Third Chances Read online

  "Of course not. He just recommended the location. And honestly, it sounds a lot cooler than what I had been thinking of doing."

  "Which was?"

  "A fun week in NYC."

  "Isn't that what she wanted?"

  "Psh." Kristen waved her hand through the air. "She didn't know what she wanted. Trust me, this is going to be so much fun."

  I fidgeted with the bracelet on my wrist. Kristen and I didn't exactly have the same idea of what constituted fun. But maybe this week was just what I needed.

  The limo stopped outside of Trump International Hotel. Alina was standing by the doors.

  "Crap, she wasn't supposed to be out here," Layla said.

  "We can just go tell her to grab her luggage." I reached for the door handle.

  Kristen slapped my hand.

  "Ow." I wasn't sure why, but ever since she had started dating Tim, she had started slapping people. Apparently Tim was into that or something.

  "She can't see us coming. It's supposed to be a kidnapping."

  "But I guess even if she sees us coming, she won't have any idea what we're going to do," Layla said. "It'll probably be fine. And at least this way she won't be scared that she's actually being kidnapped by strangers."

  Kristen nodded. "Okay, I guess this can work. I kind of wanted her to think it was real, but you're right. This is probably safer."

  Before I could ask them what the plan was, they were already climbing out of the limo. Shit. I quickly followed them toward the front of the building.

  When Alina saw us, a huge smile spread across her face. Her wedding wasn't for a few more weeks, but this was the only time the four of us could all get together. I couldn't help but feel a little bad. She had wanted a fun girls week in the city. And we were giving her...well, I had no idea what we were giving her. Kristen better not have planned anything too crazy.

  Alina squealed. "You guys, I'm so excited to see all of you! What do you want to do first? I heard the musical..."

  Her voice was muffled when Layla threw a black pillowcase over her head.

  "What the hell are you doing?" I said, way louder than I meant to. And where the heck did that pillowcase come from? People walking by on the street were starting to stare at us. Even though Alina's voice was muffled, the thin pillowcase did not exactly cover up her screaming.

  Kristen pulled the keycard out of Alina's pocket and tossed it at me. "Go get her suitcase. And check to make sure her passport is there. Bryce promised he would sneak it into the front pouch before she left."

  "I'm not..."

  But Kristen and Layla we're already pulling Alina toward the limo. Pretty much everyone on this side of the street was staring at us. A few people were on their cell phones. Were they calling the police? I didn't want to get arrested for pretending to kidnap someone. Or maybe it wouldn't even count as pretend. Technically we were taking Alina somewhere she didn't know without her consent.

  "Daphne, let's go! Our flight leaves soon! Room 917!"

  Crap! Now everyone on the sidewalk knew my name and my name alone. I couldn't go to prison! I turned around and ran into the hotel, almost knocking over an old man who was coming out.

  "I'm sorry," I said as I stumbled into the hotel. I looked completely out of place in the ornate lobby. It was all gold and mirrors and there was a very judgy looking woman behind the front counter.

  I smiled awkwardly and walked over to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed behind me, I leaned against the wall. What was wrong with my friends? You didn't have to throw a pillowcase over someone's head and lie to them in order to surprise them. We could have just told Alina where we were going and it would have been a surprise. Not that I even knew where we were going.

  I shook my head as I made my way onto the ninth floor. According to the sign, room 917 was to the right. I slid the key into the lock and opened it up when the light turned green. If the cops weren't about to show up and my friends weren't waiting for me, I would have just stayed in this room forever. I walked over to the view of Central Park. It was breathtaking. I had never seen Central Park like this.

  Focus. I turned around and found Alina's suitcase. It looked like she hadn't had time to unpack anything yet. I opened up the front pouch and found the passport exactly where Kristen said it would be. I smiled at the sticky note Bryce had left on it.

  "I love you, Alina. And I can't wait to marry you. Have fun with your friends...but not like ITA tiebreaker fun. Just like, normal person fun. I'll be counting down the days until I see you again.

