Second Chances (25 page)

“This is fun,” Reagan observed as they bounced along the dirt pathway.  The small group cruised slowly past a large red barn and turned down a narrower road through an orchard of apple trees.

Allison shifted uncomfortably in the trailer. “I’ve got hay poking my ass,” she complained. Rather than traditional seats in the tractor-trailer, the group sat on stiff bales lined up like benches.  She wiggled to find a comfortable spot.

Reagan laughed. “I’m sorry.  I’d offer to switch seats, but my butt is probably getting it just as bad as yours.”

Allison glanced quickly at the people sitting near them. Everyone else in their group looked preoccupied with the rustic surroundings, and the loud roar of the tractor pulling their trailer drowned out their conversation. Allison leaned a little closer to Reagan. “I suppose I could always just sit on your lap.”

Reagan felt her face grow hot and she looked away from Allison’s achingly beautiful face and pretended to be interested in the hay bale she sat on instead.  Allison wasn’t playing fair. She was supposed to keep her own affection at bay, but apparently Allison could do whatever she wanted.

When the tractor finally stopped, Reagan waited for the others in their group to descend the small steps that Farmer Jeff had brought out for the riders.  When she descended the steps and exited the hay-filled trailer, she looked out into the vast field of pumpkins. 

“Wow,” she breathed, her voice reverent when Allison walked up beside her. “That’s a lot of pumpkins.” She had really only ever seen the orange vegetable in small piles in front of grocery stores or in pairs on the front stoops of homes.  

Allison smiled warmly and slid her hand into the other girl’s.  “C’mon, Rea,” she grinned. “Let’s go find you a pumpkin.”

Reagan skimmed her fingertips over the tall stalks of the wild flowers that sprouted amongst the pumpkin. The brittle stems moved like plucking the strings on a harp. "I don't even know where to start."

"What kind of pumpkin do you want?" Allison asked. She and Reagan walked down a tilled aisle of earth, side by side. "Tall and thin? Short and round? Long stem, short stem?"

Reagan blinked and shook her head, looking overwhelmed. "So many questions. It feels like I'm filling out an online dating profile."

Allison frowned. "You have one of those?"

"I, uh, no?" Reagan's voice pitched up. "Not anymore?" She looked a little like a deer in headlights.

Allison crouched down beside a cluster of pumpkins still on the vine.  She brushed at a clump of dirt clinging to the side of a small gourd.  Reagan stopped to stoop beside her, balancing her weight on the balls of her feet. 

Allison
didn't know what to say. They were just a handful of hours removed from having slept together. Sex had changed everything. She didn't know what to feel or how to act around Reagan now – not that the past year or so had been easy sailing in the first place. But she recognized that jealous gnawing in the pit of her stomach. She didn't want Reagan dating random people she'd met online. But did that mean she wanted Reagan to date her instead? It was all very terrifying, and she had no one to talk to about it.

"I never got the chance to thank you for last night," Reagan murmured.

Allison looked up with startled eyes. "Um, you're welcome?"

Reagan picked up a small chunk of dry, packed earth. She squeezed it between her fingers and it crumbled apart. She only stopped playing with the dirt when Allison reached out and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Reagan smiled at the unexpected gesture, and her infectious grin drew Allison's attention to her mouth. As Allison admired Reagan's generous lips, she couldn't help but recall how that same mouth had become so intimately familiar with her body the previous night. She dropped her eyes and refocused on a pumpkin, hoping she wasn't blushing too visibly. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

“You’re not so bad yourself, Hoge.”

“Way to not take a compliment,” Allison countered sourly. She was annoyed.  Every time she tried to take a step forward, she felt like Reagan was dismissing her efforts. She didn’t know why Reagan couldn’t see that this was hard for her; she was doing her best.

“H
ow can you say that after all you did to me in high school?”

Allison swallowed hard. “I have no good excuses for what I did to you back then.
” She traced lines in the dirt. “All I can say is how sorry I am that it ever happened.”

"I think I've made a decision."

At Reagan’s words, Allison looked back up. She didn't know to what she was referring, but she worried it had something to do with them.

