Their Second Chance (5 page)

His grandfather was suffering from Alzheimer’s and didn’t recognize his own daughter on the best days. It was really tough on his mom to have to explain to her dad daily that his wife had passed away and that she was little Gracey.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I wanted to ask for your help.”

“Oh? What kind of help do you need?”

He wasn’t sure asking his mother was the best idea, but he didn’t want to wait until he returned to do something. He wanted to help Ari now.

“I was talking to Ari and she seems exhausted with her latest project. I wanted to do something to help her relax, any ideas?”

“I knew she should focus on being a wife instead of that whole career bit. It’s not like you don’t have enough money to take care of her. I’m sure she’s doing this just to be difficult. Anyway, I’ll mind my business and stick to the question at hand.”

“Mom…” His mother had never minded her own business a day in her life. She’d lived to tell him for the past six months to move on with his life. To find a woman who would give him the family he craved.

“Sorry, honey. Okay. Well, with her talk of career and work, I am assuming she’s not cooking or taking care of her household. I do recall a couple of times I came over to your place, and you were the one doing the cooking and cleaning so she could work those crazy long hours.”

He groaned. “Not the point, Mom.”

“It is the point. Have you thought about sending her some pre-arranged meals? Only god knows if she’s even got food in that house.”

He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. She was right. Not only was Ari slimmer the last time he’d seen her, but he could tell from how exhausted she looked, that she wasn’t going into the kitchen to make a meal for one. Heck, she never liked cooking while they’d been together. He’d always cooked, and she’d always baked. It had worked out perfectly.

“You’re right, mom. I didn’t think of that. I’m worried she’s overdoing it. She looked really tired on our conference today.”

“You can also send someone to tidy her house.” Grace cleared her throat. “Not that Ariana’s a pig or anything. At least I hope she isn’t one, but if she’s as busy as you’re saying, the last thing she wants to think about is cleaning up after Harley or doing house work.”

The plush bedding dipped with his weight when he leaned back into the mattress. “Thanks, Mom. Those are really helpful ideas.”

“Well, if you’re still set on this whole getting back together with her, maybe you can talk her into finally slowing down on the job and try her hand at giving you a baby.”

“Thanks for your concern, Mom. We’ll figure things out. I don’t need a child to be happy with Ari.”

“I’m just saying that she could be a bit less selfish and think of you this time around,” his mother mumbled.

Anger grew dark wings in his chest. He knew his mom didn’t mean to hit a sore spot, but it annoyed him to hear her talk about babies like it had been Ari’s fault they didn’t have any. After the things they’d been through, babies were the last thing he’d talk to her about. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll figure things out. I’ll have Liz set something up for me on the cleaning side.”

“Alright, son. I’m going to sleep. Call me during normal brain function hours, okay?”

“You got it mom. Thanks for answering so late.”

“Anything I can do to help you.”

He hung up and immediately set a reminder to the middle of the night so he could wake up and call
Ariana’s favorite restaurant and set up some food for delivery. Some of the anxiety lessened now that he had a plan of action and could help her cope with the added stress of a difficult client.

Ariana opened her eyes and
groaned. She felt like shit. Working long hours and stressing over this latest campaign was making her sick. Her head hurt, and her stomach rolled. Shit, she probably had an ulcer at this point. She laid there, thinking of Nick and the many calls, text, emails, and video conferences and couldn’t help but smile. He’d been trying so hard to stay in touch with her that it was hard for her to find any flaws with his being gone for so long. Her stomach rolled again, and the urge to vomit became overwhelming. She ran to the bathroom and heaved. She’d skipped dinner, feeling stressed, so there was nothing to dump.

“Ari?”
Tricia’s voice sounded from inside her house.

“In the bathroom,” she answered, her throat feeling raw.

Her best friend, who also happened to be her neighbor, came and went every morning with the extra key Ari had given her. Ari sighed in the crouching position in front of the toilet. Struggling past the urge to gag again, she got in the shower. She needed to buy some antacid pills.

She dressed in sweats. It was a Friday, and she was working from home, taking care of the design for her difficult client before, hopefully, cleaning up around the house and doing some food shopping.

“Hey, I made coffee,” Tricia said the moment Ari stepped into the kitchen.

She scrunched her nose at the scent. Her stomach was still making waves.  “Thanks, but I think I’ll have tea.”

Tricia frowned. “What’s wrong? You look kind of pale. And sick.”

She sat down, placed her arms on the kitchen table and cupped her cheek with her hand. “I’m exhausted. This client is sucking the life out of me. I swear I’ve never wanted to sleep more than I do right now.”

