Her Second Chance✔ (Published)

8 (Edited)

Cari

"He's going to be here in a week's time!" She exclaimed as she barged into her cousin's room.

Dani was already in bed and like the warrior she was, she shot up even before Cari had uttered her first word. "What the heck Cari?" She demanded.

"You called him!" Cari accused.

Her cousin shifted her feet to the floor so that she could face her. "Yeah," she agreed in a dry annoyed tone. "You were being a baby about it and moping around worse than when you got here."

Cari reared back a bit at that, as if her cousin had just slapped her. "No, I wasn't." She denied.

Dani rolled her eyes at that. "You were walking around like someone had just killed your dog right in front of you. And yes I called him, you'd set him up to fail."

"No," she said through her teeth, annoyed at the unfair accusation. "I didn't." Her heart sank, Dani was the last person she'd expected to be against her.

"Cari," her cousin emphasized. "There was no way he was going to win. If he had called, you were going to panic and tell him he called too soon or something. Even though your brain has been torturing you with ideas that he hasn't called because he gave up on you."

Cari bit her lip, unwilling to concede her cousin might be right. "What are you now? Our grandmother?" She deflected.

Her cousin walked over to her chest of drawers, opened up the second one then took out two packets of cheese snacks. Cari caught the one Dani threw at her before they both sat on the bed. Dani had her back against her headboard and Cari sat near the base facing her.

"She's the one who put me up to it. How do you think I got his number?"

Cari shivered at that. "Nana is scary."

Dani crunched on some cheesy goodness. "Right?" She agreed.

"I don't know how you do it, living with her."

It was a recurring conversion, though both girls loved their Nana and had no problem living with her. "I deserve a royal badge of service." Dani deadpanned.

Cari laughed, the first free laugh she could remember having in a long time. Which meant Dani had been right to call Andre. Or maybe their grandmother had been right to play puppet master. Not that Cari had any plans to tell her that. It'd invite more of her meddlesomeness.

"Hey, do you think Nana has ever advised the royal family with her powers? I know the king and queen keep track of human mates' abilities. They have to be aware of hers."

Dani paused to think about that then shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. I doubt she'd ever tell, Nana's good at keeping secrets." She met her gaze meaningfully. "Your mate was angry at her for not making sure you were sent to the castle."

A thrill raced down her spine at that. She couldn't help the pleased smile that bloomed on her face. "He was?"

Dani smiled back at her, that conspiratory smile girls had when they were sharing secrets about a boy one of them liked. "Yeah, when I explained about Nana he said..." Dani deepened her voice. "You might be willing to trust her inane reasons for making her granddaughter suffer but I'm not."

Cari giggled, pleasure settling her centre as she held those words to her heart. Dani joined her and they looked at each other with happiness. "He said that?"

"Yeah. He really seems to care about you. He didn't call you because he felt you still needed space. He thought you'd call when you were ready."

Cari winced. "You're right, I did set him up to fail."