A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE BOXED SET

by Lewis, Laurie

  Rider jumped in with an answer. “How long will it take you girls to slip into a couple of dresses? We’re goin’ out.”

  Avery was caught off guard. “Oh, uh, I’ll just be a few minutes,” she said, and then she and Teddie disappeared. A few minutes later they both returned to more of Rider’s sweet compliments as he opened the door.

  “Shall we go?” Rider asked.

  The conversation flowed so freely that Avery didn’t notice where they were headed until the car was parked in front of Teddie’s and Rider’s church. “Is there a social tonight?” she asked.

  “Of a sort. Do you mind if we go?”

  “No, of course not!” Avery was pleased that they had integrated so closely with the Baltimore Bible Church. A couple from the congregation approached her with a smile. She’d met them on her first Sunday visit to the church with Teddie and Rider. She thought back to that day, when the contemporary music and festive atmosphere of their worship service left her as discombobulated as her church’s organ music and reverent hymns left the Davises.

  The couple escorted her into the main hall and sat with her. She laid her purse and sweater over two chairs to save places for Teddie and Rider, who had mysteriously disappeared. A few moments later they entered the front of the room where two mikes rested on stands. After welcoming everyone and introducing themselves to the audience, they began to sing. Avery felt her arms prickle, and a chill run down her spine. People clapped or raised their hands in praise, and amens sounded all around. She looked at her friends, and her emotions broke loose in silent tears. Then Teddie rushed to her side when three men came on stage for a male quartet number with Rider.

  “We couldn’t return to the stage without you here, Avery. You’re the one who helped us find our faith again. You made this possible. There aren’t words sweet enough for Rider and me to thank you properly.”

  Avery’s mouth hung open as a thousand questions zipped through her mind. “It was beautiful. I didn’t know you sang.”

  “Only in church, to support the local ministry. It was something we loved and did wherever we went, but we stopped when we moved to Baltimore. You helped us remember the spiritual part of ourselves, Avery. Thank you.”

  Teddie returned to the stage and sang a country pop solo about her love for Jesus. The song was unfamiliar to Avery, but Teddie’s voice was rich with testimony, and her eyes radiated a spiritual fire Avery once knew, a fire she was finding again.

  The program was nearly ended when Rider returned to the mike. “We have someone special here tonight, a Sister Avery Thompson. She’s the friend who helped us find our way back to Christ. Though we worship Jesus differently, we are all believers, and therefore all brothers and sisters. Avery, would you come forward? I’d love for our friends here to meet you.”

  Panic hit Avery like a sonic boom in her brain. She crouched low, hoping to hide, but Rider pointed her way until dozens of eyes and smiles were focused on her. She shook her head in refusal and slid her hand across her neck in a gesture of warning that either she or Rider would likely die if this idea proceeded, but it was all to no avail. Rider strolled down the aisle to her, pulled her from her seat, and escorted her to the front of the room.

  “She’s just humble, folks,” Rider said into the mike, releasing a loving hum of laughter. He wrapped his arm around Avery. “Avery, would you bless us by sharing a bit of your testimony?”

  Avery had once written a book about a WWII fighter pilot pulling a maneuver that delivered a 5-g force, incapacitating him. Avery was pretty sure Rider had just dealt her a ten. She didn’t even like to speak in public. Book signings unnerved her. Share her testimony? To a room filled with strangers?

  The last time she shared the tender feelings about her faith was a lifetime or more ago, when she was a different person, a wife, and a woman filled with hope. Back then she was a mother of children who needed her strong daily example, a woman who believed God would give her a miracle. She wasn’t sure who she was anymore.

