Free Second Rate Chances by Holly Stephens Page B

hung it?” Lil nodded her head up and down. “I don’t remember that. We probably had pictures lined up on it, too.” Sam stood from the couch and walked over to the mantle. Instead of pictures of him and Lil that he had envisioned, there were pictures of Lil and Ellie at the beach. Lil, Ellie, and Zach sitting around a bar table. The only photo Sam had seen before was a candid shot of Lil with her parents before the accident. He knew this picture because he had taken it their first day of college.
                  “Sam,” Lil started as she moved to stand from the couch. Sam turned around and held out a hand to stop her.
                  “I’m not asking for anything. I’m just being honest. I promise I didn’t plan on stopping by. My car,” he hesitated. Did he tell her he was hoping he’d see her tonight? Did he mention how lost he felt without her? “I just got in my car and drove. My therapist thought driving around town might help. I don’t know. It was like I was on autopilot. I’m sorry if I interrupted your evening or made you feel obligated to invite me in.”
                                Both said nothing and Sam wondered what could be running through Lil’s mind. She wouldn’t look at him. Rather, she looked at the floor, the empty wineglass in her hand, the burning embers in the fireplace.
                                Sam walked over to her, itching to brush the stray piece of hair that had fallen wayward behind her ear. Any excuse to touch her.
                                She cocked her head to the side and looked at him. He took her hand in his and led her back to the couch. “Sit,” he said. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
                                “As if sitting in the living room with you isn’t uncomfortable enough?” she questioned.
                                Sam shrugged and sat back down on the couch once Lil had resumed her seat. “I guess you’re right.”
    “Well,” Lil said after what felt like hours of quiet when Sam was certain not even a minute could have passed them by. “You hate your condo that much we’ve established. What else? What about work? Have you seen Kane and Abe?”
                                He rubbed his eyes with the pads of his palms. “My life really sucks, you know that? I’ve lost my girlfriend, I hate my job. Let me back up.” He picked his head up from the couch and met Lil’s eyes. “The me I know, hates his job. The me that is this suit-wearing, condo-living, corporate asshole loves his job.
                                “And then there are my friends, our friends, who actually don’t seem to be my friends at all. Are they yours? ‘Cause I have to be honest with you, knowing that we’ve both done something to piss them off and not want anything to do with either of us would make me feel a whole lot better right now.”
                                “I haven’t talked to Kane or Abe since you and I broke up. As far as I know, I haven’t done anything to upset them.” Lil shook her head back and forth. “I don’t know what happened between the three of you. Last I heard you were all still testing games together.”
                  “Not anymore. At least, I’m not game testing. I’ve been moved up the ladder. I work in this big, fancy office with a view of downtown. Kane and Abe still work in the basement, a cubicle separating them from the other testers.”
                  “I take it you’ve seen them?”
                  Sam took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. I went by work yesterday. The doctor thinks that if I reacquaint myself with things I’m supposed to know that the memories will return sooner. Hence the condo. So I went