Second Chance

A week had come and gone since McKenna’s news had rocked the Haner family. Seven days of waking up, throwing back the covers, and starting a new day with the knowledge that yet another milestone in their lives was about to happen; all the while feeling stuck in transition in their own lives. Brian and Emily were happy for the younger woman, it was just hard to comprehend sometimes. If one hadn’t experienced it, they could never understand. It wasn’t jealousy, envy, or anger; it was an indescribable feeling that sat like a rock in the chest of the ones who had suffered a loss. But life goes on, right? It wasn’t slowing down anytime soon.

Avenged’s stringsman slipped out of bed, dropped a kiss on his wife’s forehead, and headed to the bathroom. After a lengthy shower and what was probably ten solid minutes of trying to reason with himself, he emerged and set out on the resulting self-given task. He was on a mission. What grounded and well thought out mission ever started without coffee? None; so obviously his first step was to feed his caffeine addiction. Once that was settled, he would be able to come up with a more organized plan.

When he headed to the store, his goal was to gather things to snack on and perhaps a few drinks, but by the time he was halfway down the second aisle, he changed his mind entirely. It was time for a(n Avenged) family day out. It had been way too long. Plastic cups and silverware, napkins and paper towels, what felt like half of the chip aisle; one could only fit so much in one shopping cart.

“Zacky V!” he belted into his phone when he finally defeated the age-old struggle between electronic and jeans, and the device got wedged between his shoulder and cheek. “Just the man I needed to talk to!”

“Well good morning, skippy. What has you so perky today?” the less than chipper rhythm asked with half a yawn.

“COFFEE!”

“Mixed with what?” he grumbled lowly, and a slight snicker left him before he decided to pry some more. “Well whatever you have on your mind sounds far more entertaining than why I called you. What’s going on?”

“Sarcasm and anxiety, my friend. Believe me, I thought about starting a party earlier.” Chocolate brown pools of uncertainty glanced around at his salsa choices. Unmoved by what he saw, he narrowed them and continued on. “What are your plans today?”

“I have several things going on today, but I could probably be persuaded to postpone them. What do you need?”

“We’re going to have a beach party. Make about six large tubs of French onion dip, a party sized container of that Spinach dip your mom is famous for, buy about eight of the family sized Hawaiian rolls, two twelve packs of your soda of choice, and meet me at the pier at two o’clock.”

“What is this? The end of an episode of Kenan and Kel?” he had to laugh at his friend’s rambling now. “Anything else?”

“Yes. Call Johnny and tell him to bring—”

“I’ll bring what I bring, and Johnny will bring whatever I don’t. Savvy?”

“What are you, a pirate?” the lead snorted, and carefully placed about a dozen chocolate milks into the top part of his basket.

“If you can go 90’s Nickelodeon, I can go Jack Sparrow. See you at two.”

Why he was deciding to have a beach party all of a sudden instead of the simple relaxed gathering at his home as he had originally planned, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to get everything picked out, paid for, home, and ready to head out by one to get to the pier, he had a lot of work to do.

*

“You’re not fat, hon.” Lacey tried to comfort her friend, who was standing in front of the bathroom mirror trying on her fourth bathing suit.

“I didn’t say I was fat,” she grumbled. “I said I look terrible.”

“Emily, I love you, and because I love you, I’m not going to let you do this.”

“Do what?”

“Body shame. You carried a baby for nine months. Your body went through a lot of changes, and a lot of trauma during that time; and look at the procedures you had to have afterwards. You can’t expect to have your pre-pregnancy body just yet. You’ve also been depressed and that doesn’t help.”

“I know, but can’t I think I look terrible in a bathing suit?” pushing her friend out, she shut the door and went to work trying on the next one.

“Look, I didn’t drag myself out of bed at stupid o’clock in the morning to go buy you a variety of different suits that look gorgeous on you, only to hear you criticize your body. Girl, you’re beautiful. A couple of scars doesn’t take away from that.”

“Let me guess,” she sighed. Tugging open the door, she planted her hands on her hips and gave her friend a dubious look. “You’re going to tell me I look hot in this one.”

“Actually, no. I’m not a fan of that one.” Stopping down, the shorter Avenged wife picked up a vibrant purple one piece which had a large opening on one side. “This one is super cute on you.”

“I kind of liked this one, too.”

“Then, that’s the one!” she giggled airily. “Get back in there, put it on, and let’s get this show on the road.”

“Fine.” Obviously beginning to let go of the doldrum mood she had woken in, even just the tiniest bit, she gathered up the other items and shook them at her pal. “What are we going to do with all of these extras?”

“What extras? You looked good in two and four, and I looked bomb in one, five, and seven! Val can have the rest!”

“Now it’s all starting to make sense. You got up out of bed so you could go buy yourself new threads, and give me the leftovers!”

“No! That’s not how it went at all. I just….” With a sigh of retreat, a small smile fell over her features. “Hey, as long as you’re starting to come out of the dumps, it’s all worth it.”

