The Last Second Chance by Lucy Score

4

“Ineed you and your house,” Gia announced, hovering over Joey’s head as she lay in a puddle of her own sweat on a borrowed yoga mat. Joey’s head lolled to the side. A chipper Summer was sitting cross-legged and staring at her expectantly. The rest of the yoga studio was empty except for Gia’s sisters. Emma was frantically typing away on her smart phone while Eva lounged on her mat staring out the front window.

Summer had dragged her along to class again. Joey had to admit, it wasn’t awful. Especially not after spending the morning wrestling horses for vaccinations with the vet. Gia’s class had helped work the kinks out. Plus, it gave her the perfect excuse to avoid the two dozen red roses and apology card from Jax that arrived at the stables from Every Bloomin’ Thing.

They had tangled at the brewery the night before, but it felt good to finally say a few of the things that had been running laps in her mind for the past several years. She hadn’t actually expected him to apologize.

Joey could only imagine the Blue Moon gossip mill warming up with this little tidbit. Anthony Berkowicz, editor of The Monthly Moon, would be knocking at her door asking for a copy of their wedding announcement.

“Why do you need me and my house? You haven’t murdered your husband and need help with the body already, have you?”

“No, but if he pulls the whole ‘I took care of your cell phone bill because I thought you forgot’ thing again I may maim him.” Gia winked.

“Did you forget?” Joey asked.

“Well, yeah, but Beckett didn’t know that. I would have remembered eventually. I have a reminder in my phone.”

Summer snickered. “Ah, the joys of married life.”

“Said the experienced wife,” Gia quipped.

“I’ve got a month on you. I’d be happy to tutor you on the ins and outs of marriage,” Summer offered.

“Back to needing my house,” Joey shoved the conversation back on course.

“I was thinking girls night in. Tomorrow’s my sisters’ last night in town, and your place is the only one not crawling in children and men.”

Oh goodie. More socializing.Joey sighed and flopped back down on her mat.

“C’mon. Please?” Gia loomed over her batting her long lashes at Joey.

“I don’t have the genitalia that look works on.”

“Beckett and I are leaving on our honeymoon soon. It might be our last chance to hang out,” Gia said with a sad puppy face.

“Crap,” Joey sighed.

“I’m so pregnant the twins could get here at any time, and you may never see me again until their high school graduation.” Summer leaned in and gave her best pleading face.

Eva and Emma popped into her line of sight looking hopeful.

“Ugh, fine,” Joey said, sitting up. “But I’m not cooking, and it can’t be before seven. I have a lesson.”

The celebratory cheers brought Aurora out of the smaller studio where she’d been entertaining herself with a tablet, four of her favorite stuffed animals, and strict instructions not to come out until after class was over.

“Can I come out now, Mama?” the little redhead asked in a five-year-old’s whisper.

“All done, kiddo.” Gia held her arms open and Aurora rushed into them. The little girl gave her mom a noisy kiss before flopping down in Joey’s lap.

“Hi, Joey,” Aurora said, smashing the blue bear she held into Joey’s face. “’Dis my bear.”

Joey spit the blue fur out of her mouth. “Nice. Does your bear have a name?”

“Mr. Fur Face.”

“Well, that’s accurate,” Joey said wryly.

“Can I come to your party, Joey?”

Joey looked at Gia for guidance. “Uh, sure?”

Aurora bounced out of Joey’s lap and exploded across the studio. “Woo! I love parties!” She paused mid-spin with Mr. Fur Face. “Can I have cake?”

Again, Gia and Summer were no help. “Um, okay?” Great. Now she had to bake a cake in addition to scrubbing the toilets and dusting.

Aurora was celebrating again, doing somersaults on Gia’s mat while chanting “cake.”

“Aurora, you can come for cake, but then Beckett is going to take you home.”

“Cake! Cake! Cake!”

Gia rolled her eyes. “I swear this kid would build a house out of sugar if we let her. I’ll have Beckett come get her after his errand with Jax.”

“I wonder what they’re up to?” Summer mused. “Carter said he’s helping Jax with something tomorrow too. I’m suspicious.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s probably better that we don’t know,” Gia sighed.

Joey wasn’t so sure.

