Everyone Deserves a Second Chance by Alyssa Shannon Page B

hall.
    Marcus studied the
office. Two impressive degrees were hung in silver frames behind
the desk on the wall. Several pictures scattered her desktop,
most pictures of her little girl, but a few showed the smiling
face of a young man with a bushy mustache. Her former husband he
guessed. To the other side of the room there were a collection of
chairs and a couch surrounding an inviting antique coffee table.
Filing cabinets and well-stocked bookshelves covered the rest of
the far wall and the back of the room. A basket of childrens toys
overflowed beside the couch. The overall decoration was both
tasteful and inviting.
    When she came back in she
held a cup of steaming coffee and motioned him over to the chairs
and couch. As he seated himself across from her she took a sip of
coffee and set it down on the end table beside her.
    "I'm not sure how
this all works. Or what you cost or anything."
    "Don't worry about
that. Today I just want you to talk." She folded her hands
in her lap and looked across at him.
    "Okay… about
yesterday—"
    "Where you born here
in Nevada?" She interrupted.
    "Yeah, yeah I was.
One of my great grandfather's came out this way during the gold
rush. He never made it to California. From what I've been told,
he met a saloon girl in town and she was more gold then he ever
wanted. My family has been out here ever since."
    "So you inherited
your property from him?"
    "My spread? Naw,
that was my own doing. I worked for the guy who used to run the
place. Jack Lawrence. He got sick two years back and left the
spread for us when he died. He knew how much we loved it there.
He was a great old guy."
    "So your parent's
are still around then?"
    "My dad died when I
was pretty young. My mom passed away a few months before Mr.
Lawrence did. They'd had a thing going between the two of them
for years. One of the reasons I was always over at his place. He
was like a father to me, Mr. Lawrence was. When my mom got breast
cancer he was devastated. He got sick soon after she died."
Marcus paused and took in a shaky breath. "He didn't have
anything else to live for." He glanced at Brenda and then
quickly dropped his eyes to the floor. He could feel the swell of
his emotions as they threatened to crest and wash over him.
    "They couldn't find
any cause for his sickness?" She asked with genuine concern.
    "No." Marcus
swallowed and forced himself to hold back tears. "I think he
died of a broken heart." He stood up abruptly and pushed his
cowboy hat down on his head. "Maybe this wasn't a good
idea."
    Brenda stood up with him
and moved from his way so he could get past her.
    "You can just send
me a bill." Marcus said as she followed him down the hall
and back to the front of the clinic. She held open the door for
him as he stepped outside and squinted at the rising sun.
    "Thank you Mr.
Whitman." Brenda called after him as he started quickly down
the street.
    Marcus turned and
squinted back at her. "For what?" He asked, honestly
bewildered.
    "For coming to
talk." She smiled at him and slipped back inside before he
could say anything else. Marcus wiped at his eyes before he
climbed into his truck and sped out of town.
    When he pulled down the
driveway of the ranch he put his truck into park and sat there.
He couldn't bring himself to go inside the house. Everything
about it reminded him of her. He sure as hell couldn't bring
himself to go into the stables. So instead he sat in his truck
and rested his forehead against his arms on the steering wheel.
    The day passed him as he
sat there. It was the call of nature that finally forced him
outside to take a piss. The nicker of the horses in the stables
pulled at his heart and his breath caught in his throat. He knew
he had to sell them, every single one of them. They couldn't
stay.
    The house was an entirely
different matter. He couldn't bring himself to sell it, and yet
he couldn't bring himself to continue living in it. Everyone in
town knew about what had happened. Word spread fast in a