“Second Chance Romance”

2012 © All Rights Reserved

Chapter 9

     Oliver walked into the police station floating atop of cloud nine.  Closing the door behind him, he strode over towards his desk whistling a perky tune as he went.  After hearing Jades confession, he was beside himself.

     He knew the moment that they shared that first kiss, in his car before her father’s funeral that he had fallen head over heels for her and had hoped that she was feeling something for him too but he didn't dare get his hopes up at that point.  He knew that was all too soon.

     He had figured that she would still be overwhelmed with her father’s estate and getting the house in order.  She hadn’t even bothered to mention to him whether or not she was even staying in Hillsborough or heading back up North.  He was just biding his time, making the most of the times that they did spend together. 

     During that time he had hoped to maybe nurture the relationship that they had spontaneously begun, feed it and let it bloom and if all went well, then maybe he would be able to convince Jade and her adorable little girl to stay here- with him and possibly start a family.

     A real family that included the three of them and eventually a few more new additions would be nice.

     Now that Jade had admitted that she may be falling for him too, it seemed life held a whole new outlook.  The stars twinkled a little brighter sparkling up in the midnight sky, the scent of summer rain clung to his nostrils making everything smell just a little bit sweeter and for once in his life, everything just seemed right, perfect even.

     “Well, someone seems to have found their happy place tonight.”  Officer Taylor stood up from his desk and raised his brows in question.  “This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain brunette about this high?“  He held up his hand, palm flat to the ground just below his chin and watched his Sergeant with clear amusement dancing in his eyes.  

     Oliver pulled out his leather chair, the legs making a screeching noise as he dragged it across the floor and then took a seat.  Pushing back in his chair, he hefted up his legs on his desk, crossing one over the other and peered back at his old buddy.   “Maybe.”

     Officer Taylor shook his head, “You can say maybe all you want but I know that look.”

     “What look?”  Oliver asked innocently knowing good and well what his friend was talking about; that starry eyed look that showed how deeply he had fallen for the woman but he wasn’t about to say it out loud.  That would be a major blow to his masculinity and he would never hear the end of it.

     “You my friend,” he said while turning off the lamp at his desk, “Are smitten.  And don’t even try to deny it because it’s plastered all over your face for the world to see.  Jade Sampson has done gone and hog tied your heart.”

     Oliver busted out laughing at Officer Taylor’s words, neither admitting nor denying the accusation.  Dropping his feet to the floor, he sat up straighter in order to catch his breath.  “You never were one to beat around the bush now were you Taylor?”

     “Nope, never saw any sense in it,” he agreed, still smiling.  He took a few steps towards the door and halted mid-stride, turning around to face his Sergeant.  His face had sobered up some, taking on more of a serious facet.  “You be careful though,” he warned.  “We all know how tight that girl was with Austin Giles.  Sometimes fate will rear it's ugly face and you never know what can or will happen.”

     Oliver waved him off.  “That’s done and over with,” he told him with certainty.  “Jade learned her lesson the first time around and already told him that she wanted nothing to do with him now.  She even went as far as admitting to him that she had feelings for me just tonight.”

     Taylor watched his friend for a long minute before he inclined his head.  “For your sake, I hope your right my friend.  I really hope your right.”

     “I am,” he replied tightly, some of his earlier care free manner now gone.  He questioned Jade tonight on the very subject and she told him in no uncertain terms that she felt nothing for Austin and he believed her.  He had too because if it was any other way, he didn’t know how he would handle himself.

     Desperately wanting to change the topic, Oliver stared up at the clock.  “You need to get out of here,” he noted.  “That wife of yours is due any day now and I’d hate it for you if you weren’t there when her labor started.”

    Officer Taylor let out a gruff chuckle.  “Yeah, I’d hate it for me too.  You have yourself a good night Sarge, I’ll see you in the morning.”

     “Yeah, same too you Taylor and tell that wife of yours that I said hello too.” 

     “Will do,” Taylor called out over his shoulder as he walked out the door.  The sound of the door clicking closed followed Taylor’s final parting words. 

     Completely alone now, Oliver glanced at the mountain of paperwork on top of his desk.  That paperwork wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.  Knowing what had to be done, he decided that it would be best just to dive in head first and get it over with. 

     As much as he would have preferred to stay with Jade tonight, holding her in his arms, kissing her senseless; he knew that it just wasn’t possible.  He had a job and he had responsibilities that he had to be dealt with.  Being a Sheriff wasn’t all that hard but it wasn’t easy either. 

     Resigned as to what lay ahead, he pulled his chair back up to his desk and started going through all of the paperwork that had been left behind for his signature.  He started reading through the first one and sighed. 

     It was going to a very long and very lonely night in the jail house tonight.

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     Austin walked out of the locker room feeling better than ever about their chances in the big game tonight.  The team looked good, Lee didn’t seem quite as distracted as before since they had their little talk and even the Principal had nothing but good things to say about the team as a whole.

     He knew the entire town of Hillsborough was counting on him tonight.  If they won, he would be a martyr; if they lost, he would be out of a job.  Not a whole lot of pressure there.

