A Second Chance At Love

Chapter One

Chapter One

Callan

“Yeah, I’m about to head into Frankie’s Bar to get my drink. It’s Friday, and I ain’t got s**t to do for the next two days. You should come out too, little bro.” I pulled into the parking lot of the packed bar, parking my tall, red, four-wheel-drive truck between two beaters that looked like they wouldn’t make it another mile. “So, you coming out, Chance?”

“Not to Frankie’s, I’m not. I’ve got a hot chica waiting for me at the Tampico. It’s dance night for me, bro. Some sexy salsa dancing is in my future. If it sucks over there, you should come and join us. You got your dancin’ shoes on?”

“I’ve got my cowboy boots on. Stetson hat, pearl snap shirt, the whole nine yards. I’m like a walking, talking Texan billboard.” Smoothing my hand over the front of my shirt, I adjusted my silver belt buckle with a bucking bull in its middle to make sure it was in line with the snaps on my shirt. “A little bit Urban Cowboy tonight. Should be fun. Pool. Beer. Babes. You be careful out there, Chance.”

“You too, Callan.”

Shoving my cell into my back pocket, I headed inside with a certain swagger in my step. A lovely young lady strode past me, wearing sky-high heels and looking at me out of the corner of her teal-colored eyes.

I never understood the whole colored contacts thing. At least not when the contacts were natural eye colors. But I tipped my hat at her anyway. “Evening, ma’am.”

“Cowboy,” she said in greeting.

Slowing her speed, she let me open the door for her. “Allow me.”

“Thank you. I do adore a gentleman.”

Most ladies do.

But I wasn’t about to get stuck with the first woman I’d laid eyes on. And she was lingering, so that meant she was sizing me up as a boyfriend for the night — a role I had no interest in playing with her. “So does my girl.” I didn’t have a girl, but a little white lie here and there never sent anyone to hell. Or so I hoped.

Without saying another word, the teal-eyed lady disappeared into the crowd. And that suited me just fine.

Miraculously, I saw one empty barstool and parked my a*s on it, holding one finger up so the bartender would notice me. He nodded and began filling a chilled mug with draft beer.

Taking the first long sip, I scanned the people sitting at the bar. My eyes stopped on a face I hadn’t seen in years. Is that Sage Ruiz?

The dark-haired beauty was talking to one of the girls I’d gone to high school with. And that pretty much told me that I was indeed looking at the girl I’d missed out on. But my best buddy, Robbie, hadn’t missed out on her at all.

Sage Ruiz had moved to Brownsville during the middle of our sophomore year. I remembered it as if it were yesterday. Her short brown hair, cut into a bob. She’d looked at the floor, clutching several books against her chest as she walked into the first-period class. “The principal’s secretary told me to give this to you, Mrs. Spalding.” She put a piece of paper on our algebra teacher’s desk. Her head lifted so she could look around to find a place to sit.

I had an empty seat on my left and almost pointed it out to her. I thought she had the most beautiful dark brown eyes I’d ever seen. And the jeans and t-shirt she wore looked great on her too. She wasn’t skinny, and she wasn’t fat. She was just right. But she wasn’t walking toward the empty chair near me at all.

She made a b-line to the other side of the room, sitting in front of Mona Decker, the easiest girl in school.

I couldn’t help but look at her every time I got the chance. She had the sweetest southern accent, too. The teacher kept asking her questions to find out where she was from and if she was ahead of us or behind us where algebra was concerned — turned out she was in front of us and already knew how to solve the Pythagorean theorem that we were currently working on.

Mona caught me looking her way and must’ve thought I was checking her out — which I was not. I didn’t like fast-a*s girls. Especially since I had no s****l experience at that time, and I wasn’t looking to find out what Mona knew.

By the end of the class, I’d gathered enough courage to introduce myself to the girl named Sage Ruiz, formerly of Dallas, Texas. But, as I tried to get in behind her, Mona got in my way. “Hey, Callan. Is there something you’d like to talk to me about?”

