A New Beginning (Second Chance #1) (17 page)

            
 
The next few days passed in a blur for Rylee. Her friends were very supportive and were always there when she needed a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen. They never once complained about her mood changes. They were the best friends a girl could ask for. Her mom had come home on Wednesday and they were supposed to have the test results back today.

When Rylee walked into her house with Karla, Callie and Conner her mom was sitting on the couch. She had her phone in her hand and was staring vacantly at the wall. Rylee walked over to her and sat down. “Mom, you okay?”

“Huh? What’d you say honey?”

“Mom are you okay?”

“Yeah honey. I’m okay. Just waiting for the doctor to call. Why hasn’t he called yet?”

“I don’t know mom, but I’m sure he’ll call soon.”

“Yeah. I hope.” Mrs. Parks said as she looked around and noticed the others in the room. “Oh, hello. I didn’t see y’all there. How are y’all doing?”

“We’re doing okay Mrs. Parks. Just wanted to be here for Ry in case she needed us.” Conner answered her.

“Y’all have been great friends to her through this. Where’s Dominic? Isn’t he usually with y’all lately?”

“He had to go home and watch his little brother, mom. I’m going to call him later and let him know what’s going on.”

“Oh. Ok. How are you..?” Mrs. Parks began, but was interrupted by the phone ringing. She just sat there and held it in her hand instead of answering it.

“Mom. Answer it. It’s got to be the doctor.”

“Huh? Yeah. Ok.” She said as she pressed the answer button and put it to her ear. “Hello?”

“May I speak with Helen Parks please?” The voice on the other line said

“This is she.”

“This is Martha with Dr. Grayson’s office. Your test results are in and Dr. Grayson wanted you and your husband to come into the office so he can go over them with you. Can you come in today?”

“Yes. My husband’s at work, but I’ll call him and have him meet me. I can be there in ten minutes.”

“Okay ma’am. I’ll let Dr. Grayson know. Thank you. Bye.”

“Bye.” Mrs. Parks said before she turned and looked at the kids. “I have to go to the doctor’s office. I’ll call Nathan on the way and he can meet me at the entrance and go up with me. I’ll be back as soon as I can be. If you leave call me so I know where you are.”

“I will mom. Be careful. Maybe you should get Jenn or Jess to drive you.”

“No. I’m okay to drive. I’ll call you when I get there. I promise. I love you honey. Oh, Harper’s at the Peterson’s so you don’t have to worry about her. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“We’ll be here mom. I love you too.” When her mom was gone she turned to everyone. “I guess we’d better do our homework before she gets back. I want you all to stay with me. I don’t want to be alone.”

“We will never leave you alone Rylee.” Karla assured her. “We’ll always be here.”

“I know you will. Now let’s get this History work finished so we can start on writing that play for Lit. I love writing.”

For the next hour they worked on their homework. They came up with an idea of their play and outlined it. It was going to be a play about four best friends who find themselves in unbelievable situations. They were working on the first scene when Rylee’s mom came home.

“Rylee, I need to talk to you in the kitchen a minute. Can you get Ryan too please?”

“Sure mom. Be right there.” When her mom walked out of the room Rylee turned to her friends. “I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll be here.” Conner said as Rylee ran up the stairs to get Ryan. They came back down less than a minute later and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Okay mom. What’s going on?”

“It’s not cancer.” She answered with a huge smile.

“Oh mom. That’s fantastic news. What is it?”

“It’s a mass of scar tissue that formed after I had Ryan. I am going to have to have surgery to remove it, but it’s not life threatening. I’ll be going in to have the surgery early next week and will be home the next day.”

“So you’re going to be alright mom?” Ryan asked tentatively.

“Yes honey. I’m going to be just fine.”

Ryan smiled and curled up in her lap in the chair.

“I’m so happy that you’re alright mom. I love you.” Rylee hugged her mom and Mrs. Parks wrapped her arm around her.

“I love you too honey.”

