A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE BOXED SET

by Lewis, Laurie

  Her face flushed with heat as she recalled how the bride and groom left the courthouse and headed to a sports bar where half the football team was waiting. How Jeff hung out with them instead of her. He was stone drunk and unsteady by the time they reached the downtown Seattle hotel where they spent their wedding night. There was fire and passion, and then the affection stopped. Aside from the peck she received at the end of their civil ceremony, she couldn’t recall another instance where Jeff placed his lips on hers, and when she awoke the next morning in their disheveled marriage bed, Jeff’s side was as cold as she felt inside.

  She thought she had been used and abandoned until she heard the shower running. Nearly two hours passed before Jeff emerged red and weak, a haunted look on his face. His eyes were red as if he had been crying, but when she tried to comfort him, he turned away from her and asked, “How quickly can you pack?”

  They arrived back at the apartment Jeff shared with Hudson, where her greatest fear was realized. Hudson was gone. The import of their decisions slammed the newlyweds.

  An envelope addressed to Olivia contained Hudson’s parting words. Unable to bear reading it, Jeff did the honors. The words “I hope you’re happy” had haunted her ever since.

  Olivia shook her head and exhaled to banish the somber memories that crept upon her in the lonely hours after Laurel left each day.

  Olivia was determined to earn her salary with her very best work. Ethan seemed delighted with everything she turned in and sent a constant stream of assignments her way—design requests, web pages, and logos for newly acquired or start-up Bauer Group companies. She wondered if Hudson ever saw her work and whether he felt his investment in her was justified. A month into her employment she had her answer when this email arrived in her inbox.

  I received the first installment on your payback plan. There is really no need, but you may enjoy knowing that you are supporting an orphan school in Africa. Your work is incredible. I hope the rehab is going well. Don’t rush to leave the house. H.

  The note satisfied questions about her independence, her integrity, and her value as an employee. She wondered if the school was the one in the photos of Hudson and the nuns. She hoped to find out. Pleased, she turned in early, and while digging in the drawer for a nightgown, she came upon Jeff’s wallet that Laurel had returned. Olivia had been unable or unwilling to look in it before, but she was now ready to explore the contents and face what pain they harrowed up.

  She fingered the leather and drew in its scent. There was little sharing in their business/marriage, which created an unspoken agreement about privacy. They dressed in private and honored the sanctity of bathroom and shower times. Jeff never looked in her purse, and she never opened his wallet. Even now, she felt she was betraying some promise by peeking inside at the few small bills and cards. Her heart ached when she saw the handsome face and blue eyes peering from his license. Sad eyes. Women turned their heads to catch long glimpses as he passed. Such notice paid to him, and his quiet pleasure at receiving it, tore at her heart in the early days of their marriage. She had long since grown numb to such things.

  The two debit cards—one to a joint personal account and another to their business account—accessed a sum total of barely more than a thousand dollars. She had since closed both and decided to shut down MMM.

  There were no photos, no tender remembrances of shared times. Having removed all the contents, she still felt a lump. She noticed that the back liner of the bill area could be lifted, exposing a previously hidden compartment. Olivia peeled back the liner and found a small, well-worn blue envelope with faded lettering and depressions along the side. Inside was a key.

  She had never seen the key before, but she was fairly certain it opened a safe deposit box. But to what bank in what city? They had traversed the entire country many times. And what could be in such a box, since they owned nothing of value?

  Using the brighter kitchen light, she attempted to decipher the formal script on the envelope, but it was still impossible. She found a pencil and moved on to the embossed characters, rubbing the lead over the depressions until tiny letters appeared—BVB&T.

  Nothing came up when she moved to her computer and entered the letters in a search bar. Assuming the last few characters represented the words “Bank and Trust,” she scanned a national list of banks that began with the letter B, with no results. The key was yet another mystery Jeff had left for her to puzzle over.

  The next Monday, Laurel arrived in her signature perky way. “I took Joey to his kindergarten open house today. He is so excited about his fancy new backpack. Little things like that would have been impossible without this job.”

  Olivia smiled. “How much time do we still have? A week? Ten days?”

  “Ten days, but I’ll still visit, and you’ll keep seeing Pepper every week, right?”

  “Yes, but I want you to help me get independent. My physical therapist said I need to walk longer distances before he’ll clear me, so let’s start hitting the beach.”

  “Good plan.”

  “And I can start driving soon.”

  “What about those flashbacks from the accident? Maybe you should tell Pepper.”

  She shivered at the mention of her recurring nightmare about Jeff’s death. “I’m handling them.”

  “Olivia …”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll tell her, but I’m doing fine. Really. In fact, start coming later, like around ten, and leave earlier. I need to do more for myself.”

  “Are you sure? I’ll email Hudson and give him my end date. That means we’ve got ten days to get you completely independent.”

  “And to find a new place for me to live.” She moved to her computer to search for apartments in the area. Instead, she found an email that made her shiver.

  “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”

  “I have an email from Larry Brewster … that attorney I hired.” She sucked in a breath. “Laurel, what if he contacted Hudson?”

