Just One More Chance: Baytown Boys Series Read online

  “Let’s talk in my office, shall we?” Mitch asked.

  Grant knew that even though he and Mitch were friends from childhood, at work, Mitch was the boss. And he could tell that Mitch’s professional invitation brooked no refusal. Following him down the short hall and into the office, he plopped down heavily in the utilitarian, metal chair across from Mitch, who settled in the creaky wooden chair behind his desk.

  Glancing at the files scattered on the desk, Grant did not envy his friend’s responsibility. Even though the small force pulled their weight, it fell on Mitch’s shoulders to make sure the department was well-run. Gazing into Mitch’s face, he knew that meant not showing up for patrol with a hangover, no matter how mild.

  “I know, I know,” Grant said, his chest tight. Seeing Mitch’s raised eyebrow, Grant continued, “I drank too much last night, even though I knew I had early morning patrol. I swear Mitch, it wasn’t that bad. I’ve got a headache and confess to not feeling my best, but I’d never show up for patrol unable to perform my duties.”

  He eyed Mitch while rubbing his slight scruff, wishing once more he had done a better job shaving. Seeing Mitch’s mouth curve into a slight smile jolted him back in his seat. “What? What are you grinnin’ about?”

  Mitch laughed out loud and said, “Jesus, Grant, you’re acting so guilty, if I let you keep talking, you’d confess to God knows what!” Mitch sobered as he shook his head. “I know you’re sporting a slight hangover, but I also know you’d never put yourself or this town at risk by going out on patrol if you couldn’t do the job.”

  Slumping down further, Grant scowled at his friend. “Then what the hell did you want to talk about?”

  “How about the reason you left the engagement party early and headed to the pub in the first place?”

  Grant’s scowl deepened and he considered denying there had been a reason. One look at Mitch and he knew he could not get away with that. Sighing, he said, “It was just weird seeing her there with a date.” Jillian. Shit, why is it even hard to say her name?

  “Look, you and my cousin have danced around each other since you were kids…kind of like me and Tori.”

  Grant pinned Mitch with a stare. “I beg to differ. You fell for Tori when you were eight years old. I, on the other hand, was not in love with Jillian back then.”

  “Oh no? You didn’t tie her shoelaces together when she took a nap on the floor of the playhouse? You didn’t chase her with bugs and frogs in elementary school? You didn’t beat up Roger in middle school because he was picking on her? You didn’t—”

  Throwing his hands up in defense, Grant groaned, “Okay, okay. Jesus, I had no idea you were keeping fuckin’ score!”

  “You’re one of my best friends and she’s my cousin. Of course I was keeping an eye on you two.”

  The silence in the room settled over the pair, each lost to their own thoughts for a few minutes. Finally, Mitch said, “I know you care for her. What I don’t know is why you keep her at arm’s length? When I moved back to town and discovered Tori had moved here also, I couldn’t wait to make her mine.”

  Grant struggled for a moment, trying to find a voice to his thoughts. “Jillian and I aren’t like you and Tori.” Heaving another sigh, he confessed, “I don’t know, Mitch. I…I’m just not the right man for her.”

  “Okay,” Mitch acknowledged, gaining a quick, wide-eyed look from Grant. “Hey,” he shrugged, “I didn’t say I agreed with your assessment, but if that’s how you really feel, then why the drunk-fest when she showed up to a party with someone else?” Leaning forward, his elbows resting on the desk, Mitch continued. “You need to either let her go completely or decide you want to go for her. Either way, sitting on the fence is only hurting both of you.”

  Grant’s gaze jumped to Mitch’s pensive face. “She’s hurting?”

  Shaking his head, Mitch said, “That’s for you two to figure out. But for now, go home. Sleep and go for a run. Get the rest of the alcohol out of your system and be back here, clear eyed and ready to go tomorrow. And I’ll see you tonight at the meeting.”

  Standing, Grant knew Mitch had gone easier on him than he deserved. Walking to the door, he looked over his shoulder and nodded. “Thanks, Chief,” he called out with a wave before heading out to his jeep, the idea of a hot shower and a nap calling to him. Passing by the coffee shop once more he tried to put thoughts of the beautiful Jillian out of his mind.

