One Last Chance

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was hard for Alex to not go see Sam since he'd decided to stay in Westbeach. He thought they could make a go of things in a real relationship if she was only willing. Unfortunately, he'd messed that up long ago and they only fought when they were near. His plan now was to ease back into her life without overstepping, if he could, and that maybe she would warm to him.

He'd helped his friend, Nate, with a case not long ago. Since then, he'd decided that he liked this town too much to leave. He was also tired of his job; being someone else regularly while going undercover with the DEA had gotten old. He was tired of the constant threats and just the overall intensity of the job and had decided to leave when Nate did, much to their boss's dismay.

Their boss had thought of anything and everything to get him to stay. The pay was almost too good to walk away from, but he was done. He had also tried to get him to do one last job, the same thing he had talked Nate into before, but Alex wasn't falling for it. He walked away and wasn't looking back.

His only plan had been to move into his own place here in Westbeach. He was growing restless now with nothing to do and had looked for a job, even applying to the local police force. He needed to do something, but now that something was wait for answers from his application.

The house he'd rented had previously been occupied by Kelly, who had moved in with Mason, Nate and Sam's older brother. They were soon to be married, but Kelly was refusing to get married until she had the baby. She didn't want to be pregnant when she got married again. It was driving Mason nuts.

He'd been to both Nate's and Mason's recently, but they were both in the honeymoon stages of their relationships and were all over their partners. He was getting tired of it. If he was honest with himself, he was more jealous than tired, but who was he supposed to tell that too? Certainly not the two older brothers of the woman he wanted.

The only real distraction he'd had lately was his damn family. They were pissed he was moving here and not back with them in Wyoming now that he had finally left the DEA. His uncle wanted him to take over the family's resort business, and he didn't want to. He had never wanted to though, so Alex was confused now that his family so angry over his decisions.

He had ignored three calls from his sister already today, so when his phone rang again, he decided to go ahead and get today's confrontation over with.

"Hello?"

"Where have you been? I've been calling you all day," Jessica greeted him.

"Busy."

"Just busy, that's it? That's all you're going to say? Uncle Harrison is pissed, and I have to deal with it, and you've just been busy?" Oh, she was good and angry. He probably shouldn't have answered.

"Yes. What's up?" His uncle had been angry at him for years; it was nothing new.

"You know he means it this time. He will cut you off completely if you don't come home. I can't keep convincing him otherwise."

"Jessica, I am a grown man of thirty. He can cut me off. I don't need it. And you don't need to get involved in it. Plus, I am home, end of story."

"Uncle Harrison thinks it's because of a woman and you'll come home with your tail between your legs l*****g your wounds soon enough. He is also threatening to cut me off if you don't come home."

"Jessica, we both have enough money to live very comfortably since Dad passed. I am home. Nothing is changing that."

"Alex, I've never seen him this angry before."

"Maybe not, but it shouldn't be surprising to anyone. I've never wanted anything to do with it, and that isn't going to change."

"He's threatening to come out there to you, Alex. He's serious."

"Let him. I really don't care. Look, I'm done with this. If you have something else to talk about, you better do it now because I am done with this conversation."

"No, Alex. I could really use you here though. What are you even doing there?"

"Starting a new chapter in my life."

"But Virginia, Alex?" He heard the deep sigh through the phone.

"Yes, you'd love it here. It's peaceful and quiet, and everyone knows everyone else. Really like stepping back in time. It's great."

"Sounds interesting. I prefer home though. You should come back."

"Give it a while. I might come for a visit."

"Hey, Alex, can I ask you a question, just between me and you?" She was quiet when she asked, as though she was nervous.

"You can ask. I'm not guaranteeing you an answer though." If he were completely honest, if she was nervous to even ask, he wasn't likely to answer. He was curious enough to hear her out though.

"Are you there for a woman?"

Damn, was it that obvious?

Alex paused before answering, trying to craft a way that both answered the question and didn't at the same time, but came up short. In the end, he decided for honesty. "Between you and me? She's not the only reason, but definitely a bonus. I love it here regardless and haven't even started trying to romance her yet."

"Romance? You are serious indeed. Women love you, Alex. I'm sure she will too."

"Except I already messed up once with her, so I have a lot of work to do."

"You can fix it, I'm sure. You always know what to say."

"Love you, sis."

"Love you too."

He hung up before Jessica could start in on him again. He was tired of the constant fighting with her and his uncle. He didn't need the money and wanted nothing to do with the company. Jessica should understand, but for some reason she had taken Harrison's side in this. He still didn't understand why.

At least Jessica was more peaceful with her nudges to get him to come home. She liked to swing conversations back to it, where his uncle began and ended with the pressure. However, despite all the pressure, he wasn't going to run the resort. It wasn't what he wanted for his life.

He was well off by anyone's standards without that place. He had grown bored of it long ago and didn't like the tourism industry, too much liability and risk and drama. It wasn't his style. He preferred action that happened in real time as opposed to waiting to see if the guest that fell while skiing was going to sue him, hard pass.

It had also felt good to talk to someone about Sam. Even though it was brief and no real information given to her, some of the weight lifted from his shoulders just by saying it out loud. He knew he had his work cut out for him if he was going to convince Sam to give them a chance.

His phone rang again, and he considered, briefly, throwing it across the room. Thankfully he checked it first. It was Nate. Nate invited him over for dinner tomorrow night, and he accepted. He had nothing else to do, and Nate could cook. It was almost Christmas, and he was missing his sister just a bit with the time of year, but not enough to go home.

He went about making a sandwich for dinner tonight and then set down to check his emails again. He had taken up emailing with Sam almost a year ago, and she had eventually written him back. It was lame, but he didn't have any other way to talk to her, and she really spoke to him in the emails. She confessed a lot more than she ever would in real life.

Sam had written him for longer than he ever thought she would without asking him who he was or wanting to meet. He couldn't understand why but didn't want to ruin the only real connection he had with her where they didn’t argue.

Since he'd messed things up between them before, the only time they'd been together in real life not argued was when Liz was in real danger and Sam had gone quiet and been extremely agreeable. It had driven him nuts despite that being what he thought he wanted. He hadn't known what to do with her and couldn't even pick a fight with her. It had been scary seeing her like that, so he had started organizing her things just to get to her.

It had worked too. She was hot when she figured out what he was doing, and she definitely talked to him then—if you can call all the yelling she did talking. It was a wonder no one had intervened with the words they had exchanged.

His goal had been to poke at her to get her to react, but it had never been to get her that mad at him. Alex had tried to apologize after the fact, but she wanted nothing to do with it. He wondered if it was just the heightened emotions of the situation and she was using him to get her frustrations out overall. Hoping so, he had opted to give her space while he moved in here and then try to talk to her again later.

Only now he was moved in and had no idea where to start. He made a mental note to stop in to the bakery tomorrow. Maybe keep it slow and causal between then at first and see where it led. If he could keep her from getting too angry at him, he'd stop by Sweet Treats every day and get something just to say hi.