter and managed to get her into the car as the girl cried that
she was having fun and didn't want to leave. It took Brenda several
threatening attempts at making the girl clean her room before she
could usher her into the car.
    "You don't even like blueberry muffins." Lindsey said in
a huff as she turned to call Garrett in for breakfast.
    "So? She doesn't have to know that. She's a great lady."
Marcus smiled at the thought as he sat down at the breakfast table.
    "I'll bet." Lindsey answered as she told Garrett to wash
his hands before he was to sit down and eat.
    "You sound a little jealous there." Marcus laughed at the
sour look she got on her face.
    "Her hair even looks like mine."
    "Apparently we're both trying to have what we couldn't with
each other." Marcus shrugged and dug into the plate of food
before him.
    "Lauren says I can be in the parade!" Garrett said in
between mouthfuls of