A Second Chance Read Online Free PDF Page A

their conversations and emails had become more and more sporadic as the years went by.
    He was doing well on the West Coast. His career had catapulted him into a position where his name and face had become known and appreciated by both his fans and his competition . She read the interviews he was giving to numerous papers and couldn’t quite believe this was the same guy who had taught both her and Laura how to skate . Still, she pored over the pages, her eyes eagerly clinging to the photographs that accompanied the text. He was even more handsome than she remembered, and she wished he would turn repulsive and mean - looking. Anything that would make him less enticing would be welcome . She hated the way her heart still beat faster each time she saw him after all these years . He should be nothing but a distant memory by now, pleasant yet fuzzy as she moved on with her life.
    She had managed to avoid him for the longest time, the humiliation at Laura’s birthday party never quite forgotten. He wasn’t a frequent visitor at his mom’s newest residence anyway. Emily Latimer had decided just three years into her last marriage that things weren’t working out and had filed for divorce, bringing her total marriage attempts to four. Laura joked humorlessly that they should say ‘ four and counting, ’ her trust in her mom’s judgment regarding marriage an d loving relationship s seriously shaken in the last ten years.
    Liam didn’t seem to be involved at all . His job kept him busy with projects around the globe leaving little , if any , time for a personal life. Jade had never dared to ask Laura any straightforward questions about his love life, a paralyzing shyness preventing her from admitting how she felt. Knowing Laura , the girl might even have talk ed to Liam in an effort to bring them together, which would have been the pinnacle of humiliation. But Jade had seen pictures of him with his love interests, each of them prettier than the last.
    S he told herself that she didn’t care at all ; her own love life was fulfilling and totally satisfying. Brian filled the void, his smile and exuberance enough to make her forget her heartache — most of the time. Only sometimes, when she let her guard down, did she feel the familiar tightening in her chest. It could happen at any moment , when some insignificant situation flood ed her with painful memories .
    Like eating in the little Chinese restaurant she and Brian liked so much. Brian would compl i ment her on her excellent skills with chopsticks while he struggled with a slippery piece of tofu that refused to be picked up. She would laugh and tease him a bit, only to fall silent as she recalled Liam’s patient tutoring in the tricky art of eating th at way. In her mind they were sitting arm to arm at the tiny , shabby table in Chinatown with steaming bowls full of treacherously slippery noodles. She watched him and Laura tucking in, their nimble fingers making her feel like a klutz.
    She was just about to use the fork provided by the compassionate waiter who had correctly assum ed she might need it if she were to avoid starvation. Liam grinned at her, his dark eyes cheerful as he watched her noodle glid e of f the chopstick and land with a soft, sloshy sound in her bowl.
    ‘Try it like th is.’ He demonstrated his grip, correcting the way she rested the chopstick against the soft flesh of her hand . ‘That’s better.’
    She cast a quick glance at his face, marveling at the length of the dark eyelashes that almost came to rest on his high cheekbones. His dark hair fell over his forehead, grazing his straight eyebrows and glistening like the wings of a raven in the shabby light of the old - fashion ed lamp.
    ‘See, the trick is to hold it halfway up, so you can control it better . ’
    She forced herself to follow his moves, afraid to expose her infatuation to Laura, who was sitting across the table. In the end, she had become much better , and they had enjoyed the