  “Just call him and see.”

  The phone rang five minutes later. Olivia paced with a slight limp as she listened to Larry Brewster’s breathless update on the case.

  “Some office interns are slowly giving us information, but they’re reluctant, and that tells me we’re on to something big, and big means we can expect a sizable settlement offer.”

  She felt she was about to be sick. “A lot has happened since I hired you. I don’t want to pursue this anymore.”

  “Don’t think about calling me off now. I’ve got hundreds of hours invested in this case.”

  “I’ll pay for your time. Just send me a bill.”

  The tone of his voice instantly turned cold and calculating. “Then prepare to write me a check for a million dollars, ’cause our deal promised me a percentage of the settlement, which would’ve been substantial.”

  Olivia’s legs began to buckle, and she slumped into a chair, bluffing back. “You’ve got no case if I withdraw my complaint. All you’ll get is my fee for your time.”

  “Are you crazy? Do you know what you’re throwing away? This Bauer guy is worth billions. You don’t even need real dirt. He’ll offer you plenty just to keep his name out of the papers. Don’t grow a conscience now, lady. You wanted to nail this guy for ruining your life.”

  She could almost smell the lingering scent of stale smoke permeating his polyester suit. She pictured the chubby stub of a man mopping sweat from his brow as he counted his own potential fortune. They had only met once, but he was a person she would never forget.

  “I was wrong. This case is over.”

  “Oh, the case might be over, but that just frees me to go solo. I know some tabloid editors who will pay big money for what you’ve already given me on the pious Hudson Bauer.”

  Olivia’s hand moved atop her pounding heart. “Please don’t do this.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who started this. But thanks for the lead. I won’t bother you further.”

  The man’s voice echoed in Olivia’s troubled
mind long after the call ended. She turned to Laurel. “He’s going to take the information to the tabloids.” She could only see one option before her. She would have to speak to Hudson. “Where’s Hudson’s business card?”

  Laurel found it behind a magnet on the fridge and handed it to Olivia, who called his private number. Instead of Hudson’s voice, an elegant Latina woman answered the call. “You’ve reached the office of Hudson Bauer of The Bauer Group. How may I assist you?”

  She opened by stuttering something completely unintelligible as she tried to organize her thoughts. “This is Olivia McAllister. I need to speak to Hudson, please.”

  A long pause preceded the woman’s reply. “He’s not available. How can I help you?”

  The woman was a roadblock Olivia needed to barrel through, but not today when she was still shaking from the previous call. “Please give him a message to call me. It’s very important that I speak to him right away.”

  “I’ll give him your message, Mrs. McAllister. May I say what this is about?”

  Olivia noted that the woman used Mrs., as if she knew who Olivia was. “Please just tell him it’s urgent.”

  She was still shaking when she hung up the phone. “I need to find a new place to live right away, Laurel, because you might not be the only one whose employment with Hudson Bauer is about to be terminated.”

  After Laurel left, the quiet house only amplified Olivia’s anxiety, so she kept her promise and phoned Pepper. She had to admit that she felt calmer afterwards. She was working on a project for Ethan when Hudson returned her call. The connection was poor, but even so, she could hear the worry in his voice.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. “I was told it was urgent that I reach you.”

  She didn’t know where or how to begin. “I’m all right, but I need to tell you something. It’s very important.” The background noise was so loud she could barely hear her own voice.

  “I’m on a SAT phone on an airboat. We just pulled out from a village in the Philippines, and a storm is brewing. I can be stateside in two days. Can it wait until then?”

  She didn’t know how much time she had before Larry presented his smear campaign to the tabloids, but it was clear she couldn’t have a conversation under the present circumstances.

  “Yes,” she shouted into the phone, “but please call me as soon as you can.”

  She thought she heard a confirmation on his end before the line went dead, but her anxiety ratcheted up as she imagined the conversation they would eventually have, especially if she didn’t get a chance to talk to him before Larry initiated his blackmail plan.

  And then the doorbell rang. She cracked the door open and saw Pepper standing there. The very sight of her momentarily lightened Olivia’s mood. “You didn’t say you were coming by.”

  “My new carpet came in early, so I decided to drive down, let the installers in, and finish our conversation.”

  Pepper’s thoughtfulness touched Olivia. She finally noticed the neon-blue Spandex and running shoes the psychologist was wearing. “Don’t tell me,” she said when she opened the door. “The new plan to keep Portland weird is to dress up the medical community like glow sticks?”

  Pepper strolled in and did a turn. “I do my best counseling while walking. A nice stroll along the beach helps us relieve tension and talk through our fears. After our phone conversation, I’d say we need a lo-o-ong brisk walk today.”

  Pepper’s cut-to-the-chase style unnerved Olivia. “You make it sound like I’m an emergency case.”

  “You’re more of a hider than a jumper.”

  Olivia was flustered as she left to change, and was still bothered when she returned, dressed for their walk. “You’re bound by that physicians’ code of confidentiality, right? You’re not chitchatting with Hudson about anything we discuss?”

