Second Chance Hero (4 page)

I stand up and wait for Mum to stand up with me. We
finish the wine at the bottom of our glasses, leaving the half full bottle on
the table and I follow her out of the beer garden. She places her hand on
Deacon’s shoulder as we walk past; while I ignore him, and pretend not to see
the shocked expression on his face.

“Jen.” I hear him call, but I have no urge to be
introduced to his girlfriend.

“Try it on,” Mum says, handing me a short black
summer dress, “The weather will start heating up here soon.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

My phone rings, and I notice it’s Abbie, the
assistant manager of my shop in Camden. I hand the dress back to my mum and step
outside the shop, “Hi, Abs. What’s up?”

“Just a quick call. I need some help.”

“Sure. Fire away.” I walk along the road to sit on
the bench outside the bakery.

“Well, an Italian couple ordered a coffee tiramisu
cake for their wedding. I was just looking through the order to trial the cake
with them on Monday but I’m not sure how much coffee to put in. Strong or weak?
It’s unprofessional to call them and ask right?”

“It’s a trial tasting?” I ask her, shaking my head
and smiling.

“Yeah.”

“Right, so use our usual recipe, with the tablespoon
of instant coffee. If it’s for a wedding you won't want it too strong. So if
they’re unsure about the strength maybe suggest some coffee-dipped sponge
fingers around the outside as the decoration. That way people can take them off
if the coffee is too much. Coffee cake for a wedding.” I scoff.

“I know, right? That’s a good idea. I can use a
buttermilk icing to make it look like a proper tiramisu. Perfect, you’re a
star, boss. When are you back in the office?”

I look around to make sure I’m on my own and I
notice the bakery is shut. Weird.

“Uh, I’m not sure. There are a few family things to
sort out and I haven’t seen my niece in forever. I’m going to check in with
Carl, and if you're both alright holding the fort, I might stay for a while.” I
look into the bakery window and notice it’s completely empty, except for the
glass display counter and three tables lining one wall with the chairs turned
up on them.

“Yeah we’re all good. Check in at Covent Garden.
Just let me know when you’re coming back.”

“Sure thing.” I answer, distracted. We say our
goodbyes and hang up.

My mum appears at the window next to me and hands me
a bag with the dress in. I smile half a smile as I look through the window. I
used to buy all my cakes from here when I was younger, and this is the only
place I’d stolen anything. Deacon made me feel so bad for pinching a cookie off
the counter that I took it back and apologised. Mrs. Hale was so happy that I
apologised and went back that she let me keep the cookie. I gave it to Deacon.

“What happened?” I ask mum and step away from the
shop.

“People die. Jane passed away last year, and she had
no one to take over the shop. The supermarket orders in the bread and pastries
now.”

“There’s nowhere to buy fresh cakes and bread
anymore?”

My mum shakes her head and continues to walk along
the high street. I quickly jot down the number in the window before catching up
with her.

“I think I might make some magdalenas when we get
back.”

“That will impress your dad. Your grandma used to
make the best magdalenas.”

I thank Mum for the dress again and link my arm with
hers and we walk through town.

~

I’m full from dinner and relaxed after having a
bath. Jonas went into town for a night out with his girlfriend, Grace, so I had
the bathroom all to myself without worrying about someone needing to come in. I
pull on a pair of my old shorts and a vest and climb into bed, looking at my
phone and the number I saved in it earlier. Could I do it? Should I do it? I
can always hire someone to take over if things go wrong, and go back. I hit
‘call’ and hold the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” Answers a low voice on the other side of
the line.

“Hi. I took your number from the window in the
bakers in Folquay.” I pause, making sure I’m ready to do this, “I want to buy
it.”

Deacon

I’m spending another day hiding in the office. I
can't believe what happened on Saturday. It was fine for Jenna to introduce me
as a nobody in front of her boyfriend, but when I tried to introduce her to the
girl I’m trying to replace her with, she pretends I don’t exist. It made me
feel like shit, and then I had to put up with all the questions from April
about who she was.

I signed for the supplies delivery today, and I’ve
sorted out who I need on what jobs for tomorrow, as well as calling in a couple
of extras to get Mike’s job finished today. Mr. Crane has finally sent over the
complete project brief as well as information on the percentage that the
council will pay towards the job. It’s going to take a few weeks to get it
done, so everyone has to clear up their jobs over the next couple of weeks so I
can get a big team on the job. I pencil our lunch into my diary, shut down my
computer and leave the office.

When I step outside it’s quiet. It’s nearly lunchtime
and normally the boys end up back here for their breaks if they’re working
nearby. I stick a note on the front door that I’ll be back later, and head to
my car. I pull my phone out of my pocket and notice I have four missed calls
from April since I spoke to her this morning. She wants me to go to her parents’
house for dinner, but that’s not gonna happen. I just haven’t worked out how to
let her down gently yet. There’s still the matter of Kate and Lizzie to worry
about, and I’m running out of energy keeping them all on the go and away from
each other. I send April a text; I don’t care how much of dick it makes me.

‘Busy at work. Won’t make it to dinner. I think it’s
a good idea if we cool things down a bit.’

