One More Second Chance

by Jana Richards

  “I can’t let you do that, Julia.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how are you going to stop me?” She gave her friend a smile. “Just take care of yourself, okay?”

  Tears streamed down Edie’s face. “Okay. I love you guys.”

  “We love you too, sweetheart. And like I said, there will be someone around tomorrow to look after you and the kids, and we’re going to keep on looking after you until you don’t need us anymore. You and Aaron aren’t alone.”

  Julia bent to kiss Edie’s forehead once more. She couldn’t do anything about the cancer, but she was going make damn sure her friends got everything they needed to get safely through this ordeal.

  ****

  The following Saturday afternoon, Lily arrived with a binder filled with names and phone numbers of people who had volunteered to help the Cosgroves.

  “You’ve been busy,” Julia said with a laugh.

  “You bet! I’m glad to help Edie and her family. It feels good to do something positive for someone else instead of worrying about my own problems.”

  “I know exactly what you mean.” Concentrating on Edie took her mind off her parents’ problems, at least temporarily.

  She wished she could say the same about Alex. Not an hour went by that she didn’t think of him, wonder what he was doing, who he was with. Every night she remembered what it had been like between them. She remembered his scorching kisses, the gentle touch of his hands, the feel of his body against hers. She remembered what it had been like to have him inside her, thrusting, pushing, stretching—

  Enough. With an effort she pushed thoughts of Alex away.

  “Grandma!” Ava ran toward them, a look of pure joy on her face. “You’re here! Can you play with me today?”

  Lily bent to give Ava a hug. “Your mom and I have some business to do, but I think there’ll be some time for us to play.”

  “Can we go to the playground at the school?”

  Lily looked to her for confirmation, and Julia smiled. “I think you and Grandma will have time to do that, honey. Why don’t you play by yourself for a while so we can finish our work?”

  “Okay. Can I bring my dolls down here?”

  Julia knew she just wanted to be close to them. “Sure, but what do you have to do when you’re done playing with your toys?”

  “Put them back in my room.”

  “Good girl. Go ahead.”

  She ran up the stairs. Lily smiled at Julia. “She’s a sweet child, a joy to be around. You’ve done such a good job with her.”

  Julia was surprised at her praise. “Thank you. I’m very proud of Ava.”

  “You should be. And you should be proud of yourself, too. You’ve raised her by yourself these last three years. I know that couldn’t have been easy.”

  “No, not always. It was tough sometimes, but my mom and dad helped me a lot.” And now Lily had stepped in to give her a hand. Perhaps it was time to trust her a little more. “Ava’s a little older now. Maybe she could have a sleepover at your house sometime soon.”

  Lily’s chin quivered, and for a moment Julia thought she was going to cry. Instead she reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You can’t imagine how happy I am to hear you say that. I know Wyatt will be thrilled, too.”

  “I’m doing this for Ava. She deserves to know her family.”

  “Yes, she does.” Lily wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Well. Let’s get to work, shall we?”

  For the next hour they made schedules for their volunteers and made lists of things to do and people they still wanted to contact, while Ava had a tea party with Snowball the cat and her dolls in a corner of the kitchen. Julia phoned Tracy at the hospital at the time she’d told her she’d be on her break, in order to get her thoughts about holding a fundraiser. She was all for the idea, so the three of them did some brainstorming over the phone. They decided they’d have a dance, with admission fees going to the Cosgrove family. They also made plans for a live auction sale during the dance. A few big ticket items, hopefully donated for the cause, would go up for bids. Smaller donated items could go into a silent auction, where people bought tickets for the chance to win the prize.

  “It looks like the two of you have the volunteer situation under control. Edie told me people have been arriving at her house like clockwork to offer food and babysitting services,” Tracy said.

  “All we need to do now is get lots of donations for the fundraiser,” Julia said.

  “Not to mention booking a venue and a disc jockey and convincing them to give us their services for free,” Lily added.

