Free Last Chance: A Second Chances Novel by L. P. Dover

one of the doctors walked into the room. His attention immediately went to Summer, probably recognizing her from the woman he just operated on.
    “You must be Lara’s sister?” he asked.
    She hurried over to him. “Yes, how is she?” We all congregated around him and he acknowledged us all with a nod.
    “I’m Dr. Prince. I wanted to give you an update on Ms. Jacobs.”
    “Is she going to make it?” Summer cried.
    Dr. Prince cleared his throat. “We’re trying to control the internal bleeding right now. Her body took a tragic blow and she needs to be stabilized before I have any answers. We’re not there yet, but we’re doing everything we can. She also suffered a traumatic hit to the head, and we won’t know the full extent of the damage until she wakes up. I’m sorry I can’t give you any other details at the moment. I’ll be back to give you an update after her next surgery.”
    None of us could say anything, probably because the shock of it all was too much to take in, but Evan held out his hand. “Thanks, doctor. We’ll be here.”
    When the doctor left, the room fell into complete silence. Head injuries were what scared me with riding because they could leave you brain dead in a heartbeat. If that ever happened to me, I’d want someone to put me out of my misery. The thought of seeing Lara like that scared the fuck out of me. She didn’t deserve any of it.
    Summer wiped away her tears and kissed Emma-Grace on the head. “Why don’t you take her home? I’m going to stay until I can see Lara,” she said to Evan.
    “You sure?”
    She nodded. “There’s no sense on keeping her here. I’m sure the media will be coming around for questions. Oh, and we need to let everyone know the restaurant is closed until further notice.”
    Evan kissed her hand and stood. “I’ll make calls. I’m sure Kate will want to be here too.” He glanced at me and sighed. “She’ll pull through, brother. I have no doubt.”
    Evan was always the optimist, even when we were kids. Unfortunately, I didn’t share in his opinion. Something didn’t feel right, and I had no clue what it was. Shortly after he left, exhaustion took over and my eyes grew heavy. I didn’t want to sleep, but my body couldn’t take anymore.

    I awoke to the smell of coffee. All night long, I’d dreamt about Lara, about all the times we never got to share with each other. The only date I ever took her on was the one to the party the night we slept together. I never got the chance to do anything with her, to see her face light up when we’d do something fun. I dreamt about everything I might not ever get to do with her.
    Opening my eyes, Evan was there with three cups of coffee. I sat up and groaned as the muscles in my back protested. Grayson and Summer were still asleep in their seats.
    Evan passed me a steaming cup. “Morning. I thought you could use this.”
    “Thanks,” I said, taking a sip.
    “Anything new yet?”
    I shook my head. “No. Still waiting. Don’t you have football practice?”
    “We’re on break until summer camp starts up. I was going to use these couple of weeks to help out at the restaurant.”
    Summer jerked awake and gasped, her gaze darting around the room. “Did I miss anything?”
    Evan pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Not yet, sunshine.”
    Reaching for a coffee, her lips trembled. “Where’s Emma-Grace?”
    “With Kate. She wanted to be here, but she knew watching Emma would be a tremendous help.”
    Summer sniffled. “Once I know Lara’s okay, I’ll get Emma-Grace so she can come up here and see her.”
    My focus drifted to the hallway, and landed on Dr. Prince steadily walking toward us. “Here comes the doctor,” I said, jumping to my feet.
    Summer shook Grayson awake and everyone stood up, waiting those agonizing last few seconds of uncertainty.
    When he opened the door, he let out an audible sigh. “The surgery is complete. I wanted to let you know Ms. Jacobs is