Second Chances (4 page)

Serena slowly sat and lovingly pat her daughter’s leg, before saying, “Don’t beat yourself up.  You’re a Knight, and each one of us would like to think we know it all.  It’s tough when we learn we don’t.”

Paige chuckled.  “Did dad hear you say that?”

As Sam Knight craned his neck from inside the house, his little sister quietly stepped up behind him.

“Why don’t you just go out there?”  Maya whispered a little too loudly.

“Shhh.  We’ll get busted.”  He pushed her back toward the interior of the room.

“Just go.”

“No, Paige has enough going on in her life to have all of us in her business right now.”  Sam frowned.

“Pulleeease!  She knew the second she moved back we’d be in her business.”  Maya sailed past him to the porch, where Paige sat, with an expectant look.

“I wondered how long it would take for you two to get out here,” she said, half laughing while wiping her face dry.

“The two of us?  Um, no - just me.”  Maya covered for her brother.

“Sam?” Paige hollered from her seat.  “You can come out.”

Paige had been the one to negotiate many of their battles growing up.  As the middle child, she was well aware that if one of them was up to no good – the other wasn’t too far behind.

Sam sheepishly peeked his head from inside the front door and waved to his sisters.

“Hi.  I was … uh … just going to get more of your stuff.”

“Neither of you have been moving my ‘stuff’ since this conversation started.  I’m not stupid.”  She grinned, despite her best intent of staying firm.  The casual banter her family fell into gave her a sense of peace.  The sense of familiarity it held was good for her.

“So?” Sam wandered over.  “Now what?  You’re here.  You’ve cut all ties.  You’re obviously broke.  What now?”

“I’m not broke.  He left me a little something.”  She sighed and stretched her legs in front of her.  “His parents wanted the townhome back, but he convinced them to sell and let me have half of it.  His guilty conscience probably was the only reason I go that much. The little I have won’t last forever, so I need to find a job.  After all these years, who is going to hire an out of work, middle aged woman?” Paige looked at the ceiling, unsure of where to start. “Know of anything?”

Sam shook his head.  The only openings he knew of were part time at the local high school, where Nick worked.  They wouldn’t pay anything worthwhile to take care of his sister. 

Just then it hit him – he wondered if either knew each other were in town.  He smiled to himself.

“What?  Does anything come to mind?  I’m not too proud. I can do anything.”  Paige stared into his brother’s curious eyes, wondering what was going through his head.

“Nope.”  He grinned.  “I don’t have any idea.”

“What about applying at the Granite Run?  You worked at the paper right after you … ” Her mother stopped short of saying, ‘after you got married’, and quickly covered her almost blunder, by saying, “graduated from college. You loved it there.”

“That was a long time ago, mom.  I was in my twenties.  Plus the print business has changed.  It’s all digital now.  No one reads the paper anymore.” 

“We still do every day.”  Her father crossed his arms. “Besides, I think Graham still works up there.  Didn’t you used to work with him?”

Paige pursed her lips.  The thought had merit.  “It couldn’t hurt to try.”

“Well, if that doesn’t work out …” Maya interjected. “My friend, Poppie, works at this new restaurant, and she said they’re looking for some help.  I could call her.”

Sam nodded his head.  “Yeah, I know the owner of that place.  I could put in a good word.”

Paige nodded.  That sounded easy enough.  And maybe she could look for work in between shifts. 

“Okay. Thanks, Maya. I’ll keep you posted. I need to do something.  I can’t just sit here.”  She shrugged her shoulders and stood.
              “That’s right.  Besides you have to pay me rent, and you can’t do that sitting on your butt.”  Her dad nodded, before heading down the steps.  “Speaking of sitting on your butt.  Everyone get off theirs and get the rest of Paige’s stuff inside.  It won’t move itself!”

Maya threw her arm around her big sister’s shoulders and said; “Now if that isn’t a welcome home – I don’t know what is.”

Paige smiled and kissed her little sister’s cheek.  “Love you, Maya.”

“You too.  Now let’s get to work.”

