Second Chance Cafe - It’s really not over until the final curtain call

I’ve had more second chances in my lifetime than I can poke a stick at. I’ve had some low times,

when all I could do was hang on with my fingernails and wait it out. Know the feeling? I’m sure most of you do.

You see, a ‘second chance’ is a metaphor for many things: faith, courage, promise, positivity, and opportunities.

Sometimes these ‘second chances’ are handed to us on a platter. Other times we have to work damned hard to find them, and then they often turn out to be useless. You see, in my experience, we have to be receptive to change for those opportunities to work. We can push the proffered chances away, saying things like, “it won’t work”, “it’s too late”, “it’ll never happen”…or we can timidly take hold and use all our faith in whatever we believe to make that tremulous first step.

I’ve often been a coward, and not taken up opportunities when the chance to do so was right in the palm of my hand. But on nearly every occasion when I have taken a deep breath, stuck my nose in the air, and stepped boldly into the unknown, it has worked out. Well, either worked out, or made me a better person, or helped me to see another way out of the situation.

Second chances have often taken years to emerge. I’ve waited, reasonably patiently, for something that I’ve wished for, longed for, and now – at this particular point in my life – I think I can see that it is finally happening. The exact nature of what I longed for has blurred at the edges over many years. It’s not as clear, nor am I as driven, as I once was to hold the dream in my hands. But, although I am scared to say it out loud, I think it has finally come. So now, as I take my first scary, tentative steps toward a new future, I’m holding my breath and closing my eyes tightly and hoping fervently that this chance won’t disappear before I’ve grasped it with both hands.

Life will be different when I take this second chance. I will miss some things. But I am determined to embrace all that the new opportunity has to offer, and to fall in love with life again.

In my short story, Encore, my lead character – Louisa Frank – has shown me how to calmly accept things both good and bad in life. She has demonstrated how patience is the proverbial virtue.

Thank you, Louisa Frank, for showing me the way.

Encore

Louisa Frank is a creature of habit, borne of years of discipline.

She lives with one foot in the glorious past, the other in the mundane and lonely present. If it wasn’t for Alfie Baretto, she might have been forgotten, lost in a sea of successful young starlets. 

In the narrow streets of Hell’s Kitchen, in a small but atmospheric diner called Café Cleo, Alfie ensures the Broadway star—Louisa Frank—will forever be feted by theatre-goers, and remembered for her amazing performances.

But the years have passed slowly for Louisa. Will the endless quest for a return to the glory years ever end?

Four tales of positivity and second chances, brought to you by:

Abbie Jackson
Susanne Bellamy
Elizabeth Ellen Carter
Noelle Clark

Pre-order now on Smashwords.

Out on November 13th everywhere.
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