Second Chance

I have always enjoyed living in Chance. It was a typical small town but it was where I had decided to spend my life. Things had not always been that way. I had made plans, lifelong plans, with a beautiful redhead. We met on our very first day of kindergarten. I can still remember her looking so shy sitting at a table all by herself. She had on a green dress that matched her big beautiful eyes. I had promised to sit with my friend Seth but I couldn’t stop myself from sitting down next to her. After that day we were inseparable. We may have started out as friends but it became so much more. I had asked her to marry me and run away together. That was the plan until she disappeared after graduation eight years ago. She left with no explanation. This has been eating me up ever since. I was still so angry with her. Now though I was going to have to see her again, because God has a sense of humor; because Mayson is coming back home. With her being back home, she could not hide from me forever

When Seth and I get to the office, Amelia is sitting at her desk. I hate that she is our secretary, but since her and Seth are engaged, I did not have much say. I didn’t want to hurt Seth and let her know that I didn’t feel like she was the right person for him. There was something about Amelia that I just didn’t trust. Maybe I was holding onto old times, but this feeling extends back to our high school days. Amelia and Mayson never seemed to click. I could never figure out exactly what the issue was between the two of them. Mayson and Amelia were completely opposite personality wise. Amelia went out of her way to be a bitch, especially to someone she felt was competition for the attention in the room. Mayson was also one to stand in the background. She didn’t like to have the spotlight on her. She would rather see someone else succeed before herself. That may have been one of the reasons I had fallen in love with her. The red hair and the green eyes drew me in, but her spirit and sou

The board members started walking into the conference room. Here we go, everything has to go well. I was greeting each member as they sat down. I knew most of them very well because they had lived their whole lives. There were maybe two of them that had only lived in Chance for a couple of years. They were from larger cities and wanted to live the small time life without all of the hustle and bustle. They moved to the right place for sure. Just as the last board member came in, I had to do a double take when I saw that red hair. There is no way that Mayson was walking in the door. Why would she be here? Just as I was about to say something to her, Seth turned around and his jaw just dropped. He looked over at me and said “What the hell is she doing here?” Before I could make a response to Seth, Councilman Jordan spoke up and said, “Holden I would like you to meet Miss Mayson Cole. She is going to be the architect on this project, if all goes well.” He was one of the board members th

I have never been so nervous doing a presentation in my life. I knew the idea and plans that we had was the best design ever. Both Seth and myself had worked months on this project. I felt like I was still in college speaking in front of an auditorium full of students my freshman year. Mayson was still able to get under my skin. I still was angry over her leaving me and never giving me an explanation. Seeing her sitting here in this meeting took me back to high school all over again. I felt comfortable with the presentation and there were quite a few questions throughout. Now all that was left was for the decision to be made by the board. That decision was going to depend on Mayson’s analysis of the project. I can only hope that she doesn’t hate me enough to sabotage the whole thing. I can’t believe that she is that petty to cost not only my firm the job, but the town this business opportunity. Chance needs this project. We want to keep things with the home town feel, but want to al

By the time I walked into the house, I was exhausted. Daddy was sleeping in his recliner and Mama was in her little office working on bills. I didn’t want to disturb either one of them, so I just went upstairs to my room. I just needed to lay down and decompress. As soon as I laid down on my bed, I felt a little bit lighter. I could kick myself though for letting Amelia get to me. It was like high school all over again. I just needed to close my eyes and try to forget but that wasn’t going to happen so easily. My thoughts went back to my high school days. Junior Year Finally it was my junior year, which meant Daddy was finally going to get me a car. I had been working so hard at the grocery store and I had been saving every penny I could. I had done my best to prove to Mama and Daddy both that I was responsible enough for my own car. I had improved my grades and kept up my chores (which I hated). I learned pretty quickly to not even say a word about chores, because I would end up