by Natalie Ann
Text Copyright 2016 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Dedication- To Shane…my favorite second. As far as number twos go, there’s nothing average about you.
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Road Series
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story – Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story - Road to Reason
The All Series
Ben and Presley’s Story – All Or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All Of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All The Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story— All About You
The Lake Placid Series
Nick and Mallory’s Story- Second Chance
Max and Quinn’s Story – Give Me A Chance (coming in March 2017)
Table of Contents
Prologue
I’ll Try
Mistake
Fear Was Fear
Backbone
It’s Time Now
Never Change
Whose Idea
Helpless
Found Me
Good Sign
Right Decision
Second Chance
Challenge
Divide
The Same
Call The Shots
Extremely Cautious
Just You
Protected
Elbow Deep
Brutally Honest
Quiet Life
Insecure
Chapter
Judging Me
Only You
So Bad after All
Close
Seem Real
I Know
Continued
Homecoming
The Plan
Betrayed
Get to Know You
Understand
Rebound
Anger
My Own
Life
Epilogue
More Books
Prologue
Eighteen tomorrow. Her eighteenth birthday. Freedom. Or so she’d always thought…even hoped. Only it wasn’t to be.
She needed to get away.
Away from this house and this godforsaken city. Away from everything that was holding her back, suffocating her…threatening her.
Dreams of going away to college were gone. She was smart, but not smart enough for a full scholarship, which was the only way she could leave.
Her mother wouldn’t co-sign any loans for her. No, that was wrong; her mother couldn’t co-sign any loans for her.
Mallory could only go where her stepfather was willing to send her. And that meant the community college close to home. Still living at home.
She was stuck.
Sitting down on the bench in the backyard, she looked up at the moon, pondering her next move. She couldn’t stay here after tomorrow. If she did, she knew what would happen and she’d rather die than go through that.
How could she leave, though? Where would she go? She didn’t have any money, so she didn’t have a way out. Desperation was a horrible feeling.
She heard a rustling to the right and turned her head, but didn’t see anyone.
Her nose was running now. She hadn’t even been aware she was crying, but she was. There was no holding back the tears anymore. She had nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
“Mallory?” she heard whispered, and looked back to the right, recognizing the voice. “Go pack your bags.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I can help you, but time is limited. I can get you away. I can take you from here and you’ll be safe. I promise.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
No one knew what was going on in her life. No one. She’d never uttered a word.
“We can stand here and argue, or you can run to your room and take everything you can stuff in a bag. I’ll provide the rest. Your choice.”
Mallory gulped. There was no choice, she knew that. Run or stay. Staying was a worse fate than running, so she had nothing to lose. “When?”
“Tonight. Go to your room, pack what you think you need, and meet me back here at midnight.”
“Midnight?”
“You know why it has to be midnight. For your protection and mine.”
She did know why. She’d be eighteen, not a minor anymore. Nodding her head, she said, “I’ll be here.”
She had to be. It was her only way out.
I’ll Try
Twelve years later
Nick pulled out his suitcase and started to throw clothes at random into it, ignoring his younger sister sitting on his bed. “You don’t need to do this, Nick.”
“I do. It’s best for everyone if I just leave town for a while.”
“How long is a while?” Rene asked, reaching into his suitcase and folding the clothes he was tossing in.
“I don’t know—does it matter?”
He opened another drawer and grabbed some shorts without looking, then tossed them toward the bed, where they half landed in the suitcase, half on the floor.
Rene pushed her glasses up on her nose, then reached over and picked up his shorts. “I guess not. Where are you going?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“You don’t need to leave, Nick,” she said, trying to convince him not to, but it wasn’t going to work.
His mind was made up and his sister of all people should know when Nick had his mind made up, nothing would ever change it. Stubborn was a word she’d often used when describing him.
“You know better than that. A few weeks, maybe a month and things will settle down. It’s better for me to not be seen.”
“No one hates you.”
“Again, you know better than that,” he said softly.
He walked into his bathroom and started grabbing products haphazardly in there, too. He’d buy the rest of what he needed. It didn’t matter at this point.
“It’s not like you left her at the altar.”
“Close enough.”
Calling the wedding off a week before was just as bad—he knew that. But he couldn’t go through with it…he couldn’t force himself to marry Kendra. She deserved better than what he could give her.
