One More Last Chance

by Cathleen Armstrong

“Yeah, right.” Olivia sniffed. She had been crying.

  Chris reached out and put his hand on Olivia’s head. When she didn’t pull away, he let it slip to her cheek. With his thumb, he wiped off a tear.

  “Come here. Let’s get this thing off.” He helped her out of her backpack and lifted her onto his lap.

  She curled into his arms, and he cradled her against his chest and rocked her without saying anything until there were no more tears. He brushed a strand of hair from her damp face. Olivia hiccupped.

  “So, Liverhead.” He smiled as something indignant was muffled against his chest. “It looks like it’s you and me for a while. Got any ideas?”

  10

  Sarah was already sitting in a booth sipping iced tea when Megan came through the doors of the Dip ’n’ Dine Wednesday at noon. She waved and got up for a hug as Megan approached the table.

  “Goodness, that air-conditioning feels good.” Megan returned the squeeze. “I am so sorry to keep you waiting. I was afraid you’d think I wasn’t coming.”

  Sarah glanced at the neon clock over the counter. It was 12:03. “Nope. I knew you’d get here when you could.”

  Megan went right on talking. “Mikey is going through a separation anxiety phase, and it took me a few minutes to get away. Of course, it hurts my mother-in-law’s feelings when he cries like that, so I had her to deal with too. She’s had him every Wednesday afternoon since he was born, almost.”

  She paused for breath as a somber little girl with dark blonde hair caught up in a lopsided ponytail and wearing a white apron tied up under her arms appeared with two menus.

  “Well, hello.” Megan sat back and cocked her head. “I don’t believe I know you. Whose little girl are you?”

  “This is my helper, Olivia Reed. She’s spending a couple weeks with her uncle Chris. Aren’t you, honey?” Juanita, who had come up behind her, waited until Olivia had gone to take menus to two more customers before turning back to Megan and Sarah with the arched eyebrows and pursed lips of one in the know. She lowered her voice to what passed for a whisper with Juanita. “She came in with her mother and some long-haired guy on a motorcycle last Saturday evening just at closing, and the next thing you know, the motorcycles are gone and that child is still here. Chris couldn’t just leave her at home by herself, so she’s been coming in here with him every morning.”

  Sarah watched Olivia give her apron a hitch and head back to the kitchen. Well, now she knew what had come up that kept Chris from coming over. And if he had called her later, as he had said he would, maybe she’d have even understood. She opened her menu with a snap.

  “She seems like a sweet child.” Megan ripped open a packet of sweetener and stirred it into the tea Juanita had place before her.

  “Well.” Clearly, Juanita was struggling with her oft-stated intention never to say anything bad about anybody if she could help it. “She is a sweet child, but all I can say is, if she was a child of mine, she’d have some manners to go along with it.”

  “Really?” Megan was much more interested in what Juanita had to say than what was on the menu. “She doesn’t seem sassy.”

  “Most of the time it’s more what she doesn’t say than what she says. Never a ‘yes ma’am,’ never a ‘no sir,’ and no matter how many times I’ve told her she could call me Miss Juanita, she just downright refuses.”

  “What does she call you? Surely not Juanita.”

  “She doesn’t call me anything, or even look at me half the time if I talk to her. You’d think I was talking just to hear my head rattle. And more often than not, if you ask her a question, she’ll just heave her shoulders up and look the other way.”

  “I think I’ll have the BLT. And can I get a salad instead of the fries?” It was time to change the subject, and Sarah handed her menu to Juanita with a smile. Juanita had a huge heart, but she could get a little preoccupied with fixing folks.

  Without even opening it, Megan handed her menu back too. “The patty melt, I guess. You know, I hate to say it, but I’m getting really bored with this menu. I mean, can’t it change even a little bit? Ever?”

  “Be careful what you wish for.” Juanita slapped her order book shut and gave another knowing look before she left.

  “What did she mean by that?” Megan watched her head to the kitchen. “I was hoping things might change a bit with the new owner, but it’s just the same ol’, same ol’.”

  “And I, for one, am glad. I don’t want things to change.” Sarah took a sip of her tea.

