Another Chance (Lake Placid Series Book 7)

by Natalie Ann

  Which was why he was hiding this trip from her.

  Stupid, he knew, but he wasn’t sure what else to do.

  He’d been making some ground with her in the past week. Ever since they had that last serious conversation when he’d spent the night at her house.

  There was no way he was going to lose what he gained by making her worry he was moving back home.

  He wasn’t. He was going for work.

  That’s it. Nothing else. Nothing more. He didn’t even pack any clothes.

  Though if he had time, he’d run to his apartment and maybe grab enough stuff for a carryon, but if not, he didn’t care right now.

  When the flight landed, he hailed a taxi and gave the address to his law firm. The prestigious one on the thirtieth floor in downtown Manhattan.

  Oh, how he’d thought he had it all only to realize he had nothing at all.

  “Matt, so good to see you,” Randall said, grabbing his hand and pulling him in for a hug.

  Randall had always been one for man hugs and fist pumps. Anything to make someone feel like they were welcomed when he was really just padding things for his own reasons.

  “Thanks. I’ve got an hour before the clients are here. Do you want to prep first?”

  “Sure. Let’s go into my office quickly.”

  He walked down the hall saying hi to several people, waving, nodding his head at comments on how good he looked, and avoided answering questions on his return.

  When he’d arrived at his job the first day so many years ago he’d been in awe at the big windows and the people milling around. Phones ringing nonstop, the huge library full of colleagues and clerks looking through books. There was never a dull moment at work.

  But the more he wanted it, the more it seemed to slip away from him, like trying to hold water in a fist.

  The view from a private office was out of reach and he was stuck in a cubicle with other senior staff attorneys. That was as high as he’d been able to rise at just thirty years old and he was disgusted with it.

  He’d gone from junior to staff to senior attorney in three short years, and had been stagnant for the last three. Whenever he brought it up to Randall about moving up, he’d gotten brushed off.

  Matt still wasn’t sure what pushed him to lay it out so directly to Randall the night of the accident, but he was glad he did because now he knew. There was no hope for a partnership here...ever.

  “You’re looking really good,” Randall said when they were in his office behind a closed door. “Not thin anymore at all. You’re barely limping too.”

  “Thanks,” Matt said. “I’ve been working hard at it. I appreciate being able to work at my own pace and rehab at the same time. It keeps my mind and my body busy.”

  No reason to take his mood out on Randall since he was still signing his paychecks. Once he knew what his next step in life was going to be, then it’d be easier to say what he really thought to the man he’d looked up to so much who’d crushed all his dreams.

  “I’ve got to say you scared the shit out of me the night of that accident. When we got the call and found out how bad you were and that you’d coded on the table…my God,” Randall said, putting his hand to the chest of his three-thousand-dollar suit. “All I could think of is the guilt of the last words we’d said to each other and how I’d have to carry them around with me.”

  Matt snorted. Yep, it was all about Randall. He was worried about carrying around guilt that he’d finally told Matt the truth that he’d never get what he was after.

  “Well, here I am.”

  “And I’m glad of it. My mother said your father has been so hard to deal with during this time.”

  That was news to Matt. “Really? About what?” Colleen tended to be overly dramatic at times too.

  “Something about your mother being in town early on when he wanted to spend more time with you. Then wishing he had more time with you in life. I told him you’d be fine and be back soon enough and you could spend all the time in the world together.”

  He never spent a lot of time with his father and didn’t plan on it now. They got along, but there was no burning desire to become best buds. His father made his decision years ago and Matt wasn’t it.

  Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of times in his life that people didn’t choose him.

  Only Dena. She’d been the one that put him first and he’d been the idiot.

  “So tell me more about who we’re sitting down with today,” Matt said, trying to change the subject.

  “The private investigator is coming in to speak with us and give us some photos. He said you’ve been in contact.”

  “Yes, we’ve talked a few times. He’s got photos of Abby at fast food restaurants with large plates of food. He’s got video of her eating and doing all sorts of things and going against the advice of her doctor. Even after she’d complained and was reminded again of what she needed to do.”

  “Okay, so you might not get much more from the meeting today, but it’s good to get a face to go with a name,” Randall said.

  Matt was thinking he was pressured back here for no reason at all. That it was more about getting him in the office and testing him to come back home than the need to actually be here for the case.

  “Yeah. Dr. Levin is coming in you said? I’ve talked to him a few times too.”

  “He is. He’s bringing over a file for you to take back with Abby’s medical records on it. She signed all the releases so that we could see them. She’s not very smart if you ask me.”

  “It doesn’t sound it,” Matt said. “She just wants to settle and I think she’s surprised Dr. Levin isn’t willing to give her a quick check.”

  “That’s all she is after. I think she feels the longer this drags out the more she’ll be able to up her settlement amount. Do you really think you can win this?”

  “I think so,” Matt said. “I’ve found a lot of cases where doctors have won. It’s just a long drawn out battle and he has to be willing to commit to that.”

