A Second Chance
by Lori M.
Part I
He saw her across the room sitting alone at a table for two. Her blond hair hung down to her shoulders and her skin was well tanned.
The light from the candle on the table cast a soft glow on her face and he just stood there, unable to breathe.
He never remembered her looking more beautiful than she did at this moment.
As she absentmindedly ran her finger along the rim of her glass, she must have felt his intense gaze.
She looked up and their eyes met and locked.
Suddenly, life sprang into her blue eyes. He quickly made his way over to her.
She sprang from her chair and threw her arms around him.
"Dan! When did you get back into town?"
He finished hugging her and took two steps back from her. Grabbing both of her hands he said "Hold still Trix, let me get a good look at you."
She stood there holding both of his hands. "Like what you see Mr. Mangan?" She teasingly asked him.
"Do I ever! When did you change from a tomboy to a Tommy girl?"
She let out a laugh lightly hitting him on the shoulder. "I assume that is a compliment?"
"Really Trix, you have turned into a very beautiful lady."
Trixie felt her cheeks get hot and her stomach flutter and quickly asked him if he would join her for a drink.
"I would love to," he answered, not able to take his eyes off of her.
"I can’t believe you are back in town!" She motioned for the waitress. "Now, you really must tell me what you have been up to these past four years."
"We’ll get to that later, first, I want to hear all about you and all of the mysteries you have solved.
"Well, let’s see," she said, tapping her finger on her cheek. "What have I been up to?" She thought for a moment, smiled, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Absolutely nothing!"
"I find that very hard to believe!" he said smiling.
The waitress made her way over and took their orders.
"I’ll have another glass of wine, Dan?"
"No, I’m uh fine, I’ll just stick with an iced tea thank you."
Trixie, noticing his uneasiness and fumbling with her napkin quickly spoke up.
"Well, let’s see. Brian and Honey are doing just fine. He opened a private practice and they have such a lovely home. She passes the days gardening, sewing and reading mystery novels when he is working long hours.
"Mart and Diana are in the midst of planning their wedding. It was touch and go there for awhile but I think they have straightened out their problems and things are going to be okay for them."
She paused for a moment, still playing with her napkin and quickly added, "Bobby is entering his Senior year this fall! Can you believe it? Oh, and Moms and Dad are doing just great! He is going to retire early so I think they plan on traveling a lot when Bobby gets into college! Okay, your turn!"
Dan sat silent for a moment looking at the table. Without looking up, he simply said, "Jim."
"Excuse me?" Trixie asked, feeling very uncomfortable.
"Jim," he continued. "You didn’t mention anything about Jim."
Trixie just sat there with her mouth half open not knowing what to say.
"Excuse me, if you will," Dan said as he got up and made his way to the restroom.
Trixie could feel the tears welling up inside of her. She knew they had to talk about it, in fact she had dreamed of this night for so long. The feelings that had overwhelmed her when she saw him had hit her like a brick wall and her head was dizzy with emotion.
Dan made his way back to the table and apologized. "I’m sorry, Trix, I had no right to get upset like that. This isn’t the time or the place to talk about this so let’s just drop it."
"Oh Dan, you don’t have to apologize."
"Forget it, Trix, I was a jerk to act the way I did."
"Tell you what," Trixie said putting a smile on her face. "Let’s forget our drinks and blow this joint."
"Where do you suggest we go?"
"I don’t know, how about the park by the river? It’s a beautiful night and we can sit by the river and reminisce about old times."
They paid their bill and made their way to Dan’s truck in the parking lot.
Dan opened the truck door for her and helped her in. Her head was reeling and she felt as if she were floating. The old feelings were still there for her.
Not much was said as they made their way to the park. The tension between them was almost unbearable or was it passion?
At the touch of his hand as he helped her out of the truck, she couldn’t catch her breath.
Snap out of it Trixie, she said to herself. I’m sure Dan doesn’t look at me as anything more than a friend and you are just being silly in imagining that anything is still here between us.
He continued to hold her hand as they walked over to a picnic table seated beneath a huge old Oak tree. They both sat down and took in the scene.
Trixie spoke up first.
"Isn’t the reflection of the full moon just absolutely breathtaking on the water?
"You’re breathtaking."
Trixie continued, pretending to ignore what he had just said, though her heart was beating out of control. "It’s unusually cool out tonight for the middle of June."
He then put his arm around her."Is this better?"
She didn’t know what to do! Her mind and body was telling her to turn to him but her heart was holding her back. She had already hurt him once.
Trixie pulled away. "Oh Dan, I think we need to talk now."
Dan let out a big sigh and just looked at the ground.
"Look, Dan, we can’t pretend this never happened."
"Pretend this never happened, Trix? It’s all I have thought about for the last four years. Pretending nothing ever happened has been the farthest thing from my mind!"
"Dan, I didn’t want to hurt you but I didn’t know any other way! When Jim and I became engaged after I graduated, I never would have dreamed that things would happen between you and I the way they did."
"You told me that you were going to leave Jim, to be with me. You gave me your answer when you didn’t show up that night in the woods. "
Dan paused for a minute and turned her towards him to look into her eyes. "I LOVED you Trixie. I was going to take care of you for the rest of our lives."
"Oh, Dan! That’s just it! I WAS going to meet you that night in the woods. I had decided that you were the one that I wanted. You were the one that set my spirit free and put my life on the edge. I loved that excitement and I loved you!"
He got up and made his way over to the riverbank.
"As I made my way to the woods though, it hit me and it hit me hard. Jim was my protector, my security. I did love him but not in the way that I loved you. It’s just that, well, Jim was safe."
"Do you still love him?" Dan asked her with an intense fire in his eyes.
She didn’t answer him.
"Do you still love him?" he shouted.
"No," she barely whispered. "Jim left me before we were married. He decided he couldn’t be my caretaker and protector and he left me. Perhaps he sensed something just wasn’t right between us. Honey told me he just recently married."
Without hesitation, he walked over to her and passionately kissed her. Even though this is what she had wanted for quite some time, she pulled away again.
"I can’t, Dan, I can’t hurt you again!" She burst into tears and started to run down the path along the river."
"Trixie, wait!" Dan shouted.
He took off running after her.
Tears blinded her as she ran as fast as she could.
How could I have hurt him like that? She thought to herself. Jim didn’t really love me, not like Dan did! Why do I always make the wrong choices?
She heard him calling after her and she ran harder. Her emotions were spinning out of control and she just had to get out of there.
The path was still a bit muddy from the rain they had the previous night. She could feel the mud splattering on her bare legs.
She hadn’t realized just how far she had run until she saw she was along the bluffs.
"Trixieeee!" She heard Dan call out to her again.
"Dan!" she screamed, as she watched in horror as he slipped in the mud and began falling over the cliff.
To Be Continued