Free The Second Chance Hero by Jeannie Moon

shaky, and then the medic told her Tom had died. She broke down. The grief came pouring out of her. It seems . . . it seems she was his girlfriend. I was right there, having just watched my fiancé die, only to find out he was cheating on me.”
    “Oh, God. Oh, Kim.” Harper hopped off the stool and walked around the island, hugging her friend from behind.
    “I was in shock after that. My head felt swollen, almost fuzzy. I don’t remember much else. Apparently, I collapsed against another marine who was waiting for treatment, but then my friends shuffled me out of there. I only stayed in country another couple of weeks; I was no good to anyone, so I was sent home.”
    “You amaze me,” Harper said. “To lose someone you love and then to find out—”
    “That I was a fool? That he played me for a fool?” she cried. “I hated him. I didn’t want him dead, I didn’t want him to suffer, but I was glad I never had to see him again. Does that make any sense? Am I a horrible person? I was broken, humiliated . . . I still am. No one knows except for a few people who were there, and now you.” Tears were flooding her eyes and tracking down her cheeks. There were so many she stopped trying to dry them. “I haven’t told my family and I haven’t told his. In their eyes, he’s still the dutiful, perfect marine—a hero—and I was lucky to have him.”
    “You’re carrying this alone?”
    “Pretty much. This is why I can’t go out with Owen. I can’t. I do like him, but I don’t want a relationship. I can’t handle one.”
    Harper squeezed her tight. “I’m so sorry.”
    She nodded, relieved she’d finally told someone what had happened. But at the same time she was sad, because she’d closed the door on something that might have been great. Tom was a ghost who would never leave her. He’d never let her rest. Never let her trust anyone. Never let her love again.
    Harper held on and Kim thought about the people she cared about, the ones she really needed, and while she may have felt bad for Tom’s family when she cut them off yesterday, she’d done the right thing. Her family, however, didn’t deserve the way she’d treated them.
    She was the oldest of six children and she’d been blowing off her parents and siblings for the better part of a year. One of her brothers had gotten engaged. Her youngest sister was graduating from high school next month. Kim was going to celebrate with both of them.
    She couldn’t pursue anything with Owen, but she could reclaim her family. That was something.
    ***
    “They have, hands down, the best waffles on the planet.” His sister Melinda tucked her auburn hair behind her ears and patted her belly. “Let’s take a walk and burn off some calories.”
    Owen didn’t need to burn off any calories because he’d already run five miles today, but he liked spending time with his sister. Maybe she could help him figure out his Kim problem.
    “What’s on your mind, big brother?”
    His little sister wasn’t so little anymore. She was a tall, gorgeous, twenty-nine-year-old award-winning photojournalist. To say the woman had attitude would be an understatement.
    “Just settling in. I’m going back to work tomorrow.”
    “That’s good. You’ve never been one to hide out for too long. The routine will help.”
    “That’s what I was thinking. How are the wedding plans coming?”
    His sister had been engaged for three months, and according to his mother, she and her fiancé still hadn’t set a date. Owen suspected there was trouble in paradise. “Mel?”
    She took a big breath and then the words shot out in a burst. “I’m going to break it off. I don’t want to marry him.”
    Owen let it sink in, and once he processed it, he wasn’t surprised. Not setting the date was his sister’s way of resisting. “Okay. Why?”
    Generally speaking, he liked her fiancé, Alex, but he suspected his sister had a good reason for wanting to end it.
    “He wants to change