  “I believe he is,” Randall said. “Money isn’t an issue. He has it, old family money, and he is determined to not have this on his record. He’s one of those doctors who really cares about his work.”

  Matt didn’t know what to say at the tone that Randall used. Mocking for sure.

  “There’s nothing wrong with loving what you do and not being in it for the money.”

  “Yeah, says hardly anyone,” Randall said, waving his hand. “Come on now. It’s all about the green. Lawyers know that. That is why so many people settle. Quick cash.”

  Randall’s condescending attitude was like rubbing coarse sandpaper on a baby’s bottom. He was too raw to deal with this. “Not all lawyers,” Matt said.

  “That’s right,” Randall said, smiling. “Some have a conscience. That’s why we need people like you on the team.”

  Matt ignored that statement, wondering if that had been the driving force all along. That Matt was for the little guy and it was nice to have one of them on the team.

  “Back to Dr. Levin. Anything else I need to know about?”

  “Not really. You two will probably hit it off and this could be a win for our firm. You’re the man for it.”

  He didn’t bother to ask why. He just wanted to do what needed to get done and get the hell out of this building and this city and back to where he could breathe again.

  Never in a million years did he think he’d be dying to get back to Lake Placid so he could relax. But this place, at this time, wasn’t helping him want to return, but rather pushing him back to the woman he loved.

  Looked like Randall’s plan might have backfired.

  More Space

  “Dena, you’ve got a call on line one. Dena, line one.”

  Dena looked up from Brenda, the patient she was examining. “You can get that if you want.”

  “No. They can hold on. If it’s an emergency one of the nurses would have grabbed it. It’s probably someone just calling
to ask a question on an appointment coming up.”

  “I can wait.”

  Dena was pulling the dressing off of Brenda’s forearm. “That’s because you want to drag out the fact I’m going to be taking your stitches out.”

  “Guilty. Is it going to hurt?” Brenda asked, wincing when the last of the bandage was pulled away.

  “Not like when you cut and mangled your arm,” Dena said, grinning.

  Brenda paled. “That hurt really bad. So did the stitches Dr. Hamilton put in it.”

  “You might feel a little pinch, but that is only because there is some dried blood. It will be fine. Just look away if you want. Or tell me if you think you’re going to pass out.”

  Dena was trying to think back if Brenda had a problem getting her stitches in the ER. Amber had been with her then and couldn’t recall and there was nothing in the chart.

  “I’ll be fine. Just take my mind off it, if you could.”

  Dena put her gloves on and grabbed a sterile package of scissors and tweezers and opened them up, then started to cut the stitches and pull them out with the tweezers. “They’re calling for almost three feet of snow by tomorrow night,” she said. “What do you think?”

  “I think I’m sick of winter already. It’s almost the end of February and by this time I’ve got my hopes up for spring.”

  “I hope we don’t get it too,” Dena said, pulling the rest of them out. “That looks pretty good.”

  Brenda looked over. “Wow. That’s not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.”

  “Dr. Hamilton will be in in a few minutes to look it over and then I’ll be back to tape it up.”

  “Tape it up?” Brenda asked.

  “Glue and steri-strips to hold it tighter together to minimize the scarring. I’ll go let Dr. Hamilton know you’re ready.”

  Dena walked out and over to the desk quickly and picked up the phone. “Hi, this is Dena.” There was no one there. Just silence even though the light had been flashing. “Hello?” Some coughing on the other end and then the call was disconnected.

  Max walked out of an exam room as she hung the phone up, put it from her mind, and followed him back into Brenda’s room.

  By the end of the day, Max called all the staff together and said, “I asked Ava to start making calls and canceling all appointments for tomorrow. Can you girls see if she needs some help since there are only twenty minutes left before we leave.”

  “You’re shutting down for the day?” Rene asked, looking excited.

  “Yeah. There’s over a foot out there now and it looks to show no signs of slowing. Matter of fact, it’s only going to pick up. I just checked out the news and it’s calling for almost three feet by this time tomorrow. No one is going to come in and I’m not risking anyone leaving their house either. There is nothing pressing being done tomorrow.”

  “Thank God Cole is off tomorrow,” Rene said. “He can bring me in if there are any calls. He’ll be leaving soon to come get me too.”

  “I’ll bring you home,” Amber said. “It’s on my way and no reason for Cole to bring TJ out in this.”

  “Thanks. I’ll just send him a text now.”

  “And don’t worry about anything tonight or tomorrow,” Max said. “The two in the cottage are completely fine. They are just staying for a vacation at this point. In weather like this, the hospital and their staff are taking care of anything in the ER. If I need to go in, I will, but none of you girls will have to. Take calls if you need to, Rene, but direct anyone to the hospital and be done with it.”

  “Thanks, Max,” Rene said. She wasn’t the best driver by any means.

  They all made their way back to the office to take care of canceling any appointments and rescheduling. Dena was used to this weather and had no problem getting around in it, especially in her SUV. Most everyone had all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive vehicles in this area, or they didn’t leave the house if they didn’t need to.