  “I’ll see if the school board will waive the usual rental fee for the high school gym,” Julia said, writing a note to remind herself. “It’s big enough to hold a lot of people. Hopefully we’ll fill it up.”

  “Sounds good, Jules. I’ve got to get back to work,” Tracy said, “but I’m off tomorrow. I’ll phone around and see if I can scrape together some donations.”

  “Thanks, Tracy. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Bye.”

  The doorbell rang and Ava ran to the front door to see who was there. A minute later Julia heard her say, “Hi, Chloe!”

  “Oh, shoot!” she whispered to Lily. “I forgot I asked Chloe to come over to watch Ava this afternoon. I was going to going to go over to the school today and do some work to get ready for the fall term.”

  “You’ve had a lot on your mind,” Lily said sympathetically.

  “I know, but I still feel bad. I’d better go talk to her.”

  She went into the living room where Ava was busy showing Chloe her Barbie doll’s newest outfit.

  “Hi, Chloe,” Julia said. “I should have called you, but I forgot. I won’t be working at the school today after all. I’m so sorry to make you come over for nothing. But of course I’ll pay you for your time.”

  To her surprise, the teenager appeared distressed by her news, almost on the verge of tears. She turned her head, her long, blonde hair partially hiding her face.

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll just…I’ll just go, I guess.”

  Julia put her hand on her arm as she turned to leave. “Wait a minute, will you, Chloe? Ava, can you go see Grandma in the kitchen? I’m going to walk Chloe out.”

  “Okay. Bye, Chloe. See you later.” She skipped into the kitchen.

  Julia grabbed her purse from the front hall closet and pulled out some bills. “Let’s go for a little walk.”

  She held the door open and, avoiding her gaze, Chloe stepped through. They walked in silence to the street. Julia stopped and turned to Chloe, putting the bills in her hand.

  “Is there something wrong, honey?”

  With her eyes downcast, Chloe shook her head. “No.”

  “You know, if there’s ever something, anything, you need to talk about, if you need a friend, I’m here. Believe me, I know how much it helps to talk to someone when you have a problem. Whatever you say will stay between us. Okay?”

  She looked up then, and Julia saw the pain in her green eyes. “Okay.”

  Julia patted her thin shoulder and attempted a smile. Something was going on with her, but if she didn’t want to talk, she couldn’t make her. “Good. I’ll talk to you soon. I’m working on raising money for some friends with medical expenses, and I’ll probably need you to help look after Ava.”

  “Okay. Bye.”

  “Bye, Chloe.”

  She watched her walk down the sidewalk for a few minutes before sighing and going back into the house. Chloe was not the kind of kid who was equipped to deal well with adversity. She was fragile and, even at sixteen, almost childlike. Julia wished she could take her under her wing and protect her from a harsh, uncaring world.

  Wouldn’t Ralph Sykes love that?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tracy Novak waved Alex over to the table where she sat with a group of nurses in the hospital’s small cafeteria. When he reached their table, he set his tray at the empty spot beside Tracy.

 
“Alex, I was just telling everyone about the fundraiser we’re trying to organize for Edie and Aaron.”

  “A fundraiser?”

  “Yeah, something to help offset some of Edie’s medical expenses. Julia’s trying to put together a dance and an auction where people can bid on prizes. We’re trying to come up with some donations, things people can get excited to bid on.”

  Julia. How like her to try to help her friends. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Maybe you can make a cash donation. I’m taking up a collection here at the hospital so we can buy some prizes for the fundraiser.”

  Alex reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took out two twenties. “This is all the cash I have right now. I’ll talk to you again after I have a chance to go to the bank.”

  “Thanks, Alex. Much appreciated.”

  Some of the other nurses made donations, as well. Brenda, a tall blonde woman who worked in the family medicine clinic attached to the hospital, handed over a five-dollar bill.