"I want a giant, round pumpkin with a medium-sized stem."

Allison finally returned Reagan's smile. "Then you shall have one."

Reagan managed to claim one of the largest pumpkins in the field for herself.  Its skin was tough and weathered, deep creases decorated its exterior, and a thick stalk stood up from its top.  Visitors to the farm could pick whatever they could carry.  Allison smirked from her position alongside Reagan.  She watched her struggle, nearly breaking into a sweat as she lugged the oversized gourd from the fields to the waiting tractor.  Allison had chosen a significantly smaller pumpkin with light yellow spots on its outer shell.  “Go big or go home, I suppose,” she muttered beneath her breath.

“So, what’s next?” Reagan asked as she hefted her large pumpkin onto the back of the trailer. 

Allison grabbed her hand to give it a quick squeeze. Her hand felt slightly gritty from the dirt on the pumpkin.  “I knew you’d be into this,” she smiled.

Reagan’s face looked youthful and truly happy.  The warm sun shining down bounced off her playful eyes and her long, brunette waves. Allison had an overwhelming urge to lean in and kiss her upturned mouth; but she just squeezed her hand harder instead.

+++++

“Welcome to the Amazing Corn Maze,” a teen boy in faded jeans and flannel shirt droned. It was clear that he had already given this same introduction a hundred times that day and was waiting for the end of the workday. “Please do not pick the corn or stray from the paths,” he continued, his eyes looking bored as he flicked over the small group of six. “In teams of two, your mission is to find the exit before anyone else.  If at any time you find yourself completely lost and need assistance out of the maze, just push this button.”  He held up a small black box that vaguely resembled the beeper one receives at busy restaurants. “Once you hit the button, someone from our staff will come retrieve you and guide you to the exit.  Any questions?” The teen boy barely paused. “Good.  When you hear the air horn, the race is on.  Have fun,” he stated without emotion.

“You guys are
so
dead!” Lucy taunted as the farm employee disappeared.  “Mom and I are totally gonna win this!”  She set her jaw in a hard look of determination.

“I don’t think so,” Beth grinned. “Carly and I used to be Girl Scouts.  We’ll totally find out way out first.”  She locked arms with her sister.

“I’m making a rule right now,” Allison said with a serious face. “No setting rope snares and booby traps in the maze.”

An air horn echoed through the air, causing the small group to collectively jump.  Lucy squealed and took off running in one direction with her mother chuckling behind.  “Not too fast, Lucy,” she called.

Reagan grabbed onto Allison’s hand and plunged them deep into the corn maze.  The stiff stalks loomed tall above the pair. “Let’s go, Blondie,” she breathed. “We’ve got an exit to find.”

“Whoa,” Allison breathed as Reagan dragged her along a well-worn path. “You really want you win.”

“Don’t you know me at all?” Reagan exclaimed, looking back briefly. “There’s no way I’m losing.”

Reagan swore loudly when she and Allison came to yet another dead end. “Damn it,” she complained, coming to an abrupt stop. “I didn’t think this was going to be so hard. Aren’t we supposed to be good at this stuff?”

Allison stopped in her tracks a short distance away and raised an eyebrow. “Corn mazes?”

Reagan curled up her lip and shook her head.  Her loose brunette locks slightly fluttered. “No, you know – like directional stuff,” she clarified. “Don’t women have internal compasses or something?”

              “I don’t know about compasses, but I do know there’s something else we seem to be naturally good at.”  Allison took a step closer, and a glint of surprise and arousal flashed behind Reagan’s bright blue eyes. Allison wrapped her arms around Reagan’s waist, pulling their bodies closer.

“Th-The maze,” Reagan stuttered when she felt Allison’s breath burst against her neck. “I-I don’t like to lose.”

Allison bent slightly and licked the hollow of Reagan’s throat. “I thought being with me was prize enough,” she rasped into her fragrant skin.