* * *

She baked a cake.

And since she already had all of her baking weapons out, Joey made three-dozen peanut butter cookies with chocolate chunks and two loaves of rosemary olive oil bread.

Baking was her yoga. The step-by-step process, the measuring, the transformation of simple ingredients into edible art. It calmed her, cleared her mind, and fed her carb obsession.

She stared at the cooling cookies. They were Jax’s favorite, and as a kid, once she realized that, she always made sure to set aside a bag just for him. She bit her lip, considered. What harm would setting aside one baggie do? It would be her secret stash in case the girls inhaled the rest of them. Or she could save them and give them to Jax.

Their fight at the brewery played in her head on a constant loop. And so had the feelings that it had dredged up. She’d gotten so used to her simmering animosity and unavoidable, uncontrollable physical attraction. But she’d forgotten about all the other long-buried feelings associated with Jackson Pierce.

It’s all for you. I came back for you.

His words, earnest and angry, rolled through her head.

What the hell had changed? And why now? She’d spent the last eight years moving on, building a safe, manageable life. Sure, she’d refused on principle to watch any of the movies he’d written. She’d done her best to put Jax out of her head and heart. Of course, she’d slipped a few times over the years and did a little online research. He’d certainly moved on, many times over. A different woman on his arm at every event.

She bit violently into a cookie, remembering the blonde with the watermelon-sized rack.

The idea that he’d come back for her was… unsettling, confusing.

They’d gone eight years without contact. When he came home for sporadic, infrequent visits, she made herself scarce. And that included John Pierce’s funeral. Joey’s father had taken her decision not to attend the services as a sign that she’d finally gotten over it all.

What her father didn’t know was that while everyone else in town was at the funeral, Joey snuck into the farmhouse and cleaned it from top to bottom, leaving behind a few million calories of baked goods to help feed the flood of visitors that Phoebe would face in the following days.

But things were different now. Phoebe was happily engaged to the charming Franklin. Carter and Summer had made the farmhouse their home. And Jax was back, professing the things that her heart had yearned for years ago. But it was too late.

Wasn’t it?

Too little, too late. And without answers to her whys, there was no altering her course. Her heart would remain closed where Jax was concerned, she decided, even as she bagged up four cookies and tucked them away.

Joey took one last sip of precious coffee and willed herself to put him out of her head. She shrugged into her down field jacket and stomped off to the barn to focus on her Wednesday night lesson. This was her more intermediate group. Six of them, each with their own care horse. They were still young enough to enjoy the easy repetition of grooming and tacking up.

“Nice seat, Alesha,” she called out to a lanky girl with braces and pink jodhpurs. Their neat little circle trotted around the indoor ring, inches of sawdust muffling the hoof beats.

Evan, Gia’s son, posted nicely on the ten-year-old bay, Tucker. “Okay, Evan, switch over to a canter and lead off a figure eight,” Joey ordered.

Beneath his riding helmet, she saw the spark in his brown eyes. He’d started lessons just two months earlier and was clearly a natural.

Colby, one of the helpers she shared with Carter and the farm, sauntered up. “Kid looks good,” he said, nodding at Evan. He took his hat off and shoved his hand through his corn silk hair.

“Picking it up fast,” she agreed. “Watch your hands, Aliya.”

The girl on the strawberry roan corrected her grip on the reins and earned a nod from Joey as she passed.

Joey patted Colby on the shoulder and let him take over the instruction. She wandered over to the edge of the ring and ran her hand over a hoof-sized ding in the wall. Romeo had been feeling spunky when he decided to kick the shit out of the boards.

She took a deep breath of horses and sawdust. The creak of the saddles, the occasional giggle from the kids. It was all home to her. Home and heaven.

God, she loved this place. Even the long days, the never-ending maintenance. Maybe especially them? When she committed to something, it was whole-heartedly. And she found a steady, comforting peace in the chipping away at the daily list of chores.

This time of year, while the farm lay dormant, Joey did her planning. She had more hands available to her with Carter and his crew of part-time help.

