Falling into a Second Chance by Alie Garnett
Chapter Two
Seven yearslater
The realizationthat your sister hated you came slowly for some. Harper had always been one of Agatha’s favorite sisters, at least until today. Today she was making her serve hors d’oeuvres during some kind of football thing, and her hors d’oeuvre was served in a cup. So now she would have to round up all the stupid cups afterwards.
“Smile, Ag,” Harper said to her with a smile of her own. Which sister’s smile was more fake, Agatha didn’t know. Harper was her physical opposite: blonde hair and bubbly, outgoing, and ambitious. Hence owning her own catering company before thirty.
“I quit,” Agatha said and looked at the platter again.
“No quitting; you’re family,” Lucy said from behind her. The two had started this business over two years before and were doing very well, which meant Agatha was forced to work these stupid events all the time.
“Today, a football player has been swapped by one NFL team for another,” Harper stated in her speech, something she always started these events with.
“Traded, not swapped,” Lucy corrected, causing Harper to glare at her.
“I said traded. Anyway, this is a press event to tell the city about their new player. Or something like that,” Harper explained. “And they have chosen Lovely Catering to supply the food.”
“Football?” Agatha groaned.
“This is big, Agatha, so big. Over a hundred people big, so many contacts and potential business. And TV stations will be here!” Lucy squealed, and Harper joined in. Maby and Agatha did not. Slave labor didn’t get excited about working, no matter how high-profile the event.
“Can you even believe it? And Christopher Lowell is the player. The Christopher Lowell,” Harper said, as if sports were something the sisters talked about, ever.
Agatha looked up from all the little cups on her tray at her sister. Could it be her Christopher Lowell? Big, tall, muscular, and mouth-wateringly handsome? She hadn’t heard anything about Chris since she last saw him in the hallway by their lockers, not that she had spent any time looking. Ending her school career that day, she never went back. Her diploma arrived in the mail a month later. Now after seven years, she was completely over him. It had to be a different guy anyway.
“I remember him at Harry Truman. He was a starter before we even graduated,” Lucy said. “Wasn’t he your age, Ag?”
Looking up at her sister in fake confusion, she said, “I don’t remember. My graduating class was big.”
Suddenly, she was glad she had never told anyone about it. Not even about having a crush on him.
“Yeah, I only remember him because he had a sister my age. Cara, I think that was her name. Do you remember, Lucy?” Maby asked her twin, who just shook her head.
“You don’t remember the sister, but the brother you can’t forget?” Harper teased her.
“Hey, they were part of the rich group. I was not part of that group,” Maby said.
“Probably why I don’t remember him either,” Agatha lied.
Lucy looked at her closely, too closely. What was she seeing? Lucy and Maby were only two years older than she was. Did Lucy remember the terrible crush she had had on Christopher?
“What?” Agatha demanded.
“You got your hair cut. Should that one part be standing up?” Lucy pointed to the side of her head.
“Yes, it’s edgy.” She tried not to touch her hair; she didn’t want to wash her hands again. But she wondered if it still looked like it had hours before or if it was droopy now. Not that she could do anything about it now. And besides, if it looked too bad, Harper would never allow her to work that night.
“I know that, but you should maybe rethink it,” Lucy said, reaching out to touch it.
“Hey, hands off, Luce.” Agatha dodged away from her sister.
This morning when she had sat in the salon chair, she had wanted edgy and different, but by lunch, she was no longer happy with her hair. Now she had to live with it until it grew out. Tomorrow she wouldn’t spike it, but since the stylist had that morning, she would leave it today. Agatha couldn’t pull off edgy but consoled herself that not everyone could.
“Okay, are we ready?” Harper asked as they all picked up a tray. It sounded like people were there. And if there were people, they would want tiny bites of food delivered to them one piece at a time.
Harper started out, followed by the twins, with Agatha bringing up the rear. Glancing at the clock before she left, she saw it was 5 p.m. The event was scheduled to last until 10 p.m., and then at midnight, she was off to her real job, bartending at the Sunrise Tavern. It was a shitty job, but at least it paid, and there were tips.