  That thought brought her to Matt. She wondered what he was thinking of this storm. She’d barely seen or talked to him this week at all. He’d been busy working on a few cases and she’d been running around herself it seemed.

  Those years of when they were in each other’s back pockets were long gone, but it didn’t bother her.

  Maybe if they’d had more space as kids they would have been able to think more rationally about stuff. Maybe they wouldn’t have held onto each other as lifesavers rather than having their own life on the side.

  When she got to her desk, she noticed the light flashing on her phone and picked it up. The first call was someone scheduled for a procedure tomorrow and wanted to cancel. Looked like she called around lunch when Ava would have been gone, so Dena went into the computer and took care of that, then sent an email to the patient asking to call in two days to reschedule.

  The next call was just silence again. She was ready to hang up when she heard, “Dena. Can you call me please?” She didn’t recognize the number and the person didn’t leave their name either.

  She went into their software and put the phone number in hoping to see if it’d trigger a patient so she knew who she was dealing with, but there were no results.

  It couldn’t have been too much of an emergency then if the person wasn’t even a patient. It was probably someone that was referred to her for a consult, so she pushed it aside and would deal with it another day.

  ***

  Matt was looking out the window at the snow and trying not to cringe.

  The good news was he didn’t have to leave his house if he didn’t want to. He had plenty of food and drink, he was warm and all his electronics were charged. He’d learned his lesson enough as a kid to make sure things were charged this time of year.

  The bad news was, he’d have to figure out how to clean this stuff out of his driveway at some point...once it stopped.

  He’d been outside twice already today. Trying to keep up with it was the equivalent of trying to move in quicksand. The stuff seemed to come down around him faster. He was to the point that he was going to beg Dena to clear his driveway with her father’s truck when the time came once she had a few minutes.

  He was walking back to the couch when his phone went off. He picked it up to see a message from Dena that she was coming with dinner and would be there in an hour along with a change of clothes to stay the night.

  Part of him wanted to tell her not to come out in this. Not to put herself at risk.

  The other part was like “it’s just a few blocks away and I really want to see her.”

  He decided to be neutral and typed back: Only if you want to. It’s nasty out there.

  I wouldn’t have said I was coming if I didn’t want to. See you soon.

  He tossed his phone back on the coffee table and went to put his winter clothes back on and clean out a spot for Dena in the driveway. Not that he thought it’d make much of a difference, but it’d kill some time too because right now he was dying to get his hands on her.

  To hold her. To kiss her. To let her know how much he wanted her.

  Needed her. Loved her.

  He was keeping the last part to himself. He’d already told her he never stopped loving her, but saying it directly to her at this moment—those three big words—would make her run, he was sure.

  The last thing he wanted to do was watch her retreating back like she’d watched his.

  What he wanted and needed was to make sure he held on long enough to get her to feel the same as him.

  To get her to know how much he wanted her. To know how much he cared. To know he’d never be that stupid again.

  He’d made it back from his office earlier this week without her knowing and was glad.

  If she’d asked him point blank where he’d been or if he went back, he would have told her. But she didn’t, nor would she have any reason to. So to just say he’d been working wasn’t a lie in his eyes.

  Just a technicality.

  Words with You

  Dena
pulled into Matt’s driveway, grabbed her purse, her overnight bag, and the few bags of groceries she’d picked up on the way. The store wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d thought it’d be. Most had probably been out earlier and those that were now were doing what she’d done...stopped on her way home from work.

  The garage door opened for her, so she slipped in and stomped the snow off her boots, then walked in the door to the kitchen that Matt was holding open for her.

  “You didn’t need to shovel for me,” she said.

  He reached for the grocery bags. “It gave me something to do. I’ve been trying to keep up on it, but it wasn’t helping.”

  “It won’t. My father will stop over and take care of it at some point in the morning when he’s out clearing mine and a few other people that he’s always done. Then he’ll come back through once it stops. You don’t need to be anywhere, do you?”

  “Nope. I appreciate it too. Tell your dad I’ll get him a case of beer.”

  She laughed and pulled off her boots and hung up her jacket. “He’d love it, but you don’t need to. You can pretend you’re sleeping or something so he doesn’t come knocking at the door to talk to you.”

  “Why?” Matt asked, setting the bags on the counter and then pulling things out.

  “I think he wants to have words with you,” she said quickly, then watched for his reaction.

  “Your father and I came to terms already.”

  “When?” she asked, whipping her head up from unloading the bags.

  “I don’t remember the exact date. He stopped over and we talked. It’s all good.”

  She wanted to comment on the fact neither of them said a word to her about it but decided it was probably wise not to. Her father did warn her he was going to do it.

  “That’s good then,” she said.

  “It looks like picnic food,” he said, grinning.

  “I grabbed sandwich meat and rolls. The makings for subs, then some chips and cookies. I didn’t know if you had anything for breakfast and grabbed some donuts in case we lose power.”