      It had been two days since the night that he had gone over to Jade’s house and spoke with her.  Two painfully aching days that he had forced himself to stay away from her.  He was trying to give her space to think, time to mull over what he had said to her but with each passing hour it was getting harder and harder to maintain that distance.

     There were times even today that he wondered if she would show up to the game tonight.  Making it to the State Playoffs was a big deal for a small town like Hillsborough and it has been the single most talked subject for the last month.  Everybody who was anybody would be there. 

     And then if she did happen to come, he wondered if she would be with the Sheriff? 

     Just thinking about the two of them together, had him grinding his back molars together.  Over the last two days he had seen her a few times in the distance and on several of them occasions that Sheriff had been by her side, touching her, hugging her, making her smile, doing everything that he wanted to do with her.  It took everything he had inside of him to stay back. 

     He was jealous, there was no doubt about that but he was trying to prove to her that he had changed.  That he wasn’t the same naïve twit that had broken her heart.  At times it was so hard though when he wanted nothing more than to be the one by her side.

     “Austin?”

     Turning around, he frowned at the larger than life woman standing in front of him.  She was nothing more than a back woods girl hungering for the big city life.  “Ms. Mells,” he acknowledged with a curt nod.

     She lifted her lips into a sinuous smile and closed the distance between us.  “Austin, I’ve told you over and over that you don’t have to be so formal with me.  Call me Tina, we’re old friends right?”

     Not hardly, he thought dryly, but that was neither here nor there.  The moment that Jade ran out of that bedroom door and he realized the full impact of what he had done; he had never despised someone more than the woman standing in front of him.  He had managed to avoid her attempts at trying to gain his attention for the most part until six months ago when she took the position as the schools new secretary.  Since then it had been increasingly harder to avoid her, no matter how much he tried.

  “I really don’t think that would be appropriate,” he pointed out with a stiff smile.  “We’re both professionals here and I think we should act like professionals.”  He took a step back, intent on leaving when she reached out and placed her hand on his arm. stopping him.

     “Austin,” she drawled out, accentuating a strained southern accent while ridiculously fluttering her eyelashes.  She not so subtly leaned in closer to him, purposefully pressing her over exposed chest into his body.  “It’s been a long time Austin.  Why not-“she paused and lifted the corner of her mouth up in what she mistakenly thought was a sexy smile and lifted her rosy red manicured nail to his lips, seductively tracing their outline before starting again.  “After the game why don’t you come by my place and we can both blow off some steam?”

     He sucked in a deep breath.  He would rather have his toe nails pulled out one by one than stop by her place to ‘blow off some steam’ as she so eloquently put it.  Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her hand away from his face and took another step back, putting some badly needed space between them.  “I don’t think so Ms. Mells, not tonight, not tomorrow or not any night for that matter.  I’m simply not interested.”

     Considering the conversation over with, Austin turned away from her and started for the exit.  He only had about an hour to go home, feed his dog and grab a bite to eat before he had to be back at the school to prep the boys for the game.  He was about four steps from reaching the exit door when her irritating voice called out to him again.

    “It’s still her, isn’t it Austin?  It’s always been her.  When are you going to wake up and realize that ship sailed years ago.  It’s obvious that she has a thing for the Sheriff and that she wants nothing more to do with you.  I had it all planned out perfectly, but your just being too damn stubborn to see what's was right there in front of you.”

     Slowly Austin turned back around to face her.  When his gaze fell on her haughty form, he replayed her words, 'I had it all planned out perfectly' that was when it dawned on him.  She set him up.  She came over to his house and seduced him, knowing that they would be caught.  Why he didn’t see it before now was beyond him, but he saw it now.  “You conniving little bitch,” he spat, advancing towards her.  “She left me because you made sure that she saw everything.  You wanted her to walk in us so that she would leave me.” 

     He was furious.  All of the pent up rage came boiling to the top; threatening to spill over.  “You wanted us to break-up,” he accused.

     Tina shrugged her shoulders.  “Yeah, that’s right,” She snapped.  “Because we would have made a better couple.  You can’t deny the way that I made you feel, you were moaning and carrying on like a champion stud.”  She stared hard at him, her eyes flashing with temper.  “She didn’t deserve you Austin, I did!” She exclaimed.  "You were supposed to be mine."

     He had never considered hitting a woman before in his life and had sworn that he never would but this one; right now she was sorely trying his patience and he was rethinking that solemn oath.  "You," he pointed his finger at her, "Stay away from me.  Don't talk to me, don't even look in my direction or I swear, I'll take out a restraining order on you."

     Her eyes went wide with surprise but Austin didn't care.  He was done.  Turning around, he headed back  towards the exit.  The moment that his hand hit the door, she spoke again.  He told himself that he should just leave but for whatever reason, he stayed there with his hand gripped fiercely on the door handle as she spoke.

     "You know what Austin, you can blame me all you want for losing your precious Jade Sampson but it takes two to tango.  It's just as much your fault as it is mine."

     Dropping his head, he stared at the ground.  "Yeah," he said, his voice sounding hoarse, 'It was my mistake too and I have been paying for that mistake for years.  I may have to pay for it for the rest of my life but I will not let you interfere again.  This is my last warning Tina, stay the hell away from me or else."