Tomorrow was Monday morning, and at 10 a.m. she was going to meet with an actual book publisher, Abbot & Merchant. It had taken her weeks to get this meeting to show them the illustrations and mock-ups for a book she had been working on. It was a children’s book she had originally drawn for Violet when she was a baby. But Agatha wanted more than her sister to see the books; she wanted to share them with the world. Tomorrow she would get her first chance to make that happen. Even right now, with hours before the meeting, she was nervous her work wouldn’t be enough.
Out in the crowded room, she traced circular path, avoiding her sisters so that they were not at the same place. It took coordination and strategy to make the food distribution seem flawless.
It was on her first circle of the room that she saw Christopher Lowell. He had filled out even more over the past five years, and he looked more grown up. No longer was he the young boy she had stared at every day. Now he was all man and all muscle. The blond, wavy hair was just short stubble now. He was in jeans and a thin T-shirt, and she could see the muscles in his legs, arms, and on his chest.
Agatha couldn’t take her eyes off him, at least until she ran into an old man and almost dropped her tray. She was so proud of herself for saving it. Agatha scored one in the “don’t drop food on people” game, which was important—she didn’t need to get in trouble with her sister today.
Christopher’s brown eyes never left the TV screen that was showing clips of him playing for his previous team and some of the team he was going to play for. He didn’t talk to anyone or eat anything. But he did drink, beer after beer all evening.
After only fifteen minutes, she had decided he was not going to recognize her, and she was able to relax. He didn’t remember her or care about her if he did. But of course, he was the big football star now, and she was a waiter. Somehow it seemed their lives hadn’t changed since high school; he was still the star, and she was still nothing. Seven years hadn’t been long enough to change that.
From talk around the room, she had found out he had been traded against his will. He had been happy about it, but it seemed the team he was now on was not. So, when they had the chance, they traded him. He didn’t seem afraid to show that he wasn’t happy either.
As the night came to an end, Agatha went back to the kitchen to find Harper packing her supplies and dishes into big totes. With a sigh, she went to help her oldest sister. The job usually wasn’t over until hours after the event due to the cleanup.
“You go, Ag. You have to work tonight.” Harper waved her off.
“Thanks, Harps. See you tomorrow.” She turned away from her sister. Though they lived in the same house, they would not see one another for the rest of the night. Harper and Lucy would stay and clean up until about the time Agatha needed to be at the bar.
Slipping through the event space, Agatha was excited to get an hour to herself before she had to be to work again. Maybe she would take a walk around the waterfront since she had already paid for parking.
She was out the door without anyone noticing, heading down the hallway toward the elevator. As she passed the restrooms, a very drunk Chris Lowell came out, slowly swaying.
His brown eyes looked at her and he grinned. “Hey, Chris.”
With effort, she hid the smile his words of recognition caused her, but she responded one more time for old times’ sake, “Hey, Chris,” and walked away from him. Being a big football star and all, he probably wouldn’t remember their meeting in the morning anyway. But now she would.
Pushing the down button at the elevator, she almost jumped out of her skin when he said from right behind her, “Nice hair.”
Touching it now, she had forgotten about the new cut. “Thanks.”
The doors swished open, and she walked into the elevator. He followed and said, “Fuck, you’re hot.”
“Thanks,” she replied, not really knowing how to answer. She leaned into the wall of the elevator, realizing she kind of liked drunk Chris. One well-directed smile still made it easy for her to forgive him of anything.
“I want to fuck you,” he whispered as he leaned into her, making her feel small and delicate.
“You don’t even know my name.” She let herself smell him again. He smelled the same as her jacket had all those years before.
Just being near him turned her mind to mush and smoothed the rough memories of the past. Knowing she should stop him and making it happen were two different things. She was with him right now, and he wanted to be with her again. What would be the harm in taking things further? After all, it was her choice. She knew better than to think it was more than right now. She wouldn’t let her heart get involved.
“We’re both Chrises.” His tongue ran over her ear, sliding over earring after earring.
When the door opened, she tried to move, she really did. But his tongue had left her ear and was running over her neck. His hand reached over and pushed a button, and suddenly, her attention left the elevator door and focused on where his tongue would go next.
