Last Chance

by Natalie Ann

  Her other thought was an orthodontist. Again, the closest one was an hour away in Plattsburg. She had all sorts of ideas and plans to enlarge her practice, and now she felt she could put some of them into motion.

  No one could tell her no.

  No one could tell her to slow down.

  No one could say she wasn’t ready.

  This was her practice with her ideas and her final say.

  But she had something else to look forward to today, so all thoughts of anyone telling her “no” were out the window. She was going to a party on the lake with her family and some friends.

  Well, her brother’s friends, but people she knew. Maybe some would be her friends someday, too. Either way, today was about focusing on the here and now.

  Not the past. Not the future. But the present.

  And Trevor. She was going to see Trevor again and she was going to focus on him, because right now he was her present. It wasn’t just for a quick twenty-minute visit today, either. At least she hoped not. No, they had plans, or rather she did for when they got back to his place.

  “Hi, Aunt Riley!” her niece Lara shouted as she ran as fast as she could to her side, jumping around and hugging her tight. “Did you make our appointment yet for our pedicures? Daddy told me you were going to when you found time. Did you find time yet?”

  Riley laughed, hugged Lara back, and kissed her on the forehead. She was growing so fast. Long skinny legs, her hair darker than it’d been a few years ago, losing some of the blonde highlights she’d gotten from her mom. She was starting to look more like a Hamilton.

  “I did. I was going to let you know today. I’ve got an appointment next Friday afternoon. I rearranged my schedule and I’m going to take a half day off work so the two of us can get some lunch and get pampered like women are supposed to be.”

  “I’m not a woman yet. Daddy said I’m not allowed to be one until I’m twenty-five.”

  “I think your dad is right about that.” Riley looked down and noticed Lara was wearing a pink two-piece athletic-style bathing suit with a sheer dress over the top of it and flip flops on her feet. She wasn’t as much of a tomboy as she was a year ago, but she was still hyperactive.

  Riley turned and grabbed a pan of brownies and cookies out of the backseat of her SUV. She didn’t care that Quinn liked to cook so much. This party was too much to handle for one person, especially one person who’d had a baby less than two months ago.

  “Can I carry them for you?” Lara asked.

  “How about you grab my bag in the back? I’ve got my swimsuit with me. Maybe if it’s hot enough I’ll jump in with you.”

  “I’ll race you to the dock so we can dive off together,” Lara said. The two of them did that often when Riley was staying there—their own little form of bonding so that Lara had some one-on-one girl time.

  They made their way through the back door, Riley putting down her desserts and walking over to kiss her mother on the cheek, then her father. Surprisingly, Jocelyn wasn’t around.

  “Where’s the baby?” she asked. She was still an hour earlier than when the party was going to start, hoping to get some family time before everyone showed up.

  “Taking a nap right now,” her father said. “Max is out back with Davy, setting the table and chairs up under some shaded spots, and Quinn just ran upstairs to change. She’s been cooking all morning.”

  “Does she ever rest?” Riley could only hope to have an ounce of the energy Quinn did. She watched the kids, cared for a newborn, cooked nonstop, and cleaned this massive house daily. Nothing ever looked out of place.

  “Not that I’ve seen,” her mother said. “I’ve given up trying to do anything.”

  “Glad to know someone else feels the same way I did when I stayed here.”

  “So where’s Trevor?” her father asked. “Max said he was coming today.”

  “He is. He’ll be here in an hour. He might get called in, so we decided to take separate cars. You aren’t going to embarrass me, are you?” she asked both of her parents.

  “We wouldn’t think of it,” her mother said, a sly smirk on her face.

  “You better not,” Riley warned. “He won’t want to come around anymore if you do.”

  “Do you want him to come around more?” Max asked, walking into the room.

  “I do. I’d like to keep it that way too,” she said firmly.

  “Then I guess we have no choice but to be on our best behavior,” her mother said. “We wouldn’t want to upset you.”

  “I’ve been telling the kids all week not to upset the baby of the house,” her father said. “It’s never good for anyone.”

  Riley laughed, but she didn’t think it was funny. Not now, and not twenty years ago when he’d joked with her about it then.

  ***

  Trevor pulled in a few minutes after the party was scheduled to start and saw more cars than he’d been hoping for. Not that he had a problem around people, because he didn’t, but when Riley said small, he was hoping his idea of small and hers were the same. He was wrong.

  He walked to the back where he heard the noise coming from, and looked around in hopes of finding Riley. Instead, Max’s son almost ran into him chasing a Frisbee.

  Trevor reached a long arm up and snagged it out of the air. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks. You’re the police chief, right?”

  “I am. Davy, right?”

  “Yeah. Good memory,” Davy said, then ran away.

  “Hey there, good looking.”

  He turned and saw Riley opening the back door, then stepping out carrying a bowl in her hands. He reached for it just as she turned her body and blocked him. “I’m only trying to help.”

  She lifted her chin and pursed her lips. “Kiss first.”

  He laughed, did as she said, then grabbed the bowl hastily when she shoved it in his arms. It wasn’t the way he thought he’d be thrust into this party, but he was going to go with it. Except Riley just turned and walked back into the house and left him there alone for the moment…holding something nasty looking.