“So go take a nap.” Tricia glared at her as if she’d committed a crime by not getting enough sleep. She opened cupboards and put on the kettle. After that, she grabbed a bag of bread and set it to toast.

Gratitude filled Ari to have such a great friend. “I can’t. I have to work, and I need to clean this place up, and go buy some food. I have—”

A knock sounded at her front door. Tricia shook her head. “I’ll go get it. You sit there and relax for a minute while I make your tea.”

Moments later, Tricia sauntered back into the kitchen with a big smile and a delivery person behind her.

“You can put the groceries on the counter here.” She pointed to the kitchen island.

“I’ll need to get the cooked food. I’ll be right back,” the delivery guy said.

Ariana frowned at the bags of food on her counter. “What’s all this? Did you get me groceries?”

Tricia grinned. “Nope, but he said he’s got a note for you.”

Three trips to his van and the delivery guy handed her a note that went with her food.

“Read it!” Tricia squealed.

“Alright already. Jeez. ‘I hope this helps you relax and not stress over food.  Nick.’”

She glanced up at Tricia’s smiling face and struggled with the feelings and emotions rushing through her. He was on the other side of the world, and he’d arranged for her to have food and groceries. She swallowed at the knot in her throat. His thoughtfulness was astounding. Nick had always been sweet, but this was more than he’d ever done before, more than even she had ever expected of him.

“I think he really wants to get back together.” Tears clogged her throat. She blinked back the moisture gathering in her eyes. Emotions were overwhelming her with the need to see him. She was turning into a wimp. Throughout their marriage, Nick had always been thoughtful and caring, but like all men, he’d slowly given a lot of it up in favor of believing she knew how he felt.

It wasn’t a problem until things started going downhill with their trying to have a baby and then her miscarriage. The previously open and communicative relationship had shut down. Neither had been willing to let the other in. And now, here he was, going further in his attempt at reaching out to her than he’d ever had before, even before their relationship had hit the downward spiral.

“I don’t know about all this.”

“What don’t you know?” Tricia exclaimed. “He’s doing this to show you he cares. Even from the other side of the world, he’s thinking about you.”

“His mom called.” Ari winced. Grace had been so good at making Ari feel like the most inadequate wife in the world. “Oh no. Not her. What the hell did she want?”

Ari sighed. “To ask me if I planned on breaking his heart again.” Her stomach did summersaults and anxiety started creeping inside her.

Tricia slammed a spoon down on the counter, the sound resonating around the kitchen. “Are you for real? That lady has some nerve. What the hell is it any of her business what you and N decide?”

Ari shrugged, hoping the tea would soothe her stomach. “She thinks my drive to grow my business was what destroyed our marriage.” She grabbed the cup of tea Tricia handed her, brought it to her nose, and inhaled. “According to her, if I had used up
more of my energy trying those fertility treatments instead of dividing my time between that and work, I would have had a few kids with Nick by now.”

Tricia put a plate of toast in front of Ari.
“That old witch. I swear if I ever see her around here, I’ll have her arrested for trespassing.” She pushed the plate closer to Ari when she made a face. “Have some. It should help you feel better. You really need to see a doctor. You look exhausted and way too pale.”

“I’m okay.” She nibbled on a piece of toast.

“You should tell N about his annoying nosy mama. Make him aware of her witchiness.”

Ari shook her head.
“Nah. I guess I understand where she’s coming from. Nick was hurt when I left him. I’m sure it wasn’t good to see her only child suffering.”

Her doorbell rang again while she ate. This time it was her old cleaning lady, the one she’d let go of when she and Nick had separated. He’d sent her to clean so Ari wouldn’t have to worry about that and could focus on work.

“So when is Mr. Wonderful supposed to make an appearance?” Tricia sat down across the table with a cup of coffee, watching Ariana nibble on the toast.

“Tomorrow.”
She sipped her tea and glanced down at the cell phone. He was probably on his flight back. She knew he’d be exhausted after the long trip and had suggested they see each other after he got some rest.

“Are you doing anything special?”

“We were supposed to go out to dinner. I think I want him to come over and eat here, maybe watch a movie. I mean I have groceries now, I can cook.”

Tricia choked on her coffee. “You’re going to cook?”

She sniffed. “I do know how to. I just choose not to.”

“I know honey, but…wow. If you’re willing to cook for him, then you really want to make a good impression.”

Did she? Hell, he’d done things he’d never done in the past for her. What held her back from doing something new, something nice, for him?

