Chasing Second Chances by Shelly Logan

and I made a shelf once,” he said. “That was probably one of the few times we did something together, just the two of us.”
    “Your brother didn’t help?”
    “Michael was still too little. Besides, he never liked getting sweaty or getting his hands dirty. Maybe that was already a sign that…” He stopped speaking suddenly, hands gripping the chains of the swing as he slowed it down.
    She waited patiently for him to continue and when he didn’t, his expression seemingly troubled, she asked, “That what?”
    Bryan took a deep breath before answering. “When Michael was seventeen, my dad saw him with a man and sent him away from home. I only saw him two more times after that. He didn’t even come to Mom’s funeral. Several years ago, I found out he died of AIDS.”
    “Oh,” was all she managed to say. She suddenly felt sorry she asked, though she had a feeling she hadn’t even stumbled upon what she was looking for.
    What could have made Lloyd think Bryan was capable of committing a crime? Or at least, what could Bryan be hiding that made Lloyd worry enough to warn her?
    Briefly, she wished she had insisted on Lloyd telling her, but then told herself she wouldn’t have believed him anyway. When it came to bad news about the people you loved the most, you had to hear or see that news for yourself before you believed because there was a chance you could be torn to pieces.
    Yes, whatever it was Bryan was hiding, she had to find out for herself, but that didn’t mean she had to find it out right now.
    “I’ve got an idea,” she said as she gave Bryan a bright smile. “What if you and I have dinner here at the backyard? Nobody ever said we have to have a barbecue to eat outdoors.”
    To her relief, the corners of his lips turned up. “Sure. That sounds nice,” he said, then added, “Lloyd’s not going to be here?”
    “I think he won’t be having dinner here,” she said. Lloyd had been away all day, saying he had some stuff to attend to. It was one of the reasons why she thought it was a good time to inquire about Bryan’s past. Now that she thought about it, though, she wondered if Lloyd had deliberately left them alone so she could find out Bryan’s secret, perhaps in hopes that it would be big enough to tear them apart.
    That Lloyd…
    “So what’s for dinner?” Bryan’s question broke into her thoughts. “I think I’m getting hungry.”
    “That’s no surprise given what you’ve been doing all day,” she said, her near grimace quickly replaced by a grin. “I was thinking I’d whip up some buffalo wings.”
    “That would be nice.” He got up from the swing and sniffed his sleeve. “In the meantime, I think I’ll go get a shower.”
    They both went inside the house at the same time, Kate heading to the kitchen and Bryan going upstairs. She took the chicken wings from the refrigerator, having brought them down from the freezer earlier, and brought it to the sink to place it under running water so it could thaw some more.
    As she did, she thought of how she could go about digging into Bryan’s past without him knowing it. Clearly, probing around didn’t work. As much as she liked Bryan opening up and learning more about him, she had to be more specific if she wanted to find what she was looking for, whatever it was.
    She suddenly had an idea.
    * * * *
    “Truth or dare?” Kate asked Bryan as she added another bone to the growing pile and licked the sauce off her fingertips.
    “Dare.”
    She frowned. “Dares aren’t fun when there’s only two people playing.”
    “Well, you’re the one who suggested truth or dare,” Bryan reminded her as he started chewing on another wing. “Would you like it to be a truth game instead?”
    She nodded enthusiastically, feeling as if she had just hit the jackpot.
    “I guess I have no choice but to tell you the truth then,” he said. “Your question.”
    “Hmm.” She furrowed her eyebrows as she wiped her fingers on a table napkin. She