Last Chance

by Natalie Ann

  She couldn’t change that now, she couldn’t regret, and she wouldn’t look back. She could only move forward. The way she always did.

  “Hey, Mom. I’m all set now.”

  “That was fast,” her mother said.

  “My clothes are still lying on the bed. I just changed into shorts and a T-shirt.”

  “You left your clothes on the bed?” her mother asked, some wonder in her voice. “I’m shocked. Maybe you’re starting to lighten up, living there. The country living is probably exactly what you needed.”

  “It is. I love it here. I don’t miss the noise of the city at all. Though it is too quiet where Max lives.”

  “I don’t know how he sleeps with all that quiet,” her mother said.

  “I don’t know that it’s so quiet in the house right now. The kids can get a little loud, but they’re good kids.”

  “Just kids being kids,” her mother said.

  Her mother rarely showed much reaction. She seemed to have the patience of a saint. She needed it being married to her father. Not that her father had a temper, or showed much emotion, either. But he just wasn’t around much. And when he was, he was distracted by work constantly. Her mother’s easygoing nature was probably how their marriage not only survived but actually thrived.

  She often wondered if her father regretted missing out on things with her and Max, but she’d never had the courage to ask him. Part of the reason she didn’t want to be a plastic surgeon was the hours. She wanted a life outside of work. She wanted a family. And she wanted to spend time with that family.

  “So how are things with you and Dad?” she asked.

  “They’re great. I just talked to Max. We’re going to be driving in for the week of the fourth.”

  “That’s just a few days away.” It wasn’t like her parents to make plans on that short of notice.

  “It is. Your father shuffled things around. He’s itching to get his hands on the baby. Dying to go fishing with Davy too.”

  Her father had never been real paternal in terms of being hands-on, but it seemed grandchildren caused that change in him. She was glad. For her father and Max. Maybe even her, when her time came. If it did.

  “Dad always did like to fish. Do you think he misses the life he had in the South growing up?” Her father was originally from Mississippi, her mother from Manhattan.

  “He says he doesn’t, but I see the lie in his eyes when he talks about home. He’d like to go back, but there’s really no one left at this point. At least no one that he is close to.”

  “It still wouldn’t hurt to go back and see someone. You should do it. Make Dad take some more time off and visit with old friends or family.”

  “I don’t know, dear,” her mother said, laughing softly. “Maybe someday. So how are things with you?”

  “They’re good. I got in a little fender bender a few days ago, but nothing major. Other than that, just working.”

  “Are you okay? Did you go to the doctor? Why didn’t you call me?”

  That was the first she’d heard her mother get anxious. “I’m fine. It was a fender bender. Some teen not paying attention rear-ended me at a red light. He had more damage to his car than mine.”

  “I’m so glad you got rid of that little sports car. That thing was nothing but a death trap. I know you didn’t drive in the city often, but I always worried you’d get in an accident with it.”

  Her mother hated her last car almost as much as Riley did toward the end. She’d never wanted it to begin with, and often wondered how she got talked into it in the first place. Cutting ties with it months ago was like releasing the noose from her neck.

  “It’s a nice safe vehicle and looks pretty snazzy, too. The chief of police gave me the name of a garage in town that looked it over and all they had to do was tighten a few bolts on the bumper.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. How about your place? Are you finally settled in?”

  “I am. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

  “I can’t wait, either.” Her parents had seen it when they flew out for the weekend right after Jocelyn was born, before any work had started on it.

  “The father-son team that did the work did a great job. They were a riot, too. The father thought his tools were stolen and called the police and it ended up being the son that took them for another job. I had all I could do to not laugh at Trevor while he handled the whole thing. It was like nothing I’ve seen before with law enforcement.”

  “Who’s Trevor?”

  Crap. How did she slip and say that? Easy, she’d been thinking about him nonstop since their date. Since the last time they talked. Correction, the last time they’d spoken. They’d been texting back and forth a few times a day, but nothing major.

  “Trevor is the Chief of Police for Lake Placid.”

  “And you call him by his first name? No wonder you were surprised by how the situation was handled.”

  She could let her mother believe that, but decided not to. “I call him Trevor. Well, others have too. He came to see me to have his tooth pulled a few weeks ago.”

  “So he’s a patient, then?”

  “He’s that, too.”

  “Too,” her mother said, prying some more.

  “We went on a date a few nights ago.”

  “And?” her mother asked.

  “And what? It was a date. He’s a nice guy. I like him.”

  “Is there going to be another date?” Her mother wasn’t known to dig this deep into her personal life, and she wondered what was causing it now. Maybe she would have welcomed it before, but the timing was a little odd.

  “I hope so. We just need to get our off times lined up.”

  “Thank God,” her mother said. “I’m so glad to see you going out and having fun. I know the breakup with Jason hit you hard. I’m sorry for that. I know you were hopeful that you two would take the next step. I hadn’t wanted to interfere with your relationship and breakup, but I’m glad to know you’re moving on.”