I wait a couple of minutes, but she doesn’t reply.
Hopefully she’s got the message.

The truck roars to life and I head back to town. The
nice weather has brought a few tourists in and the high street is buzzing with
energy; there are people on the beach, and sitting outside the coffee shops and
pubs. Sometimes it’s easy to forget Folquay is a tourist town. I walk past the
old bakers on the way to get some lunch and notice it’s all boarded up. Finally
someone’s going to do something with the empty space. I get to the deli and
pick up a sandwich.

“Kip?” I ask, shocked that he’s back and standing in
front of me in the queue.

“Oh, hey.” He says, clearly not remembering my name.

“What are you doing here?”

“Jenna’s staying here for a while. I haven’t got
work so I thought I’d come stay. See Esteban and Mindy for a few days. Isn’t
Phillipa adorable?”

“Mm hmm.” I answer, stepping out of the queue and
back to the fridge. Anything to get away from him. I laugh to myself, how he
felt the need to reveal he knows her family names. He’s not part of her family,
I remember the looks from Esteban and Mindy and I smile at the fact he’s
clearly threatened by me.

“See you around.” He says, with a smug look on his
face as he walks out of the shop.

I step up to the counter and hand over my sandwich.

“Dennis, you seen Jenna about?” I ask as he adds up
my order, and makes my coffee without me having to ask.

“Yeah, she was suited and booted this morning. She
met up with Phil from the next town over.”

Why did she meet up with him?

“She got back about an hour ago. He dropped her off
outside The Duck.”

“Thanks mate.” I say as I hand over the right money,
pick up my things and leave the deli.

Jenna is going to be at one of three places. I don’t
bother with The Duck. If her joke of a boyfriend was buying sandwiches they
won’t be at the pub. I try the beach on the way to her house.

“Hey stranger!”

I flinch as I turn and look behind me.

“Hey, Liz.”

She approaches me with that weird stalk she has, and
wraps her arms around my waist.

“I didn’t see you Friday, Deac.”

That’s because I stood you up to go and see the girl
who made me worthless to any other woman.

“Yeah, I double booked with the boys and forgot we
had plans.”

We didn’t have plans; she told me what time to pick
her up and where to take her. Instead of saying no, I just stood her up. As
awful as it is, I think she’s used to it. Lizzie is the one with the least
Jenna traits. She has dark hair, but pasty skin. She’s shy and agrees with
whatever I say. That’s the bit that’s hard to get past; there is nothing
attractive about a woman who has no opinion, no passion and doesn’t enjoy
arguing sometimes, purely for the make-up sex.

“That’s okay. You’re here now. On lunch break?”

“Yeah I was just gonna sit on the beach.” I gesture
to the beach and spot Jenna, looking straight at me with a look of disgust on
her face. Great. She leans back and raises her face to the sun, soaking up the
first of this year’s rays.

Lizzie follows me down on to the beach, not pleased
when I don’t help her off the wall. I jumped, so can she.

I sit with my back against the wall and look out to
the sea, well, towards the sea as I watch Jenna and Kip deep in conversation.
She’s got a selection of cakes laid out in Tupperware boxes. I remember when we
used to that; she’d bring her fluffy pink blanket and make me try her latest
inventions.

I can hear Lizzie talking next to me, but I ignore
her as I watch Jenna share her cakes with Kip. And I note the complete
disinterest on his face. Maybe that’s why she’s staying – maybe Folquay has
inspired her; maybe she’ll stay longer.

Lizzie makes me jump when she makes a beeline for my
neck. I try to brush her off, but when I see Jenna look over, something takes
over and I hope she’s as jealous as I am. It’s killing me watching her with
him, when he clearly doesn’t appreciate her. If she showed any signs of being
slightly happy, I could try and let it go. She frowns at me, and looks away
quickly.

“Jesus, Liz. We’re in public,” I pull her hand away
from my shorts and push her back, “I’ve gotta get back to the office soon.”

“Don’t tease me, Deac. It’s been two weeks.”

“Alright,” I roll my eyes, “I’ll come to you
tonight.”

She claps her hands in excitement and jumps up.

“Cool. My last client will leave about six. See you
tonight.”

I wonder if it’ll be a perm or highlights for the
last client. Honestly, if girls were all as dense as Lizzie we men would have
no problem figuring them out. Maybe tonight should be the last time.

Maybe now is the time to end this shit. With Jenna
back in town I can't think straight, especially not about the girls who are
just surrogates for the real thing. I can’t screw around knowing she’s not far
away, judging me for trying to fill the hole she made when she left.

Lizzie bounces off and I watch Jenna as I force my
food down. Who am I kidding? She left. She said nothing when my dad died,
nothing when she made an appearance at his funeral, and nothing since. I
shouldn’t be pining for her, I should angry as hell that she left me when I
needed her.

But I can't be angry. She left because of me, and
I’d do anything to go back to that night. To change what I did, what I said, to
spend one more night with my father, and know that I would have Jenna to
support me. We’d probably still be friends, hell, we might have even made it
after that kiss.