  “Trevor,” he heard, then turned to see Cole McGuire.

  He figured Cole would be here, was actually hoping in a small way. “Cole.”

  “Welcome to chaos.”

  “It doesn’t seem that bad,” Trevor said, looking around and recognizing most of the people here. Or at least half.

  “This is my fiancée, Rene. Our son, TJ.”

  Trevor looked at the tiny woman that had just walked up to Cole with a big smile on her face, a wiggling baby in her arms. “Hi,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Rene’s brother is over there in the red shirt,” Cole said, pointing out a man sitting at a table with a blonde holding another baby. “Nick Buchanan and his wife, Mallory, and their son, Blake.”

  Trevor actually recognized the blonde as someone he’d seen with Trixie Miller before, but Nick didn’t look familiar at all. “Nick’s not from around here?” Trevor asked, trying to piece everyone together. He liked to know who was who in town, even if he never had a conversation with them.

  “No,” Rene said. “He and I are both from Richmond, Virginia. We found love here and decided to stay.”

  Cole snorted. “Nick found love and decided to stay after visiting his grandmother, Trixie. Rene came for a job with Max.”

  “And I found love,” she said, standing on her tiptoes, silently wanting Cole to give her a kiss.

  Cole just shook his head, kissed Rene, then lifted his son into his arms and started to bounce him around since he looked to be getting fussy. “Why don’t you get his bottle? I’ve got him.” Rene left the two of them. “You remember Celeste, I’m sure.”

  Trevor had noticed Celeste sitting at the table with Nick and Mallory, along with another guy. “Yeah. Is that her husband?”

  “It is. Caleb Ryder. He works for Nick.”

  Trevor paused, then said, “That’s a little too much of six degrees of separation, if you ask me.”
>
  “It only gets better, Trevor,” Amber Deacon said, coming up next to his side, having heard his comment.

  Everyone knew Amber. Or she knew everyone, depending on how you looked at it. But she’d also been a year behind him in school. “This is my husband, Zach Monroe. He also works with Nick.”

  “You’re joking, right? What, did Nick move his company here?”

  Amber laughed, but Zach reached his hand out, forcing Trevor to shuffle the bowl he was still holding. “Nice to meet you. No, that’d be a little hard to do with Nick employing as many as he does, but we’re all scattered all over the US. I’m only here half the time myself.”

  Trevor stored that information away and decided he was going to find out what type of business Nick owned at another time.

  “He’s only your husband because you couldn’t wait until August,” Rene said, walking back over and taking TJ out of Cole’s hands.

  “Don’t be jealous I beat you to the altar. That was all your choice.”

  Now Trevor was beginning to understand what Cole meant about chaos. And these people all worked together, it seemed.

  “I didn’t want to be wearing a mumu to my wedding.”

  “You still would have looked beautiful,” Cole said, then rolling his eyes at Trevor and added, “Come on, let’s get out of here while we can.”

  “Thanks,” Trevor said. “I kind of felt ambushed there and I’m not sure why.”

  “Expect a lot of that today. There is always this humorous bickering between everyone. Where’s Riley that she left you unarmed for the moment?”

  Trevor laughed. Cole always had a good sense of humor. “Pushed this bowl of green stuff in my hands and took off. I’m not even sure what it is, let alone where it’s supposed to go.”

  Cole looked down. “Looks like a jar of TJ’s peas.”

  “It’s guacamole,” Riley said, coming up behind them. “It’s good for you. No sugar to damage your teeth. Trevor doesn’t like the dentist, Cole. Did you know that?”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “Cute,” Trevor told Riley, right as she walked away from him again, leaving him still holding the green goop. “Really? Is this some kind of a game and I’ve got to guess where to go?”

  “She’s coming back,” Cole said, snickering, “and there she goes again. You on duty tonight?”

  “On call like normal. You’re not, I’m assuming.” Troopers were always in uniform. Trevor liked that he could get away with jeans and a shirt most of the time. No one ever said a word to him about it, not that he’d care if they did. He got his fill of the uniform when he was an officer.

  “About the same as you.”

  Cole could be called out at any time as the only one to fly the chopper in the area. “I’m hoping for a quiet night.”

  “Same here.” Cole paused, then added, “We could always use you at the barracks. You know it’s a given if you want in.”

  “I’ll pass. We work well together. You guys know where to find me if you need me.”

  “I’m back,” Riley said. “Come with me now and you can meet my mom and anyone else you don’t know.”

  Trevor nodded his head to Cole and followed Riley, glad to get away from a conversation he didn’t feel like having again. He was happy where he was and wished everyone believed him.

  Being Equals

  Riley couldn’t have asked for a better day or night. Trevor seemed to blend in well with everyone at the party. It probably helped knowing as many people as he did. Still, she was glad she didn’t need to stand by his side the whole day and hold his hand.

  It used to drive her insane when she was dating someone and they didn’t leave her side at a party or a function.

  For once though, she was able to relax and have fun, do her thing, and enjoy time with Trevor.