  P.S. Hopefully this morning will tide you over until the next time I see you.

  Love,

  Bryce

  I stuffed her passport back into the suitcase. I couldn't deny the fact that I was envious of their relationship. Alina and Bryce were perfect together. Them together just made sense. It was never like that for me and any of my previous boyfriends. But I wasn't exactly sure why I was envious. It wasn't like I had been looking for a relationship recently. I was focusing on my job. It's the middle of the summer, liar.

  I shook away the thought and quickly left the hotel room. I needed to get back into that limo before my stupid friends got me sent to prison.

  Chapter 2

  Daphne

  Before leaving the hotel, I tried to discretely look both ways. The limo was still sitting there, and there didn't appear to be any cops around. It seemed like the coast was clear. And if I didn't leave soon, the judgy girl at the check-in desk would surely call the police.

  I opened the door and walked as quickly as I could toward the limo.

  "Daphne?" a man said from behind me.

  I'm too young to die! "Nope, wrong person." I picked up my pace.

  "Daphne! Wait!"

  I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and it nearly caused me to scream. Not that screaming at the cops would help anything.

  "It's Rick. Justin's father. We met at that lacrosse game?"

  Rick? I turned my head and looked up at him. "Oh." I laughed. "Rick, right. It's good to see you again." I did remember him. One of my coworkers had gotten sick and I had to work the food stand at the lacrosse game. I avoided school sports like the plague. Mostly because people usually assumed I was a student instead of a teacher. Which wasn't really a problem, but I wanted my students to respect me. Not flirt with me.

  But during that lacrosse game, no students had flirted with me because Rick had been too busy monopolizing my time. I had made sure to tell him right away that I was a teacher. I remembered going through my mental checklist. He was intelligent, had a good job, and was definitely handsome. He had a few gray hairs that somehow made him look even sexier and more distinguished. But there were two red flags. One - he was quite a bit older than me. Two - he was one of my students' fathers. The first issue wouldn't have mattered so much if the second wasn't such a huge deal breaker. I would never date any of my students' parents. Ever. It was completely unprofessional.

  He smiled. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to spook you."

  "Oh, yeah, I'm great. I'm just...in a hurry." I looked over at the limo. I was sure my friends were all watching me. Except for Alina. Since she had a pillowcase on her head for some ridiculous reason.

  "I see. Heading out of town?"

  "Yup," I said lamely. It wasn't like I could tell him where I was going, because I had no idea. "How's Justin?"

  "He's good. Studying for his SATs."

  "That's great. It's such a shame when kids don't use their minds all summer." Well, I certainly sound like a boring grown up.

  He smiled. "I couldn't agree more. Actually, I'm glad I ran into you. I know that you don't date your students' parents. But it is summer. Technically, Justin isn't your student right now."

  I laughed awkwardly. So he wants a casual summer fling? There was red flag number three. "I'm sorry Rick, but I really don't think it would be a good idea for us to go out."

  "Please don't tell me it's because Justin has a crush on you? You know kids, it's fleeting
."

  What the fuck? Red flag number four. I laughed awkwardly again. "No, it has nothing to do with that." Well, maybe it does a little now.

  He grabbed his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a business card. "I'm just asking for one date, Daphne. Give me a chance to change your mind." He handed me the card.

  Four red flags? I don't think so. "I'll think about it." I put the card into the front pouch of Alina's suitcase. I didn't need it. There was no way for me to rationalize why it would be okay for me to date him. Even though I hadn't been on a date in months. Just visualizing Justin calling me mommy was enough to make me forget about how sexy and distinguished Rick was. Things were on my checklist for a reason. If I just abandoned principles, there would be no reason for a list.

  "I hope you have fun on your vacation."

  "Thanks."

  "And I hope to hear from you soon." He smiled. "Bye, Daphne."

  "Bye, Rick." Hopefully I would never see him again. I pulled Alina's suitcase toward the limo.

