Second Chances: An Oaktown Story

By Jenny Lynn

Grace used to be an unruly teenager who had rebelled against the rules and ended up a teen mother. Unfortunately, she was not ready for the drastic turn her life had taken and she ran away leaving everything behind...including her daughter, Brooke.

A few years pass and Grace has matured and gotten her life together. She’s now twenty years old and realizing that she has much to make amends for. She returns to her small hometown in Oaktown, Tennessee to find forgiveness and give her daughter the life she deserves.

Upon returning, she dives right into motherhood and bonding with her five year old daughter Brooke who is just starting kindergarten. When she realizes that the town snob, Kelly Caldwell, is trying to tear down Brooke’s favorite park Grace goes to work protesting. She has to save that park and the memories the two of them have together there.

Grace also notices that she may be feeling more than friendship for her high school best friend, David. It seems he has powerful feelings for her as well...and has since they were kids. How had she never seen it before?
Things get complicated quick and everything is up in the air. A bomb is dropped and now Grace and David aren’t speaking. Things are looking bleak for saving the park. Nothing is turning out the way Grace had hoped it would. Why did life have to be so complicated?

Will Grace be able to be the mother Brooke needs her to be? Even yet, when she and David get into their biggest fight ever, will they find a way back to each other again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jenny Lynn
• Release date: Jul 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463024843

Jenny Lynn

Jenny Lynn is a wife and mother as well as an author of clean, contemporary fiction. She loves all things coffee, books, and Jesus. When she's not writing you can find her playing soccer with her family or baking up new recipes in the kitchen. "Second Chances" is the first installment of the Oaktown Series, her debut Christian novellas. On August 4th, 2018 the sequel, "The Real Thing", will be released for publication on Amazon, Smashwords, and other retailers. To keep up with what she's doing, follow Jenny Lynn at her website, www.AuthorJennyLynn.com!!!

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Second Chances

An Oaktown Story

Jenny Lynn

Copyright © 2018 by Jenny Lynn

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Text and illustrations ©2017 by Jennifer Holmes.

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ISBN-13: 978-1977004079

For Nana & Papi.

Chapter 1

Ipulled out of the gas station and back onto the highway. Honestly, I’m glad I got my headlights fixed because there are no stars visible in the sky and if it wasn’t for my headlights I couldn’t see a thing. That’s the thing about small highways in the county, no big light posts or tons of businesses to light up the road. The thought of surprising my family like this scares me. A lot of things about this plan scares me. I’m not even sure that I can handle this, but I know deep down going back home is something I need to do. In the end, I need to know that I at least tried to make this work. No regrets.

Regrets are all my life has been up until now. I’m about to change that. It’s time to turn things around. I’ve been so low for so long there’s nowhere left to go, but up. At least I that’s what I’m praying.

After three and a half hours I finally start to see familiar landmarks. Now, I know that I’m about an hour from my home town. It’s a small town, the kind where everyone knows everything about everyone. There wasn’t a person in Oaktown that didn’t know how messed up I was when I was a teenager. Now, I’m heading back to that sleepy little town and I know it will shake things up. I’m sure the rumors will start flying as soon as I go through the first stop light.

The thought of dealing with nosey townspeople makes me nauseous so I turned the radio up loud enough that I couldn’t hear my own tortured thoughts.

That’s better. I mumbled under the sound of the stereo…at least I think I did. I couldn’t hear a thing over the music.

I saw the sign saying, Welcome to Oaktown. It looked just as depressing as the day I last saw it in my rearview mirror. The good thing about arriving in town at three in the morning is that everyone in town is asleep. All of the buildings were lifeless and dark. There wasn’t a sound to be heard.

I turned onto Peach Street and after two blocks I made a right turn onto Main Street. My parent’s house looked the same as when I left it. Except, there were some Christmas decorations set up on the lawn. They now had an inflatable Santa to go along with the light up reindeer and candy cane posts. My dad’s handiwork on the house was obvious. There were so many lights; I’m surprised anyone on this block can sleep at all. It was only November, but my parents were obsessed with Christmas. Pretty much as soon as fall started coming to an end the Christmas decorations came out.