“I’m going to go tell my friends and text Dominic. They’ll be thrilled.”

“Okay honey.”

Rylee bounced out of the kitchen and back into the family room to her friends. “Guess what guys. It’s not cancer.”

The room erupted in cheers and clapping. “That’s AWESOME” Karla said as she got up and wrapped Rylee in a hug.

“Today is a GREAT day.” Rylee said with a huge smile. “Now let’s finish our homework.”

They all broke out in laughter and finished their homework with lighter hearts and huge smiles.

            
 
The next three weeks passed swiftly. Mrs. Parks had her surgery and was recovering well. For the first week after the surgery Leslie went over to help her with Harper and around the house.

Karla, Rylee, Conner and Callie wrote their play and got an A on it. The class was going to be acting out all the plays after the Thanksgiving break and they couldn’t wait. Their play was chosen to be acted out first.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving Leslie invited all of Karla’s friends and their families over for Thanksgiving dinner. The only ones that couldn’t make it were Dominic and Chase. They were both going to be out of town visiting family.

On Thanksgiving morning Karla awoke earlier than normal and headed downstairs after throwing on some jeans and a t-shirt. She’d promised to help Leslie cook and Leslie had promised to teach her how to bake pies. When she made it downstairs Leslie was already in the kitchen and had the turkey in one oven and the ham in the other. “Good morning Karla. Come over here and I’ll teach you how to make a pumpkin pie.”

“I’ve never tried pumpkin pie before.” Karla said as she walked to where Leslie was standing at the island. “Holidays with Grams and Pops were always quiet, usually just the three of us, and holidays with Diane were, well, nonexistent.”

“You’ll love it and by the end of the morning you’ll not only know how to make pumpkin pie, but you’ll also know how to make apple pie, pecan pie, carrot cake and banana nut bread.” Leslie smiled at her before she continued. “I talked to Karen and Helen and got everyone’s favorite desert. I know you love apple pie and the banana nut bread is Andrew’s. By the way, Conner is an apple pie person too.”

Leslie taught her what ingredients to use and how to mix them for each desert. She showed her how to make a buttery pie crust and how to do the lattice design on top of the apple pie. Just as the timer dinged letting them know that the ham was ready to come out of the oven the doorbell rang. They heard Andrew yell “I got it” from the family room and continued with their work. Just as they put the pies in the oven Meghan, Bob’s wife, came into the kitchen. “Hey Leslie, Karla, how’s it going?”

“Just got the pies in the oven and as soon as the turkey’s done I’ll put the cake in that one. Then all I have is the banana bread and dressing. I cooked the green bean casserole earlier and can heat it back up when the cake comes out.”

“Wow Leslie. You have enough food to feed an army. With you, Andrew, Karla, Bob, Harvey and me there’s only six. How many more are you expecting?”

“Let’s see, there’s the Newberrys; there are eight of them, and the McNabb, Park bunch; there are eight of them as well. So with us six that makes twenty-two. Nine of whom are teenagers.”

“Wow that’s a lot of people.” Meghan said just as the doorbell rang again.

“I’ll get it.” Karla said quickly. She wanted to get away from this conversation.

As soon as she opened the door she was greeted with smiling faces and the identical blue eyes of Conner and Callie. “Happy Thanksgiving!” Callie said as she hugged Karla.

“Happy Thanksgiving to you too. The men are upstairs in the entertainment room watching football.” She wished she could be, but she’d made a promise to Leslie and she intended to keep it.

Conner looked at his dad, his brothers and Jason. “Football. Want to go watch?”

“Oh yeah.” His dad said.

“Duh little bro.” Was Kevin’s response

“Lead the way.” Was all Dylan said.

“Guess we’ll see you when it’s time to eat.” Conner smiled at Karla. “You have a little flour on your shirt and here.” He touched her nose before slipping past her and lightly tugging her ponytail as he started upstairs. She couldn’t stop smiling as she led the women into the kitchen.