  Layla opened the door and poked her head out. "Ow ow!" she screamed.

  My face probably turned bright red.

  I turned around to see Rick smiling. He winked at me and I quickly climbed into the limo.

  "What is wrong with you?" I said.

  "Who's the silver fox?" Layla asked, ignoring my question.

  "One of my students' fathers."

  "He's sexy as hell."

  I looked out the limo at Rick walking away. He might be sexy, but he wasn't what I was looking for. What am I looking for? "I guess," I said instead.

  "You guess? I'd let him do terrible things to me," Kristen said. She stood up and hit her head on the ceiling of the limo. "Ow. Why do they design everything in the world for short people?"

  I laughed. "They don't. You're just abnormally tall. You two have both had too much to drink." I grabbed the champagne bottle that had ended up in Layla's hand. "Layla, you're married to Ethan. Who, by the way, is such a catch. And Kristen, you're dating Tim. And apparently you like him for some reason. Kristen, sit down."

  Kristen made a pouty face and sat back down in her seat. "You know Tim is a catch. Don't even, Daphne. Isn't Tim a catch, Alina?"

  "Can you please take this thing off my fucking head?" Alina screamed through the pillowcase.

  "Maybe we should gag her too," Layla said.

  I wasn't sure why, but I started laughing really hard and I couldn't seem to stop. Which made Layla and Kristen start laughing too.

  "If any of you touch me, I will punch you so hard in the boob," Alina said.

  "That's why we tied her hands," Kristen said.

  We all just started laughing harder.

  "Oh my God, we should take that thing off her head," I said when I was able to breathe again. "We've already successfully kidnapped her."

  "Not until we get to our destination," Kristen said.

  Layla laughed. "There's no way she can get through security like that."

  "Security?" Alina said. "Are we going to the airport? Where are you idiots taking me?!"

  Kristen slapped Layla's arm. "Way to give it away. Fine, I guess we can let you see and untie you now that you know we're heading to the airport." She scooted over to Alina, pulled off the pillowcase, and untied her hands.

  Alina immediately punched her in the boob.

  "Shit that hurts!" Kristen grabbed her right breast.

  "What is wrong with you guys?!" Alina yelled.

  "What's wrong with us? You just titty punched me!"

  "Yeah...I told you I was going to do that. I don't know why you didn't believe me." Alina started laughing. "Momma Bear! Why would you let them do this to me?" Alina collapsed on the seat beside me.

  Momma Bear. I sighed. You would think being an accessory to kidnapping would rid you of the nickname Momma Bear. Maybe I needed to live on the edge more. Maybe I should date students' parents and drink champagne in the morning. Ugh. There was no way I'd change my mind about the first one. But champagne in the morning? Why the hell not? I took a sip from the bottle I had confiscated from Layla. Besides, I hated flying. Hopefully this would help calm me down before takeoff.

  Chapter 3

  Daphne

  Kristen held the tickets to her chest. "Are you ladies ready to find out where we're heading this weekend?"

  "Yes," Alina, Layla, and I all agreed.

  "Well, too bad. All I'm telling you right now is that we need to go to gate A."

  "Isn't that for international flights?" I asked.

  "Mhm," Kristen said and clapped her hands together.

  "Kristen, I didn't bring my passport," Alina said. "Why didn't you just tell me what we were doing? This is a disaster."

  "Actually, you do have your passport," I said and unzipped the front pouch of her suitcase. I grabbed the passport and sticky note that Bryce had left her and handed them to her.

  Alina smiled as she read Bryce's note.

  "You're marrying the most agreeable, sweetest guy on the planet," Kristen said. "He was totally down for helping trick you."

  Alina looked up from the sticky note. She looked so happy and so in love.

  And there was that feeling again. Just a hint of jealousy had somehow weaseled itself into my thoughts. I tried to shake the thought away. When had I become envious of my friends getting married? How could I even be jealous when I wasn't even dating anyone right now? I was so far away from marriage it wasn't even funny. Maybe that was the problem. But it shouldn't be a problem. I was only 23. It was fine that I hadn't found my soul mate yet. I still had time. I had at least ten more years of prime fertility. There was definitely plenty of time.

