A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE BOXED SET

by Lewis, Laurie

  Jeff was gone.

  Olivia lowered her eyelids, shutting out the conscious world again even as the soft whoosh of the door brought in light from the noisy hall and someone else into the room. After introducing herself to Susan, the physician moved to Olivia, brushing the tangled mass of dark hair away from her bandaged shoulder.

  “Mrs. McAllister. Mrs. McAllister …? Please open your eyes for me, Olivia.”

  When Olivia didn’t respond, the physician’s citrus scent moved closer. She forced each of Olivia’s eyes open and passed a light back and forth across them. Olivia’s mind surrendered to the medication again, grasping hold of a recent memory as it retreated.

  A picnic. With oranges.

  Flashes, like lightning strikes, followed. A checkered tablecloth. A bag of orange slices. Happy faces. A kind woman. A small child. Laughing men tossing a football. The football wilted in midair as she watched herself and Jeff enter their extravagant Lexus sedan to drive away. An icy spray of fear dismissed the images as the doctor called her name again.

  Olivia’s mind ignored the summons to consciousness as the images of that picnic taunted her peace. She heard another veiled call from the doctor, who tapped on her inner arm above the IV, but Olivia felt no compulsion to open her eyes and respond. Silent moments passed until the quiet was broken by a question on the topic Olivia most wanted to forget.

  “Do you know what caused the accident?” the doctor asked Susan. “I hear they were both out of the car.”

  “I only know what the police told me,” said Susan. “That a truck was taking the turn on a mountain road when my brother was crossing four lanes of traffic on foot. The driver swerved, but—” Her voice caught, and then she continued. “He clipped the car, which was parked on the narrow shoulder. They think that’s where Olivia was standing. She was thrown about twenty feet.” Susan’s voice broke, and she paused before continuing. “None of it makes any sense.”

  The discussion ended, and the door eventually swished closed, darkening the room once more. Olivia’s mind rewound to the drive from the picnic, which replayed in a staccato pattern of still photos, each one popping up like tissues being torn from a box. The replay paused on a face filled with anger. Jeff’s face. For a moment, Olivia wondered at the reason for his anger, and then she remembered his reaction to the news she’d shared. Happy news that led to tragedy.

  She longed for someone to hold her, to make everything all right. A face came to her. Not Jeff’s face, but that of another man. The sweet warmth it brought quickly soured, leaving her utterly alone. Voiceless moments passed, interrupted only by the sterile beep of monitors and the faint street sounds below. And then the door opened again.

  Olivia heard a cry break from Susan, followed by rapid footsteps and muffled weeping. “You came. Thank you.”

  “I’m so sorry, Susan.”

  Olivia tensed. The male voice was familiar, yet strange. Eight years had matured it, deepened it. Eight years and unimaginable wealth had added an air of poise and confidence the owner had lacked in his youth. He had once been her best friend, her confidant, but not now. Now he was her enemy. The man responsible for destroying her family.

  She heard Susan choke out, “I’m sorry for bothering you. My parents are devastated. You were the only other person I could think to call.”

  His voice was raspy as he replied, “Of course I’d come.”

  The full gamut of emotions, pent up over a twelve-year roller coaster of struggles, roiled in Olivia’s battered body, pushing past the medicated fog. “Get out,” she muttered weakly.

  Susan rushed to her. “You’re awake! Hudson, catch the doctor. Tell her—”

  “Get out,” Olivia repeated more audibly, clenching her jaw so tightly she shook as she turned her head toward the man. She forced her eyes to open long enough to meet his. “Get out. You’re not welcome here. Get out! Get out!”

  Hudson Bauer had dined with royals, danced with starlets, and negotiated with business titans across the globe, but none of those experiences had been as daunting as entering Olivia’s hospital room. He caught only a quick, disconcerting glance at her when he entered before moving into Susan’s waiting arms. That one stolen glimpse of Liv, bruised and swollen, her wounds wrapped in gauze or splinted, was enough to reopen the gash in his heart, and then he froze as she splayed him open.