*
With the sun high in the sky, the waves rolling against the sand, and everyone milling about the large area they had picked on a remote stretch of the coast, the group of twenty-six relished in the start of what was sure to be a wonderful afternoon. It was the usual crew, along with a few faces they hadn’t seen in a while. Matt and Val’s kids were running around with Brent’s kids, Michelle’s daughter was being entertained by Lacey, and the collective group of the Avenged family dogs were racing about along the water’s edge playing their version of tag. They all needed this. Brian and Emily needed this. They needed family time, and they certainly needed fresh air. Neither could think of a better way to spend their afternoon than with good food, family, and the fresh Pacific air. It just seemed right.

“Alright Gates. It’s time to hit the waves!” Zack thundered as he approached the older man with a large grin spread across his face.

“Sorry, man. I didn’t bring a board.”

“You can use mine your dad’s. I brought his in case someone needed one,” Suzy offered.

“No, really. It’s okay.”

“Alright. Suit yourself. Who’s coming with me?” the rhythm piped over the sound of the waves and all other conversations. “Matt, Val, Johnny, Lacey, Brent, come on!”

“Someone has to watch the kids.” Val declined with a shake of her head, only to have her arm caught by her twin.

“I’ll look after them, sis.”

“Michelle, you love to surf! Get out there with your sister! I’ll watch everyone!” Suzy exclaimed in a motherly tone. “You too, Brian.”

“Yeah, babe. Go on,” his wife encouraged now. She wasn’t fooled. She knew he wanted to join them. “Go show Zack how a real man surfs!”

“Hey! Just because he’s a better surfer doesn’t mean I surf like a girl.”

“Zee, you screamed last time you were out with Brian because you swore a shark was after you,” Lacey chimed in now. “Do you not know the difference between a dolphin and a shark?”

“I can’t hear you, I’m too busy paddling out!” he hollered over his shoulder, only to net himself a round of laughter from those trailing behind.

One by one the friends set out after him. They knew they probably wouldn’t be out long, but they had at least a good hour to hour and a half before the tide was set to go out. Normally Emily joined them, but she was enjoying watching the kiddos play this afternoon. Their laughter was priceless. Her expression dropped a little bit as she remembered the reason behind their gathering and had to remind herself it was for the better.

It was right about the forty-five-minute mark before Matt and Brian, the last of the group, paddled back to shore. Tired and slightly sore from using muscles he hadn’t in quite a while, the stringsman moved one of the kids out of his chair and sunk down into it. With a glance over at his wife’s face, he knew in a second what had been in her mind the entire time he had been out in the water.

“Are you ready, Em?” he panted lightly with a lift of his pick hand to swipe over her cheek.

“No, but I guess I’m about as prepared as I can be.” She replied softly with a bite to her lip. “You lead.”

“Hey, Johnny. Would you get everyone’s attention for me? There’s something I want to say.”

Emily’s heart rate began to climb steadily, and bile rose up in her throat. Telling them she was pregnant with Grey had been easy. Facing them at his memorial had been rough. She couldn’t have imagined telling everyone that a couple they’d met in the hospital had asked them to adopt their son would be so difficult. They still weren’t one hundred percent sure what they were going to do, but it was high time they let the family in on what was going on.

“First of all, I just want to tell you all how happy we are to be with everyone like this today. It’s a gorgeous day, the water was cold, but it was great to ride the waves a little bit.” He paused while different ones agreed with his sentiment. “I do have to say, though, that we aren’t getting together just to get together today. There’s something Emily and I wanted to share with you, and I’m not entirely sure the best way to say it.”

“Do you guys remember our friends, The Martinez family?” Emily interjected carefully.

“James and Nicoletta, and their family? Good. So, we know that some of you were wondering the deal with them because typically everyone knows when someone makes a close friend in this family. Our story with them is a little strange, but here’s the bottom line; we have become really close friends and we have bonded quite a bit over the last several months.”

“I remember meeting them at the memorial,” Michelle offered. “They seemed super sweet. And their kids are so adorable!”

“Yes, they are sweet. And I’m kinda glad you brought up their kids because that’s what we wanted to talk to you all about.” Emily said thoughtfully with a glance over to her husband. “There is a lot to this, but we can explain that here in a minute. You see, they’ve asked us to…..they’ve offered…..you see, their little boy….”

Wrapping an arm around his anxious bride, Brian let out a breath and took it upon himself to break the news to them. It reminded him somehow of being a little kid, climbing each rung of the ladder of what seemed to be a hundred-foot ladder to the high dive at the community pool. Walking out along the diving board and looking out over the water, he would find himself looking back towards the ladder. It was always packed during the summers and with other kids standing on the other end, he would have no choice but to close his eyes and jump. That was pretty much the same point he was at now.

As hard as it was to start, the words were out before he knew it, and it surprised him how easily they began to flow after that. It was hard for his brain to keep up with the sudden onslaught of responses and surprised noises that came with the news. The tones seemed a mix of excited and confused, but Brian was doing well to not jump out of his seat and run. He wasn’t sure why, either. He just felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders at the moment, but at least it was out there now. Now it was time to walk it out, just like shaking off the shock of a belly flop from a high dive and swimming to the side to climb out of the pool.