“You all know Leslie. This is Meghan, she’s Leslie’s sister-in-law. Meghan, this is Karen, Kelsey and Callie Newberry. Mark, Conner, Kevin, Jason and Dylan went upstairs to watch football.”

“Nice to meet you Meghan. Girls, can you three go to the car and get the things we brought? It isn’t much because you said you had it handled, but I couldn’t come empty handed and I know you’ve been busy helping Helen since her surgery so I wanted to bring what I could. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Thank you.”

When the girls got back they were carrying cookies and brownies, Macaroni and cheese, and hash brown casserole. “Oh my gosh, this smells wonderful.” Karla said as she set the hash brown casserole on the counter. “I cannot wait to try some of it.”

“What else needs to be done Leslie?” Karen asked, but before Leslie could answer the doorbell rang again.

“Rylee’s here!” Karla and Callie said together then ran to answer the door.

“You’d think those three hadn’t seen each other in a month with the way they’re acting. They were just hanging out at my house yesterday.” Karen laughed at the memory of them locking Kevin out of the game room yesterday.

Less than two minutes later they were back. “Mrs. Parks, Jess, Jenn, Rylee this is Meghan, Leslie’s sister-in-law. Meghan this is Helen, Jess and Jenn Parks and Rylee McNabb. Harper went upstairs with Nathan, Jason and Ryan. She was asleep so I told them they could put her down in the playpen you have set up for her.”

“Well it looks like everyone’s here. It’s almost time to take the turkey out and put the cake in. The pies should be done in a few minutes and I’ll put the banana bread in when they come out. All we have left to do is peel potatoes for mashed potatoes. Karla and I make a great team in the kitchen. She catches on so fast to everything, and I’m not talking about just in the kitchen either.” Leslie smiled warmly at Karla and turned to get the turkey out when the timer dinged.

“I know what you mean.” Helen said with a fond look at Rylee. “Rylee’s the same way. She’s always been like that. It’s always amazed me too.”

“Cal and Con have too. I’ve always wondered if it was genetics that just skipped over our older kids.” Karen laughed at Kelsey’s scowl. “I mean Mark is brilliant and I was always top in my class. Granted we did both work really hard for what we’ve attained.”

“Genetics doesn’t have anything to do with it and neither does how you were raised. If that were the case I’d be destined for a life of dead-end jobs and deadbeat men.” Karla shook from head to toe. Her hurt and fear starting to rise to the surface. “I’m going to set the table now. Excuse me.” She grabbed a stack of plates and walked into the dining room that she and Leslie had set up the night before.

“Way to go mom.” Callie said and followed Karla into the dining room.

Rylee looked from the stunned faces of the adults to the door her friends disappeared into and back again. “I know you didn’t mean anything bad Mrs. Newberry. I don’t know how much you know about Karla’s background and it isn’t my place to say anything, but she didn’t have the same childhood as Callie and Conner, or even me. She never really knew a stable home until now and sometimes certain things just hit her wrong. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does she always runs away because she thinks something, or someone, is going to hurt her for her reactions. She’s not as scared anymore and that’s great, but sometimes she reacts before she thinks and then regrets it later. She’ll come around, just give her time. I’m going to go talk to her and Callie. Maybe I can get them to calm down and come back in here.” Rylee hugged her and followed her friends.

“Me and my big mouth.” Karen said after Rylee walked out. “I’m really sorry Leslie. I would never hurt that child for anything.”

“It’s okay Karen. We don’t tip-toe around the issue with Karla and we don’t want anyone else to either. Like Rylee said, she usually doesn’t have that reaction. Maybe it’s the holiday. We were talking about her grandparents earlier when we were making pies, she was telling me some things she remembered, and maybe she’s still thinking about them.”

“I hope that’s it. I would really hate to think that I did anything.” Karen was worried that she’d somehow hurt Karla.

****

“Karla what’s wrong?” Rylee asked as she entered the dining room.