  Chapter 2

  Her dark mood in contrast with her bright, tie-dyed shirt, Jillian slammed the coffee pot down harder than she meant to, causing a few patrons in her shop to look up in surprise. Forcing a smile onto her face, she called out, “Sorry, folks! Don’t know my own strength!” Hoping they bought her excuse, she inwardly cursed.

  “Do we dare ask what has you in such a snit?”

  Jillian tossed her long, blonde braid over her shoulder, recognizing the voice before turning around. Cutting her eyes to the side, she watched as her two best friends walked over to the counter.

  Katelyn MacFarlane, with her long, black hair, stood in contrast next to Tori Bradford whose reddish-blonde tresses hung down her back. For a second, Jillian was reminded of the Barbie dolls that the three used to play with when they were children. Each had one that looked like them and their dolls would mimic their friendship and adventures.

  The Baytown Boys found us playing one day and made fun of our lookalike dolls. I tossed my Barbie down onto the sand near the beach and ran off, not wanting to cry in front of the boys. Later, Grant Wilder came to my house, the discarded Barbie in his hand. As he held it out to me, he said, “I like it…it looks like you.” He scuffled his feet on my porch as I took the doll from his hand.

  “Why did you bring it back?” I asked, staring at him. Of all the Baytown Boys, he was the one with the cutest smile.

  “Like I said, it looks like you. And something that pretty shouldn’t be thrown away.”

  With that, he turned and leaped off my front porch, running down the street, leaving me standing alone with the Barbie in my hand. As I looked down at it, I wondered, “Did he just call me pretty?”

  “Earth to Jillian,” Katelyn called out, waving her hand in front of Jillian’s face. With a concerned look, she continued, “Are you all right?”

  Blinking rapidly, Jillian shook her head to clear the cobwebs. Thoughts of the little boy mixed with the man who held her heart and managed to crush it over and over again. “Yeah, just walking down memory lane, that’s all.” She re-plastered the smile on her face and said, “Y’all want something?”

  “Coffee, please,” Tori replied, eying the pastries in the showcase. “And how about a blueberry muffin.” Grinning, she added, “If you’re not still too angry at the coffee pot!”

  Katelyn laughed as Jillian rolled her eyes. Jillian’s Coffee Shop and Galleria was bustling with the early morning crowd as the scents of freshly-ground coffee beans tantalized the patrons. The murmur of conversations was muffled with coffee orders called out, the hiss from the expresso machine, and soft jazz music playing in the background.

  Within a minute, the three women headed up the polished, wooden stairs to the gallery on the second floor. Settling into chairs at a small table overlooking Main Street, they dove into the goodies and sipped the steaming coffee. The morning sun streamed through the tall windows, illuminating the pieces of artwork on the walls.

  Tori leaned back in her chair, her muffin decimated, and said, “No matter how many times I’m here, I still can’t believe how you turned this unused upstairs into such a unique space.”

  The three women cast appreciative gazes around. The old building had originally been a store in the late 1800’s and fell into disrepair over the years. The store passed through multiple owners and eventually ended up bought by Jillian’s parents. Determined to return the store to its former glory, they kept the solid wood paneling, carved wooden support poles, and the glass display cases on the sides of the long room downstairs. They turned the rest into a c
offee shop and Jillian’s mother began baking pastries to sell along with the coffee.

  Antique tables and amber sconces on the walls to soften the sunlight that came from the front gave the quaint shop its ambience. Jillian had worked in the shop as a teenager and when she came back after college her parents turned most of the business over to her. She loved running the little coffee shop and during the tourist season she was busy since they added a light lunch to the menu.

  But it was the unused upstairs that had become her joy. She restored the second floor to the same glory as the coffee shop downstairs and showcased local artists’ paintings on the dark paneled walls. She moved a few of the glass cases up as well, to exhibit pottery and other artists’ work. Coffee shop patrons could take their food upstairs and sit at the tables surrounding the area to enjoy the arts while enjoying the treats.