  Riley didn’t know what to say and decided to choose her words carefully. Yeah, she was heartbroken, but not in the way her mother thought. “It’s time. I’m ready to be the person I used to be.”

  There was silence on the other end, and Riley wished she hadn’t let that last part slip out. She was sure her mother was processing her own thoughts at this moment.

  “You’ve always been your own person, Riley. I’d like to say I’m proud of how independent you’ve been. Maybe I should have stepped in and asked more questions. Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is just fine, Mom.” Now. “I can’t wait to see you and Dad.”

  “We look forward to it too. And to meeting this police chief you’ve gone out with.”

  Oh boy. “One date, Mom. I’m not sure how many more.”

  “There will be more. But I’ll let you have the final say. For now.”

  Needy for Affection

  “Is Dr. Hamilton here?” Trevor asked Christy.

  It’d been a few days since their date. Since he felt her in his arms. Tasted her sweet lips or heard her soft voice. A few text messages here and there weren’t cutting it for him. They’d left on a high note and he was dying to see how much further they could climb.

  He’d sent her a text because he was thinking of her, so he knew she was on lunch right now. And since he knew that, he took a risk and drove by her office on the way back from his errands. When he saw her vehicle in the back, he pulled in next to it.

  “She’s in, but she’s on lunch. You don’t have an appointment, Trevor,” Christy said, looking at him with her eyes sharp as steel, a smirk on her lips.

  “I don’t.”

  “Is there a legal matter that she needs to take care of?” Christy asked, tilting her head.

  Christy was a nosy busybody. “Is she available or not?” Trevor asked instead.

  He was going to just send Riley a text himself, but Christy picked up her phone and made the call. “Chief Miles is here to see
you. Would you like to come up here or should I send him back to your office?” Christy put the phone down and said, “Come back here and follow me.”

  Christy didn’t even knock on Riley’s door, just opened it and held her hand out for him to proceed. He was glad to know he didn’t own the monopoly on assistants with poor etiquette.

  “Hey there,” he said when Riley glanced up from her computer. She looked frazzled. “What’s wrong?”

  “Stupid computer. The internet keeps going in and out. As if the staff isn’t rebelling enough about using it, now they’re giving me all these looks as to prove why paper files are more reliable. I swear the universe is out to get me at times.”

  He laughed at her. “Did you check the wires?”

  “Yeah. I did. They’re all new and everything is plugged in. I called the provider and they said there’s nothing wrong on their end. I’ve called the guy who installed everything here, but he hasn’t returned my call yet.”

  She looked adorably frustrated to him, a few strands of hair having escaped her ponytail that she was brushing away from her cheek in a jerky motion.

  “Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

  He walked out to his vehicle and returned, then handed her a bag from the store.

  “What’s that?” she asked, looking inside. “Oh wow, aren’t you sweet?” She pulled out a bag of chocolate truffles. “Do you always carry chocolate around with you?”

  “No,” he said, laughing, then watched as she dug in and pulled one out and popped it in her mouth. “It’s Marcy’s work anniversary. If I don’t acknowledge it somehow, she won’t let me live it down. I just picked them up, but I can grab another bag before I go back to the office.”

  She closed her eyes while she chewed and swallowed. “I feel so much better now. It’s like chocolate hits my lips and melts on my tongue and all is right in the world. Thanks.”

  He wasn’t feeling so great right now watching her eat that. He really needed to get his hands on her. “Come here,” he said, walking toward her. She stood up from her chair, and he yanked her forward. She giggled and went willingly into his arms. She didn’t seem like a giggler to him, but all he really cared about was tasting that sweet chocolate on her lips.

  She wound her arms around his neck, leaned into his body, and gave herself over to him. And there it was—that same good feeling he got walking into his house every night. His body sighed, curving into hers, his hands on her waist, then moving up her back and down again.

  They fit well next to each other. Against each other. Making him wonder how much better it was going to be.

  “Now that relaxed me much more than the chocolate.”

  “Glad I could help,” he said, grinning at her and kissing her lightly on the lips again. “So when are we going to be able to find time for each other again?”

  “I was thinking the same thing this morning. How about Friday night? My parents are coming to town on Saturday for a week, so I’m afraid I might be tied up this weekend. I’d like to spend some time with you before that.”

  “I can do Friday night. Where and when?” he asked, threading their fingers together. He just had to be touching some part of her when they were in each other’s presence for some reason. He couldn’t remember ever being this needy for affection before, and wondered if he should venture into guessing the cause.

  “It’s only two days away. How about I give it some thought and get back to you. You have any ideas?”

  He had plenty of ideas. First being his house, then his bedroom, but decided to hold that thought close to his vest at the moment. “I’m pretty open to anything.”

  “Then I’ll put some thought into it.” She stepped back when she heard her computer ding, popping up another error. “I’m sorry. I really need to figure this out before my patients come in.”

  “Where’s your network and router set up?” he asked.

  “Do you know about computers?”