  “I’ve known Edie since we were kids. Julia said she planned to have a bake sale to go along with the fundraiser, so I’m going to do some baking when I’m off later this week.”

  “I’ll make a poster and let everyone on the second floor know you’re collecting money, Tracy,” Gloria said.

  “I could send out a mass e-mail.” Alex knew Connie worked in the administration office. “I’m sure my boss won’t mind, but I’ll clear it with him first. That way everyone who works at the hospital will hear about the fundraiser and the need for donations.”

  “My mother-in-law volunteered to help with cleaning at Edie’s house. She and Aaron’s mom are good friends,” Denise said. “I’m taking over a casserole tomorrow.”

  Alex was astounded by their generosity. “It’s good of all of you to help the Cosgroves out.”

  Gloria shrugged. “It’s what you do in a small town. When someone’s in trouble, you help them out.”

  “I know that if I ever got sick and needed help like Edie does now, my community would be there for me,” Connie said.

  “We’re pretty tight here,” Tracy said. “Lobster Cove is a very special place.”

  Alex was beginning to see she was right.

  ****

  Alex used his scissors to carefully remove the stitches in Aaron’s thumb. After flushing the affected area with a saline solution, he applied an antibiotic cream and wrapped his hand with clean gauze.

  “How does that feel?”

  Aaron flexed his hand. “Better. I couldn’t bend my thumb before, because of the stitches.”

  “Would it do any good to tell you to stay off work until it healed?”

  Aaron grinned. “Probably not.”

  “At least humor me and promise you’ll keep the wound clean.”

  “I’ll try.”

  That was probably the best he was going to get. “Good. So aside from the thumb, how are you doing, really?”

  Aaron hung his head for a moment before looking up at Alex with a rueful smile. “Better than the last time I saw you. I’m hanging in there.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Tracy told me about the fundraiser. You have a lot of friends in town.”

  He laughed softly. “I’ve lived in Lobster Cove all my life, and I knew it was a great community, but I had no idea how great, until Edie got sick. People have been there for us every step of the way. From the day we came home from the hospital after her surgery, someone has been over every day to look after the kids so Edie can rest. Someone else cleaned the house. Every evening another person shows up with a new casserole or a dessert. And now this fundraiser is coming up. It’s been remarkable, and very humbling.”

  It was remarkable. Alex had never heard of anything like it.

  “What I’m really thankful for is that Julia has already arranged for people to drive Edie into Bar Harbor for her radiation treatments when they start next week. Like I told you before, I can’t afford to take time off work. Our parents all work, too, and they were prepared to take some time off, but this takes the pressure off all of us. We know someone we trust will be driving Edie and looking after her.”

  “Julia arranged for drivers?”

  Aaron smiled. “Yeah, Julia’s our master organizer. She had lots of help, from what I understand, but if you want to get something done, give the job to Julia. If you want to get the job done in a hurry, tell her it can’t be done.”

  Alex laughed at that. She was really something, his Julia.

  His Julia.

  “She’s an amazing woman.”

  Aaron gave him a curious look. “Yeah, she is pretty amazing. Some men find that intimidating. Like Russ, her ex-husband. He never appreciated her.”

  He couldn’t help himself from asking, “You knew him? What was he like?”

  “Sure, I knew him. We all grew up together, Edie, me, Julia, Tracy, Russ. Julia and Russ started dating in the tenth grade. They seemed like the perfect match. Both were smart, and they both wanted to be teachers. But when I think back now, there were cracks in their relationship even back then. Julia had always been a sports nut, an athlete. You’ve seen her play ball.”

  “Yeah.” When she committed herself to something, no matter what it was—a ball game, an issue at her school, a fundraiser—she gave it everything she had. It was one of the things he admired most about her.

  “Russ wasn’t much of an athlete, so he made fun of her love of playing ball and other sports. It was subtle, but when they came back to Lobster Cove after living in Thailand, she didn’t play ball the summer after Ava was born. She said it was too soon after the birth, but then she didn’t play the next summer, either. She didn’t start playing ball again until Russ left.