A sharp gasp filled her ears.  It took Allison a second to register what exactly had made that noise.  She’d been too busy working her mouth from Reagan’s neck to her very sensitive earlobes. The gasp wasn’t her.  And it hadn’t come from Reagan.  So who…“
Oh God!”
Allison’s eyes flipped wide open.  She instinctively placed her palms flat against Reagan’s chest and pushed hard, forcing her to stumble away.

“A-Allie?” Carly’s voice sounded unsteady.

“Carly! Beth!” Allison exclaimed.  Her two friends stood awkwardly in the middle of the cornrow, having found their way to the same dead end. “We were just…” She scrambled to come up for an excuse why she had been holding Reagan close and sucking on her ear lobe. “Bugs!” she blurted out suddenly.  “I-I thought Reagan had a tick…in…in her ear.  And I was, uhm…I was just, uh…”

Beth gave her friend soft smile.  “Sucking the venom out?” she offered.

Carly turned and gave Beth a strange look.  “Ticks are poisonous?”

Beth took her sister’s hand in her own and patted her arm.  “C’mon, Sis,” she murmured.  “I think the exit’s this way.” 

Carly stood still momentarily, her eyes continuing to dart between Allison and Reagan who now stood a few awkward feet from each other.  Allison’s face had turned a deep red color and Reagan’s eyes flashed with a silent anger.  “Oh, uh, okay,” she bumbled as she allowed Beth to lead her in a new direction.

Allison’s hands went to her face when her two friends wandered away.  “Oh God.”

“What. Was. That?” Reagan enunciated each word around clenched teeth.  Her body seemed to twitch as if she couldn’t decide between running away in embarrassment or staying to fight.

“I’m so sorry, Reagan.” Allison peeked between her fingers. “I-I was surprised, that’s all,” she muttered miserably, dropping her hands to her sides.  “It just came out.”

Reagan’s eyes closed and she turned her head away.  The muscles in her jaw twitched.  “Would it
really
be that bad if your friends knew about us?”  She opened her eyes again.  “I mean, if there is even an ‘us’ to tell about?”

Allison swallowed hard.  “I know them…they can’t help but gossip.  And if my parents found out, I’d be disinherited. Totally cut off. They pay for my school, my rent, my everything. Is that what you want for me?”

Reagan’s shoulder’s slumped. “No, Allie.  I just want you to be happy.”

Allison cringed when Reagan’s arm lashed out at her suddenly.  She didn’t know why she thought she was going to hit her.  Maybe because she knew she deserved getting smacked.  But rather than the blow landing, Reagan merely snatched the black box from Allison’s hands.

Reagan stared with disbelief.  Allison’s recoil had not gone unnoticed.  “You thought I was going to…” She shook her head bitterly and sucked in a deep breath.  “Never mind,” she stated, the pain thick in her wavering voice.  “Let’s just forget the whole thing.  It’s not worth it.” 

Reagan pressed the button on the box and dropped her head in defeat.

+++++

The ride back to town had been quiet.  Although Allison and Reagan had once again shared the backseat of the SUV, they ignored each other, staring out their respective sides of the vehicle’s back windows.  Lucy’s bubbly voice, however, had more than made up for the tense silence that blanketed the backseat.

When the vehicle pulled into the driveway of the Hoge’s home, Reagan scrambled out of the backseat before Allison’s mother had even turned off the engine.  “Reagan,” Jill called out the open window as she saw her scamper out the backseat. “Is everything okay, dear?”

Reagan bit her bottom lip and her eyes flickered to the backseat where Allison sat.  She looked stonily out the back window, away from her. “Yes, Mrs. Hoge,” she claimed. “I’m just eager to see my Dad.  I’m supposed to be home visiting him, after all.”

Lucy poked her head around her mom. “But we haven’t even carved the pumpkins,” she pointed out.  “And then we’re gonna bake the seeds!”

Reagan’s hands went to the back pockets of her jeans, and she looked away from Lucy’s pleading gaze. “Sorry, you guys,” she mumbled uncomfortably. “But I really have to go.  Go ahead and carve my pumpkin for me.” She flashed Mrs. Hoge a brilliant, yet brief smile. “Thank you so much for inviting me to come along with your family today.  It was very kind.”