I’d wanted Jenna since I started being attracted to
girls. But she was my best friend, and my friend’s sister; there unwritten
rules about that shit. We’d run around naked in our paddling pool when we
younger, and pee in rock pools together. I shouldn’t have felt what I did for
her, what I still do.

But that night in the pub, something changed. She
shivered when I hugged her and her body spoke to me all night. I knew she felt
the same and the beer took over, taking over any kind of filter between my
brain and my actions. I don’t wish I’d never kissed her, but I wish I’d said
something afterwards, or waited until we were older and could be together as
adults, not horny uni students.

Now I have to watch her cooing over a man that
should be me. I watch her lick icing off her fingers, so sexily I wanna explode
here and now. But he doesn’t even notice – she’s not the type to seduce on a
public beach surrounded by kids and dogs, but how can he not realise how
stunning she is?

I throw away half my sandwich and leave the beach to
find my truck and go home. Kip might not appreciate what he has with Jenna, but
I would, I know it. He doesn’t realise how good he’s got it, and maybe she’s
oblivious to what a shit head he is. But I’ll show her the kind of attention
she deserves. I’ll show her how much I regret what happened between us, and I
will fix this before she leaves again. I have to. I put my Bluetooth receiver
in my ear and call my mum.

“Hi, honey.”

“Hi, Mum. Listen, I need you to organise a dinner
for everyone.”

“Who’s everyone?”

“Us and the Rivera’s.”

“What are you up to Deacon?”

“Nothing!” Jesus Christ, “Can you do the dinner or
not?”

“I’m not sure we have the space.”

“Fine. I’ll do it. Do you know why she’s still
here?”

“By ‘she’ I assume you mean Jenna?” I don’t reply,
“I’m not sure. She said she’s here for business.”

“Great.” Looks like she’s found some baking
inspiration after all, “Dinner at mine, tomorrow at seven. Can you tell them?”

“Sure.”

“Bye, Mum.”

I hang up. So I’ve got just over twenty four hours
to learn how to cook. What if she doesn’t come? She has to; if she feels
anything for me at all, she’ll be there.

I whip my tablet out of the draw in the kitchen when
I get home and look for something to cook. I settle for beef stew. I can chop a
load of vegetables and meat and cook it for a few hours. Hopefully, Jenna will
bring a cake; I hate not having her number, to call her and ask her. Maybe I
should arrange dessert, just in case.

 I’ve written a shopping list and opened a bottle of
red, when my phone rings. Lizzie.

“Hey.” I answer.

“Are you gonna stand me up again?” She asks, her
voice shaky.

“No,” I lie, “but I’ve been drinking. I can't
drive.”

“That’s okay, sit tight. I’ll come to you with
Italian.”

She hangs up before I can protest and I know I’m
going to have to deal with her tonight.

I manage to finish the bottle before the headlights
on her car shine through my kitchen window. I don’t bother to get up; she knows
I never lock the door.

“Hey, baby.” She says stepping into kitchen and
putting the bag of food on the table in front of me. She busies herself around
me, getting plates out and opening wine. I feel like a dick but I just wish she
wasn’t here. Plus, she called me baby. That’s not good.

“You okay?” She asks, tipping pasta on my plate,
“You seem distracted.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind.” I reach into my back
pocket and give her the money for dinner, “Thanks for grabbing the food.”

“I can buy us dinner.”

“I don’t want you to. Just take the money.” She
reluctantly takes it, but it’s one less thing for me to feel guilty about.
“This is good.”

“I’m not here for the food.” She says in her best
seductive voice.

“I know. I’ll sort you out.” I sit back and finish
the wine, amused at the shocked look on her face. I plan to knock her out, so
the last thing on her mind is me. I don’t think I can do it.

When Lizzie has finished I stand up, lift her over
my shoulder and carry her through the house. She squeals with delight, but I am
focused on tonight’s mission. There’s no time for giggling.

When we get to the bedroom, I throw her on the bed,
crawling between her legs before she can take any control. Her lips are parted
and she's flushed as I remove her clothes swiftly and throw them in a pile next
to the bed. When she’s in nothing but her blue lacy thong, I lean down and kiss
along her jawline, nipping at her neck and ear. She’s writhing around beneath
me and moaning in my ear, and with the metaphorical click of my fingers, she’s
ready. I slip one hand into her underwear and ease one finger inside her as my
mouth moves down her body, stopping at her erect nipples as I suck them,
pulling them gently between my teeth and my thumb circles her clit. She’s
breathing my name and grinding herself on my hand. I’ve had her enough times to
read her body well and I know she’s close. I twist my hand at the wrist, and
put another finger in to join the first. She lets out a throaty scream and
comes violently around my fingers. She’s out of breath and lethargic, but when
she reaches for my jeans, I grab her wrist as she slides her hand past the
waistband. I shake my head at her and throw her legs over my shoulders. I lean
over, part her and run my tongue along her sensitive flesh; she bucks
underneath me and grabs fistfuls of the bed sheet. I put my middle finger
inside her, as my tongue works on her clit with light flicks and hard sucks.