Second Chances Read Online Free

his racing heartbeat.  Impossible.  Nobody knew about Cassandra except Ryan and . . . Terry.   He’d never even told Rose, except in passing when she’d tried to pry into why he wasn’t married.  Terry must have told this Quinton Chase about Cassandra.  Why?
    He missed her so much, every day it still filled him with an aching despair that wrenched at his heart.  Ten years she’d been gone, lost to him forever, yet each morning when he awoke the pain was almost more than he could bear.  People say the loss and pain fade, replaced by happier memories of the person who died, but for Jake each day became a living reminder she wasn’t here with him anymore.  Ten years and he hadn’t been able to forget her, the girl she’d been, on the verge of becoming the woman she’d been meant to be. 
    Leafing through the packet of information that came with the letter, he found hotel room confirmations, lift tickets, a spa package, as well as information on a chauffeured limousine that would drive Ryan and Rose to their destination.  It looked like Chase hadn’t left anything to chance, all the bases covered. 
    Should he do it?   He pondered the question a moment before standing and going into his spare bedroom, the one he called his junk room.  Digging through the crap piled high in the closet, he found an old shirt gift box still filled with tissue paper from his birthday.  He’d pulled out the gift and obviously tossed the box—paper and all—into the closet afterwards.  Shoving more things aside, he couldn’t find any wrapping paper, but that didn’t really matter.  Snatching a bow from another box, he stuck it to the top of the shiny white cardboard.  It would have to do.
    With deliberate precision he stacked all the papers Quinton Chase sent and placed them in the box, smoothed out the tissues paper as best he could before closing the lid.  Tape, where the hell did he put the tape?  Okay, on top of the dresser.  Good.   
    With a final look at the package, he laughed.  It looked exactly like what it was.  Somebody’s attempt at wrapping with secondhand crap.  Oh, well, it would do.
    Glancing at his watch he realized he had some time to kill before he and Ryan went on their annual trek to find Rose her perfect Christmas tree.  Pausing by the front door, he tossed the package onto the hall table.  He’d find a way to give it to them tonight.  Somehow. 
    "I don’t know who you are, Quinton Chase, but you better not screw this up." 
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    R ose stared at her sister, eyes widened in shock at the words she’d just heard.  She thumped her glass of ice tea down onto the tabletop with enough force to rattle the carefully aligned silverware.
    "You did not just say that!"
    "Yes, I did."  Kate stared back at her, not backing down from the angry glare Rose shot her.  "Consider the facts."
    "The fact is my husband is not having an affair!" 
    "Come on, sister, read between the lines here.  He’s moody, distant even.  He’s working late all the time.  He never wants to spend time with any of his friends anymore.  When he is home, well . . ." Kate’s voice trailed off.
    "He is not having an affair."  Rose’s voice ground out between clenched teeth, lowered to a whisper as she glared at her sister, who also happened to be her best friend.  Taking a calming breath, she rubbed at the twinge of pain between her eyes, the beginnings of a headache starting to pound a tattooed rhythm beneath her skull. 
    "Ryan’s grieving for his brother.  It’s been almost two years.  His death just hit him so hard—it’s as if he can’t get past it."  Tears welled up and threatened to spill from her eyes and she blinked rapidly, steeling herself not to cry. 
    "He won’t admit it but I think he feels, I don’t know, guilty maybe, because they wouldn’t have been at Destiny’s Desire Lodge, if we hadn’t sent them on a honeymoon there.  It’s eating at him and I don’t know