A New Hope (The Second Chance Series Book 2) (26 page)

The next three days passed quickly. They went to visit David’s and Mary’s graves and Elliot seemed to snap out of the slight depression he was in. On the day they were leaving Elliot seemed to be happy to return to Tennessee. They made plans to visit again over the summer and the Robertson’s drove them to the airport.

“I am so glad I got to come visit.” Elliot told Hank.

“Me too.” Hank agreed. “When you come back over the summer I want to visit our fort. I haven’t been since you left.”

“We’ll definitely check it out when I come back.” Elliot promised.

“Time to go.” Leslie said from behind him.

“I’ll see you in June.” Elliot told Hank then he turned and headed to the security check point.

“We’ll try to bring the whole family back in June.” Leslie said before she turned and followed Elliot. 

“Thank you for keeping my memory box safe.” Karla said to Mrs. Robertson then she hugged her and went to stand with Elliot and Leslie.

“I love Texas.” Elliot said when Karla joined them. “But Tennessee is my home now. I want to come visit some, but I don’t think I’ll ever move back.”

Karla smiled and hugged him close. “Tennessee is my home now too, Elliot.”

He pulled away and smiled at her. “I guess I could say that my home is wherever you are.”

Karla hugged him close again as tears filled her eyes. “I love you, little brother.”

“I love you too, sis.” He responded then he pulled away and went through security.

Once they were all through they headed to the first class lounge to await their flight.

****

A few hours later Andrew was pacing the airport terminal like a caged animal. It had been a really long three days and he missed his family. When he saw Leslie walking toward him it was like a weight lifted off his shoulders. He met her half way and hugged her close. “I have missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too, baby.” Leslie said before she kissed him deeply.

“Okay, okay, enough of that.” Karla teased them from behind Leslie. “Sheesh, it’s like we don’t even exist.” She said to Elliot, causing him to laugh.

Andrew laughed loudly and released Leslie. “Come here you.” He said and pulled Karla into a strong hug. When he released her he pulled Elliot into a hug too. “I am so glad you are all home safely.”

“We’re glad to be home.” Karla said and looked around. “How on earth did you manage to get here alone?” She asked, surprised her friends didn’t come with him.

“I was at the hospital until about an hour ago. The flu is spreading around the nursing staff and we have had several out the past few days so I pulled a double shift yesterday. I got off at noon, grabbed a cup of coffee and came straight here to wait.

“Oh, wow. I hope you don’t catch it.” Elliot told him.

“I’m being careful. Wearing a mask and gloves everywhere I go at the hospital.” Andrew reassured him.

“Good.” Elliot said with a grin. He didn’t like the idea of Andrew getting sick.

“I’m ready to get home.” Leslie said with a grin. “Who’s with me?”

Karla and Elliot both agreed and they walked out together. On the way home they stopped and got some lunch and when they got home they were greeted by not only Manuel and Kiara, but by Conner, Callie, Rylee, Maddie and Mallie too.

“And the gang’s all here.” Leslie said with laughter in her voice.

“Did you think we wouldn’t be here, Leslie?” Rylee asked with a grin.

“No. I knew you three would be here.” She answered and looked at Mallie and Maddie as they stood off to the side talking to Elliot. “I’m just not used to those two being here.” 

“Might as well get used to it, mom.” Karla said with a grin. “Elliot likes Mallie and I think we’ll be seeing a lot of them.”

“I love the sound of that. ‘Mom’, yep, it’s the best word in the world.” Leslie said with a smile.

Karla laughed at her and walked into the kitchen with her friends. “I think I made her happy.” She said as she sat at the table.

“I think you did too.” Conner said and sat beside her. “Want to know what will make me happy?”

“Food?” Karla suggested and everyone laughed.

Conner nudged her and grinned. “Yeah, well, that too, but this is what I was meaning.” He said and captured her face in his hands. When he softly brushed his lips over hers and pulled away she smiled as butterflies filled her stomach.

“I’ve missed you, Karla.” He told her.

“I’ve missed you too.” She responded as she laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

When Manuel walked into the kitchen a couple minutes later they were still sitting like that and he smiled. That’s what he wanted with Callie. That deep affection is what he wanted, but until he could convince her that he didn’t see her as another little sister he would never get it.

“Karla,” He said from the door, “can I talk to you for a minute?”

Karla opened her eyes and looked up at him. When she saw the sadness in his eyes she pulled away from Conner, kissed him on the cheek and walked to her brother. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She said to her friends and followed Manuel from the room.

“What’s the matter?” She asked as soon as they entered his room and shut the door.