  He had prepared himself for the emotional tsunami seeing her would launch, but he was not prepared for her rage. Their eyes connected, and for a second, they were back in time: a geeky computer science major and the shy, leggy coed he first saw in the library at the University of Washington. And then it was gone, replaced by anger and something else.

  The look in her eyes froze him where he stood, making him an inanimate target for her fury. He racked his brain to recall eyes that had affected him similarly, and then he knew. He had been in Rashaya, Lebanon, a day ago, setting up funding for humanitarian groups handling the flood of Syrian refugees flowing into that country. Those refugees bore the same look he now saw in Olivia’s eyes. Not the hollowness of hunger, but the vacant look of defeat.

  For a second, he regretted coming, but ignoring Susan’s message about the accident had never been an option. That he received it at all was a miracle. He had completed the tour of a refugee camp when the text arrived from Alejandra, his personal assistant, telling him about a curious call—Susan’s—made to a corporate number she had found from a Google search of his name. The switchboard operator had inadvertently put it through to his personal line. He was on a plane within an hour, flying halfway around the world to see a woman who had left him broken and empty.

  In a moment, Susan was beside him, urging him into the hall. She kicked the door closed with her foot and said, “Hudson, she doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

  “No. She knew exactly who I was. She meant every word.” He ran his hands through his tangle of brown curls. “I was prepared to find her grieving, but she blames me. For what? For this? What has Jeff told her these eight years?”

  Susan’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sure you have a pretty good idea.”

  She leaned against the wall, her head flopping back as if her neck couldn’t bear its weight. “I should be sad and grieving. I’ve lost my only sibling. Instead, I’m just so angry. I’ve hardly heard from Jeff in eight years, and now I’m expected to handle this?” She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t really mean that.”

  Hudson moved beside her.

  “I really did love my brother. And I think Olivia and I could have been friends under other circumstances.”

  “Could have been? You blame Liv?”

  “Jeff was always Jeff—an irresponsible, party-loving jock with a flock of gorgeous dates. Olivia had to know that. From what I see, she’s the one who changed.”

  It was true. Hudson regretted introducing the awkward University of Washington coed to Jeff almost immediately. Jeff had no interest in Liv beyond what tutoring help she could give him, but Hudson clearly remembered how quickly she morphed from a geeky scholar who was more comfortable writing HTML code than love letters to a shy beauty soon after he inserted her into the odd friendship he enjoyed with his high school jock friend, Jeff. He felt like a harness over the next four years, stabilizing two very different members of the trio while maintaining a healthy separation between Liv and Jeff. He told himself it was for the good of the work, but he knew it was more. Even though the pair showed an outward indifference to one another, Hudson knew Liv turned herself inside out to impress Jeff.

  He raised his hand, ending further excavation of their buried pasts. “I don’t suppose who did what to whom matters anymore.”

  “It evidently does to Olivia.”

  Desperate to segue on to a different topic, Hudson asked about Olivia’s health. “What are the doctors saying?”

  Susan gathered her hair and twisted it nervously. “She was thrown down a ravine when the truck hit the car. Something cut her leg pretty badl
y. They say she lost a lot of blood. Other than scrapes and cuts, her worst injuries are soft tissue damage to her shoulders and knees.” Susan’s hands dropped to her sides. “Except… she lost her baby, Hudson. I don’t even know if Jeff knew he was going to be a father.”

  Hudson’s heart stuttered and his palms went clammy. He rubbed them against the front of his jeans as he slid down the wall into a squat to break eye contact and hide his reaction to Susan’s ongoing report.

  “They’re running more tests, but she’s going to need a good deal of rehab. They want her to stay close by if possible, but I don’t know what to do. My parents moved out of state, and my place is two hours away. Plus, I need to be back at school by mid-August to train on new equipment.”

  Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m sorry, this shouldn’t be about me. It’s just that an anonymous donor completely funded a new, fully equipped school specially designed for disabled students. It’s everything I’ve fought for, but what do I do about Olivia? I’ve been through her wallet, and I can’t find any contact information for her mother or even a physical address or an insurance card for her, so I told the doctors I’d make local arrangements for her convalescence.”

  Hudson released a rush of breath and stood again. He pulled his key ring from his pocket, removed two keys, and pressed them into Susan’s hand. “I bought my parents’ Cannon Beach house. Here are the spare keys to the front door and the key to the Nissan in the garage. You and Olivia can stay there and use the car for as long as you need.”

  Susan’s eyes glistened as her hand closed around the keys. “Thank you,” she muttered, bringing her hand and the keys to her breast. “I know your parents’ place was the closest thing Olivia had to a home during your college years.”

  His heart clenched over the comment. He quickly changed the subject. “How are your parents?”

  Her lips trembled. “Not good at all. Jeff never introduced Olivia to them, and the only contact we’ve had with him was a few calls over the years. He closed a door on all of us. But the news was still devastating. He was their only son.”

  An awkward silence passed between them until Susan asked, “How are your folks? Jeff only took me to one of your working luaus, but I loved that weekend and your parents.”

  Hudson smiled. “They’re great. They’re in Africa, working on a water project for the WHO.”

  “The World Health Organization? So now your folks are helping you save the world?”

  “Villages need water. Dad always was the best well driller in Tillamook County. I just made the introductions.”

  Another awkward pause ensued while Susan stared blankly at the floor.

  “I know you’re overwhelmed right now. Liv was never close to her mother. She never wanted to talk about their relationship, so there might not be much help there, but we can hire help once she’s released. And don’t worry about school. We’ll make sure you meet all your deadlines.”

  “Thanks, Hudson. I really am excited to start this new year. I’d love to thank the donor who made this possible.”

  “I’m sure they’d tell you their part was easy compared to what you do every day.”

  She squeezed the keys again. “And thank you for these. Olivia can recuperate where she’ll feel comfortable.”

  Hudson reached into the breast pocket of his white button-front shirt, withdrew two cards, and handed them to Susan. “Here is my personal business card. You can always reach me at that number. And I stopped by the bank and arranged for this preloaded bank card for any expenses that come up … at least until Liv can sort things out.”

  Susan touched the gold-embossed “HB” with her finger. “This is the very card I would have expected from you. Elegant, unpretentious. Hudson Bauer …” Her hand swept through the air as if she were drawing a marquee. “You’re an icon, like The Boss or Madonna.”

  “Now you’re making fun of me,” he teased.

  “You’ve probably placed this card in the hands of famous people I only read about … but I’m glad you’re still a regular guy.”

  “Money doesn’t make one person better than another. It’s just a tool.” Then he tapped the card. “The only thing that matters right now is that it allows me to get here in a few hours no matter where I am.” Despite his wealth, a sense of powerlessness slammed Hudson, rounding his shoulders. “I wish I could do more. I planned to stay right there in her room and relieve you, but …” He looked at Olivia’s door and shook his head. “I’m the last person she wants to see. Just promise to call me if you or she need anything. I mean it.”

  “I promise.”

  Chapter Two

  A hospital chaplain arrived during Olivia’s rant, but when his efforts to comfort her failed, sedation was ordered. She welcomed the fog until her last fateful drive and conversation with Jeff began replaying in a subconscious loop. As the effects of the medicine decreased, the clarity of the memory increased until she was there beside the car again, watching Jeff walk away. But this time, she knew what would happen next. Her mumbled warning for Jeff to come back went unheeded, and her panic increased until she bolted upright, yelling, “Watch out! Watch out!”