  “I know enough to check the basics. Maybe another set of eyes can help you out.” Budget cuts meant he’d had to learn to do as many things as he could.

  “It’s in the storage room. Follow me.”

  They walked out of her office, then went to the end of the hall and into a small room. When she turned the lights on, he saw tools neatly organized by color, a few machines he had no idea what they were—and it made him shudder just guessing their use—and her computer equipment. He walked over and looked at all the wires and the router. Everything was plugged in as it should be, but he pulled the Ethernet cable away and walked back to her with it. “Looks like the cable is split way back here.”

  “How the heck did that happen?” She was staring at it and frowning now, her mind racing, he could tell.

  “Not sure,” he said. The split looked way too clean to have been an accident, but he didn’t say that just yet. No use starting problems.

  “I wonder which one of them did that,” she said, guessing what he’d suspected. “Everyone is rebelling like crazy. They probably thought this would solve their problems.”

  “There are a lot of tools in here. Could one of them have been dropped and accidentally cut it?”

  She had a small amount of fire in her eyes and since he knew most of the staff here, he’d hate to see them burned over something that could have been an accident.

  “Plausible, but unlikely. It’s more likely that someone purposely accidentally dropped it.”

  He laughed over that statement, thinking she might be right. “Could be.” He also saw that she’d cooled down some.

  “I just need to run out and buy a new cable and I should be good to go,” she said, looking at her watch.

  “I’ve got time if you want me to run and do it quick.” The offer was out of his mouth before he could process the reasoning for it. Hell, he knew the reasoning, no thought there. A man would offer to walk on burning coals barefoot when he was trying to win over a woman.

  “You’ve got things to do. You need to go buy some more chocolate,” she said, smiling at him, then brought her finger to his lip. “I might have left a bit of chocolate there.” When she put her finger back in her mouth, he felt himself harden again. It was getting embarrassing the amount of times he was being controlled by the member in his pants around her.

  “I do. And believe it or not, there is a home improvement store right next to the grocery store where I bought them. So let me go do that quickly. Go back to your office and have another truffle, and think of me as your savior while you do.”

  “My big strong chief,” she said, running her hand over his biceps. Brain cells rushing faster into his pants. She walked out with him, then they stopped at her office door. “Thanks, Trevor.”

  He nodded and left, went to the store and bought what he needed, then came back, bypassing Christy’s questioning eyes.

  When the cable was replaced and the internet up and working, Trevor gave Riley one more hard, hot kiss and left her to her patients. If he didn’t get out of there fast, he might not leave at all, and follow her around like a little puppy dog at the shelter waiting to be picked out and taken home.

  He stopped at the desk to chat up Christy before he left. “So how are things going with all the changes here?” he asked.

  “They’re going. Some easier than others. It’s hard for people to get used to doing things differently after so many years.”

  “Change can be hard,” he agreed. “But it’s all part of life. Those that don’t change tend to get left behind.”

  “Very true. I mean, whatever Dr. Hamilton did for you made you come back. You don’t even need a lollipop now, do you?”

  He laughed and winked, then decided he might be overstaying his welcome. He’d gotten enough as it was. “Not this time I don’t. But if she comes at me with those little tools of hers again, you know where you’ll find me.”

  “I’d probably find you right back here again, wouldn’t I, Trevor?” Christy said, smirking at him. She was too smart for her own good.
<
br />   ***

  Riley was annoyed over the cable. She was trying not to let it bother her. She wouldn’t let it affect her job, either, so she pushed it to the back of her mind until the end of the day.

  But she wasn’t about to let anyone think they got away with something. So she called a staff meeting before they could leave for the day.

  “As you know, we’ve got the internet back up and running and the software has been fine all afternoon. It was discovered that a cable had been sliced in the storage room. I’m not sure how it happened, but I’m asking that everyone please be more aware of their surroundings when getting tools.”

  She looked around at her staff. No one was showing any reaction, and everyone was just looking at someone else.

  There was no use pointing fingers. It was innocent enough. For now. She’d convinced herself of that this afternoon as she cooled off. She was the stranger here, yet she was the one holding all the power. People were bound to be uneasy about it all.

  “I hope this will be the last time. I understand that it’s hard to adapt to new practices within your job, but these changes are to help make you more efficient and effective with your patients. And these changes are here to stay. If you’d like to stay at this practice with me, then you’ll need to learn them. If you feel you need more training, I’ll gladly provide that for you. Does anyone need some more?”

  There were a few red faces this time. Surprisingly, one of her hygienists lifted her hand. She was in her mid-forties, plenty of years left before retirement. “If you wouldn’t mind going over it again, I’d really appreciate it. I admit I was happy the internet was down, but all it did was put us behind because we still needed to enter the data. I’d sure like to be able to use it a little faster than I am now.”

  “Anyone else?” Riley asked. There were a few more nods. “Great. I’ll make a call tomorrow and see if we can get someone in here. Until then, I’d be happy to go through it with anyone tonight, or before we start tomorrow. Just let me know.”