“I need your help. I have to get Callie to believe that I see her as more than another sister, but every time I try talking to her she gets defensive and edgy.”

Karla grinned and knew that what she’d said to him before she left and sunk in. “I think I have an idea.” She said and told him what she was thinking.

“I think that just may work.” He said with a grin. “I am so glad you’re my sister.”

“I am so glad you finally pulled your head out of your butt and decided to see where this could go.” Karla said with laughter in her voice. “Give me a few days and we’ll start setting things up.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out.” Manuel told her in a relieved voice.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Trust me, it’s going to work.” She told him, winked at him and walked back to the kitchen.

“I do trust you, little sister.” Manuel said to the empty room before he followed her into the kitchen.

The next week passed quickly. The celebrated the New Year together and helped Manuel move into his apartment. There was room for Kiara, but she chose to stay with Karla and give Manuel the space he needed.

By the time they went back to school Karla was ready to get everything started in her plan to get Manuel and Callie together. At lunch she was fixing to start the ball rolling when Callie softly muttered, “Chase.”

Karla looked up and saw Chase walking toward them. When he stopped in front of their table he looked at Callie and asked, “Can I talk to you for a minute? I’ll say what I need to in front of everyone, but I need to say it.”

When Callie nodded he sat down at the table and started talking. “I want to start by apologizing. I realize now that you were only trying to help me. Second I want to say thank you. If not for you I would still be traveling down that road and I don’t know where I would be. I want to tell you a little about what happened.” He paused for a second and took a deep breath. “My mom died when I was eight and my father blamed me for her death. She died saving my life. I’m not going into details about that, but my mom loved me more than anything and my father loved her more than anything. When she died he started drinking heavily and when he was drinking he would punish me for everything he thought I was doing wrong. Right after I turned ten he stopped using the alcohol as an excuse to punish me. Any time I would do anything other than what he wanted me to do I would get ten lashes across my back with his belt.”

Chase paused again and looked at Callie. Her eyes were filled with tears and that broke his heart, but he knew he needed to finish and he knew the next thing he said would hurt her even more. “Nothing I did was ever good enough. Nothing was ever acceptable, until I started dating you. Callie, I want you to remember that I do care about you, but when I first asked you out it was so I could please him. I knew you would be acceptable because your dad is a doctor and at the same social level as my father. After a few weeks my feelings started to change and I really started to care about you. I wanted to tell you then, but I couldn’t hurt you like that. When we got our final grades for that semester I had an A- in History and my father flipped out. He demanded that I break things off with you and when I refused he beat me worse than he ever had before. He was careful to never leave bruises on me that my people could see, but that was one of the worst weeks of my life. That’s the week I started drinking. It started out with me only drinking after he would punish me. The alcohol would numb the pain some, but before I knew it I was drinking almost every day. It got to where I craved it so much I couldn’t get through the day without it. My life was ruled by when I could get my next drink. By the end of that semester I knew I was going to be kicked out of the advanced program because my grades had dropped so badly. When I got my grades in the mail and the letter about being kicked out of the program is when I started pushing you away.”

“Chase,” Callie choked out through her tears, but before she could say anything he shook his head.

“I need to finish telling you this please.” When she nodded he continued. “I started pushing you away because I love you and I didn’t want to pull you down that path with me. That day at the mall was a personal low for me. I went to the mall to get away from my dad and while I was there I walked around thinking about ways to end it all. I didn’t want to live like that anymore, but I was scared. When I saw you I flipped. I had been fighting the urge to call you for over a week and there you were. I was furious with you for being there. I wanted to hurt you because I was hurting and you were out enjoying the day with your friends. When Mrs. Peterson stopped me I lost it and hit her. That was the lowest I had ever sunk, but that was what saved me because it pulled Dr. Peterson in. He came to see me every week while I was in the rehab center. He hired me a lawyer and found an amazing counselor to help me. Between him and Dr. Morgan I have accepted what I’ve done and I’m getting better. I know that I don’t have to be perfect now. Callie, I will always love you, but I think it’s best if we’re only friends. If you even want that from me now. If you don’t I’ll understand and walk away.”

Callie sat there as tears rolled down her face and looked at him for a minute before she spoke. “Chase, over these past few months I have wondered what caused the change in you. I have worried and blamed myself. I’m glad you told me everything. I’m not sure where to go from here, but I think we could both use a friend.”

Chase looked at her in surprise, he never thought she would want to see him ever again. “I think we could too.” He said softly. “Now I have to get to class. I’m here on a probationary level at the moment and don’t want to do anything to mess that up. Thank you, Callie.”

When he walked away Karla shifted in her seat and put her arm around Callie. “Are you alright?”

