Page 19 of One More Chance
But now that I was back, here and in this moment, I had to accept that I had been given a strange gift. I knew that I could spend every moment of the rest of this life pondering the how and the why of it all, and I would never have an answer. So, neither the how nor the why mattered. Not really. Not to me. All that mattered was that I was given a chance to fix the worst parts of what had gone wrong not only in my life, but in the lives of my loved ones.
Would it have been better if I had come back before I had ever met Angie and made the worst mistake of my life? Obviously. But that wasn't the hand I'd been dealt, so I had to focus on the positives: Sloane hadn’t started dating her future husband yet in this new life; Violet hadn't vanished; Liam hadn't started using; and Rufus, that damn dog, was still alive. The Old Me would have only focused on the pain he'd caused and wallowed in his self-loathing before spiraling into one self-destructive habit or another.
However, the New Me? I found myself grateful that I had this chance.
I stared out the window of the hotel room, letting the lights blur into a haze. I knew I wasn’t the man I used to be and I wasn’t sure if Sloane would ever forgive me… I didn't know if I even deserved her forgiveness. But I knew one thing: I was determined to do anything and everything to earn it.
The next morning, I sent Sloane a message asking if I could stop by for lunch. My fingers hovered over the screen longer than theyshould’ve, each word typed with the caution of a man who’d learned too late what carelessness could cost.
When she replied with a short “That’s fine,” I exhaled, tension still coiled in my chest.
The irony wasn’t lost on me as I backed out of the hotel parking lot and eased into traffic. Every intersection I approached, I slowed… looked twice, thrice. My knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. I kept seeing the crash in my mind: the warped metal, the flash of light, the finality of it.
Only it hadn’t been final.
Now, every green light felt like a dare. Every yellow was a warning. By the time I pulled onto Sloane’s street, the weight of the second chance I’d been given pressed down hard. I took a few grounding breaths and did my best to visualize what I wanted. Redemption.
I knew she was waiting and I had to walk in there not as the man who left, but as the one trying, desperately, to stay.
I used my key to let myself in. Anxiety laced my steps as I rounded the corner into the open-concept kitchen and living room where the smell of homemade bread hit me: warm, welcoming, and filled with memories.
Sloane's eyes flicked up when I walked in, noting my clean shaven appearance and gave a small nod toward the living room.
“Hey,” she said as she curled into the corner of the couch. She skewered me with a scrutinizing gaze as she hugged a pillow, as if it was a shield to protect her from me. “You wanted to talk Levi?”
I sat on the edge of the couch, far enough to not crowd her. I could hear the kids’ faint laughter in the background upstairs. Good. They didn’t need to hear this.
“I pulled out of the Key West project,” I said.
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t look away. “That deal was worth millions you said?”
“A little over two after everything,” I said. “I told Jose we’re not expanding. We’re going to focus on local builds. Smaller scale. I already called the lawyers.”
"Didn't you say you already had investors?"
"I did."
"Won't they be pissed?"
"They will."
She leaned back against the cushions, squeezed the pillow in her arms. “That's pretty goddamn ballsy of you. Why are you telling me this?”
I knew I had to be honest. “Because it’s not just about the business,” I said. “It’s about what I’ve been using it for. I buried myself in it. Avoiding home. Avoiding us. I was chasing some version of success that kept me from sitting still long enough to see what I was destroying.”
Her mouth twitched like she was biting back a bitter laugh. “And now what? You think scaling down means I should let you back into this house?”
I fucking loved her snarky attitude. She was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman. She wasn’t afraid to call me out when I was fucking up, but she could still uplift me when I was drowning in my own mess. It was a balance the Old Me never fully appreciated.
But I did. I knew that she didn’t just put up with me, she challenged me. She made me face myself, even when I didn’t want to. The Old Me resented her for it, but the New Me understood how Ineededthat.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t think this buys forgiveness. I just… I want you to know I’m not hiding anymore. Not behind work. Not behind excuses. I’m done feeding my ego and calling it ambition.”
She didn’t blink as she studied me. I could see a conflict of emotions. “You spent years coming home late and ignoring the mental load I carried. Then, when I finally couldn’t hold it all up anymore, you didn’t ask how to help. You found someone else. Am I supposed to thank you?” It wasn’t anger in her voice. It was a truth spoken simply that carved me open.
My chest tightened, constricted by the brutal accuracy of her words. I had to tell her this next truth, even if she wasn't ready to hear it and even if I wasn't ready to say it. She needed to know. “I did not cheat because you were not enough,” I said. “I cheated because I wasn’t man enough to face my own emptiness. Angie wasn’t a person. She was a broken mirror I let convince me I was something more than the selfish liar I’d become.”
She looked down at her lap, her fingers absently working a loose thread on her sleeve. When she finally looked back at me, her eyes were dry, but I could see how weary she was behind them. “So what now, Levi?”