  There was no worrying if he was bored, or was looking for her or needing some type of reassurance. Half the time she found him talking with Max or Cole. Then he jumped in and was throwing the Frisbee with Lara and Davy and a few of their friends, then joining in a game of volleyball.

  She loved the volleyball game. Seeing him in action, moving around, his shirt off. Because, hey, she didn’t mean to spill her glass of water on him. And she had to suggest he take his shirt off to dry in the sun while he played another match. It was the only sensible thing to do.

  Amber, of course, decided it’d be great if all the guys played without their shirts, so it ended up being a nice treat for the ladies, too. She didn’t realize her own brother was as fit as he was. But Quinn made a point to say Max didn’t use any of the treatments in his office when Amber cracked a joke about her boss being shirtless and showing off.

  But now she was pulling into Trevor’s driveway, parking next to him. At his family home. His home.

  Maybe she could get a better read on him now. So far, everything she’d thought of him had been right, but nothing had fit into any pattern.

  He was tough and tender. Soft and hard. Laid back and firm. Brutally honest and diplomatic. How could someone be all those things and do them so well? It was a confusing contradiction for someone who always liked to know what she was dealing with.

  She grabbed the other bag she’d left in her car earlier. Her overnight bag.

  “Let’s go in the side door,” he said.

  There was a little stone walkway to the front porch. On it was a porch swing, but since the lake view of this area was in the back, she was guessing the swing didn’t get much use. There were houses across the street, but she knew she wouldn’t want to be looking at them.

  He unlocked the side door and tossed his keys in a bowl. An old bowl that looked like a kid might have made it at some point.

  They walked into the kitchen that she noticed was simple and neat. Not overly modern, but not completely outdated. The appliances didn’t all match. The fridge and dishwasher were stainless steel, the stove black.

  The walls were a light yellow with a little border around the top. One she was guessing wasn’t of his choosing, but he hadn’t gotten around to removing it yet. Or the little white table in the corner with two chairs that didn’t look like they’d even hold his weight.

  Into the living room, she noticed it was a tan color. Big comfortable furniture, wood accent pieces, and a large TV mounted on the wall.

  When she tilted her head and caught sight of a dining room that looked dreary, with a brown table and chairs in it, she pieced together where he spent most of his time.

  “So give me your thoughts,” he said, grinning at her.

  “You spend the bulk of your time in here,” she said. “Watching TV on that corner of the sectional.” The arm was worn more in one spot than another.

  “That wasn’t too hard to figure out,” he said, laughing.

  “The dining room never gets used.”

  “Only when my parents come to visit and my mother cooks for everyone. It’s the only place that holds us all.”

  “Which brings me to the kitchen. The stove looks older than the rest of your appliances.”

  “I only use the range top. If the oven breaks, or is broken, I’d have no clue. Since it works enough for me, no use replacing it.”

  Exactly what she assumed. “So let’s see your room. I’m dying to know what color it is.”

  “It was the first room I changed over when I bought the house,” he said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because it’s where you’re supposed to be at peace the most. I’m not sure how my father slept in a room with flowers on both the wall and the comforter. Maybe that was why he was grouchy in the morning.”

  She laughed. “I’m not a big fan of flowers myself.”

  “You’ve said that before.”

  “I said I don’t like men that smell like flowers. But the same could be said of decor.” She followed him up the stairs to a loft. “Only one room up here?”

  “Yeah. My parents converted it from an attic to a master suite, I guess, after Kennedy was
born. Taryn and Kennedy shared a room and I had my own downstairs. It was tight here for a long time, but we made do. It’s a good size for me now.”

  “How many bathrooms?” she said.

  “They were smart enough to put a bath upstairs back then. Just a small sink, toilet, and shower stall, but it’s enough. It was bad enough fighting for bathroom time when I was a teen with two sisters. Adding my parents in would have been hell.”

  She looked around the room. It was a calming blue color. His bed was against the wall looking through a big window out to the water. The tan bedspread was made up about as neatly as she expected. No frills, but everything looked nice and comfortable.

  “Are you done assessing my living quarters?” he asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice but a smile on his face.

  “I sure am. I’m looking forward to getting your assessment of me tonight.”

  His eyes just started to focus on her, then looked her over from head to toe. “What do you have planned that I need to assess?”

  “You’re just going to have to wait to find out,” she said, walking toward him. Then she hitched her bag on her shoulder and walked into his bathroom.

  When she came back out a few minutes later, he was sitting on the bed, looking a little unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. He’d taken his shirt and shoes off, and even changed into a pair of comfortable athletic shorts. She’d never thought workout shorts could be sexy before, but she was finding out all sorts of things she liked since she’d moved here.

  “Wow. Okay. So far, things are looking good,” he said.

  She walked a few feet and stopped in front of him, his hands reaching for her waist and pulling her forward. “Do you like it?”

  She wasn’t one for sexy lingerie, but she wanted to try. Unfortunately, nothing seemed right when she was shopping, so she decided to just go with a bra and panty set. She was guessing she made the right choice.

  “I would have pictured you in white, even black, but purple? Nice. Reminds me of royalty. I guess that makes more sense, now that I think of it.”