“I don’t know. I have no idea why that bothered me. Things like that don’t get to me often, you know that. Maybe it’s because of the holiday. Leslie and I were talking about Grams and Pops earlier and maybe that’s why.” Karla’s eyes filled with tears when she thought about her grandparents.

“You both know she didn’t mean anything when she said that right?” When both Callie and Karla nodded Rylee continued. “Cal you need to apologize to your mom. She’s pretty hurt and worried. Karla, you need to let her know that you’re alright. They’re all worried about you.”

“Let’s get this table set and we’ll all go back in there and talk to her. I don’t want her to think I’m upset with her because I’m not. I’m upset in general today and I wish Manuel and Kiara could be here. We’ve all been so busy that we haven’t had a chance to really talk lately. Manuel is working and going to school and Kiara is busy with school. I miss them. I’m sorry I’m a downer today. Forgive me?”

“Always. Now let’s get this table set so we can go back in there and make Mrs. Newberry feel better.”

Less than ten minutes later they walked back into the kitchen and Karla immediately walked over to Mrs. Newberry and hugged her. “I’m sorry. You didn’t say anything wrong. I’m having an emotional day that I can’t really explain. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course I can Karla. I have no idea what you’re going through but I’m here if you need me. Now can you forgive me?”

“Definitely.” She smiled at Mrs. Newberry before she turned to Leslie. “What else needs to be done?”

Callie approached her mom. “I’m sorry mom. I reacted without thinking. I know you would never say anything to hurt one of my friends. Can you forgive me mom?”

“Oh honey. I’ll always forgive you for anything. You’re my baby.”

“Baby by four and a half minutes.” Callie said with a laugh.

“Four and a half minutes or four and a half years, it doesn’t matter. You’re my last born so you’re my baby.”

“Okay. Enough mushy stuff.” Karla said as she came up beside them. “Leslie said the food’s almost ready. Want to come with Rylee and me to get the guys? We’re going to need their help getting all the food into the dining room.”

“Yep. Let’s go. Back in a minute mom.”

They ran upstairs, but before they went into the entertainment room Karla detoured to her room. “I need to change my shirt. I have flour on this one.” She darted into her closet and was out less than a minute later wearing an emerald green sweater that hung over her hips and complimented her skinny jeans and calf boots perfectly. She went into her bathroom and washed her face then pulled her hair out of the ponytail and brushed it, leaving it long and loose to hang down her back to her waist. After she applied a little lip gloss she walked out and into her room. “Okay. Let’s go get the guys now.”

Callie and Rylee exchanged a knowing look before they followed her out and into the entertainment room.

“Hey guys. Dinner’s ready and we need your help carrying everything into the dining room.” Karla said as they walked into the room.

“Food? You said food?” Andrew said and stood up. “Come on guys. Let’s go help the ladies so we can eat.”

As they filed out of the room Harper started to cry from the other room. “I got this. You guys all go down and we’ll be down in a minute.” Karla told them and walked to the other room.

After she was gone Conner looked at Callie and Rylee. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Okay Con. Just don’t take too long.” Callie replied as she cast another knowing look at Rylee and walked out the door.

Conner stood at the door and watched Karla for a minute before he walked in. “Karla, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure Conner. What’s up?”

“I swore to myself that I wouldn’t do this, but I can’t hold it back anymore.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them he stared straight into hers. “I like you. I like you a lot, but I’m scared because I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“I like you too.”

“You do?”

“Yes I do. I have since we met. I’m scared too though.”

“So what do we do?”

“I have no idea Conner. I’ve never liked anyone before. I’ve never had the chance.”

“I don’t want to risk our friendship, it’s too important to me.”

Karla wanted more than just friendship with him, but she was scared. “How about, for now, we just leave things as they are? You’re one of my best friends and I don’t want to do anything to ruin that friendship. Deal?”

“Deal.” Conner smiled down at her as she sat with Harper on her lap. “Now let’s go down before they come looking for us.”

Karla stood up with Harper in her arms and they walked down the stairs and into the dining room together.