Page 52 of Second Chances

To the left of the back door would be the mudroom. He planned to build a bench with cubbies like Olivia had suggested. To the right of the back door sat a massive space for the new pantry. The door for that sat directly off the kitchen area.

His mind was still whirling, so he decided to start work on fixing the stairs. He’d picked up the wood planks that would replace each step and had set up his saw on the patio.

When he stepped out to start cutting the pieces, he took a moment to watch the sun sink, changing the colors of the sky.

He flipped on the porch light and got to work cutting what he would need.

When he quit for the night, he had the first set of stairs completed. It was easy work after he found the pattern for the first few steps.

He fell face-first into bed and didn’t move until his phone woke him up shortly after seven the next morning.

Seeing Ethan’s number, he answered quickly.

“Morning,” Ethan said cheerfully.

“Morning.” He sat up and ran his hand over his face. “What’s up?”

“I thought you should know that they picked up Brock Coutts last night outside of Boston for a DUI,” Ethan said.

“Outside of Boston? What happened with Georgia?” he asked.

“Looks like he was making his way back up there. His parole says he wasn’t allowed to leave the state of Maine, so the moment he stepped foot out of the state, he was going to be picked up anyway. I figured you’d want to know that it sounds like he won’t be in your way.”

“Thanks,” he said and glanced over at his clock. “I’ll pass the news along to Olivia.”

“On another topic, I’ve made some headway as to who might be after you and your men. I’m following a lead out of Houston,” Ethan said. “I got word that there was a hit on the rental van that had been used in AJ Collin’s kidnapping and Jamie Anderson’s. It appears the van was found at the bottom of a ravine…”

“Get anything off of it?” he asked. He may not have been awake before, but this bit of news had him fully awake now.

“I’ll let you know when we find anything out and send it on to your local PD,” Ethan added. “It’s a good lead,” Ethan said before hanging up.

It was a good lead and now that Olivia’s ex was locked up again, he should feel more relaxed. But as he headed downstairs for breakfast, something was eating at him that he couldn’t explain.

Chapter 15

The rumor about Brock was going around town and since Olivia worked in a very popular place, most everyone she knew visited her at work over the next few days. Most of them, she knew, were just checking in on her. Others wanted updates on any gossip she may have.

Since most people who walked through the doors also purchased something, she didn’t mind. All the foot traffic made her days go by much faster.

The rumor about what Eric had done to her car had also made its rounds. Especially since she was driving around town in her new Subaru.

Simona had been thrilled about the new car, and Olivia believed she’d kept the news about what had happened to her old car away from her daughter.

Thankfully, she had been able to sell her old car to the man who had hauled it away for more than she’d expected. She figured that if she was able to add one more workday a month, she’d pay the car off a full year earlier than expected.

She hated being in debt. Thankfully, she wasn’t the kind of person to rack up credit card debt, so her house and car were all she owed on.

Brock had always applied for every credit card he could. Then, within months of getting the cards, he’d max them out. When they’d been married, most of her paychecks had gone to paying them each month.

She’d lucked out during the divorce since all of the credit cards had been in his name and not hers. She’d also been lucky when the judge had decided to make the debt Brock’s responsibility due to the circumstances and Brock had been stuck with the payments instead of her. She’d been happy to hand over all of Brock’s debts to Bethany since she knew he wouldn’t be paying any of it himself.

Shortly after Brock and Bethany had separated, she’d found out that he’d learned that lesson of having things in his name and, during their short relationship, had maxed out several of Bethany’s credit cards. Word was floating around that Bethany had to file bankruptcy shortly after she’d dumped Brock.

It was hard to stop herself from comparing Todd to Brock. During empty moments in her workday, those comparisons deepened into every aspect of her knowledge of both men.

The physical differences between the men were obvious—Brock was shorter and bulkier. Todd was tall, lean, and full of sexy muscles the likes of which Olivia had never gotten to enjoy before.

Todd seemed far more organized than Brock had ever been in the years she’d known him.