She’d grown this operation from six horses and twice weekly lessons to thirty mounts and a comprehensive equestrian program for all levels of ability. They had two beefy Clydesdales that pulled Santa’s wagon in the Christmas parade. She was a certified therapeutic riding instructor and taught weekly group classes for a handful of students with physical and mental challenges. And their regular weekly class schedule was bursting at the seams.

She had plans. It was time to think about the next step. A breeding program. They had a few solid mares. The next step would be to find the right stud. She’d start small, build a solid program, and expand selectively.

It would mean more equipment, more hands, more damn paperwork. But it was a smart move, and if the stock was good enough, the profits would be pretty freaking great.

She’d started a proposal to give to Carter with projections and timelines. Started it but hadn’t finished it. She wanted to do some research into studs first before she sprung it on him. It was harder for the man to say no to deep brown animal eyes. And if he dragged his feet, she was prepared to call in the big guns—Summer.

It wasn’t that Carter had ever actually said no. He was smart enough to know that she knew what she was doing. But that didn’t stop Joey from dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. She knew Carter liked to have all the information at his fingertips, mainly so he could dump it all off on Beckett’s desk when his brother asked too many questions.

She wondered if Jax would also be playing a role in the decision-making now that he was home.

And just like that, he was back on her mind.

“Hey.”

And back in her barn. At least he was on the other side of the fence.

“Hey,” she said, keeping her eyes trained on the riders. But it didn’t make her any less aware of his presence.

“I’m here to pick up Evan,” he told her. “You almost done?”

Joey reached over and turned his wrist so she could see the face of his watch. “Yeah, we’re finishing up here.” She started to push away from the fence and paused. “About the flowers.”

Jax cocked an eyebrow.

“They’re beautiful.” She spotted the beginning of a cocky grin. “But you’re going to have to do better than that.”

“Jojo, I’m just getting started.”

* * *

“Okay, we’re here,”Beckett announced, bringing his SUV to a halt in the parking lot of Furever Home Animal Rescue. “What’s the plan?” he asked Jax.

“We’re getting a dog,” Jax announced.

“Awesome!” Evan squealed from the backseat.

“Whoa, hang on there.” Carter leaned between the front seats. “You live in my house, and you didn’t think to mention that you’re getting a dog?”

“I’m not getting a dog for me. It’s for Joey.”

Evan squished under Carter so he could lean between the seats too. “You’re getting Joey a dog?”

“It’s part of my multi-tiered apology plan,” Jax explained.

“What are you apologizing for?” Evan wanted to know.

Jax ignored the smirk that passed between his brothers. “Kid, you’d be driving age by the time I got done explaining. Let’s just say I screwed up a long time ago.”

“And you’re just now apologizing?” Evan asked.

“Yeah.”

Evan shook his head. “Man, there better be a lot of tiers to that apology.”

No kidding, Jax agreed.

“Okay. Let’s find you an apology dog,” Carter sighed, opening his door.

* * *

“Come on, Evan!”Carter grumbled. “I told you to keep a good grip on that leash.”

“Sorry! Diesel just wants to get to know Tripod Jr. better,” Evan said, reeling the fat, fluffy puppy back in. Tripod Jr. meowed mournfully from his carrier on the seat between Evan and Carter.

“For the love of God, who the hell is howling?” Beckett yelled over the racket.

“I think it’s Meatball,” Evan said, peeking into the hatch. “Waffles just sat on him.”

“No, I have Waffles up here,” Jax said, pointing to the black and white hairball that had his head out the window.

“Oh, then Valentina sat on Meatball.”

Waffles shifted in Jax’s lap and stepped on his balls.

“Ow! Fuck!”

“I’m telling Mom,” Beckett threatened with a grin.

“Is anyone else thinking this might have been a bad idea?” Jax asked.

“There’s no point in asking that question. We’re committed, and we have to deal with the fallout,” Evan said, squishing Diesel’s little face in his hands. “Right boy?”

The puppy licked him in the face. And then bit his nose.

“Ow! Damn it!”

“I’m telling Gianna,” Beckett snickered.

Evan wiped the puppy’s slobber off his nose. “I don’t think she’s going to care about me saying ‘damn’ when we show up with a three-legged cat and a puppy with razor blades for teeth.”

“At least we didn’t get the elderly, obese howler and Marmaduke Jr. Summer is going to lose her sh—crap when she sees that duo,” Beckett said, jerking his thumb toward the back of the SUV.

