Page 18 of Second Chances

She watched his eyes turn dark, and she realized that maybe he had experienced more in his past than she’d first believed.

“You?” she asked.

He motioned towards the French doors that led out towards Crystal’s garden area.

She walked over, opened the door, and stepped out into the warm summer evening with Todd at her back. She didn’t stop until they reached the bench in the center of Crystal’s little oasis.

“This is impressive,” he said, looking around.

“You should see it in full daylight,” she suggested as she sat down.

He walked over and sat next to her.

“After my father died, my mother… turned into someone else.” He leaned back in the chair. “It wasn’t necessarily the pinching, the slaps, or the pushes that hurt. It was the names, the verbal abuse, that stung the most.” He sighed. “Mental abuse can last years; bruises fade in days.”

She had never heard anyone else describe it so well. Then again, she’d never talked to anyone else about it. Everyone seemed so concerned about bringing it up around her that they remained silent.

“Sometimes the silence hurts as much as words,” she said. She stilled when she realized she’d said it out loud.

“It’s better to talk about it than to keep it bottled inside,” he suggested. “I spent almost two years hiding from the truth.”

“The truth?”

“About my mother. The first couple years I was in the Army, I kept everything bottled inside.”

“What changed?”

“I met friends. People who had gone through similar childhoods.” He reached over and took her hand in his. “The moment I was accepted into the Special Operations Forces, I took the chance and opened up to my team after a few of the others started talking in training. It was the best thing I ever did.”

She thought about opening up to someone. Anyone. Just to let them know what she’d gone through, what Brock had done to her. The hell she’d lived in for years and had been too ashamed to admit, sometimes even to herself.

But the fact was, it was far too soon to open up to Todd.

“Thank you for talking to Simona,” she said, changing the subject quickly. “I’ve had a few talks with her about stuff like that, but coming from you, I’ll think she’ll finally listen.”

He smiled and dropped her hand. “I’d better get going.” He stood up. “See you Thursday?”

She nodded and then watched him walk away. Part of her wanted to call him back, to tell him everything, this man that she’d only met yesterday. But she just watched him walk away, realizing she couldn’t wait until Thursday.

When she walked into the kitchen, Simona was sitting on the counter next to CJ. The pair of them were laughing as they ate popsicles.

“Everything okay?” she asked, walking over to lean on the counter next to Kayla.

“Yes, Simona was just telling us how it’s okay sometimes to hit, but not when it’s your best friend.” Kayla glanced at her, and Olivia understood that the kids had made up. She also understood the love in Kayla’s eyes. Their kids had admitted that they were best friends.

For the next hour, the party raged on, as much as a party that included the young and the old alike could rage on. Kids ran around the house, ate sugar, ran some more, grew tired, and bugged their parents until finally everyone was shuffling out of the house.

Olivia carried a very sleepy Simona into the house and figured that she’d have to make at least two more rounds to the car to gather all the presents she’d been given, including Todd’s flowers.

Simona had talked about them the entire ride home while holding them up to her face.

“These are my first ever flowers,” she’d said several times. “Boys are supposed to give girls flowers, right?”

“Some boys do,” she had said, glancing back at her daughter in the mirror, only to realize she’d fallen asleep with her face in the soft fragrant petals.

Olivia had to admit, she was sort of jealous. She’d never gotten flowers from a man. Ever.

Brock had never gone for that sort of thing and always brushed off anniversaries, birthdays, or holidays, claiming it was just a ploy to make businesses more money.