A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE BOXED SET

by Lewis, Laurie

  Susan slumped, mirroring Olivia’s defeated posture. Her voice was softer when she asked, “Then why not call it a mistake, go your separate ways, and be happy?”

  This was the precipice upon which Olivia had spent the last eight years, with each day hanging just a word or a look away from the fall into a marital separation. Walking that narrow line had worn her down, but failure and abandonment seemed equally terrifying to the young woman she once was, an insecure youth who voiced her surly opinion about her beautiful mother’s miserable but convenient marriage. So Olivia had stayed, but why had Jeff?

  She closed her eyes against the sting and shifted in the bed, wanting to close that chapter in her thin book of memories. But Susan was still staring at her, waiting for an answer, so Olivia supplied the only one she had. The only one that made any sense to her.

  “The day after our wedding, Jeff drove us back to the apartment he shared with Hudson. It had also been the headquarters for our software company, but Hudson had vacated the place. All he left was an envelope with a note for Jeff, berating him for missing their big presentation and describing how he’d stumbled through it alone and closed the deal.”

  “Did he know why Jeff missed the presentation? That you two had eloped?”

  Olivia shrugged. “Evidently. I was so stunned that I never actually read the letter, but Jeff told me what was in it. He read a line to me that said, ‘I hope you’re happy.’”

  “Maybe he meant it. Maybe Hudson was actually wishing you guys well, and he moved out to give you two some privacy.”

  Those had been her first thoughts too, but all the other evidence was stacked against Hudson. “I admit that Jeff and I got ourselves off to a rocky start. Shutting you and your parents out was wrong, but Hudson left us nothing to build on when he stole the partnership away from Jeff.”

  “Partnership?”

  “Hudson designed a software program that evaluated players’ stats and predicted what strategies would work best against different opponents. He set up an LLC, and I wrote the programming. Several NCAA teams were interested.”

  “And he made Jeff a legal partner?”

  Olivia shrugged again. “I suppose it was more of an understanding Jeff said they had, but even though the concept was Hudson’s, Jeff was the face of the company. He knew the sports lingo, and he could talk to anyone, especially the crowd looking at that program. But Hudson reneged on everything and kept the company. One success led to another for him, but he destroyed Jeff that day.”

  “So that’s why you lashed out at him.” She shifted in her seat. “I guess I still don’t understand why you and Jeff chose to stay together and be miserable.”

  The question wouldn’t go away. Olivia surrendered to her fatigue, allowing her eyes to drift closed, ending the interrogation but not the mental examination of the question. Why did she stay? She knew. Once the shock of Hudson’s departure sank in, Jeff kicked the desk, cursed, and paced in a circle. Panicked, he turned to Olivia.

  “You wrote that code. I wrote the sales pitch. We’re two-thirds of the dream team. We’ll just start again … make our own company.” The light returned to his eyes as he extended his hand to her. “Deal?”

  The proffered partnership wasn’t the bond of two lovers, but it fit a pattern with which she was familiar. Jilted by Olivia’s father while pregnant, her beautiful mother dated many men, keeping her eyes peeled for a suitable opportunity. When she found Louisiana plumbing contractor Peter Thibodeaux, a quiet Cajun man with a profitable business, she packed up her daughter and their things and headed to the altar.

  As a child, Olivia was almost glad she wasn’t pretty. Gangly and nearsighted, with a narrow, aquiline nose, long black hair, and an olive complexion like the Greek father she never met, she didn’t share her mother’s need to fend off suitors. Education became Olivia’s ticket to stability, and she threw herself into her studies, joined the nerd clubs—computer science and math—and applied for every scholarship she could find. Then she accepted the offer from the school farthest from her mother—the University of Washington in Seattle.

  The library became her refuge. That was where she clicked with another freshman math nerd—Hudson Bauer—the high school buddy and personal stat-man to Jeff, the freshman Adonis at tight end. Hudson introduced her to Jeff, and their odd threesome worked somehow.

  But it was Hudson she gravitated to. They were never at a loss for conversation. There was always a question to solve or an idea to puzzle over together. They rolled their eyes as Jeff’s conveyer belt of fantasy dates strolled past while Hudson envisioned a way to turn the game strategies he provided Jeff into a marketable program.

  He offered Olivia a crucial role. For the first time, she felt she belonged somewhere, that she was needed, and her confidence soared. But all the while, Olivia secretly wished Hudson would close the laptop and look at her the way Jeff looked at his dates.

  With that in mind, she adopted some of the styles and trends of the girls Jeff dated. She cut and highlighted her hair, got contacts, tried makeup, and bought stylish clothes. Jeff applauded the changes that left Hudson wary and unsettled. As disappointed as she was over his lukewarm response, she liked the confident woman looking back at her from the mirror.

  The next three years of building the company were the happiest of her life. Until the night Jeff swept her off her feet. And Hudson went away. Until she realized that the confident woman in the mirror had surrendered to the insecurities of her youth, and the love-filled marriage she dreamed of had become a business with occasional benefits.

  Why did she marry Jeff? She told herself it was infatuation, but deep down she knew there was something else, something far less romantic. Why did he marry her? It was the question she had feared to ask him, and now that he was gone, she’d never know the answer.

  Chapter Three

  The scent of pine filled Hudson’s nose as he drove his silver Range Rover north along the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway. He passed alternating stands of straight, soaring evergreens and swatches of bare land cleared by logging, now dotted with new plantings for the future. His stress eased as the familiar sights and smells overtook him.

  He pulled off U.S. Highway 101 and cruised the downtown area of quaint Cannon Beach, Oregon, popping in at the Family Market. After picking up some carefully selected groceries and supplies, he headed for the Bauers’ gray, cedar shake-sided home on Forest Lawn Drive.

  He could almost feel his parents’ absence. The home seemed to miss them too. Ocean breezes blew trash into the shrubs, and lichen had crept across the gray cedar shake roof, leaving yellow-green patches.

  His cares eased as he carried the groceries around to the back of the house to take in the spectacular ocean view. He had travelled the world to places most people only dream of, but this lot, selected by his great-grandfather, a Blackfoot Indian and logger, was his favorite spot on earth.

  The powerful, never-ending expanse of churning blue met an almost equally blue horizon. Gulls squawked, waves crashed, and children squealed from the beach below the bluff where the old gray house stood. Hudson looked left to the massive, famous Haystack Rock of Goonies fame and to the sea garden that stretched from the beach to the rock and its caves. The scene was filled with memories. His favorites included Liv.

  He stepped onto the sprawling porch, unlocked the French doors, and disarmed the alarm. A tautness surrounded his heart since seeing Liv. He felt it release as he stepped into the timeless house—a time capsule fitted with familiar, comfy furniture in blues and corals. The white walls and gray wood floors of the open dining/living space flowed into the kitchen. Long-stifled images returned of Liv eating at the counter or lounging on the sofa in an oversized T-shirt and jeans. Feeling wrung out, he slumped onto a stool and imagined her here again—hurt, injured, afraid. How had they gotten to this agonizing point?

  He stood and began emptying the grocery bags. If Liv wouldn’t see him, he’d at least make sure the old place was ready in case she accept
ed his offer to recuperate here.

  His phone buzzed distinctively in his pocket. It was the ring reserved for Alejandra, his assistant. He took the call and waited expectantly for her Latin inflections.

  “I’m trying very hard not to bother you.”

  “It’s okay. What’s up?”

  “Have you even seen the news? There was another terrorist blast near Rashaya.”

  The hairs on his arms stood on end. “Were any of our people hurt?”

  “No, but some of the investors are pulling out. They think it’s too risky to move forward at this time. HSB agrees. What do you want me to do?”

  Hudson ran a hand over his face and sighed. HSB was the Humanitarian Services Branch of TBG, The Bauer Group, his sprawling corporate umbrella that now required teams of people to manage. Rashaya was the Lebanese city where he was trying to launch family-based microbusinesses to help the Syrian refugees.

  Alejandra cleared her throat. “Shall I transfer corporate funds to cover the losses?”

  “Not yet. Money isn’t the problem. We need to get more people invested in the project … people who will care enough to mentor these new business owners. Call the AMAR Foundation. Tell them we have the capital if they have some volunteers. Get back to me when you hear from them. And double the number of security people there, no matter what it costs.”

  “Will do. I do have some good news. Arthur Baswell of Micro-Gear has a prototype of that solar pump to show you.”

  “That’s great. Set up a video chat. I want to see that ASAP.”

  “I’ll get on it. This is a delicate time for you to go dark on me. Whatever has taken you away must be pretty important.”

  “I’ll do better about checking in.”

  He wasn’t ready to tell Alejandra why he excused himself from critical meetings, shifted responsibilities to others, and walked away from his corporate world with only an hour’s notice. It wasn’t like him. Except where Liv was concerned.

  Chapter Four

  Aides arrived almost hourly, delivering packages containing expensive brands of personal items lost in the accident. A large bouquet of yellow tulips arrived, along with several novels and a teal-colored robe. Olivia assumed the items had been purchased by Hudson or one of his people, and while Olivia received the needed goods with initial discomfort, it did not go unnoticed that he had remembered her favorite flowers, author, and color.

  Susan began staying at a local hotel with her parents after she and Olivia talked. Her parents arrived at the hospital with her one afternoon, carrying a bag that contained a new dress and shoes for Olivia to wear to the upcoming funeral. She couldn’t imagine what that agonizing errand had cost them emotionally, and though their kindness was genuine, a suffocating curtain of guilt and blame shrouded all of them each time the conversation drifted to Jeff. She wept when they left, wondering why Jeff hadn’t taken her home to meet his parents. She could only assume it was because he hadn’t wanted them to meet her.

  A soft knock sounded on the door before it opened slightly, revealing a woman with short brown hair and a kind face. She held a Mason jar filled with day lilies and orange poppies.

  “Hello,” the woman said. “Is it all right if I come in?”

  Olivia wiped her eyes and nodded.

  “I’ve been calling Susan every day to check on you.” Her smile quivered. “I’m so very sorry about Jeff. We’d like to help if there’s anything … anything at all you need.”

  Olivia muttered “thank you” to the nameless woman.

  “Ben and I left the park as soon as we got the car packed and Joey cleaned up. We must have arrived just a few minutes after the accident.”

  The harrowing words caused Olivia to slump into her bed. “We’ve met before?”

  The woman set her flowers down and stepped back. Two fingers covered her mouth as apologies rambled out. “I’m so sorry. We only met that day. I shouldn’t have assumed—”

  “Wait,” said Olivia, as the fog cleared and fragments of that last day shifted into place. She remembered the checkered tablecloth spread across a picnic table under a towering tree. And a small boy digging in the nearby sand. She saw Jeff and a man tossing a football through a gap between two branches, and … “You had sliced oranges.”

  The woman laughed nervously. “Yes. Orange slices are the only thing I can get Joey to eat besides bread and cheese sticks.”

  “You’re married to Jeff’s high school friend.”

  The woman’s smile returned. “Yes. Ben Ashburn is my husband. I’m Laurel.”

  “You found us after the accident?”

  She nodded slowly. “Jeff left his wallet on the picnic table when you drove off. We tried calling you, but no one answered. Then Ben remembered Jeff saying his next stop was the Charter Bank in Hillsboro, so we headed that way. We had only gone a few miles when we saw the flashing lights.”

  Olivia remembered Jeff ignoring a call. Why? Because they were fighting. For the first time that she could remember, Olivia had challenged Jeff. But why this time? She bit her lip as her hand fell over her barren belly. She had done it for the baby she would never know.

  “I shouldn’t have come so soon. Instead of helping, I’m adding to your distress. I just wanted to return this, and to let you know I’m nearby if I can do anything for you. Again, I’m so very sorry for your loss.” Laurel laid Jeff’s wallet on the bed table and stepped back.

  “No. Please. Don’t go,” said Olivia, as she tore her eyes from the wallet and pulled herself together. “You’re helping me remember. Tell me about that day. Please, sit.”

  Laurel Ashburn was tentative as she sat on the edge of the recliner. “That picnic meant the world to Ben. To both of us. Hudson comes back from time to time, but no one had heard from Jeff in years, and then we read what he posted on the reunion site and realized Beaverton had two successful sons that put us on the map. Well, the thought that such successful people would make personal time for an old high school friend made Ben feel very special.”

  Such successful people … Olivia cringed inwardly and stretched a hand out toward Laurel. “I’m the one who envies you and your wonderful life. You have each other, a successful business, roots in a town you love, and you have your beautiful son.”

  Laurel touched a blush-warmed cheek. “Thank you. That’s kind of you to say. Our life is simple, but it suits us. I read Jeff’s reunion post. I can’t imagine a life like yours, racing coast to coast between big advertising offices. But Ben appreciated Jeff’s interest in his little dream. He loves building, and he’s good at it. He hopes to move along with the plans he and Jeff made.”

  An uncomfortable chill snaked up Olivia’s spine. “Remind me about Ben’s plans.”

  “His father owns a thousand acres of timberland near the county line. If they hire a company to come in and clear-cut it, they’ll only get a fraction of the value of the lumber, but hiring a crew and leasing equipment would cost them a fortune they don’t have, so they gave up on the dream of developing that land until Jeff offered to help.”

  Prickles appeared on Olivia’s arms. Their only shame to this point was self-aggrandizement. Jeff theorized that more territory meant more opportunities, so they set up a premier website for a company called McAllister and McAllister Marketing, or MMM, and bought post office boxes in New York, Tampa, Dallas, and L.A. to establish a presence in each of those lucrative markets.

  Despite their tireless work, MMM failed to land any clients bigger than the small businesses who advertised in the coupon booklets and mailers they distributed. It was a legitimate enterprise that made a decent profit, but the four-market strategy required them to be mobile, living in short-term, pre-furnished rentals while everything they owned was stuffed in their car. Jeff promised Olivia they would settle down where and when he landed one big client or the right connection that would launch their company. Olivia feared he was counting on Ben to be that opportunity. But what was he planning to use as capital?

  “Do you rememb
er the terms of Jeff’s offer?”

  Laurel jumped to her feet. “I-I didn’t come here asking you to fulfill it.”

  “I understand. Please … You’re helping me put the pieces of that last day back together.”

  Laurel returned to the chair and sat stiffly. “There’s not much to tell. Our high school reunion committee put that Facebook group together to gather info on the class. Ben posted about his logging and development dream. A few days later, Jeff called to say he’d seen Ben’s post, and he’d like to discuss the development project. He said he was coming to Portland in a month, so we arranged that picnic. While the guys were tossing that football around, Jeff told Ben he was going to see his banker in Hillsboro to set up a line of credit while Ben got bids on leasing the logging equipment.”

  Olivia’s hands wrung as she weighed Laurel’s words. How was he planning to get a line of credit? Olivia closed her eyes to think. She handled the family/corporate finances, which amounted to less than a thousand dollars she’d managed to protect from Jeff’s other pie-in-the-sky investments. In fact, they were fighting over finances in the car the day of the accident. That’s why she chose that minute to tell him about the baby.

  Rather than discuss things rationally, Jeff stopped the car, told her he couldn’t do “this” anymore, and then blindly walked into the road and into the path of an oncoming truck barreling around the bend. She shivered at the memory.

  Their financial fallout was now expanding. What was Jeff thinking when he contacted Ben Ashburn? But Jeff wasn’t the only one with poor intentions. How could she have ever thought that hiring an internet attorney to go after Hudson was an acceptable strategy?

  Olivia raised her head and looked at Laurel. “Laurel, the truth is, McAllister and McAllister is in the red. We’re broke. As badly as Jeff may have wanted to help Ben, we couldn’t get a line of credit right now. So please tell Ben not to take a risk based on anything Jeff offered.”