  “You just wait till you’ve been back awhile. I’m not saying we need to bring in a slew of chain stores or put in a freeway system. But for crying out loud, would it hurt to change up the menu of the Dip ’n’ Dine just a little, just for starters?”

  Megan’s voice had been rising with her level of exasperation, and when she got to the part about adding something new to the menu, Sarah saw Chris, who had just come from the kitchen, look over. When he saw Sarah, his expression changed from lively interest in what Megan was saying to something that looked very much like awkward embarrassment. Sarah’s heart sank when, after a moment’s hesitation, he came over to their table. Do not say anything about Saturday night. All will be forgiven if you just keep your mouth shut. And I mean it.

  “Afternoon, ladies.” He smiled and nodded to Megan before turning his attention to Sarah. “Sorry about Saturday. There was just nothing I could do.” He tipped his head toward Olivia, who was sitting at the counter with a box of crayons, coloring on the back of place mats. “But when things settle out, I’ll give you a call and maybe we can reschedule something.”

  The cool and careless nonchalance with which Sarah had intended to tell Chris, in so many words, to go fly a kite fled as, across the table, Megan’s interest spiked, and even Juanita stopped on her way to the kitchen to pay attention. Sarah felt her face get warm.

  “Sure.” Now go. Just go. Stop talking.

  “Okay, then.” Chris looked a bit unsure before regrouping and turning his smile on Megan. “Enjoy your lunch. And don’t give up on us. We’re going to get something new on that menu yet. Wait for it.”

  Megan barely let Chris get across the room before she leaned across the table. “Okay, what gives?”

  At least Megan knew how to whisper. Sarah took a deep breath and tried to summon her inner indifference. She smiled her best “no biggie” smile. “Nothing gives. He just brought a casserole to the pounding, and I invited him over to share it. He couldn’t make it at the last minute, so I ate it myself. He’s a pretty good cook.”

  Clearly, Megan wasn’t buying what Sarah was selling. “So is this why the engagement’s off?”

  “No!” Sarah sat back in the booth. People across the room looked up, and Sarah lowered her voice. “There never was an engagement. And if there had been, Chris Reed sure couldn’t have messed it up. He doesn’t mean a thing to me. I’ve just met him, remember?”

  Sarah thought she had been speaking softly, but she saw Chris look over at the mention of his name, and from his expression, she knew he had heard everything. Great. She felt as if she were trying to stay afloat in a vat of molasses and grasped at the first thought that floated her way. “Mikey is just as cute as he can be. How old is he?”

  After that, Sarah only had to smile, nod, and look interested. Juanita brought the plates of food, reappeared periodically to refill the iced tea glasses, and finally broke into the Mikey monologue to ask about dessert before Megan even took a breath.

  “Oh, my goodness. You must be bored to death.” Megan shook her head as if to clear it and grinned across the table at Sarah. “Never get me started on Mikey if you have anything else to do that day. Sorry about that.”

  Sarah returned the smile with a feeling of genuine warmth toward her old friend. Megan could talk the paint off the barn, as Granddad used to say, but Sarah loved the way her eyes lit up when she talked of Mikey. “Don’t worry about it. He sounds like a great little guy.”

  Megan’s phone rang, and
she rolled her eyes when she looked at it. “A great little guy who decided to cut a tooth, have his cold come back, and get separation anxiety all on the same day. This is my mother-in-law, and I need to take this. Sorry.”

  “Go right ahead.” Sarah looked around the room as Megan took her call and saw Olivia still hunched over the picture she was coloring at the counter. When it looked as if Megan might be on the phone for more than just a couple minutes, she got up and walked over to take the stool next to Olivia.

  “That’s a great picture you’re drawing.”

  Olivia didn’t look up.

  “Can you tell me about it?”

  Olivia sat back a bit to view her work but still did not look at Sarah. “It’s me and my mom on mules at the Grand Canyon. When she gets back, we’re going to go.”

  “That sounds like fun. I’ve always wanted to do that, but I never have.”

  Olivia went back to her coloring without responding. Sarah tried again.

  “What grade are you going to be in?”

