Second Chances

They walked for a moment in silence, and then as if he couldn’t stand it another moment, Brian spoke. “You know, it WASN’T a mistake.”

“Yes, it was,” she said gently.

“Why?”

Jenn had to close her eyes briefly at the impossible irony. She’d wanted this man for years. YEARS. She’d kept her distance when he dated and then married Leighanne, but she’d never stopped wanting him. If anything, the years and their continued friendship had made her want him more. Yet now here she was, about to talk him out of the kind of relationship she’d ever only dreamed of having.

“Because I need you to help me change Jennifer’s future.”

“But you’re Jennifer, and Jennifer is YOU,” he argued.

Yes, she was Jennifer, but Jennifer wasn’t her. Jennifer hadn’t made the mistakes that she’s made. Jennifer hadn’t been tainted by her connection to Merlin.

“Here’s what I think we should do,” Jenn said to Brian as they crossed the parking lot of her motel. “You should go back to your hotel, and tomorrow night go over to the Labor Day party at the Hard Rock and….”

Jenn had seen the car approaching. She’d been watching it out of the corner of one eye. It was moving fast, bouncing jarringly over the speed bumps. But it was the fact that the windows were tinted and the front passenger’s window—the side nearest them—was rolled slightly down that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

She was reacting even before she saw the slight movement at the window, even before her mind registered the fact that that was, indeed, the barrel of a gun being aimed at them. She pulled Brian down between two cars, dragging him to cover as an assault rifle was fired from the car. Bullets slammed into the cars around them, breaking windows and tearing into the metal with a terrible screeching sound.

And as quickly as it had started, it was over. The car was speeding away with a squeal of tires.

Jenn realized she had thrown herself on top of Brian in a ludicrous attempt to shield him from the bullets with her body. A drowning wave of panic washed over her as she pushed herself off of him, terrified that the future was repeating itself. Please God, don’t let him have been hit………

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