Free Second Rate Chances by Holly Stephens Page A

“I’d really rather not talk about it. If that’s all right?”
                                Lil could give Sam his space regarding Chloe. If he wasn’t ready to talk about her then she wouldn’t push. Lord knew she had secrets of her own that she wasn’t ready to bring to the surface.
    “Okay,” she softly said. His kind-hearted smile made her insides flutter. He was so close yet so far away. She wanted to be closer, she could sense he did too, but falling back into a routine with Sam wasn’t a smart move.  No matter how often she thought about her and Sam reuniting, it had never been under these kinds of circumstances. And Lil couldn’t picture them starting over, even though she’d never loved anyone but him, like this. If she were going to rekindle anything with Sam, there would have to be honesty up front. And as it was, both of them were keeping things from one another. Lil had to focus on helping him remember, not helping herself to a side of Sam.
    Shaking off the tingle that zipped through her body at having Sam close again, Lil excused herself and took both wineglasses to the kitchen for a refill. When she returned to the living room, Sam had laid his head on the back of the couch, his legs outstretched and his eyes closed. Lil allowed herself a moment to really look at him. He looked exhausted. She had to wonder if he had gotten any sleep since waking up.
    “You going to stare at me all night?” he asked with his eyes still closed. She smiled, knowing he couldn’t see her.
                                “You look tired.”
                  “You have no idea.” He opened his eyes and sat up . She
    handed him his glass.
    Returning to her perch on the couch, she folded her legs underneath her and took a sip. “Start from the beginning. Tell me how you ended up here tonight.”
    ~~~~
    Sam couldn’t believe his luck at Lil’s change of heart in regards to helping him. Well, he could believe it. Lil didn’t have a mean bone in her body. After their fight at the hospital on Monday, he was sure she’d ever want anything to do with him.
    He had to find out why she was so mad at him. Maybe not tonight, but soon. Soon she would have to fill in all the holes of how their relationship ended. For now, Sam was content on just talking to Lil. He wasn’t pleased with her idea of one or two times a week. He had a therapist for that. What he needed was a friend. His old lover.
                                He needed Lil.
                                And it was obvious from her body language, the way she rested her head against the couch and faced him with her legs drawn underneath her that she wanted to invite him closer. She was afraid. The blank look on her face told him as much. Lil was scared of him or of something about him and before long he would figure out what it was.
    Instead of dwelling on what it could be, Sam dove straight into his story.
    “I was released on Wednesday,” Sam began. “My dad signed me out. He offered to take me back to his house but I wanted to go to the condo. If I’m going to get better I need to see things I’m supposed to be familiar with, ya know?
    “Lil,” Sam said, his voice full of sadness. “I hate the place. It’s so cold and sterile. There’s no color. It’s not…”
                                “Home?” Lil asked.
    Sam looked at her a nd smiled. “It’s not home. It’s not here,” he motioned around the room. “This is home to me. This is what I know, even though I don’t remember picking out these colors for the walls.” His head swiveled around, taking in everything he missed when he arrived. His eyes drifted over the fireplace and then back again. There hung the white washed mantle they had both talked about when they had first seen the house.
                  “The mantle,” Sam gestured. “We