Second Thoughts and Second Chances

Blasted dream. Three nights in a row.

A deep snore rumbled up from the floor and Anni rubbed her eyes in confusion. She slept alone. In the next moment she remembered why Steven was there. He'd stumbled in from his bachelor party and made it as far as the floor.

Too noisy for her to get back to sleep, she carefully crawled from under the covers and padded out the bedroom and down the hall.

Nerves engulfed her and she stood at the threshold of the living room, chewing on her lip. Why was she out here?

To get a drink, to calm your nerves.

That's what she told herself anyway, but she just continued to stand in indecision, peering through the darkness.

With no guest bedroom, Adam, Steven's best man, was relegated to sleeping on the fold out. The open concept of the floor plan was Anni's favorite part of the apartment. Even so, she couldn't make out Adam's big form lying on the couch.

The scrape of a plastic chair on concrete dropped her heart to her feet. The porch light was off but someone was enjoying the early fall that had visited them. Frank the weather man said it would dip to 65 tonight.

Adam loved the cold.

Again ignoring her good sense, Anni held her breath and instinctively, foolishly, moved toward the door.

Just a little peek, and it's straight back to bed.

Anni pushed the curtain back just an inch and her eyes hungrily sought the chair bathed in iridescent light. She realized it was empty as the door suddenly swung in. Light spilled over her and she took a nervous step backward. A thought skated across her mind that she was standing there in her pajamas, but all she could think of was that he had come. She'd had a terrible feeling he might miss her wedding.

Anni had known Adam all her life, but instead of seeing Steven's best friend before her, all she could see standing there with those big arms folded across his chest was the man of her dreams.

Man in her dreams, she meant.

Blasted dreams.

That thought had her standing, embarrassingly tongue tied, staring up at his soft caramel eyes. A shaky breath cleared her head a bit and she smiled hesitantly, "I was wondering where you were."

His full lips tightened. "Were ye?" short and curt.

Nothing had changed, those soft eyes suddenly filled with irritation and pity. It made her want to disappear. Curl up and hide. Cry.

It shouldn't matter to her any longer. She'd moved on.

Then why did it seem to matter so very much? She couldn't blame him, it was pretty pathetic the way her heart danced at just the site of him. How could a heart forget being deserted so many times, no matter the reason, or ignore his obvious antipathy?

She didn't know how, but her foolish heart lifted in gladness anyway.

Pitiful, indeed.