“He’s been doing all this nice stuff from the other side of the world. I guess I just want to try harder now.”

It was true. She didn’t want to let a second chance with Nick be messed up by stupid things that could be resolved with ease. Besides, he was making an effort for her, and she wanted to do it for him.

Tricia placed a hand over hers on the table and smiled. “I know you do.”

Her head was pounding worse than when she opened her eyes, but at least now her stomach wasn’t making waves. Ugh. The last thing she needed was to come down with something bad because of stress.

“I think this client is giving me migraines.
And an ulcer.”

“You need to go to a doctor. All these long hours working are taking a toll on you. I swear, I’m going to start coming by here at night and check to make sure you went to bed.”

Ari grinned and quickly winced at the pain behind her eyeballs. It was time to go to work. The faster she got that project done, the sooner she could take a day to just relax.

Ari bit her lip and
studied her reflection in the full-length mirror. The dress was fine. Wasn’t it? Jesus. She’d never been this insecure about having dinner with a man, especially not her own husband. Not even on her first date with Nick, which happened to be a tutoring session gone strangely longer than usual, did she have the panic clawing at her gut like she did now. Thinking back to their first date always brought a smile to her face. He’d requested help, and she’d shown up to teach him. She’d been wary of his bad boy image, but as they said, don’t judge a book by the cover. While Nick had tattoos, long wild hair back then, and always wore worn jeans and vintage T-shirts, he’d been the perfect gentleman with her.

Most of the night was spent talking about her love of crime novels and his love for all things handy. A second attempt at tutoring found them eating Chinese in his dorm room, while watching a
sci fi movie. They’d talked for hours over what was the best horror movie ever filmed, and he even went as far as admitting to being creeped out by The Exorcist. When she told him she’d never seen it, he’d found his way into date number three. By then, she’d been too interested in the inconsistencies between the harsh bad boy outer shell and nice boy soft center.

At the sound of her bell ringing, she blinked back the memories and turned to her bed in a panic. Piles of dresses, tops and skirts littered the mattress. She grabbed handfuls of her clothes and shoved them in the closet. Harley started to bark around her legs. She almost tripped over her dog in her rush.

“Harley, shush!”

When she tried to shut the door to the closet, the clothes kept popping out. She kicked them on the floor, shoving them far back in the small space, huffed, and shut and locked the closet door. There. Taking a final look in the mirror, she glanced at her dark hair and brushed the mess she’d made changing for the fifteenth time. The bell rang again. Oh, why did he have to be punctual? Damn it, she’d forgotten he was a stickler for being on time.

Harley barked again, hopping around her in excitement. If she hadn’t known it was Nick before, she was sure of it now. Harley never got that excited.

“Calm down, Harley. Don’t make us look so desperate.”

Harley stopped her hopping, cocked her head and proceeded to run off toward the front door.

“Nice going.”

Slipping on some black sandals, to match her blue and black dress, she ran down the hallway and stopped suddenly, exhaled slowly and strolled toward the door with as much calm as she could muster. Thankfully, he couldn’t hear how fast her heart was beating or see how sweaty her palms were.

“Hi.” She tried not to sound breathless as she opened the door. That was beyond difficult. Seeing him in something other than blue jeans and a vintage Tee was different…and nice. The flowers and wine in his hands were another surprise. Nick had given her flowers before, but the times he had there had been some holiday happening.

“Hi.” He glanced down her body and slowly made his way back up. Her skin heated from the flicker of lust she saw brightening his eyes. “You look beautiful.”

A rush of pleasure filled her. “Thanks. Come on in.”

He handed her the wine and flowers, her favorite purple roses, and stared deep into her eyes. “I wanted to bring you something I knew would make you smile. You’ve always loved these, so it was my first choice.”

She nodded, unsure of what to say. This was Nick, but a new and better version of him.  “I’ll…I’ll just put these in some water. Make yourself comfortable.”

She filled the antique crystal vase her mother had given her as a wedding gift with water and the roses and placed it on the center of the dining room table.

“I hope you don’t mind staying in.”

He sat on her sofa, watching her walk toward him, his gaze penetrating and heating her to the core. “If that’s your choice, no.”

“Great.
Because I cooked.”

He lifted his brows. She was grateful he didn’t say anything to embarrass her, because he knew the last thing she’d ever volunteer for was cooking. She’d bake the hell out of anything. Cooking was not her specialty. There were only a handful of dishes she knew how to make well, but tonight, she’d gone with the one she’d learned during the cooking course she’d taken after their separation.