I grabbed my backpack and decided to leave my bags in my car until morning. There was no telling how my parents would react to my arrival, especially at three in the morning. I grabbed my keys from my bag and unlocked the door. My old room was just up the stairs. It wouldn’t be so bad if I just went to sleep and let everyone know I was here at breakfast, would it? Before I could finish that thought a shrill high powered alarm started sounding. It was so intense that I just dropped my keys and threw my hands over my ears. Since when did my parents have an alarm system? Maybe they did know I would come back.

Who’s there?! my father shouted from the top of the stairs wielding a shotgun. Gracie?

I didn’t answer because I could barely hear him. I just looked up at him with my hands still covering my ears and gave a sheepish smile. He ran to his room and came back without his weapon. He must have given it to Mom to lock back up. I thought he’d trip as he fumbled down the stairs to the keypad for the alarm. He punched in a few numbers and everything went silent. There wasn’t a sound except his hard breathing. I must have really scared him.

You’re back. Was all he said like he was in shock.

I started bracing myself for a very dramatic argument, but he just grabbed me and hugged me to his chest. This was not what I was expecting. My eyes watered and tears started to fall as I hugged him back. Maybe there was such a thing as second chances and forgiveness.

Grace? What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is? Seriously, you could have called. My mother’s voice sounded from the top of the stairs.

I guess I was wrong. She looked tired and very annoyed as she tromped down the stairs to meet me. Her blonde hair was braided, but stray pieces of hair fell around her round face. The green of her eyes darkened and I knew that was a telltale sign that she was angry. I pulled back from my dad who was still hugging me and turned to face her. I almost expected her to throw me out right then.

Hello, Mother. I said as plainly as I could.

That’s it?! Hello, Mother? That’s all you say after waking us up in the middle of the night? she was definitely not happy to see me.

Deborah! my dad snapped. He was over six foot tall and towered over my mother’s barely five foot frame. Her lack of height didn’t make her easily intimidated. If anything, it made her feistier.

My mother just shot him an ill-tempered look and turned back to me. The look on her face did not change. We stared at each other for a few seconds that felt like minutes. I decided to break the silence.

I’m baaackk. I smiled cheesily and stuck my arms straight out at my sides while waving my hands like I was announcing my comeback on a game show. Did I mention that I’m a total cheeseball?

This is great! my dad laughed and his brown eyes sparkled as he ran a hand through his salt and pepper colored hair. What brought you back?

Since my mother was not speaking to me at the moment, probably still processing my arrival, I decided to converse with my dad. He looked like he just got an early Christmas present. It made me feel more comfortable that at least one of my parents were happy to see me.

Can we sit down and talk, Dad? Maybe have a cup of coffee? I asked.

Sure! he put his arm around my shoulders and led me past my fuming mother and into the kitchen.

I sat down on one of the stools at the dark granite island and watched as he started the coffee. My parent’s had an amazing kitchen. It was very spacious with lots of cabinets and storage. The island was massive and covered in granite countertops. There was a grayish color shiplap on the walls accenting the farmhouse theme my mother had chosen.

My mother slowly walked into the room and stood straight across from me leaning against the opposite counter. She was just staring at me and evaluating me, probably trying to figure out my motives. It wasn’t always like this. We used to have a good relationship before I was a teenager. Once Brooke came along, my mother had nothing to do with me. She loved little Brooke like a flower loves the sun, but I was cut off.

I decided that I want to come back to Oaktown. I want to start over. I said.

Why? my mother snapped.

Who cares why? my father gushed. She’s coming back! This is great. You can stay with us in your old room. It’s just as you left it.

What? my mother turned to him wide eyed.

She’s our daughter, Deb. He looked at her with a stark firmness in his dark eyes that said he had made up his mind, but also a softness that pleaded with her. I loved the way my father could be a leader, but he still had a soft spot for my mom. He never demanded, but he didn’t beg. He would firmly say what he wanted and then give her that look that let her know she held his heart in her hands.

What about Brooke? my mother asked him.

That’s why I’m back. I said.

Well, I might as well have dropped a literal bomb because my mother lost it. Her eyes looked like they’d pop out of her head they were so big. Her voice