  At this time of day, the area was empty except for the trio of friends, leaning back in their chairs sipping their morning brew. Katelyn eyed Jillian speculatively before asking, “So, are you going to talk about last night?”

  Jillian shot Katelyn a glare before turning an apologetic gaze toward Tori. “I’m sorry. Last night was your engagement party and we should be celebrating, not talking about my pissy mood.”

  Tori leaned forward, placing her hand on Jillian’s arm. “Oh, sweetie, don’t apologize. We’ve celebrated my engagement enough and, goodness knows, we’ll all be wedding planning soon anyway. But Katelyn and I are worried about you.”

  Appreciating their concern, Jillian gifted them with a small smile. “Guys, there’s nothing new to tell. Same old, same old.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, Brogan wanted to kick Grant’s ass last night!” Katelyn said. Her brothers, Aiden and Brogan, were best friends with the other Baytown Boys, but were also protective of the girls they grew up with.

  The three women sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in thoughts of the past.

  “I wish I could let him go completely,” Jillian finally said. “It would be so much easier. But no matter how I try, something always happens.”

  “What happened last night?” Tori asked. “I know you came with one of the new teachers from the high school as your date…who, by the way, was a real cutie!” The trio laughed before Tori continued, “But the next thing I knew, Grant had you over in a corner and then stormed out with some…uh…”

  Spearing her friend with a pointed look, Jillian finished Tori’s sentence. “He stormed out with some bleached-blonde hookup. That was what you were going to say, right?”

  Both Katelyn and Tori grimaced at the same time, their expressions noticed by Jillian, who let out a huff of breath loudly before staring out the window for a long minute. Finally, she said, “Girls, you know the story. I’ve been in love with Grant for as long as I can remember. We were practically raised together…well, us and the other Baytown babies.”

  Tori said, “I remember when I was six years old and first came to visit my grandmother here and you all adopted me right away. Of course, we thought the boys had serious cooties back then!”

  “Yeah, well, not much has changed,” Jillian quipped, rolling her eyes before settling them back on Tori. “And you got your handsome prince.”

  Nodding, Tori agreed. “It took a long time, from falling for Mitch when I was six years old to over twenty years later when we finally ended up back in Baytown. But you’re right…I did get very lucky.”

  Jillian smiled at her friend, glad for her happiness. Tori had not grown up in Baytown like the others, but came every vacation and summer to spend with her grandmother who owned the Sea Glass Inn. After high school, Tori and Mitch did not see each other for almost ten years but both moved to Baytown as adults—Tori, when her grandmother passed away and left the inn to her, and Mitch, after returning from military service and a career with the FBI to become the town’s Police Chief. They had recently gotten together and last night’s engagement party had been a chance for the friends to celebrate their happiness. Many of the other Baytown Boys who left high school to join the military had also moved back to town, discovering the small hometown they longed to escape from was now calling them home. Grant was one of them.

  “So,” Katelyn broke into Jillian’s thoughts, her fingers drumming on the table. “What happened last night?”

  Jillian, gaze focused on the patterns her fingers were tracing on the tablecloth, gave a small shrug, attempting nonchalance, but knew in her heart she felt anything but indifference, as a long sigh escaped. “When Grant came back to Baytown last year after ten years of being gone, I thought we might have our chance, but as you know, he has firmly placed me in the friend-zone. The cold, frigid friend-zone. And my attempts to move back into a warmer place near his heart have been met with nothing but rebuffs. Chance after chance I gave him, but he’s pushed me away for the last time. I finally decided it was time to focus on me. My shop,” she waved her arm around toward the art covered walls, “my galleria, and just me. So, instead of going alone to the party last night, I asked Ben, the new PE teacher at the high school.”

  Pinning her friends with a determined stare, she continued. “I knew I’d be staring at Grant flirting with others all night, so I figured it was time for me to show everyone that I had moved on. The few men I’ve gone out with in the past few years weren’t real contenders for my heart. But now, I think it’s time for me to actually go on a date with someone who might be interested in me. Hell, I’m not getting any younger and it’s time to face up to the fact that Grant will never be to me what Mitch is to you, Tori.”