“Nick,” Rene said, standing up and marching toward him, then stopping. She barely reached his shoulders but still gripped them tight with her small hands. She’d gotten her tiny build from their grandmother. “You can’t run from this.”
“I’m not running. I’m giving Kendra time to adjust without having to see me. It’s the least I can do.”
“So you’re leaving for Kendra’s sake?”
For both of us, but he didn’t say that. Instead he just shrugged and took a step away. “I appreciate the concern, but I need to do this.”
“Are you hoping she’ll leave while you’re gone?”
“Leave town or work?” He hoped both, but knew it wouldn’t happen and it was cowardly to think that.
“She’ll never leave this city and you know that. Work. Are you hoping she’ll quit while you’re gone and you won’t have to face her?”
“Why would Ke
ndra want to continue to work for me? She was already planning on being off this week to get ready for the wedding, and who knows if she’ll come back? I don’t want to be there when she does. If she does. She should be able to make that decision without me being in the building breathing down her neck. I’m trying to make it easier for her right now. Maybe she’ll come to the decision to leave on her own. I was wrong, I know it; everyone knows it. The least I can do is let her try to save face.”
“Nick, not wanting to marry someone doesn’t make you wrong.”
He didn’t want Rene’s sympathy. He didn’t need it.
What he needed was to breathe and he couldn’t do that right now, right here, or even in this city.
“I’ll check in with you tomorrow. Don’t worry.”
“Who’s going to run the company while you’re gone? You can’t just walk away from it.”
“I’m not walking away. I’m on the road more often than I’m in the office anyway. This is no different. Dad is going to step in while I’m gone. I just talked to him.”
“Dad? You’re leaving Dad in control. Is that smart?”
“Dad knows what he’s doing. He’s bored with retirement, he’s been a manager for years, and he can handle the day-to-day operation of things. Anything else, I’ll be reachable like I always am. Why, do you want the job?” he asked, smirking at her.
“No way!”
It was no secret his sister couldn’t stand computers or technology and barely touched them unless necessary. Which was funny, considering Nick was one of the top software developers in the US, with employees and branches scattered across multiple states. He could work from anywhere and had. All he needed was his laptop.
Stopping in his tracks, he moved back to his closet and grabbed a few pairs of pants and shirts, then flung them toward Rene too. He doubted he’d need them, but he still didn’t know where he was going.
He’d always been casual in the office, even as the President and CEO of NB Innovations. No time like the present to visit his branches, but casual or not, he drew the line at T-shirts and shorts, so he should have something presentable to wear.
“Are you done questioning me?” Nick asked his sister. “I want to get on the road.”
“You’re driving?”
“Yeah.” He’d just decided it. Why bother flying? He had no clue where to go first and he detested spending time in airports.
Rene inhaled deeply, walked over to him, and gave him a big hug. “I love you, Nick. Don’t beat yourself up too much about this. People make mistakes.”
“It’s not a mistake. I’m not going to change my mind,” he said, his face set.
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know. Again, I appreciate everything you and Mom and Dad have said and done since I told Kendra yesterday. Dad is letting the venue know, along with all the guests. I’m sorry to dump everything on you, but I can’t leave it for Kendra.”
He knew his eyes were filling, and he didn’t want his sister to think he was weak, but he was emotional. Part of him would always love Kendra, but not the way he should be, not in love. Not as a husband should.
“We’ll take care of it. You go take care of yourself.”
“I’ll try.” Though he didn’t know the first thing he could or should do.
He walked over and shoved the rest of his clothes that Rene hadn’t folded into his suitcase and zipped it up. He threw another bag of miscellaneous items over his shoulder along with his laptop bag and walked toward the door of his bedroom, then turned to look at his sister sitting on the bed once more.
“Lock up for me and keep an eye on the house, please.”
“You know I will,” Rene said, knuckling a tear. “Don’t forget to call me tomorrow.”
Nick nodded and walked out the door, down the stairs and to his car. He tossed everything in the trunk, climbed in, started the engine and pulled away as fast as he could, never looking back.
***
In the last two weeks, Nick had visited two of his branches and gotten a head start on a new software program he’d been envisioning for years. Maybe the break out of the office was what he needed.
He’d been more productive than he could remember lately. Whether it was because he was trying to put the canceled wedding and Kendra behind and just focus on work or it was relief, he didn’t know.
He knew that had been a big issue before…that he’d focused on work more than Kendra. That sometimes when they were in the same room together she’d say, “Nick, you’re not paying attention to me.”