  “I think he was jealous of her. Back in high school, if she got a higher mark than he did, he’d get upset. I remember him going back to our chemistry teacher and arguing with him about the mark he got on an exam. The teacher finally caved in and gave him two extra marks on a problem, which just so happened to give him a higher mark than Julia.”

  “He sounds like an insecure ass.”

  “I guess he was, but we didn’t realize it back then. He was funny, and we all had a good time together. Julia adored him.” Aaron frowned. “I didn’t realize how bad things were between them until Julia was offered the job as principal of the school and, essentially, became Russ’s boss. That’s when he started insisting on going back to Thailand.”

  It sounded like he couldn’t handle his wife having a better job than he did, so he found a way to take it away from her. “But Julia didn’t want to go?”

  He shrugged. “As far as I knew, she was planning to. I’m not sure what happened to change her mind.”

  “Any man who’d let a woman like Julia slip through his fingers is a moronic jerk.”

  Aaron lifted his eyebrows and grinned. “Are you talking about Russ or yourself? Sounds like the words of a man who has a serious addiction to a cute, blonde, ball-playing teacher.”

  He hadn’t meant to let his feelings show. “Just shut up and try not to mangle your other hand.”

  “Aye, aye, Doc,” Aaron said with a grin and a crisp salute. As he hopped off the table, his demeanor sobered. “Look, I get that you like Julia. She’s a terrific girl. But you’re only here temporarily. I wouldn’t want her to get hurt, you know?”

  “I wouldn’t want her to get hurt either.”

  Aaron stared at him with solemn hazel eyes. Finally he nodded. “Good. Are we done here?”

  “We’re done. Remember, if you or Edie have any questions, if you need any medical advice or you just want to talk, you have my number. Call any time.”

  “We will, thanks. The same goes for you, you know. Well, not the medial advice, but the talking part. That’s what friends are for, right?”

  It had been a while since he’d had a close male friend, probably not since his early college days. The last few years he’d maintained a laser focus on his studies and his career, to the d
etriment of his personal relationships. He was touched by Aaron’s offer.

  “Yeah. That’s what friends are for.”

  ****

  Two weeks later, Alex walked up the sidewalk to the Lobster Cove High School. Even the outside of the school had been decorated for the fundraiser. Twinkling lights outlined the main door of the school, which opened to a corridor leading to the gymnasium. The place was already packed with people of all ages: adults, kids, even the elderly. Everyone in Lobster Cove, and beyond, wanted to support the Cosgrove family. Alex was surprised to see players he knew from the opposing ball teams in Bar Harbor, Cranberry Island, and Tremont. It said a lot about Aaron and Edie that so many people cared about what happened to them.

  It said a lot about the community, too.

  Inside the gym, a deejay had people on the dance floor doing an energetic jive. Little kids on the edges of the floor tried their best to imitate the older dancers. Tables had been set up along the perimeter of the gym, except for one section in the far corner where silent auction prizes were being displayed. Money quickly changed hands as people bought tickets on the prizes. Alex knew that every dollar raised would go to Edie’s substantial medical expenses. He bought fifty dollars’ worth of tickets and dropped his entries into the paper bags taped next to the prizes.

  Next to the silent auction tables, some older ladies manned a table loaded with baked goods for sale. The offerings were impressive—fresh breads, pies, cookies and at least twenty different kinds of cakes. Before he left, he’d pick up a couple dozen cookies to take to the emergency room for the people who couldn’t make it here tonight.

  “Alex!”

  He turned at the sound of his name and saw Edie and Aaron heading toward him. Edie embraced him.

  “I’m so glad you could make it!” she said with a beaming smile.

  “I wouldn’t miss it. This is quite the production you’ve got going on here.”

  “It’s great, but we can’t take any credit. We didn’t do a damn thing,” Aaron said.