  “I’m so sorry, sweetie—” Tori began, but was interrupted by Katelyn.

  “That’s such bullshit! I know Grant cares for you. He’s just so stubborn and pigheaded and…and…augh! He’s wasting his chance to be happy!” Slamming her coffee cup down on the table, some of the liquid splashed over the rim. “Sorry,” Katelyn mumbled, grabbing a napkin to wipe the spill.

  Jillian could not help but laugh at Katelyn’s outburst. Her friend, normally practical to a fault, had hoped that Grant and Jillian would one day get together. She sobered as she thought of Katelyn’s own broken heart. As kids, Katelyn had won the affections of one of the Baytown Boys—Philip Bayles. The two had been inseparable, even withstanding the teasing by the other boys. But Philip, like the others, had joined the military after high school, and was unable to keep his promise to come back to Katelyn to marry. Killed in action, he was now buried in the Baytown cemetery. It had been almost six years, but Katelyn had dated rarely since then, despite the insistence of her friends that Philip would not want her to be alone.

  Shrugging once more, Jillian said, “It was time to move on, Katelyn. Maybe for both of us.”

  “I take it Grant wasn’t happy to see you with someone else?” Tori prodded.

  “Well, it’s not like I haven’t had to watch him with others ever since he came back! He’s flirted with just about everyone and while I have no idea how many he has actually slept with, he’s certainly earned a reputation!” Jillian replied, her chin trembling before she shook her head slightly, steeling her resolve. “But I show up with someone else, and proceed to watch Grant drink too much and get angrier as he does. Ben went to talk to some of his friends and Grant took the opportunity to get me alone. He ragged on me about going out with some young jock, which pissed me off. Then accused me of being a tease.”

  At that statement, both Katelyn and Tori’s eyes bugged wide. “What the hell?” Katelyn sputtered.

  “Oh, he was letting the alcohol talk,” Jillian said, her heart squeezing at the memory.

  “Maybe the alcohol was letting him speak the truth, in a way,” Tori surmised. “Maybe it was his convoluted way of letting you know he’s still interested in you and not as just a friend.”

  “Well, it was a dumbass way to do it,” Katelyn huffed.

  Nodding, Jillian agreed, “Yep, that’s what I thought. Anyway, Ben came back over, Grant shoved into his shoulder on his way
past us, and then grabbed one of the young, new teachers that came to the party. Jesus, she must have only been about twenty-one years old and had a god-awful giggle that set my teeth on edge. I think she works at the high school with Ben…he seemed to know her.”

  Katelyn raised her eyebrow in surprise. “With that high-pitched giggle and that rack, she’ll have the teenage boys’ attention!”

  “Yeah, well, she had Grant’s attention last night,” Jillian admitted, her voice now low as her shoulders drooped with the familiar ache in her heart.

  Katelyn and Tori shared a glance over Jillian’s bowed head, both sighing in unison. “Maybe he didn’t—”

  “Doesn’t really matter if he took her home and banged her silly or not, does it?” Jillian interrupted, eyes glaring out the window, staring at nothing. “The fact is, he could have either told me that he liked me and wanted to be with me, or he could have left me alone to be with my date. But instead, he confused me then stalked out with a pick-up right in front of me. If that’s not a royal kiss-off, I don’t know what is!” Her voice took on the sadness in her heart as she added, “I just don’t think I have any more chances left in me to give.” Sitting up straighter, her face pinched for a few seconds, she blew out a breath, puffing her wispy bangs upward. “But, ladies, I’ll tell you what I’ve decided.”

  Capturing the attention of the other two, she said with conviction, “I’m done. Done with holding out hope that one day Grant will suddenly decided he does want me. Done with sitting around waiting for him. Done with allowing him to ruin my fun. And done with us talking about him!” Her voice now steady, she hoped she would be able to follow through with her declaration. “Instead, I want to tell you what I’ve got going on up here!”

  Katelyn and Tori’s gazes jumped to the direction Jillian was pointing. Before they could ask, Jillian jumped up from her chair and moved to a small desk in the corner. Grabbing a file from the top, she brought it back to the table and opened it up for the others to see.