Second Time's the Charm

He was the father of her precious, precious boy. The other half of Braydon.

With a lump in her throat, she asked one more time, “What do you want, Kirk?”

“Just to have a chance to be in touch with you,” he said. “Take my calls, Lil. That’s all I ask.”

She didn’t believe him.

“I won’t call often,” he said. “Once a week if you’ll let me.”

“And then what?”

“And then...who knows? I swear to you. I know what I want, but I also know that I can’t make it happen.”

Wow. He had changed.

“I need your help, Lil. Just until I can get my footing again. You understood me like no one ever had. I know I blew it with you. I understand that you hate me. If it’s any consolation, I hate me, too. But I’m lost here. I want to make my life right. Just talk to me now and then.”

There were parts of Lillie that were dead forever. But not as dead as she’d thought.

“I need you to understand, in no uncertain terms, that there is no hope for us as a couple. Ever.”

His nostrils flared and he sucked in his lip, as though he was physically preventing himself from saying whatever sprang to his lips. And still, he was one of the most handsome men she’d ever known.

But not the manliest. Or the sexiest.

A picture of Jon in her house, among her things, with Abraham on his hip, sprang to mind. She’d have liked to have been there with them.

She pushed the thought away.

“I understand,” Kirk said. “And I want you to know that if you ever change your mind?”

“I won’t. And if you think you’re going to convince me otherwise, then this conversation is over.” She picked up her purse and stood, thought about digging for money to pay the bill and decided against it.

Let Kirk pay.

“I swear, Lil...” He hurriedly stood beside her, pulling a wad of bills from his pocket, rolling off a few and dropping them to the table as though if he didn’t pay fast enough she’d get out the door ahead of him. “I won’t bring it up again. Not unless you do, first.”

Without saying a word, Lillie made her way to the door and out into the cool October darkness. Kirk kept up.

“I am not out to convince you of anything, Lil,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t know what I hope to achieve by talking with you. I just...I have a feeling that what I need to know can only be found in you. And that if I don’t find it, I’m never going to amount to anything.”

He was Papa’s son.

And Papa was one of the greatest men she’d ever known. Some of that had to have rubbed off on Kirk.

“Okay,” she said. For Papa’s and Gayle’s sake. They still cared about Kirk—needed him to amount to something. “Phone calls. Once a week. Nothing more. And when I say the conversation is over, it’s over.”

“Okay.”

He was quiet as he walked her to her car and waited for her to unlock the door and climb inside.

With one hand on top of the frame, he closed the door behind her. But not before she heard his final words.

“Thank you, Lil.”

After watching him in the rearview mirror as she pulled away, she cried all the way home.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN