A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE BOXED SET

by Lewis, Laurie

  A sinking feeling hit Olivia. How could she accept another gift from the man she blamed for ruining her life? Could she sue Hudson and throw him a thank-you dinner? She rolled away from the table and over to the French doors that overlooked the sea.

  Laurel stood and moved to stand beside her. “You look upset. What’s going on?”

  Olivia looked down at her hands. “You might not think much of me when I tell you.”

  Laurel sank into a coral-colored chair as Olivia wheeled around to face her.

  “I’ve got a lawsuit pending against Hudson.”

  Laurel froze, seeming not to breathe or blink or move in any way. She whistled, long and low. “Does he know?”

  Olivia’s shook her head. “I just gave the lawyer the go-ahead a few days before the accident.”

  “May I ask why you are suing him?”

  Olivia’s eyes began to sting. “Jeff and I helped get Hudson’s first company started, but Hudson cut us completely out the night we eloped. We were impetuous, and we probably would have ruined the chemistry of the team if he hadn’t gone, but we deserved some compensation.”

  She wheeled away from Laurel and back to the French doors and the Pacific horizon. “Jeff and I tried to duplicate our previous success, but none of our efforts could recreate the magic we had when we were with Hudson. A few months ago, when I found out I was pregnant, I knew something had to change. I didn’t want to drag my baby around the country, scraping a life together each month.” She turned her head to Laurel. “I wanted what you have; I wanted a home. But Jeff said he didn’t want children. He wasn’t ready to take on a regular nine-to-five job and abandon his dream of landing a big deal. So I panicked. I searched the Internet and found an attorney who takes cases in return for a portion of the settlement. I asked him to petition Hudson for a percentage of his company’s net worth.”

  “Wow.” Laurel flopped against the chair back. “Did Jeff agree to that?”

  Olivia shook her head again. “He didn’t know anything about it until the day of the accident.” She started to cry. “After leaving you guys and spending time with Joey, I was determined to convince Jeff to settle down and be a father.”

  Laurel handed Olivia a tissue, and she took a moment to pull herself together.

  “He was furious about the baby. But when I told him it would be all right because I had filed a suit against Hudson, his entire face changed. He swerved the car to the shoulder and raved for about ten minutes. At one point, he twisted sideways and grabbed my shoulders. Something snapped inside him in that moment. He actually got tears in his eyes.”

  “I don’t care about his feelings. Was he abusive to you?”

  “Not physically. His weapon of choice was silence.” She wiped her own eyes again and continued. “But this fight was different. Afterwards, he laid his head on the steering wheel and rolled it back and forth for a long time. I just sat there, worried he was having a nervous breakdown. Then he sat up, looked at me, and said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”

  “This what?” Laurel asked as she leaned forward, closer to Olivia.

  Olivia shrugged as new tears fell. “He just kept repeating that, and then he opened the car door and walked away.”

  “Onto the highway?”

  Olivia nodded. “Across traffic. I think he was trying to get to the opposite lanes to hitchhike a ride away from me.”

  “And that’s when—”

  Olivia broke down again. “I caused this. I pushed him too far, and I’ve blamed everything on Hudson.”

  Laurel offered a half-smile. “I don’t know anything about your past. It’s just that … none of this sounds like Hudson. He doesn’t seem very concerned about money, and betraying friends doesn’t sound like something he would do either.”

  “No. No, it doesn’t.” Olivia’s head fell into her hands.

  “Call your attorney. See if you can put a hold on that suit.”

  “All my contact info and notes were on my old phone. I don’t remember the name of the firm or the attorney’s number.”

  “Oh, dear.” Laurel went to the bedroom and retrieved the laptop for Olivia, who opened it and powered it up.

  “I’ll try searching the web for sleazy attorneys.”

  “It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

  Olivia offered her a lopsided grin and nodded. “Then we’d better get started.”

  Chapter Seven

  Forty-three text messages and countless emails were waiting for Hudson when he awoke in his hotel suite. He handled what he could from his phone, but he was both relieved and disheartened when the computer and phone he ordered for Olivia arrived by courier. She would now have the last things she needed. It was time for him to step back from her life and return to his.

  He jumped in his SUV and headed for the beach house. It would be a quick visit, a chance to say goodbye before he returned to work. He knew he was fooling himself into thinking he could walk away easily and unaffected. But he had done what he could. The rest would be up to her. And the future? That would be up to her as well.

  Laurel answered his knock and seemed startled by his arrival. “Oh! You’re here!” She glanced back at Olivia, who Hudson could see was at the table, up to her eyebrows in a bowl of some concoction. Spread before her were spices and sugars. “We’re, uh … just finishing up something before taking the beach chair for a test ride.”

  “Yes. Thank you so much for the chair, Hudson. It’s … it’s incredibly thoughtful,” she rambled, as she blew an errant strand of hair from her eyes because her good arm and fingers were busily engaged in an attempt to hide the containers. When the hair refused to comply, her face scrunched, and she committed two reddened fingers to the task of taming it, all the while continuing the conversation. “We’ve been charging the battery for a few hours now.” She placed a tea towel over the mess and wheeled herself away from the table and toward Hudson.

  His knees felt like gelatin as he took in Olivia’s present state—the fading blue-green bruises and two bandaged wounds on her face accented by a red spice mix splotch on her forehead that matched her reddened fingers. A mussed ponytail framed her playful face, and his mother’s now red-stained apron covered her like a shield. He felt his heart slam to a near stop as the moment transported him back eleven years. All that was missing were his parents and a stack of ribs on the counter.

  His lips felt thick and sluggish as he tried to return her small talk. “You’re very welcome.” He glanced back at the table of ingredients. “Is that Mom’s rib rub you’re making?”

  Olivia’s shoulders slumped. She glanced at Laurel and said, “You’ve done so much for me, and by helping me, you’ve helped Laurel, so we wanted to make you a thank-you dinner. I remembered how much you loved ribs and where your mother kept her cookbook with the recipe for the rub.” Her eyes grew wide, and she paled. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No. Not at all.”

  “Can you stay for dinner tonight?” asked Laurel.

  He remembered the evening flight he’d had Alejandra arrange. “Possibly.” Did he want to get more invested here? A conspicuous silence set in before the gears of his mind began turning again. “I, uh, I brought a laptop for you.” He carried it to the table and set it down beside his own. “Do you need to transfer any files before I take mine back?”

  “No. Since I had reliable Internet access, I saved everything to the cloud this time, but thank you for letting me borrow it. Do you have a project for me? I’m ready to get to work.”

  His gaze moved to her restrained arm. “Are you really?”

  “Yes, I am. Really.”

  “Okay. Then show me what you’ve got.”

  She straightened to her maximum height in the chair. “You’re making me interview? You of all people know what I can do.”

  He sensed something more than pride in her response, so he dug in to see where the subject would lead. “You said you want to pay me back. Well, if you want to work for The Bauer Gro
up, you need to interview.”

  Her head drew back. “I was volunteering to work on one of your humanitarian projects.”

  “Well, I’m offering you a job with a salary instead.”

  “You want me to work for you?” Her lips drew tight, and her eyes darkened. “So we’ve come full circle, right back where we began. Fine, then.” She wheeled to the table Laurel had cleared and wiped down. Laurel handed her a clean rag to wipe her hands on; then Olivia turned on the new laptop. “Is the password the same as the one on yours?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, I’m in. What task would you like me to perform?”

  Hudson at least knew where her anger was aimed—at The Bauer Group. But why? He played on. “We’re sponsoring some microbusinesses in Lebanon. How about framing a website for them?” He pulled a memory stick from his pocket and handed it to her. “Open the file titled ‘Rashaya.’ There are photos you can use. Dazzle me,” he sniped back.

  With her left arm in a sling, the work proved tedious, but she used a platform with pre-made backgrounds, and soon a tidy, functional site began to emerge. The resulting work disappointed Hudson, who knew that anyone could cut and paste images and links together to form a working web page. It took artistry to personalize a site, to evoke emotion in visitors so they became intimately invested. Liz had once possessed such skills.

  Once her background was set, Olivia opened the photos of the refugees. Hudson watched her very visage fill with compassion as she studied each haunting image of survivors of the Syrian War. She chose several, placing them on the landing page, and soon the cold, functional electronic palette reflected the emotion Hudson saw etched on Liv’s face.

  Her work drew him closer until he was collaborating on the project. “We need investors and mentors,” he muttered, thinking aloud to himself.

  “So this is really a fundraising vehicle.”

  Her voice became as soft as velour, and Hudson knew the photos of ragged men, women, and children were responsible for the change. “Not exactly. Attracting mentors is more critical.”

  “Then we should use some of these other photos.” She opened another screen and pointed to several images from the many pictured. “These characterize the people and their handicrafts.”

  “I agree,” said Hudson, as he sat beside her, introducing her to the people in the images. “Their stories are all so compelling. You’re bringing them to life, Liv.”

  He noticed the color warming Olivia’s cheeks, and in an instant, he was eighteen again, working beside the awkward coed from his stat class. Her beauty and intelligence had not dimmed, but there was a new strength and grit to Liv now, and his proximity to her brought a return of the ache that sent him running first to Columbia University and then Mexico eight years ago, places that didn’t remind him of, or smell like Liv. He dug his nails into his hand hard enough to cause pain, to break the spell and set his attention back on the screen.

  An hour passed in a blink before Liv pushed back from the table to stretch her back. “It’s coming along,” she said, as if to distract attention from her physical discomfort. “If I can copy the files from that thumb drive, I’ll have this ready for prime time in a few days.”

  Hudson didn’t mention her obvious pain. “Go ahead. This is beautiful work, Liv. You haven’t lost your touch. In fact, you’ve actually improved over the years.”

  She smiled up at him, then quickly pulled her eyes away, but not before Hudson caught the glistening there. Her desperation pained him. Her need for approbation. But what about her anger? He stood, needing to move away from her. “You’re hired. I’ll draft an offer and email it to you tomorrow.”

  She seemed startled. “Thank you.”

  “Great.” He picked up his computer again and fumbled with the power cord. “Then I think we’re all set. You’ve got my contact info. I’ll be in touch.”

  Laurel exited the kitchen space where she was puttering, and the two women exchanged worried glances. “Are you leaving?” she asked. “What about dinner?”

  Hudson glanced at his watch, though time was not what was driving him to leave Liv’s side. “I’m sorry. I really should make that evening flight.”

  “Then could you take Olivia for a ride in that beach chair before you go? She needs a practice run, and I need to get these ribs in the oven.”

  Hudson nodded, set his computer back down, and helped transfer Olivia from one chair to the other, reminding himself again and again that she was Jeff’s widow. The woman who walked away from him. The loss that made living an agony.

  He kept his distance as she fumbled with the controls, maneuvering the chair through the French doors and onto the porch. A winding trail led from the home’s clifftop location to the beach below. Despite Hudson’s vow to remain aloof, he set the controls to manual and walked backwards, guiding the drifting chair from the front while Olivia steered. With their faces inches apart, his resolve melted each time he looked up into her anxiety-ridden eyes.

  At the bottom of the trail and slightly to the left sat the number one tourist attraction in the area—Haystack Rock—and its intertidal pools teeming with aquatic and bird life. The beach crowd was thin, leaving a few tidal pool enthusiasts seeking starfish, anemones, and other specimens.

  The pair didn’t speak as Olivia drove across the beach that spread before the monolithic sea stack. Hudson walked slightly behind her, suffering as they retraced the steps where memories were made, leaving wounds that remained as raw as when she’d left.

