Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(37)
“You have to go,” she murmured softly.
I kissed her lips lightly and cupped her face in my hands. “I’ll be back shortly, I promise. I love you, Kori.”
“And I love you.” She smiled and let me go. Turning to walk away, I looked back once to see her trying desperately to hold onto her sweet smile. That smile was the last thing I saw before turning the corner, and it would be the one thing I thought about the whole time I was gone.
Chapter Fifteen
“Are you ready for Mr. Matthews to come home?” Rebecca asked in a sing-song voice. Laughing, I turned from my desk to see her with a huge grin on her face.
“Yes, I’m excited! I don’t see how this week could’ve gone any slower.”
“I know, honey, but all you have is one more appointment and then it should be time for him to come home.” I smiled thinking about that night and knowing that I’d be with Galen, no restrictions or reservations, just me and him. What I consented to at the airport was something I had never done or thought I would ever do in my life. Galen brought out the spontaneity in me, along with an insatiable drive to make love to him. I loved how exhilarating it felt.
“Korinne?”
I snapped to attention at Rebecca’s voice calling my name. “Honey, you need to stop that daydreaming and get on the road or you’ll be late.” Looking swiftly down at my watch, I saw that I was closing in on my appointment time with a new client.
“Damnit! I better get going then.” Rebecca giggled and went back to her desk while I hastily gathered my things. Thinking about Galen was going to interfere with my work if I didn’t watch it. If he was there that week in the office I probably wouldn’t have gotten anything done. Packing up my things, I headed out on my way. The traffic wasn’t too bad, so the drive to my client’s house took less time than I expected. At least I arrived ten minutes ahead of schedule. The gated neighborhood was really nice and set around a golf course. My parents would’ve loved it there, since golf was their favorite thing to do. I tried to learn how, but I never got the hang of it. I pulled into the driveway and exited the car. Sometimes I never knew what to expect with my clients, but I saw that I was in for a surprise when the door opened and …
“Kori?”
Shocked into silence, I stared at what used to be one of my best friends in high school. Melissa was one of the sweetest and down to earth friends I had back then. She was still as beautiful as ever and looked exactly the same. Her red, wavy hair hung past her shoulders and her eyes were still the greenest I’d ever seen. We used to have some fun times together, but then we slowly drifted apart when we went to separate colleges. It was amazing how things like that changed.
“Well, what do we have here?” I squealed excitedly. It was wonderful seeing her again. She squealed right along with me and we tackled each other in hugs.
“Korinne, I had no clue it was you coming! I heard Korinne Anders was the best, but I didn’t know they were talking about you. Come on in!” She laughed while motioning me inside. Her house was amazingly built, and it looked like she had just moved in from how vacant the main room was. There did happen to be some lawn chairs scattered about inside, which I found kind of odd. Glancing around the room, I thought I could hide my skeptical look, but I don’t think I succeeded. Melissa burst out laughing so I turned to look at her, curious to know what she found funny.
“You used to have that same look back in the day when you were thinking about something too hard,” she stated humorously.
I shrugged, still looking at all the surroundings. “Well, I’m just a little surprised that you have this huge house and not much in it except those lawn chairs over there,” I pointed out and laughed.
“See, that’s the thing. I used to have a lot in here, but after my cheating husband and I got divorced he took most of the things from inside. The house was left to me, but I deserved it anyway after what he did to me. I wanted him to take all of his shit from inside here.”
“Wow,” I said, flabbergasted. “We have a lot to catch up on don’t we?”
She sighed. “Yes, we do.”
“Tell me what you want and I’ll see what I can come up with,” I said to her while pointing around the vacant room. Melissa took me through the house and gave me her ideas on what she would like and what I could do for her. After everything was completed, I honestly believed that it was going to be one of my favorite projects. Her ideas mixed with mine were going to make for a gorgeous house. I looked forward to spending more time with her.
“Now that business is taken care of, how about a glass of tea?” Melissa offered.
“Yes, thank you. That would be great.”
Melissa fetched us our tea and motioned for me to follow her. We sat at the patio table on the back porch of her house while we soaked in the sun. The cool, spring breeze was the perfect weather for a break outdoors. That day had been perfect in general. I’d been reunited with one of my childhood friends and I was going to see the man I loved within just a few short hours.
“How long have you been divorced?” I asked her.
She furrowed her brows in concentration. “About a month now, I believe. He had the gall to cheat on me with our neighbor. Can you believe that?”
My eyes went wide in surprise. “Wow! That is … something. What a douche bag.”