“It’s funny, but I think I am. I will always care about him, but I have let go of the love I held onto and I’m ready to move on.” Callie said just as the lunch bell rang. “Let’s get to class.” She added and stood up from her seat.   

The next two weeks passed quickly and Karla was waiting for the perfect opportunity to set her plan to get Manuel and Callie together in motion. It came on the day of Conner’s and Callie’s sixteenth birthday. They both left school early to take their driver’s test and while they were gone Karla laid her plan out to Rylee.

“We know Manuel really likes Callie and we know she really likes him so I have an idea to get them together.” Karla said as they headed home. She went on to tell Rylee exactly what she had planned. When she was finished Rylee was grinning from ear to ear.

“That is an awesome plan. I think we need help though.” Rylee suggested.

“Kiara?” Karla said and Rylee nodded in agreement. “We’ll talk to her when she gets home.”

“Where is she anyway?” Rylee asked. Kiara usually rode the bus with them.

“Manuel picked her up after lunch. Rosa had to have another surgery today and they’re with her. They should be back in time for the party.” Karla answered as the bus slowed at her stop.

“Let’s get to work.” Rylee said and followed Karla to her house.

Two hours later they had the dining room decorated for the party and Leslie was just putting the finishing touches on the cake when the doorbell rang. “I got it.” Elliot called out as he came downstairs.

When he walked into the kitchen a couple minutes later Conner and Callie followed him in and grinned at Karla and Rylee. “We passed.” They said together.

Karla smiled and hugged them both while Rylee jumped up and down. “Congratulations.” Leslie said and hugged them both.

“Thank you. Now we just have to get cars.” Callie said and grinned at Conner.

“When we turned fourteen dad told us both that he would help us get cars when we turned sixteen, just like he did when Kelsey, Dylan and Kevin turned sixteen, but that we each had to save a thousand dollars before then. I’ve saved almost twice that.” Conner explained.

“I have a little over a thousand.” Callie told them. “We’re going car shopping tomorrow.”

“Oh, wow.” Karla said in surprise. “That’s awesome.”

“I can’t wait to be able to go places without having to depend on mom or dad or Leslie to get us there.” Callie said with a smile at Leslie.

“You two can get Karla where she needs to go from now on, right?” Leslie asked them both with a grin

“We sure can.” Conner answered.

“We can take Elliot, too.” Callie chimed in and Elliot smiled at her.

“Yay.” Leslie cheered and everyone started laughing at her.

While everyone was still laughing Conner tugged on Karla’s arm a little and motioned for her to follow him. Once they were out of the room he pulled her upstairs and into the media room. “Karla, I want to take you out on a real date. Just the two of us.” He said as soon as the door closed behind them.

“I would love that.” Karla said and Conner grinned.

“Let me get a car and then we will figure out when.”

“Okay.” Karla agreed. “Why were you nervous about asking me that, Conner?”

“I don’t know.” He answered honestly and looked at the floor. 

“Conner, what’s wrong?” Karla asked. She was getting a little worried because he wasn’t acting like himself.

“Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about something Kevin said earlier.” He answered.

“Want to share?”

“It wasn’t a very good comment, Karla.”

“Apparently.” Karla said dryly. “If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine.” She turned away from him, slightly hurt by his hesitation to tell her what his brother said, especially since it was causing him to have a distant look in his eyes. “I’m going back downstairs. Our other friends will be here soon.”

“Wait.” Conner said and she stopped. “When we got home Kevin pulled me to the side, handed me three condoms and said, ‘Remember to use these when you get Karla in the back seat.’. I didn’t say anything or take the condoms because it isn’t like that between us.”

“I’m not surprised he thinks it is though. I mean we’re always together, touching and kissing, so people will naturally assume we are going to take it to the next level soon. Or they think we have already.” Karla said in a small voice.

“I don’t care what they think about me.” Conner said. “But I don’t like people thinking about you like that. You aren`t that kind of girl.”

“Conner, what the people at school think doesn’t matter to me. What matters is what you and I and our families know. They know us and trust us to do the right thing. Neither of us are ready for that, but when we are it’ll be between us, not everybody else.”

Conner pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head. “I love you, Karla.”

“I love you, too, Conner.” She responded. They stood there like that for a few minutes. When the doorbell rang Karla pulled away and looked into his eyes. “Ready to party?”

“You bet I am.” He answered, but before she could pull completely away he dipped his head down and brushed his lips over hers. When she opened her mouth slightly he deepened the kiss for a moment before he pulled back and smiled. “Now I can face everyone.”

She giggled a little and pulled him out of the room and downstairs.