  “Oohhh. Touchy. Of course not, but I do find it interesting that your first concern is Hudson, a man you can’t stand.”

  “You’re twisting my words.”

  “Am I? Have you decided that he’s not responsible for ruining your life?”

  “I jumped to conclusions.”

  “Glad to hear it, because he’s the real deal, Liv. A good man. Someone who loves people, even when they don’t deserve it.”

  Olivia paled. “I thought therapists were supposed to be caring and sympathetic.”

  “I’m not that kind of therapist.”

  “Clearly. Do your other clients respond well to this snarky nature?”

  “Actually, they do.” Pepper’s characteristic sarcasm vanished. “Most of my clients are teens. I run an outdoor behavioral counseling program. We take troubled kids on high adventure outings and challenge them to work together and trust others, to push physical limits instead of chemical ones and see what they are really capable of.”

  A discomforting chill snaked up Olivia’s back. “I don’t need that. I just need to tackle my fear of driving so I can move on.”

  Pepper sat down beside her and took her hand. “We’ll get to that, but I think you’re afraid of a lot more than vehicles and traffic.”

  Olivia bit her trembling lip to still it. “Please don’t dig up any more of my past. I’ve been doing really well lately. I just want to move forward.”

  “Liv, there is no true forward if you’re always looking in the rearview mirror. You don’t need to run from or forget the last eight years. Deal with whatever joy or pain they brought you once and for all. It’s okay to be angry at Jeff or to dislike Hudson.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “The very things you want to forget are the experiences that have brought you where you are, and in many ways, made you who you are—which from where I’m sitting is a very good person.” Pepper’s voice softened to almost a whisper. “Face your fear, Liv. You’re brave enough to handle it and whatever else comes your way. You just need to believe that.”

  Olivia’s gaze hit the floor.

  “Let’s stretch out those muscles before we begin, shall we?”

  Pepper all but twisted herself into a pretzel while Olivia dared only lean against the wall to stretch out her calves. After a few moments, she broke the silence. “For the record, I don’t hate Hudson.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why did you say that?”

  “To provoke you. Confession is the first step to healing.”

  “I hate therapy.”

  “So did I.”

  Olivia’s head shot around to face her. “You needed therapy?”

  Pepper nodded. “I’m proof of what a few years of excavation can do for the soul.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes, and the pair headed out for the beach. Pepper pressed Olivia to talk about Jeff and their marriage, and then she raised the topic of Hudson and their relationship. Olivia talked and cried as they walked short distances up and down the beach to Haystack Rock and back. When Olivia’s legs grew weak, Pepper led them to a quiet spot on a downed tree to rest before returning to the house.

  “Tell me what you’re feeling right now.”

  Olivia knew that admission would be as painful as the conversation itself. She wrapped her arms around her midsection and bent forward.

  “Being angry or sad or admitting that someone hurt you doesn’t make you a bad person. You’re allowed to make your own happiness a priority sometimes,” Pepper urged.

  Seconds ticked by as Olivia finger-combed her tangled hair, stalling. It availed her nothing. The redhead was a master at waiting.

  “I’ll tell you what. If you answer my question, I’ll answer one of yours. Deal?”

  Olivia nodded and blew out another rush of air. “Okay. Here goes. Jeff was always surrounded by beautiful women. I wish I knew why he chose me.”

  “You’re also a beautiful woman, Liv.”

  She shook her head. “Not like them. I tried to mimic them.” She chuckled sadly.

  “To impress Jeff?”

  Another sad laugh preceded a tearful confession. “I wasn’t try
ing to compete for him. It was an experiment, a game I guess, to prove to myself that I wasn’t an ugly duckling anymore.”

  “It worked. You caught his eye.”

  “That wasn’t my intention. I think we each knew early on that the marriage was a big mistake.” She raised her head and faced Pepper. “Why didn’t he leave if he was so unhappy?”

  Pepper placed her arm around Olivia and rubbed her back. “Why didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  Another groan of agony. “Guilt and pride, I guess. My mother married a man for security, not love. I didn’t want to admit I had been equally shallow. Jeff and I were colleagues; he didn’t love me like a man should love his wife. And I didn’t love him.” She fiddled with the handle of her cane. “And I’m angry at myself for staying in a marriage that made me feel like a disappointment. Someone else might have truly wanted me.”

  “There’s plenty of time to make a new life.”

  Olivia blinked rapidly and took a long breath. “I’ve unfairly blamed Hudson. I had no right to be angry at him. We blindsided him. We ruined things.” The last admission drained her. She folded over her knees again and twisted her hair into a knot.

  Pepper’s voice lowered and slowed. “Are you truly being honest now? Because I think you were angry at Hudson. You just haven’t been honest about the reason.”

  The comment sent a shockwave through Olivia’s heart. It was true. She had been angry at Hudson, but not because he stole the company. It was for something too personal and buried too deep to excavate today. She rolled her lips inward and clamped down, ending the discussion.