She knew he had a lot on his plate. She was the one who was always saying, “Let me do that for you.” Then she’d give him more work to do in its place. They never spent time together alone. They never relaxed, no matter how many times he wanted to do it. Sometimes she pushed him more than he pushed himself, and he realized now it wasn’t healthy. Not for their relationship and not for him as person.
So he needed to leave Richmond to put it behind him for now. He’d driven to St. Louis and met up with several developers there. They talked about what everyone was working on and he stayed in a hotel for five days, pushing to see if they shared the same vision he had.
His next stop was Salt Lake City, where he did the same thing—rode his staff hard, kept his mind off his personal life, and got down to business.
He talked to his mother, father, and sister just about every day. He knew the business was running as smoothly as normal. Anything his father couldn’t handle, he passed along to Nick or other senior management, but it wasn’t much. He had a good team and they ran everything well without him.
His father, John, had told him Kendra had indeed returned to work this week, but there were rumors she was looking for another job. Nick left instructions with his father to help her in any way he could.
Kendra had been hired years ago as his executive assistant. She was perfect for him. She had the uncanny skill of knowing what he needed and when, without ever having to be told.
Years ago, all those late nights and business trips, being in close proximity of each other, led to something more. Then before he knew it, they were engaged.
He’d like to think he finally realized the error of his ways before making it official, but that didn’t stop the pain and the hurt he’d caused her, and himself.
With visits to St. Louis and Salt Lake City behind him, he was unsure of his next move. He wasn’t ready to go back to Richmond, but didn’t have it in him to stop at his last branch in Atlanta.
With as much work as he’d been doing, he was burned out. He needed to clear his head. There was only one place to do that, and one person who would snap him out of it, so he headed north to Lake Placid. To his grandmother.
Mistake
After driving through the night Nick was completely exhausted, but he hadn’t wanted to stop. Part of him said to keep pushing and just get there. Get to the woman who always put him in his place when he was wrong, and praised him when he was right.
To the woman who would know the right thing to say to him to get him out of the hole he’d just dug.
His parents were too close to everything that had happened in the last year. His grandmother would be more of a neutral party. She would be able to see both sides of the story and tell him where he went wrong and how to fix it. How to fix his life.
Maybe he just wanted to hand it all over to someone else for once so he didn’t mess up again. Or maybe he wanted to be that teenager again with little to no responsibilities.
He should have listened to his parents years ago when they cautioned him about building his company too big and too fast and never giving himself a chance to live. A chance to enjoy life.
His grandmother was the epitome of take no bull, no holds barred when it came to her grandchildren. Her ways weren’t always conventional, but she knew what was best for those around her.
It was exactly the attitude he needed right now. Someone else to call the shots so he could put it behind him
.
Pulling in front of the log cabin on Lake Placid, Nick looked around at the beauty surrounding him and just paused. Took a moment to reflect and look at how peaceful everything seemed.
He’d been here at least once a year his entire life. Summers were spent here when he was a child, weeks at a time, if not a month. Just him and Rene on the lake, running wild.
Then when he got older, his visits weren’t as long, but they were more frequent. A week in the winter for skiing, a week in the summer on the lake, a week in the fall admiring the scenery.
Lake Placid might be small compared to Richmond, but it made up for it in serenity, peace, and quiet.
Nick took a deep breath, got out of his car, and walked toward the front porch. The door opened before he could even knock and there she stood. The love of his life. Or one of them. His mother was right up there with his grandmother. But no one held a candle to his grandmother.
No one—except possibly another woman…the one that disappeared twelve years ago and hadn’t been heard from or seen since.
“It took you long enough,” his grandmother said, looking at him sternly.
He dipped his head like a child being caught lying about taking the last piece of cake even with the chocolate smeared on his face. “I had work to do.”
“Don’t you always.” She held the door open wider for him. “We both know that isn’t true, but you needed to do what you could in order to run away from it, right?”
Nick walked up and stopped in front of his grandmother, her hair a light brown and cut in a shoulder-length bob, looking much younger than her seventy-five years. She’d always been active and fit, and looked no less than that now.
He reached toward her and hugged her tight, needing that reassurance only she could give, regardless of the fact he wanted to argue he wasn’t exactly running.
“How did you know I would come?”
“You always end up here when you’re battling something.”