Sam watched his sisters take the steps to the U-haul and smiled.  The idea of Nick and his sister still had his mind swirling with possibilities.  They both were fresh from a bad relationship, and that probably wasn’t great timing, but it couldn’t hurt to arrange an accidental meeting.

Paige looked up to her brother, who was still standing on the porch.

“You coming?”  She wondered why he looked so smug.

“Yup.  I got this,” he said with an extra spring in his step.  He had this indeed.

Chapter 6

            
 
Paige pulled her suit jacket off and tossed it on the couch.  She slumped down into her wingbacked chair, wishing she’d remembered to go to Wegman’s on the way home. She could use a glass of wine after the day she’d had. Sighing, she pulled her heels off and dropped them to the floor next to her briefcase.             

Her eyes dropped to the case and out of frustration, she kicked it toward the coffee table.  As it landed a few feet away, resumes scattered out and slid across the wood flooring. 

Great,
she thought.  She raised an eyebrow at the mess she made but wasn’t about to pick them up.  What did it matter?  Nothing she’d been interviewing for had worked out.  After a week of trying to get her foot in the door at multiple local businesses, she quickly found out that she was either too old or didn’t have enough experience to be considered.  Not that anyone told her that in so many words – but what they didn’t say that spoke volumes.

              “Knock, Knock!” She heard a voice from outside her screen door.  Paige looked up and smiled for the first time in hours.

“Oh my gosh! What are you doing here?” She jumped up, as a familiar face peered inside.  It had been years since she’d seen her childhood friend and was glad to see she still had the same infectious grin.

              “I’m come bearing gifts.”  Natasha lifted a full vase of daisies, thinking Paige looked more forlorn than she could remember.

              “Natasha Chappell!  It is so good to see you!”  Paige immediately perked up and pushed open the porch door.  “Get in here and give me a hug!”

              Natasha lifted an arm to receive a warm embrace and was grateful she could make Paige smile.  She pulled back and searched her eyes.

              “I meant to swing by last week when I heard you were moving back to town, but I’ve been busy.  You know - family, kids, work …”

              “How did you know I was coming?” She stepped back to let her friend through.

              “Oh, Sam didn’t tell you?  We’re next door neighbors.” 

              “Of course.” Paige laughed.  She should have known better. She looked Natasha over from head to toe, thinking she didn’t look any older than when she’d left. “You look great - just the same.  I’d have recognized you anywhere.”

“Thanks.”  Natasha facetiously batted her eyes and laughed.  “I try.  Heck, if it weren’t for the twins and my oldest – I’d be sitting on the couch every day. They keep me busy.”

              Paige wondered what life would be like if she’d had children.  Would she be a good mom?  She looked to Natasha and tried to stuff down that familiar twinge of jealousy.

              “Listen to me.  I’m going on and on. What about you?  You’re living here now.  Wow!”  Natasha’s eyes went wide.

              What her friend didn’t say was written all over her face.  She could tell she was dying to know what happened with her marriage.

“Yeah.”  Paige retreated toward her living room and motioned her friend to sit.  She set the daisies on the table and reached down to shove roughly the resumes back into her briefcase.

“Sorry.”  She grinned, putting the case back in place before sitting across from Natasha.

“No, it’s okay.  I’m sorry for barging over without calling.  I just saw these and knew they were your favorite.”  She nodded toward the vase.

“You remembered.”  Paige’s heart warmed.  “Thanks again.  That’s very sweet.”

“So, catch me up.  How has Granite been treating you?”

Paige appreciated that she hadn’t asked about Davis, even though she knew Natasha was curious. 

“It’s okay.  I never thought I’d be here … divorced at forty and looking for work.  Davis always kept me taken care of, so I didn’t have to worry about finances.  He preferred the focus be on him …”  Paige sighed and looked around to her hodge-podge furniture.  “Heck, most of this isn’t even mine.  Since his family gave us all our stuff, he took the majority of it once he left me.”