  As her numb fingers wrapped around the offered mike, she considered that question. Some of her titles were only real in spiritual terms now—wife, married. Panicking, she searched her heart for something true and meaningful to share, and what she found there, though not entirely unexpected, did amaze her. She found she was still a woman who believed in miracles, and better yet, she found she was a woman who could count more than one in her own life. Oddly enough, she found them in unexpected places, like the illness and loss of her husband, when friends and family strengthened and guided her beyond their own means, to place her in Baltimore where she met Teddie and Rider. Her testimony flowed freely, with truths she had learned about the Savior’s love through trials and happiness. She spoke of the courage and direction the scriptures had given her the morning following her Baltimore meltdown. At the end, before she closed her thoughts, she admitted that faith alone does not preclude suffering and pain, but as she thought of her coming grandchild she was able to testify that hope and love precedes mortality and extends beyond death. After she closed, she imagined Paul’s voice, telling her he was proud of her.

  The next morning, Avery showered and dressed and came out to the living room, but there was no sign of either Teddie or Rider. A note lay on the kitchen counter: We went for a run. Be back soon with breakfast. Love, Teddie.

  Avery picked up the newspaper and was about to head for the terrace to read it when the door opened. Rider entered first, avoiding eye contact, and carrying two white bags from the Cheesecake Factory. Behind him came a grinning Teddie, and behind her . . . Gabriel Carson!

  “Look who we found comin’ in from his mornin’ run,” Teddie said with a wink.

  Avery wanted to prod Gabriel Carson out of his shell as much as anyone, but she sensed that Teddie was up to something, and it had little to do with community outreach. And what about that wink? And furthermore, hadn’t Teddie said Gabriel refused Rider’s invitation to run?

  She was glad Teddie sang about heaven the previous night so she would at least know where she was going after Avery strangled her. “Great. Well . . . isn’t that just . . . great. Nice to see you, Mr.—I mean, Gabriel.”

  He nodded and smiled, seeming to be as much at a loss as she. “Nice to see you too, Avery. I hope I’m not intruding.”

  “Of course, you’re not.” Rider beamed a 1000 kilowatt smile. “I’m just glad we had the good fortune to bump into you on the way back from gettin’ breakfast.”

  He emptied the bags and Avery noted the added good fortune of the Davises’ psychic premonition to buy four, not three, of the famous restaurant’s morning quesadillas and four slices of lemon raspberry cream cheesecake.

  Avery tried to send Teddie one of her death looks, but the sly Texas matchmaker kept herself so busy fetching four table settings that eye contact was impossible.

  “Sit, sit,” Teddie ordered in a friendly but commanding way as she took the seat next to Rider, forcing Gabriel and Avery to sit side by side. Rider offered a blessing, and Gabriel’s discomfiture was evident, sending Avery’s nerves off the emotional Richter scale.

  She tried to make small talk, but remembering Teddie’s description of Gabriel’s withering emotional state, she tread carefully and opened with, “How are you and Baltimore getting along?”

  Gabriel stopped slathering hot sauce on his quesadilla and answered, “Very well, surprisingly. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I still miss home some days. The job deadline’s too tight for the amount of work we have ahead of us, and I miss my girls, but all in all, the change has been a positive one.”

  “It’s a good day for a sail,” said Rider, drawing Gabriel into a conversation about the weather.

  Avery took advantage of the distraction to shoot Teddie an accusatory glance that finally hit its mark. She whispered under her breath, “You said—”

  Teddie waved a perfectly manicured finger at Avery and whispered, “I said he becomes less and less of who he was every day. It’s true—he’s lots better than he was b
efore.” Teddie then leaned toward Gabriel. “Gabriel,” she began with a wrinkled brow, “do you mind if I call you Gabriel?”

  Clearly growing more unnerved by the second, he shook his head. “Uh, no. That’s fine.”

  “Well, Gabriel, Avery has been very worried that you’re not happy here in Baltimore.”

  Avery stared at Teddie with her mouth hanging agape while Gabriel smiled warmly at her. “Thanks, Avery. I was apprehensive, but generally speaking, things have worked out quite nicely.”

  Avery desperately wanted to change the subject. “So, was this your first run around the harbor?”

  “Oh, no. I run at 6:00 a.m. every day—same route, rain or shine.”

  “Really?” While Rider and Gabriel discussed getting tickets for the next Orioles game, Avery leaned close to Teddie and whispered under her breath, “I think there are references to honesty in that Bible you love to read.”