“No!” I said as I tried to move around her ample body.

“You sure?” she asked with a smile that was meant to be sexy but came off sort of slimy and gross, as her lips were heavily glossed and she smelled of fake cherries. “I saw you looking at me.”

“I wasn’t looking at you.” I finally got around her and sped up, trying to find Sage. But she wasn’t anywhere around. I’d lost my shot.

If I would’ve only raised my hand to point at the desk beside me, then I wouldn’t have lost my chance. But I was on the shy side at times, and this time it had cost me. Though I had no idea how dearly it had cost me yet.

The next four classes went by with my mind still on the new girl in school. At lunchtime, I went toward the cafeteria to eat at the table that most of us on the football team sat each day.

Standing in line, I picked up a tray of meatloaf, mashed potatoes with red ketchup gravy, which was everyone’s favorite, and some green beans that literally no one ate. Lola, everyone’s favorite lunch lady, plopped a giant, homemade, yeast roll on top of the tray. “There you go, Callan. You have a nice lunch now.”

“Thanks, Lola. The rolls look delicious, as always.” I headed to the table where guys jumped around, acting goofy like they always did.

Searching for a free seat, I found that my best buddy Robbie Winslow wasn’t at the table. So, I looked around for him and found him sitting at another table. A table with only him and one other person at it.

“No way!” I marched right over, not caring if I looked kind of stupid as I glared at him. “This table for anyone or are you guys on a date?”

Robbie looked up at me towering over him as he sat next to the girl I’d fallen in love with during first-period. “Callan! Come on. Sit down. I’d like you to meet Sage Ruiz. She’s from Dallas. Just transferred in today. I’m showing her the ropes. It’s crazy. We have almost all the same classes. I’ve been joking, telling her it’s kismet.”

I sat down rather hard as anger bubbled inside of me. “What the hell is kismet?”

“Fate,” Sage said with that devastatingly sweet accent. “Seems fate brought me to Brownsville and this high school, in particular.” She put her hand on top of Robbie’s, leaving their touching hands on top of the table for the whole world to see. “I’ve met the sweetest boy here.”

Robbie’s brown eyes twinkled as he looked at her. “And I’ve met the sweetest girl.”

I was about to throw up. “Holy s**t! You two are gross.”

Her big doe-like eyes met mine as she smiled. “And what’s your name?”

Like you don’t know, I was about to say. But then I remembered that she’d come into my algebra class after roll call. So, she didn’t know my name. She didn’t even recognize me from our first-period class. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to let her know that I had noticed her in that class either.

“Duran. Callan Duran. But the guys call me by my last name.” I shoved the roll into my mouth to shut myself up as I was talking weird for some reason.

“Not all of them,” Robbie said as he bumped his shoulder against hers and left it there as they still sort of held hands on top of the table. “Callan and I have been friends since kindergarten. I call him Callan, and he calls me Robbie instead of Winslow.”

“Yeah, but only our closest friends call us by our first names.” I took another bite of the roll, trying not to scream with anger and frustration. I saw her first!

Sage smiled as she looked at me. “I hope we can be friends too, Callan. Since Robbie and I are such good friends and you and he are good friends.”

“He’s my best friend,” I snarled. “And you can call me, Duran — Ruiz.”

She looked a little confused. “So, you want to call me by my last name?”

Robbie leaned forward, breaking their shoulder connection, which made me happy. “Hey, bro, chill. What’s up with you? Why are you acting so weird?”

I used my hands to gesture to their lovey-dovey bullshit. “Why are you acting so weird? What’s all this — stuff?”

Sage moved her hand off his. She leaned away from him as her cheeks turned red. But Robbie draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, holding her close to his side — which pissed me off like I’d never been pissed off in all my fifteen years on Earth. “We like each other. Can’t you be happy for me? For us?”

I had no idea what the hell he meant. “It’s been what — three hours since she’s been here and you’re already in love?”

Sage blushed even harder, ducking her head, seeming as if she’d love nothing more than to climb underneath the table to get away from me and my questions.