Natasha settled into the couch and crossed her arms, unsure of how to react.  She hadn’t seen Paige nor Davis since their senior year, but Paige had been her best friend.  She thought they’d have stayed in touch after college, but once married, they moved to Alexandria shortly after. Once there, Paige became immersed in their life, which didn’t leave much time for ties back home. She never really resented Paige for it, as life goes on, but she still missed her.  Now that she was home, it was all a bit surreal to be sitting here like old times.

Natasha looked around to the mixed matched furniture and sadly smiled. 

“Do you need anything?  Pots … pans?  Better furniture?”  She half laughed, hoping it was okay to crack a joke.   The girl she’d known would have gotten her humor, but she wasn’t sure now.  When Paige busted out in a deep laugh, Natasha joined her - happy to see she was still true to her roots. 

Paige took a deep breath, grateful to have someone she could let down with.  She let out one more soft chuckle, and said, “Thanks, I needed that.”

Natasha’s eyes sparkled.  “I was serious about the furniture.”

“No, it’s okay.  My parents hit a few garage sales the weekend before I came back and this is what I ended up with.”  Paige looked the room over, and continued, “And, truth be told it’s a sentiment of how much they care and that’s a good thing.”

Natasha nodded, as her eyes dropped to the briefcase.  “You have any prospects?  Sam told me you’ve been looking. Have you had any luck at the paper?  You know - Graham is a manager there now.”

Paige grunted at the reference to one of their school friends, whom they both worked with when they started at the paper, as fresh-faced twenty-somethings ready to take on the world.

“What? Why the face? What happened?” Natasha frowned.  “With your history there, you’d be a shoe in.  They loved you.”
              “You’d think, huh?”  She grimaced, and stood.  “Would you like something to drink?”

“I’m fine.  Sit back down - finish.” Natasha tilted her head and said nothing.

Paige clamped her lips, not knowing where to start.

She blew a stray hair that fell across her eyes and adjusted to sit Indian style on the couch next to her friend.

                “Graham was all hot to trot to interview me.  He said I was exactly what he needed, as I knew the industry already and he wouldn’t have to train me.  He even referred to my successful history, as I’d always won sales contests before.  You know?”

“Well, that sounds good.”  Natasha nodded.

Paige raised her eyebrow and shook her head. “He was all talk and no action.  He told me whatever I wanted to hear and said he planned on hiring me, but he needed one more managers approval.  I guess they had a few more people they had to interview.”

“Okay?”

“Turns out after he talked about how much he’d love to bring me on to his team they end up hiring a recent college graduate named Candi.  She’s young and completely inexperienced, but looks good in a short skirt.”

“Whoa.  Really?”  Natasha pouted.  “Bummer.  How’d you find out?”

“Maya knows someone that works there. What’s worse is when I finally got in touch with Graham, he lied about it.  He said they hired someone from within, who had the digital experience they required for the position.”

“I’m sorry,” she offered.

“It’s okay.  It obviously wasn’t the right fit for me, but I can’t shake the feeling that boiled down to my age.”

“So, now what?”

“I don’t know.  Maya has this friend, who works at some new restaurant.  She said they needed help.  I called her on the way home this afternoon after striking out with yet another interview.  She said I could start next week.”

“Poppie?  Maya’s friend, Poppie?”
Paige blinked, wondering if Natasha was listening. “That’s what I just said.”

              Natasha covered her smile.  “I just wanted to make sure.  Did either of them tell you about this restaurant, where you’d be working?”

              Paige’s heart skipped a beat.  She wondered what she’d gotten herself into.  She wrinkled her nose and said, “She said it was a restaurant, just outside town.”

              “Yeah, I know the place.  It’s called ‘Tight Ends’ and it’s in a new shopping center, near Woodbridge.”  Natasha laughed at the mortified look on her friend’s face.

              Paige groaned and waved her hands.  “Nuh, uh. No way.  What did my sister do to me?”

              “Stand up.”  Natasha nodded.

              “What?”  Paige narrowed her eyes.

              “Do it! And turn around.”  Natasha giggled, as Paige apprehensively stood up and turned.  “Okay, you’ll do just fine.”

              “What does that mean?”  The look on Paige’s face was full of horror, as she spun back to sit across from her.

              Natasha laughed.  “You’ll see.”