  Monitor leads and her IV hose whipped loose despite Susan’s efforts to still Olivia’s flailing arms. The beeping alerts sent nurses scrambling while Susan was relegated back to the reclining chair she had slept in the past few nights. Olivia noticed the stress on her sister-in-law’s face. The quiet teacher had questions she needed to ask, questions that denied her peace, and the time had come for them to talk.

  After the nurses left, Olivia closed her eyes and brushed her long, dark hair away from her face with her least encumbered hand before resting the arm across her brow. Opening her eyes, she met Susan’s gaze. “I haven’t thanked you for staying with me. We haven’t really spoken since—”

  “Since your secret wedding eight years ago?”

  There it is. Olivia stiffened at Susan’s quiet but well-aimed reproach that revealed her own pain.

  “Do you know how my parents found out that their only son had brought a new member into the family? Facebook. Some of Jeff’s football buddies posted photos.”

  How could they have been there? We had only been engaged for an hour.

  There had been no thought of parents. No thought of anything, really. Now, it was clear the McAllisters blamed her for the family’s estrangement. “I’m sorry. It all happened so quickly. We … just didn’t think.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Susan muttered, dipping her head, clearly uncomfortable over causing Olivia pain.

  “How did you hear … about the accident?”

  Susan fumbled with her hands. “Jeff called unexpectedly yesterday morning. He said he was returning to Portland for a week or so and wanted to get together. I was so excited…” She bit her upper lip and wiped her eyes. “Anyway, the police saw my number on his phone and called me since there was no emergency contact info for either of you and only a series of P.O. boxes for an address.”

  Olivia cringed as she heard how irresponsible they sounded. “I’m sorry. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” Unable to hold the tears back any longer, she wept into her blanket. Susan looked aside until she regained control. “Would you help me … Would you help me plan his service?” Olivia’s voice caught.

  The topic seemed to suck the air from the room. The awkward silence that filled the void was finally dispelled when Susan coughed to clear the emotion from her own voice. “My folks arrived last night. They would appreciate being included in those plans.”

  Olivia swallowed and nodded. “Of course.”

  Another long, silent pause magnified the tension in the room until Susan spoke. “This was the first time Jeff’s been home in years, and he didn’t keep in touch with anyone from here as far as I know, so it’ll be a small service. Just us and a few old family friends.”

  Olivia thought of the family with the oranges and the red-haired toddler, but she couldn’t recall their names.

&
nbsp; Susan sniffed. “He had a hymn he sang and played on his guitar as a kid.” She bit her lip again and turned away.

  Olivia had forgotten that he sang and played guitar. The only time she could remember such a moment was when he entertained a date during a summer campfire on the beach. Never to her. She wished she had known that he had attended church. She’d been married to the man for eight years and knew as little about him as he knew about her. The depth of their marital failure slammed her. “Let’s use the one you remember, if you think it would please your parents.”

  Susan nodded. Her hands twisted nervously, and then she looked up. “Did you love him?”

  Olivia swallowed hard, and Susan pursued the question.

  “I-I’m sorry. I’m trying to understand why he cut us out. I’d prefer to imagine him happy and self-absorbed over miserable and ashamed to come home. Why did you marry so quickly and stay away? Did you love him?”

  Olivia didn’t want to answer, but neither did she want to lie. “I-I-I thought so.” She could hear how hollow the words were. “I tried to love him, but he didn’t seem to want to be loved by me.” Olivia’s slim, olive-toned fingers toyed with the edge of her bedsheet. “He didn’t seem to like himself much either.”

  “My proud, arrogant brother? That doesn’t sound like Jeff at all.”

  Every word was being weighed, and the strength of Susan’s rebuttal caused Olivia to shrink back into the mattress. “He changed after the wedding. We had just graduated, and he and Hudson were launching a promising software company. Jeff could have had his pick of women, but he pursued me, a girl with no dating experience. He said he loved me, but I suppose he woke up that first morning and realized the mistake he had made.”