  Olivia stopped when she came to a large outcropping of rock. “I love this place.”

  Hudson barely heard her above the sea sounds. Rather than reply, he stared at Haystack Rock, remaining silent.

  “Do you remember senior year when the three of us came down here at midnight to collect specimens for your biology final? It was low tide, and we had the entire marine garden to ourselves.”

  Oh, yes. He remembered everything about that night in explicit, agonizing detail.

  “Jeff said I could find lots of starfish in the caves, so I went because I wanted to surprise you, but the tide rolled in, and I became stranded. I was terrified.”

  Every muscle in Hudson’s body tensed in latent anger. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and steeled himself for the telling of the story.

  “I tried wading back, but the current pushed me along like a cork. I thought for sure I was going to drown, especially when you ran back to your house. But you came back with a rope, hollering for me to stay put while you tied a line between one of the rocks on the shore and one near the Haystack. Then you pulled your way to me and back. You saved my life.”

  He felt the agonizing turn of the knife she’d inserted in his heart eight years ago when she married Jeff. Did she know what her words were doing to him? Against his better judgment, he fired one cruel shot her way. “And remind me where Jeff was during that rescue effort?”

  “He was … he was here … on the shore somewhere.”

  “I believe he was laughing at us, as I recall.”

  Olivia grew thoughtful. “Why are you saying that? I was trying to recall a good memory between us. Why bring Jeff into it?”

  “Why’d you bring this whole topic up at all? To preserve a memory? Then let’s keep it accurate. For the record, you ran off a few days later and married the guy who let you down.”

  He could almost hear her heart shatter. Olivia recoiled and fired back in a cold tone. “I think we were all pretty good at letting one another down, don’t you?”

  He jerked back at the accusation in her voice, burning his eyes into hers until she shrank under his stare like wax in a flame. “How did I let you down?”

  She took a deep breath. “I know we hurt you and ruined the team. I’m sorry. However naïve it sounds, it never occurred to me that you would leave.” Several seconds passed before she turned to face him. “It just happened. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the truth. I knew how Jeff treated me up to then, just toler
ating me. But on the night he told me he loved me; it was different.” Her voice grew soft and oddly sad. “No one had ever kissed me or told me they loved me before. I got caught up in the magic of being wanted.”

  No one had ever told me they loved me before… The tender resonance of her voice read like a lie detector, confirming her words like the fatal testimony in a trial. No one … kissed me … told me … Remorse slammed him for fearing Liv’s attraction to Jeff but never having the courage to confront her about it. He had been a logical, tireless planner who misread the immediacy of her needs. Swallowing past a lump of choking regret, he shook his head and blew out a rush of air to silence his self-recriminations. “When was this magical, transformative evening?”

  “Please don’t mock me.” Her head dipped, along with Hudson’s self-regard. “It was June eighteenth. Jeff called me to come to the apartment to change the dates on all the presentation slides to the twenty-third, because the NCAA pushed the meeting date back.”

  The holes in the puzzle of lies began filling in for Hudson. “Did Jeff explain why I wasn’t at this last-minute work session?”

  “You were gone a lot at the end, Hudson. It didn’t seem strange that you weren’t there.”

  His jaw tightened. There was his other mistake. “So Jeff told you the meeting had been pushed back, and you and he were alone in the apartment, and he just asked you to marry him?”

  She blushed and squirmed in her chair. “It wasn’t quite like that. We took a break from work, and he took my hand and led me into the living room, telling me how important I had become to the company and to him. Then he left for a minute and came back carrying a big vase of yellow tulips. I just froze. He turned on the stereo, and ‘Realize’ by Colbie Caillat started playing. I remember getting goose bumps, because I had just mentioned the week before that it was my favorite song, and he scoffed at me, but there he was, playing it and asking me to dance.” She rubbed at the goose bumps prickling her arms.