Taking Chances by Ann Omasta (books for 7th graders .txt) 📕

was shocked by his declaration and completely speechless. My mind was reeling, seeking both the right words and the appropriate way to say them.

 

We stood like that for a long while. He had his arms around me, and I was stiff as a board. I opened my mouth to speak, but words failed me. He was rubbing up and down my back, soothing me, when I finally managed to croak out a sentence. “I thought you had dumped me.”

 

He pulled back to look directly in my eyes. “I know, and I’m so sorry for hurting you, Sweetheart. I reacted all wrong. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and it was all moving so fast that I got scared and took a little timeout. I’m here now, though, and I’m not going anywhere.”

 

I was struggling, unsuccessfully trying to come up with a way to gently say what I needed to tell him. “Why didn’t you call me to tell me you needed some time to process? I thought we were finished.”

 

“If I could take it back, I would handle it all so differently.” He ran his hand through his dark hair again, obviously feeling guilty. What he had done paled in comparison to what I had done. Okay, who I had done. I just couldn’t seem to formulate the words to confess.

 

Seth took my silence as anger and continued with his apology. “Abby, please forgive me. I spent the entire week thinking about you as I finished the boat that we christened and took her out on her maiden voyage. I couldn’t wait to get back and call you, but I was already late for Mother’s Sunday brunch when I docked, and she doesn’t react well to tardiness.” I could imagine that Janice would have a frosty side, if things didn’t go precisely her way.

 

Seth went on, barely pausing to take a breath, “I decided that a family event wasn’t the best place to try to explain things to you; so I waited to call, even though I was desperate to talk to you, to see you, to touch you.” He tenderly ran a finger along my jawline. I closed my eyes and another tear plopped out and trailed down my cheek.

 

Seth continued his explanation, seeming desperate to make me understand. “Before brunch was over, Jessie asked me to watch Katiedid for a while. I think she and Katie’s dad needed to talk through a few things. Jess rarely asks for anything, so I couldn’t turn her down. Katie and I swam and played outside for a long while, and then she fell asleep on my lap. I had left my phone in the Jeep, so I missed your call. As soon as Jess picked up Katie last night, I went to call you and got your message. I’ve been trying to call you back ever since. You probably have half a dozen messages from me.”

 

“My phone fell in the water and got ruined,” I responded, feeling numb. Everything that he had said made sense. He shouldn’t have put me through the torture of waiting for over a week with no contact, but considering what I had done last night, I had no right to be angry with him. It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as Seth found out that I had slept with Sam, he would be finished with me for good.

 

“Ab, please say you’ll forgive me. I do love you, even though I didn’t show it well this week. If you’ll give me another chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I promise to do my best to make sure our life together is what we have both always wanted.”

 

I was floored by his glorious words. Why couldn’t he have said them last week before I made such a mess of things? I had to tell him before he said anything else. There was no way to say it delicately. I couldn’t sugarcoat it. I just had to spit it out.

 

My mouth was so dry. I licked my lips and took a deep breath, which did nothing to calm my frantic nerves. “Seth,” I started. He was looking at me, his eyes so full of hope. I hated that I had to do this to him, but I didn’t have another choice. He deserved the truth. My voice was barely above a whisper, but I got the words out. “I slept with Sam.”

 

Seth moved back as if I had physically punched him in the gut. His face registered shocked disbelief, so I nodded in confirmation as tears ran freely down my cheeks. I saw his features change to disgust, then anger before he whirled around, muttering the words, “I’m going to kill him.” Then he left me standing alone in my kitchen.

 

It took a moment for my wits to return. I called out for him to stop and chased after him, but he was already gone. I silently prayed that the brothers would be able to forgive each other.