  “All I said was that he declined Rider’s invitations to run, which he did. Rider invited him to run at 8:00 a.m., and he said he couldn’t go because that’d make him late for work.”

  Avery sighed at the hairsplitting, then grumbled. “And having four servings of everything this morning . . . was that some coincidence?”

  Teddie giggled. “No, we just figured your forgiveness’d be easier to get than your permission.”

  Gabriel appeared curious about the private conversation, between the two women. “Are you sure my stopping by isn’t an intrusion?”

  “Absolutely not!” said Teddie. “We’re just discussin’ the topic of forgiveness. You see, Gabriel, I’m afraid Rider and I are going to need some today.”

  He paused with his fork in midair, cocking his head Teddie’s way.

  “We’re just riddled with guilt. You see, we so wanted to take Avery for a nice nostalgic sail around the harbor, but we have to show a house at one o’clock and . . .”

  Avery considered checking her Bible to see if temporary insanity would spiritually absolve her of Teddie’s murder.

  Gabriel’s face lit up. “No problem. I’d be happy to take her out. I already told Rider I’m taking the TIME OUT for my regular Saturday sail.”

  Avery shot a disappointed look in Teddie’s direction. The southern beauty began to offer a defense when Avery closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess,” she whispered under her breath as she forked a bite of cheesecake. “You’ve never actually seen him take it out, right?”

  Teddie smiled her confession as she nibbled on her cake. “Busted.”

  “You’d better dress warm, Avery. The weather’s been nice lately, but there’s always a chill on the water—” Gabriel halted, and Avery knew he had seen the sad, reminiscent look wash over her face. “Of course, you’d already know all about that.”

  Noticing his embarrassment, Avery nodded and smiled. “Thank you for being so thoughtful and reminding me.”

  “Well, I’ll go shower and change and then I’ll stop by and pick you up, all right?”

  Avery nodded. As soon as the door closed she turned to chew into her friends, who were suddenly engaged in a critical conference call from which they could not be disturbed. Determined not to make the situation any more strained, she resigned herself to the plan and went to her room to dress. She threw on a pair of white linen pants and a navy and white cardigan, then slipped on some navy canvas sneakers. She brushed the bulk of her brown hair to the back of her head and secured it in a clip, allowing shorter, curly tendrils to fall from her hairline. She looked good, she thought, not that flattering Gabriel Carson mattered at all to her, but having him think well of her as a tenant did, she told herself.

  Gabriel returned in a half hour. “Ready to go?” he said when Avery opened the door.

  “Yep,” she replied in her very best impression of optimism as she grabbed her Utah State hoodie. She looked back at Teddie and Rider, who paid just enough attention to the departing pair to offer quick smiles. As soon as Avery and Gabriel hit the dock, Avery looked up and scowled. There, as she suspected, were the Davises, standing on their porch, all smiles, high-fiving each other and grinning like proud parents.

  Gabriel started to turn also to see what had caught Avery’s attention, and fearing he would think she was part of this silly conspiracy, she grabbed his arm and pointed enthusiastically at Chuck. The second Gabriel was safely repositioned, Avery quickly released his arm.

  Gabriel extended his hand to the boat man. “Chuck!”

  “Hey, there, Mr. C. And look at you, Mrs. T! I didn’t expect to see you again this season!” He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug.

  “I came to visit the Davises for the weekend, and Mr. Carson offered to take me sailing.”

  “Keep your life jacket on, Mrs. T. Carson here’s a wild man on the water. He and I had a little mano a mano regatta of our own last week, and he kicked my trash. Taught me a few skills that’ll hopefully help me win the big one this August.”

  Avery dipped her chin and looked up at Gabriel. “So you’re a man of many talents.”

  Gabriel shrugged and feigned humility. “We’ve been working on his boat some. She’ll fly by August. I can’t wait to see it.”

  Impressed that a friendship had formed so quickly between the two men, Avery listened to them jabber on about keels and lines while they got the TIME OUT ready for the day. She smiled to see Gabriel enjoying his part of the trade as much as she planned to enjoy hers.

