Second Chance Romance (Southern Nights) Completed

Chapter 22

“Second Chance Romance”

Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved

Chapter 22

Drained and exhausted, Austin walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the kitchen table. After folding his long body into the small wooden seat his eyes turned to study Jade. She was standing by the kitchen counter waiting for the coffee to perk and he couldn’t help but to notice how innocently beautiful she was standing there in something as simple as a pair of jogging pants and a baggy tee shirt with Minnie Mouse gracing the front of it. She didn’t wear a drop of make up and her hair was pulled up into a simple pony tail and she still managed to steal his breath away.

But even in her natural beauty, she looked tired too. Her eyes were rimmed with dark circles and he could see her that she was leaning against the counter as if she needed the support to just stand up.

The entire day had been almost too much for her to handle. It was the anticipation of coming home and hoping for a miracle and then the reality of the let down when she only regained a fraction of a memory that left her even more confused. At this point he could imagine her emotions were on a free for all roller coaster ride and her breaking point was inching precariously close.

After a long minute passed, she was the first one to speak. “Did she give you any problems when you laid her down?”

Austin propped his leg out in front of him. “Not really. For a five year old she is surprisingly mature for her age.” He looked down at the table and chuckled to himself. “When I tried to explain to her that you still couldn’t remember a lot of things she was the one that told me that we all had to be patient and that soon enough you would remember everything. That little girl is something else. I know you don’t remember but you have done remarkably well in raising her.”

When she didn’t say anything Austin sat back in the rickety wooden chair, crossed his arms over his chest and continued to watch Jade move around the small kitchen while she fixed two cups of coffee. He knew that she was intentionally avoiding his gaze because of the kiss that they had shared earlier and he had a suspicious feeling that something else happened, something that was important and she wasn’t willing to share. All through dinner he had debated with himself on whether or not he wanted to try and drag it out of her or if he should take on more of a ‘wait and see’ attitude. Maybe, just maybe she would eventually come to him.

By the look of things right now, she was about as skittish as a newborn colt. He thought that it may be better to take a ‘wait and see’ approach. More than anything he wanted the chance to gain her trust again. He messed up big time back in high school when he made that split second decision to let Tina in his house and in his bed. It was the single most worst decision that he ever made and he paid for that decision too by not only losing the one woman that meant everything to him but by also missing out on the birth and first years of his own daughter’s life. He didn’t blame Jade for that; that blame rested all on him. He hurt Jade in a way that a woman like her should never have to hurt. He didn’t deserve her but he couldn’t stay away from her either. He knew that now and he would fight with everything that he had in him to put his family back together again.

If he was being honest with himself, sooner or later he was going to have to bring up the past. It was only fair. But he was hoping that when the time came to have that discussion he would have enough of her trust that maybe it wouldn’t matter anymore. She would know him for the man he was today and not the stupid kid he had been six years ago.

There was something between them though that was undeniable. He felt it and after that kiss they shared he knew that she felt it too. They had a special bond between them like no other. It had been there in high school but he was just too dumb and stupid to realize how special that bond they had really was.