Robbie’s expression turned from confused to mad as hell. “Hey! Chill!”

Taking my tray, I got up. My hand shook as I carried the uneaten food and tossed it into the trashcan before shoving the heavy glass doors open so I could storm out of the cafeteria.

I couldn’t recall ever being that mad. But as I walked, I began to feel stupid. Robbie was my best friend. He’d talked to the girl, fair and square. He’d had no idea I’d fallen for her first. And neither did she.

So, I had no choice but to stop acting like an i***t. But I wasn’t going to explain myself to either of them. And I never did.

As hard as I tried to stop being angry, every time I got around the two of them together, I couldn’t stop myself from becoming a giant asshole toward Sage. “That shirt’s too tight. Did you get it in the toddler’s section?” I would grin so that Robbie would think I was just joking around with her, but I wasn’t joking at all. I really don't know why I said all those things to her. It seemed like it was out of my control.

And it wasn’t like she couldn’t give as good as she got either. “Why? Is that where you got your I.Q.?”

“Good one, babe,” Robbie said as he’d wrap his arm around her, pulling her close to him, then kiss her on the cheek.

“Gross.” I’d speed off, wanting nothing more to do with them.

By the time we graduated, Sage and I had our relationship down pat. We hurled insults at each other like a couple of pros. Neither of us ever missed a chance to put the other down. It was sort of like an art form.

One week after graduation, Robbie came over and told me something that sounded rather insane. “I wanted to tell you this in person, Callan.”

“Sounds interesting. Shoot.” I’d been playing basketball by myself in the driveway and went for a basket, missing it.

The ball bounced off the garage door and Robbie caught it. “I’m leaving next Friday. I’ve joined the Marines.”

My whole world stopped as I stared at my best friend. “No.”

He tossed the ball to me. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me about this before you signed up?” I would’ve tried my best to talk him out of it. “There’s a war going on, Robbie. And I would bet that the Marines are all up in that s**t. You don’t want to go to war, do you?”

“I want to serve my country. You know my dad was in the Navy when he first got out of high school. He was in it for five years. Being in the military gives you certain advantages. That’s why I signed up. See, I want to be able to buy a house sometime soon. And I can get special loans. I think Dad said they’re V.A. loans. Anyway, I want to get one to buy a home for me and Sage.”

“Hold up!” We were only eighteen. “Why are you talking about buying a home for you and Sage? You don’t need to be worrying about that right now. We’ve got college to get to in the fall. You have to get through college before you even think about settling down with one girl.”

“She’s the one, Callan. I don’t want to date anyone else. I did talk to her about this. She’s not entirely happy with my decision. But she said she’ll wait for me, and when I get back home for a visit, we’re gonna get married. That way, if I’m going somewhere where civilians are allowed, she can come with me.”

There was nothing I could say. His mind was made up, and he’d already signed away the next two years of his life to the Marines.

The night before he left, he invited Sage and I over to his farewell party. It was only the three of us. And he’d stolen a bottle of tequila from his father’s home bar.

We all got drunk. We all cried. Robbie said something about puking then going to bed then stumbled away to his bedroom, leaving Sage and I alone in the den. I went to check on him and found him passed out soundly, face down on his bed, snoring like a buzzsaw. He was completely out. So, I went back to the den, told Sage his condition and things got real weird, real fast.

“I hate you, you know,” I told her as we sat cross-legged on the floor, looking at each other. “If he wasn’t all in love with you, then he wouldn’t have joined the Marines in the first place so he could buy you a house.”

“It’s not like I want him to go.” She wiped fresh tears from her eyes. “I’m going to be lonely as hell here.”

I don’t know how it happened, but all of a sudden, we were kissing and ripping each other’s clothes off. And then we were having the hottest s*x I’d ever had. Despite the gnawing guilt of knowing I’d betrayed my best friend, that night was still on the top of my s****l adventures chart. It was hot. And then it was over, never to happen again.

“Fancy seeing you here, Duran.”

It is her!