  Gabriel deftly handled the boat, steering her free of the marina and out into the open water. They sailed past the harbor and into the Patapsco River past a small island. Avery’s face grew wistful.

  “We used to have picnics on that island. Paul taught Luke to fish right there, on that little peninsula. My kids thought they were the Swiss Family Robinson whenever we came here.”

  “I recognize that melancholy look on your face. It’s like, where did the time go?”

  Embarrassed by her disclosure, Avery offered a sad smile and turned away.

  Gabriel quickly picked up the conversation. “I could never get my girls to come in from the water either. I finally hung a bell out on my back deck to call them in. They knew when I called they could squeeze a few more minutes out of the day, but once I rang the bell, they knew they’d better hightail it in.” He chuckled, but the sound bore a hint of sadness. “Time sure goes by fast.”

  “Like a blink.” Avery wondered if she should tell him that she had seen that very bell several times. She decided on a compromise. “Do you know why I was looking in Anna Maria? My family used to rent a condo there for two weeks each summer while our oldest son went to tennis camp at the IMG Academy at Bradenton.”

  Gabriel’s head shot back in astonishment. “IMG? I sent the girls there for two weeks every summer also, for soccer, only going away to a camp a few miles from home wasn’t such a big deal.” He sighed. “IMG . . . What a small world. I wonder if we ever crossed paths.”

  Avery smiled knowingly. “My family walked along the beach so many times, staring at the houses, wondering who lived in them, and what it would be like to live on the gulf.”

  “Maybe you’ve walked past my house before.”

  Avery’s eyes grew wide. “Maybe.”

  They spent a few more hours swapping information about restaurants and sights in their respective towns while nibbling on sandwiches Gabriel had thrown together after breakfast. He sat on a cushion and leaned back against the hull. “I’ve been reading your books. You’re very good. I think I’m going to be a big fan from now on.”

  Avery laughed. “Well, after you finish the entire collection I’ll have you write a glowing review to my editor and see if you can stir up some interest in publishing my future work.”

  “Are you planning to begin writing again?”

  “I already have, and you and Teddie are partially to thank for it. I couldn’t see anything interesting in my world anymore, but after looking at things through your eyes, all these ideas came to me. I
’m already on chapter three.”

  Gabriel smiled. “Is it another mystery?”

  Avery bit her lip and shook her head dramatically. “You’ll have to wait and see like everybody else.” She laughed out loud. “First I have to get it to pass the editor’s scrutiny.”

  “Maybe I better start working on my glowing review tonight.”

  “Maybe you should.” Avery craned her neck to reach for the sun and wondered when pure pleasure had replaced her mimicked version.

  “I read books one and two of Axel Hunter’s works as well. It’s funny how I saw myself so clearly in one of your books, and now I’m seeing myself in Hunter’s characters.”

  Avery felt her face warm. “Really?”

  Gabriel’s gaze drifted and returned to her. “I know you said his critics were pretty brutal, but I really connected with his work. It’s hard to describe. I found the two pieces—I don’t know, almost spiritual. One was sort of a romance—”

  “The Velvet Touch?”

  “Yes! And the other one was sort of a travelogue about a circuit minister in the West. I’m so bad at remembering titles.”

  “The Prayers of the Lost,” she muttered as she conjured an image of Paul reading that volume while curled up in his chair by the bay window. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “That was my favorite.”

  “It’s a hard emotional read that cost me a night’s lost sleep. Axel Hunter really got into my head with that one.” He scowled and shook his head rapidly as if trying to dislodge disturbing thoughts. “It seems such a shame he stopped writing because he received poor reviews. I feel strange saying this—I mean the girls would cringe if they heard me say this—but his books really touch me, Avery.” He quickly looked at her. “I don’t mean to imply that yours didn’t.”

  Avery laughed, noting how good that laughter felt. “It’s all right. I take no offense because you found something that appealed to you. A good book or a poem is like the perfect blanket. It’s only a good fit if you can wrap yourself up in it. I’m delighted you feel that way about Axel’s work.”