     As soon as the last word left his mouth, Austin shoved open the door and with a purposeful stride he made his way out to the parking lot, his good mood now completely gone. 

     He had learned the hard way that mistakes were an unfortunate necessity of life.  Getting into his truck, words his father had told him on several occasions echoed in his head, even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.   Putting his key into the ignition and turning it over, he held on to those words and put the car in reverse.  God, he hoped his father was right because at this point, that's all he had, well that a maybe a prayer that Jade would give him a second chance.

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    The sound of the phone ringing startled Jade.  She sat down the oven cleaner that she had been fussing with and wiped her hands on her pants, before picking up the receiver. 

    “Hello,” she said a little tiredly.

    “Jade, how’s it going?” Oliver asked on the other line.  He was still at the station and counting down the minutes until he got off.  The big game was tonight and he was looking forward to taking both Jade and Libby.  He had promised Libby that he would take her to meet Jeffrey the Bull Dog before the game, the teams mascot, and that was all she had been able to talk about all week long.

    “It’s going,” she sighed, taking a seat in the wooden chair she had placed by the phone just for this very purpose.  Rubbing the back of her hand across her forehead, she fought the yawn that she inevitably couldn’t stop.

    “Uh oh,” He replied worriedly.  “Is something wrong?”

    “No,” she drawled out.  “I’m just a little tired.  Trying to whip this house into shape is going to be the death of me I'm afraid.”  What she didn’t tell him was that not only was she working her fingers to the bone on this damn house but she wasn’t half sleeping at night either. 

    Every time she went to lie down and finally get to sleep, she would dream and her dreams were conflicting.  In one, it would be Oliver, Libby and herself; a nice happy family, going to the park or fishing or something ‘family like‘.  In another, it would be Austin and herself, lying in a field of wildflowers, just talking the way that they used to do or doing other things that set her blood a fire.

    She didn’t want to feel these things and she tried not to feel them because she had made her decision.  Austin had his chance, he screwed it up and she refused to let it happen again.  She was moving on to greener pastures.

    With Oliver, she wouldn’t have to worry about Libby or herself or getting hurt.  It was true that when he touched her, the Earth didn't seem to move nor did fireworks seem to be exploding in her head like it did with Austin, and apparently still does, but he did make her feel well…. nice and content.  And at this point in her life she could do nice and content. 

     Oliver was also good with Libby and she knew that he sincerely cared about her too.  That was enough for her because Libby was all that really mattered in her life right now.  Not what she wanted or how she felt, but what was best for Libby.  
 

    He was disappointed when he heard the exhaustion in her voice.  Sitting back in his chair, he mindlessly wrapped the telephone chord around his fingers.  “Are you sure you want to go tonight?” He hated to miss the big game but he would- for her. 

    “If your tired, I can just pick up a pizza, maybe a movie and the three of us can have a quiet night in. We don’t have to go to the game you know.”

    Jade rolled her shoulders and looked across the room to where Libby was sitting up at the kitchen table, intent on the picture that she was coloring for Oliver.  She had her heart set on going to this game.  She wouldn’t dare disappoint her by not taking her after all the hype of the last week.

    “No, I’m not that tired,” she assured Oliver.  “Once I take a shower and get some food in me, I’ll be as good as new.”  She tried to add some cheerfulness to her voice that she wasn’t quite feeling but winced when it came out more flat.

    Oliver sat up in his chair.  “Are you sure Jade?  We really don’t have to go.”

    She let out a slow breath.  “I’m sure Oliver.  Be here at six just as we planned.  Libby and I will be ready to go, besides I would hate to have to tell Libby that mom is too tired for her to go see Jeffrey the Bull Dog like she was promised."

    He frowned at the phone.  He knew that she didn’t want to go but yet she still insisted, even though it was obvious that she was utterly exhausted.  He briefly considered forcing the issue but after hearing her talk about Libby and her excitment he thought better of it. 

    Oliver knew Libby was the only reason that she was willing to go in the first place.  Seeing her little face, brought a smile to his own.  He would just have to make sure that her mother did as little as possible.  “Alright then, if you’re sure then I’ll be there at six.”

    She could hear the hesitation in his voice.  He was worried about her and that was endearing.  “I’m sure,” she affirmed, this time with an honest smile.  “We’ll be waiting on you officer.”

    “Good,” he said, “I’ll see my two favorite girls then.  Take care Jade.”

    “I will, you do the same.”  She waited for him to hang up the phone.

    “Yes ma’am.”  He stopped and there was a brief silence between them.  He knew he should just hand up but wasn't quite ready to cut the connection between them.

    “Good bye Oliver,” she sang sweetly, still smiling and still waiting for him to hang up.  It was like being a teenager all over again, who was going to hang up first she thought bemusedly.

    “Good bye Jade.“  Something in his voice changed, betraying the affection that was welling up in him.  He quickly clicked off the phone before he said anything else.  It was the tender way that she said his name that did something to him.  Lord he hoped she was in this for the long haul, because he was head over heels for her.  He didn’t know what he