  “Second.”

  “Really? I’m going to be teaching second grade.”

  This time Olivia glanced at her before returning to her picture. But she still didn’t say anything.

  “When school starts, my students will call me Miss Cooley, but you can call me Sarah for now, if you’d like.”

  Megan, purse slung over her shoulder, appeared at her side.

  “I am sorry, but I have to run. This is my treat, and I’ve already settled with Juanita. Mikey has a little fever and I should get him home for a nap in his own bed. We have to do this again, and next time, we talk about you.” She hugged Sarah and smiled at the back of Olivia’s head. “It was nice meeting you, Olivia. I hope you have a good time with your uncle.”

  Olivia didn’t answer or even look up from her picture, and Megan shot an “I see what you mean” look at Juanita, who responded with a “Someone needs to take that child in hand” shake of her head.

  As Megan pushed out the door into the hot afternoon, Sarah watched Olivia bite her lower lip in concentration as she drew. She had to agree with Juanita that Olivia fell far short in the manners department, certainly by Last Chance standards, anyway. Maybe it was that lopsided ponytail or the way her shoulders squared when Juanita, in her too-loud whisper, was discussing her poor upbringing, but something about the skinny little girl in her oversized apron touched Sarah.

  “I see you two have met.” Chris set a sandwich and a glass of milk in front of Olivia and smiled at Sarah.

  “We have. She was just telling me about that mule ride down the Grand Canyon she and her mom are going to take.”

  Sarah wanted to make it plain that her interest was in Olivia only and barely glanced up, but she caught the frown that creased Chris’s brow. He put his hand on Olivia’s head and gave it a little shake.

  “That’ll be fun when it happens, Livvy. But it might need to wait a little while. School will be starting soon, you know, and I don’t think there’ll be time this year.”

  Olivia put her crayon down and stared at her uncle. Those eyes were just way too old for a seven-year-old. “So it was all just another big lie?”

  “No, no one meant to lie to you, Livvy. It’s just that sometimes things come up that change plans.”

  “Sometimes like always.” Olivia jumped off her stool and ran out the front door. Chris followed, and through the window Sarah saw him catch up with the little girl and drop to one knee to talk to her eye-to-eye. She watched him put his hands on her shoulders and Olivia try to jerk away, but somehow, she wound up enveloped in a hug.

  Olivia’s shoulders shook as she buried her face in her uncle’s shoulder. His huge hand almost covered her back as he gently rubbed it. This was a side of Chris Sarah hadn’t seen and, frankly, one she’d never even suspected.

  He opened the side door of his Jeep and lifted Olivia to the passenger seat before brushing an escaped strand of hair from her face and cupping her face in his hand for a moment. When he came back through the door, he saw Sarah watching and gave her a half-grin.

  “She’s not quite ready to come back in, but she’ll be okay. She’s a tough little cookie.”

  “So the Grand Canyon’s not going to happen?”

  He shook his head. “I’d be seriously surprised. My sister’s great at making plans, but not all that good at seeing them through.”

  “The Grand Canyon’s kind of an unusual thing for a seven-year-old to be obsessed with.”

  “I know. She was supposed to get to go to Disneyland too, but that barely even gets mentioned. I think it has something to do with the mules.”

  Sarah slid off her stool and smiled. “Well, looks like you have your hands full, but I like Olivia.”

  Chris’s face relaxed into the first real smile Sarah had seen since she came in for lunch. “She’s a great kid. And so smart. I just wish . . .”

  His smile faded a bit as his voice trailed into silence. He shook his head as if to clear it, and his smile returned. “Well, thanks for coming in. And again, sorry about Saturday.”

  Sarah waved as she headed out the door. “Not a problem.”

  Outside, Olivia still sat in the passenger seat of the Jeep hugging her knees to her chest. She stared straight ahead when Sarah leaned in the open door.

  “I really did like your picture. If you don’t want to give it to your uncle, I’d love it if you saved it for me.”

  “It was dumb. The Grand Canyon’s dumb. Mules are dumb. This whole place is dumb.” She still didn’t look at Sarah.