  "Earth to Daphne," Kristen said and waved her hand in front of my face. "Don't you have a guess about where we're going?"

  Apparently they had been trying to get my attention while I was figuring out how long I had until I ran out of eggs. "Um...the Bahamas?"

  "Layla already guessed that."

  "Right. The Dominican Republic?"

  "Nope."

  We made it to gate A. Kristen was eventually going to have to fork over our tickets in order for us to get through customs.

  "Drum roll, please," said Kristen.

  Alina slapped her hands against her thighs.

  "Costa Rica!"

  "Ah!" Alina threw her arms around Kristen. "You remembered!"

  I laughed. In college, the three of us had wanted to go to Costa Rica for spring break. But all of our parents had told us we weren't allowed to leave the country. We had ended up at Ft. Lauderdale in Florida. It was like Kristen had planned the trip we had all wanted to take that year.

  But there was an uneasiness in my stomach. I may have wanted to go to Costa Rica in college, but I didn't want to go now. I looked down at the bracelet on my wrist. All I wanted was to go back to my apartment and curl up on the couch with a good book. I took a deep breath. I just needed to focus on Alina's bachelorette party.

  "I feel totally out of the loop right now," Layla said.

  Alina released Kristen from her hug. "We wanted to go there for spring break in college, but our parents wouldn't let us."

  "Well, they had a good reason. We all saw what happened when you left the country during the ITAs."

  Alina's face got slightly red. "Can we please not talk about that? How many times do I have to say it was a mistake?"

  "That was no mistake, honey," Layla said. "It was a fucking miracle."

  Alina laughed. "Well no matter what it was, that's not going to be happening on this trip. I told Kristen I wanted a nice, calm, bachelorette week get together. I didn't even call it a party."

  "Yeah, nice and calm," Kristen said. "Of course. What kind of maid of honor would I be if I didn't get you exactly what you asked for?"

  "It's going to be fucking crazy," Kristen mouthed silently to me.

  Oh God. I thought again about how there wasn't any information about the Blue Parrot Resort online. I wished Kristen was kidding, but it really didn't seem like s
he was. If she was taking us to one of those private island fuck pads where everyone cheated on each other, I'd be punching her in the boob next.

  ***

  My heart starting racing as soon as the engines roared to life.

  Alina squeezed my arm. "You do know that flying is safer than driving, right?"

  "I know that statistically that's true. But it's a huge metal tube that just flies. It doesn't make any sense!"

  "You're a high school teacher. How do you not understand physics?"

  "Science was never my thing."

  "The future of our children's education is doomed." She put her hand to her forehead.

  "Oh, stop being dramatic. They'll be perfectly prepared in calculus after I'm done with them."

  "Which is such a useful skill."

  "It is useful! Math is so underrated. You use it every day."

  "I don't."

  "You have to measure stuff for baking. Like adding fractions and stuff. And doubling recipes and all that goodness."

  "I have all my recipes memorized. And I've always been more of a handful and a pinch person than a cup and a teaspoon person. And Bryce handles all the financial stuff for me. I live a math free life and I love it."

  I rolled my eyes. "Fine. But I use calculus every day."

  "Only because you teach that useless skill to kids every day." Alina pointed out the window.

  I turned. She had successfully distracted me during takeoff. "Thanks." I leaned back in my seat.

  "Speaking of which," Alina said. "Did any sexy football players have crushes on you this year?"

  I laughed. "I don't know why you always assume my students have crushes on me."

  "Because you're hot," Kristen said. "And students always have crushes on their hot teachers. It's a fact."

  "But I'm like five years older than my oldest student."

  "Age doesn't matter. It's just about the hotness. And you being in charge and all that. It's sexy. And so off limits. All the guys probably drool over you."