“For your information, Meatball is only nine, and it’s an easily manageable thyroid condition,” Carter retorted. “And Valentina is named after one of Summer’s favorite designers, and I couldn’t say no to those big, bloodshot eyes.”

“I’m just glad you didn’t adopt another damn goat,” Jax said, pulling Waffles off Beckett’s lap. “Mrs. Penskee told me it’s the most successful day the rescue ever had.”

“That’s because the only animals left are the ones with pending adoptions,” Beckett said dryly.

“And that wrinkly pug dog with a sinus infection,” Carter said. Jax thought he detected a little wistfulness in his brother’s voice.

“Mr. Snuffles?” Evan asked. “Poor guy. Can’t we—”

“No!” All three Pierces yelled, which only encouraged Meatball to start howling again. The human passengers sat in silence for a few minutes, each pondering Mr. Snuffles’s unfortunate predicament.

“You know, Mom and Franklin are going to need a dog to go with their new house,” Jax ventured.

Beckett was already making a U-turn. “Fine, but Mr. Fucking Snuffles better not get his green snot all over the leather.”

Evan hooted, and Valentina turned Meatball’s solo into a duet. Tripod Jr. added a sad meow chorus.

“Well, Waffles,” Jax murmured to the furry mop in his lap. “I’m counting on you to soften your mom up for me.”

The dog turned to look at Jax with one brown eye and one blue. He blinked.

“I feel like you understand what I’m saying.”

Waffles blinked again.

“Huh,” Jax said.

Carter sniffed the air. “Please tell me that came from one of the dogs.”

Evan pulled his shirt over his face. The smell wafted its way up to the front seat. Beckett gagged, and Jax buried his face in Waffles’s wiry fur.

“Did someone just shit themselves in my car?” Beckett demanded, rolling down all the windows.

They pulled back into the rescue’s parking lot. Mrs. Penskee was casually walking Mr. Snuffles around the front porch on a leash. “Back so soon?” She greeted them with a cheery wave. Mr. Snuffles sneezed, sending a green shower in a two-foot radius.

“We’ll take the four-legged sinus infection, Mrs. Penskee,” Jax said, handing his credit card out the window.

“Oh, how exciting!” she said, patting her silver-streaked curls, eyes sparkling behind her wire-rimmed spectacles. She looked like an energetic Mrs. Claus. “I’ll just hand him over and bring you a receipt,” she said, shoving the dog into Carter’s arms through the back window.

“She’s running as if she’s afraid we’ll change our minds,” Carter muttered.

“She had him out here on a leash. She knew we’d be back for him,” Beckett said, massaging his temples.

“How’d she know that?” Evan asked, unwrapping Diesel’s leash from his wrist and ankle.

“Because we have ‘suckers’ stamped on our foreheads,” Jax grumbled. Waffles gave a happy little yip.

Mrs. Penskee reappeared waving Jax’s credit card and receipt.

“Thank you boys so much! Are you sure I can’t talk you into posing for a group picture for our Facebook page?”

“No!” They answered in unison.

“Remember, no posting on social media until tomorrow, right, Mrs. Penskee?” Beckett said, flashing her his best mayoral grin.

“All right. Well, you boys have fun surprising your girls,” she said with a wink.

Beckett rolled up the windows and pulled away before they adopted anything else.

“Okay, we’ve got a problem,” Jax announced.

“I don’t smell it, yet,” Carter said, sniffing.

“Not that kind of a problem,” Jax said, exasperated. “Waffles here is supposed to help me sweep Joey off her feet. With the rest of you and this rolling fart circus, you’re gonna steal my thunder.”

“Fart circus,” Evan snickered.

Valentina chose that moment to vault over the backseat, knocking Tripod’s yowling carrier into the console. She lunged forward, her giant tongue colliding with Beckett’s face. He swerved across the double line and back, but the overcorrection took them onto the berm before Beckett was able to get them back between the lines.

They all heard the sirens at the same time.

When Beckett managed to pull over and roll his window down, Valentina shoved her head out and gave Sheriff Cardona a face full of tongue.

“Is there a problem, officer?”