Page 8 of One More Chance
Sloane raised a brow again, the tears now gone from the onset of anger she felt earlier as she busied herself in the kitchen. "You already gave us enough."
"I want to give more. For them. For you. Maybe… I don't know. A weekend trip? Disn-?"
Violet and Liam both gasped before I could finish the mention of the theme park, their voices screaming, "No way!" from behind me andI knew I had won. It was a low blow, but I needed an excuse to wiggle my way back into their lives despite my brain telling me to take things slow. I was so afraid to lose her.
For a moment, a brief second, the tension dissolved as the kids rushed over; just two kids excited about rollercoasters and fireworks. It almost hurt worse that I had never offered this sooner and that I had to offer it now like a band aid.
Despite my own guilt, I knew it was effective. They swarmed her, Liam clinging to her arm, Violet tugging at her sleeve, voices overlapping in that breathless, frantic way only children can manage. I watched Sloane's resolve buckle under the weight of their excitement certifying that she couldn't tell them no to this. Her face cracked, a subtle unraveling followed by a single, reluctant nod.
The kids squealed, their joy vibrating through the kitchen like an aftershock and I stood there, hands jammed deep in my pockets. Watching. Memorizing. Her, them, this fractured fleeting slice of what I'd destroyed in my previous life.
Eventually, she calmed them enough to send them to their rooms to "pack." A temporary lie and a borrowed moment of silence for us.
Sloane stood in the kitchen, drained of her strength. Her shoulders slumped, arms hanging loose at her sides. She wasn't looking at me, but past me. Like if she met my eyes, she might shatter completely.
"Levi," she whispered, voice frayed at the edges. "Why are you doing this?"
The words echoed between us. Why?
Because you are my life, Sloane. You are my everything.
"Because I miss you all," I said instead, the words catching in my throat. "And because I want to fix what I broke. I know I can't ask youto forgive me. Not yet… but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere if you'd let me."
Her eyes finally found mine, and for a second, a flicker, I saw everything I'd ruined staring back at me. The trust I'd burned down. The love I'd taken for granted. The exhaustion I had helped carve into her face. She blinked hard, jaw tightening like she was holding back something too sharp to speak.
"I don't believe you," she said quietly. "You didn't just hurt me, Levi. You left me with everything. You left them."
A truth that would forever haunt me.
"I know," I said. "And I hate myself for it."
The silence between us was taut and raw.
"I'm not looking for pity," I added. "I… I don't want to waste this opportunity. However the hell I need to, I'll prove myself to you, to the kids. I need a second chance."
At that, her brow knit, ever so slightly, but enough to show her confusion.
"You think this is a second chance?" she asked, voice brittle. "You think you get to come back and decide that?"
"No," I said, realizing my mistake. I was so impatient and scared, it was causing me to rush my words into these fumbles. "I think I get totryif you allow me to have the opportunity. That's all I can do. Try and never stop trying."
"You've got a long road ahead of you, Levi," she said. I knew I had thrown her for a ringer. One day I said I was leaving her and now I'm begging to come back.
She motioned for me to sit. A silent command to an invitation with barbed edges. The irony wasn’t lost on her nor was the power shift. I could see it in the way she held her chin, the flick of her eyes that toldme she was still measuring whether I was worth the breath it took to speak to me.
“I’m going to get changed for work,” she said, her fingers already undoing the top button of her blouse, not for seduction, but for control as she was reclaiming her body, her space, and finally her narrative to this story. “Wait here.”
She paused at the threshold, turning back with one brow raised, the corner of her mouth twitching with something like disdain or amusement. “Oh… and what do you say?”
I hesitated. I could have said thank you or I’m sorry, but neither felt right.
Before I could stop myself, I said, “…Arf?”
Her eyes narrowed.
I cleared my throat. “Woof. I meant woof.”
Her lips twitched. She didn’t want to smile, but it betrayed her anyway.