  “That’s a lot of dumb. But you’re wrong about mules. We have a couple out at our ranch, and they’re pretty smart. You’d be surprised.”

  Olivia actually looked at her, although her expression didn’t change. “You live on a ranch?”

  “I used to. But it’s not far from here. Do you think you might like to go out there with me one day and see the mules?” Sarah heard herself invite Olivia to the ranch before she thought it through. She had immediate second thoughts. For one thing, she should have asked Chris first, but the eagerness that illuminated Olivia’s face made taking back her invitation impossible. If Chris got the wrong idea, she would just have to set him straight.

  “Can I ride the mules?” When Olivia smiled, she actually did look seven.

  “You could, but I think you’d like riding the horses better. We could just visit the mules, and ride the horses. What do you think?”

  “When? Now?” Olivia jumped out of the Jeep and grabbed Sarah’s hand.

  “I can’t right now. I have some things to do. But I’ll call your uncle in the next day or so and set something up. How would that be?”

  The smile fell away from Olivia’s face and the age returned to her eyes. She let go of Sarah’s hand. “Sure.”

  Sarah did not have to bend over very far to look in Olivia’s face. Olivia was going to be tall like her uncle, and Sarah, in a word, was not. “Olivia, don’t you believe me?”

  Olivia looked away without saying anything.

  “Look at me, Olivia.” Sarah waited in silence until Olivia met her eyes. Skepticism mixed with contempt was painted all over her face.

  “Listen to me.” Sarah continued. “I am going to call your uncle tonight at 8:00 and ask him when you can go to the ranch with me. You can tell him that, and when the phone rings at 8:00, you can tell him it’s me. Okay?”

  Olivia nodded. She still didn’t look as if she fully accepted Sarah’s promise, but some of the bitterness had faded.

  “Okay then.” Sarah smiled at her. “Until 8:00 tonight. You can count on me.”

  She walked to her little car and climbed in. It would have been simpler, she supposed, to just walk back into the Dip ’n’ Dine with Olivia and talk to Chris now. But somehow it just seemed vital to show Olivia that someone could make a promise and then see it through. That bitter, contemptuous look should never find a place on the face of a child.

  11

  What time is it?”


  Chris didn’t even look up from his computer. “You know how to tell time. You tell me.”

  “But what if that clock is wrong?” Olivia danced from one foot to the other. “What if Miss Schooley thinks it’s a different time?”

  “Who?”

  “Miss Schooley. She’s a teacher so she makes the kids call her Miss Schooley.”

  Chris did look up at that. He grinned. “No, her last name is Cooley. That’s Miss Cooley.”

  “Oh. I thought Miss Schooley was kind of a dumb name. But she said I could call her Sarah since I don’t go to her school. But what if she forgets to look at her watch? Or what if she calls the restaurant? Does she even have your cell phone number?”

  “She has it, and I’ll just bet she calls when she said she would. Give her some time. It’s not even 8:00 yet.”

  His phone rang at that moment, and while he tried to fish it out of his jeans pocket, Olivia danced.

  “Okay, so when can I go to the ranch and ride horses? Ask her! Answer! She’ll hang up!”

  Chris looked at the screen and held the phone out to Olivia. “It’s your mom.”

  All the eagerness fell from her face as she folded her arms and stepped back. “I don’t want to talk to her.”

  “Come on, Livvy. You need to talk to her.”

  He continued to hold the phone out. Olivia took another step back. Just before it went to voice mail, Chris answered.

  “Hey, Kaitlyn. Good to hear from you.”

  “I’m not going to listen to you yell at me, so don’t even start. I just called to talk to Olivia. Would you put her on?”

  After another unsuccessful attempt at getting Olivia to take the phone, Chris got back on. “I don’t think she’s feeling real chatty right now. Anything you want me to tell her?”

  “Sounds like you’ve been telling her a lot already if she won’t even talk to me.”

  Kaitlyn always did feel that the best defense was a good offense, and the more she had to answer for, the more belligerent she became. Right now she was ready to take down the entire team. Chris tried to keep his voice light and easy. Olivia was taking in everything he had to say.