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Second Chance Love

By Pamela S. Meyers

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Sydney Knight picked up the note from her boss and smiled. Harry Brownlee’s ASAPs were never as urgent as they sounded. He probably had another unglamorous job for her. She’d intended to ask for a meeting that morning anyway, and now she wouldn’t have to.
It was time for her late father’s law partner to see her as more than Jim Knight’s little girl—more like the thirty-year-old attorney she had become. Wasn’t three years of grunt work long enough? She picked up the case file she’d grabbed yesterday before Harry’d had a chance to turn it down. This one had her name written all over it.
She made the short trip through the Brownlee and Associates’ law offices and smiled at Harry’s redheaded administrative assistant as she approached the woman’s desk.
“Go on in, Sydney. He’s waiting for you.”
“Thanks, Ginger.” Sydney knocked softly on Harry’s door, opened it, and stepped inside. She shut the door and moved farther into the large office before addressing her boss. “I know you aren’t in favor of us taking on too many pro-bono cases, but, honestly, Harry, I have to do this one. It’s a special-needs child and—”
“Right now, I have a special need,” he interrupted. “My nephew needs some common sense knocked into his head.” Harry pushed a brown file folder across his massive desk in the direction of one of the visitor chairs that faced him.
Uh-oh. This could mean trouble. Her boss had only one nephew that she knew of. Sydney crossed the spacious office and settled into the chair in front of the folder. As she reached for it, a black Stetson sitting on the other side of the desk caught her eye. She dropped her hand into her lap. Nephew and Stetson meant only one thing: Jace McGowan. “Okay, Harry, what’s going on?”
He faced the wall of windows behind his chair. “Beautiful day. Not even a whitecap on the lake; lots of people already down there looking at the Bean. Never could figure out why that sculpture gets so much attention.” He spun around and looked her in the eyes. “You were so helpful the last time Jace was in Chicago, taking him around the city. I don’t get it. He has a college degree and does a great job at riding bulls, running the family ranch down there in Texas, but he lacks—”
Behind her, the door clicked open. She turned. Her gaze fell on cowboy boots the color of polished mahogany, then lifted to take in the long jeans-clad legs and broad shoulders straining at the seams of a crisp, red-plaid shirt. The five-o’clock shadow was new but appealing.
Dark blue eyes peered at her as the right corner of his mouth lifted into the heart-stopping grin she remembered so well. “Syd, good to see you again.” He looked past her shoulder and squinted with one eye at his uncle. “Uncle Harry didn’t say to expect you here when I finished my phone call.” He closed the space between them and sat in the matching visitor chair to Sydney’s left.
She willed her racing heart to slow and hoped she hadn’t lost her voice with the magnetic pull of his eyes. “He didn’t tell me to expect you either. Except, the hat gave you away.” She faced her boss, who wore a self-satisfied smirk. Hadn’t Harry gotten the message that she and his drop-dead gorgeous nephew were mismatched? Jace’s reputation as a player was all she needed to put him on her most-unwanted list. Not to mention that he’d have to have a faith like hers. She’d learned her lesson after she’d eased up on that checklist she used to keep, when her former fiancé hadn’t met the faith requirement and bailed on what was to be their wedding day.
Harry stroked his impeccably trimmed beard, a mannerism he often used while scrambling for the right words. “How long ago was it that you two took a tour of the city together? Two years? Three?”
Two, but who’s counting.
Her boss looked from Jace to her then back to his nephew. “Like I mentioned to you earlier, Jace, I need to be in court. I didn’t have time to tell Sydney about your contract issues. She knows her stuff, and I’m sure she can give you solid advice about the dispute. I’ve made reservations at Lou Malnati’s over on State Street. Your favorite.”
“There’s no need for that, Uncle Harry.” Jace squirmed in his seat.
Sydney relaxed. Good. He didn’t want to spend his lunch hour with her any more than she did with him. They could resolve the whole thing right there. That was much better than sharing a meal—too much like a date.
“But I’ll gladly accept a Malnati’s deep dish, and being able to catch up with Syd is a bonus.” He glanced at Sydney and winked.
Heat warmed her cheeks, and she stared at her lap.
“They have a gluten-free veggie pizza.”
“I know Malnati’s menu, Harry.” Sydney picked up the brown folder from where it lay on the desk. “What contract dispute?”
“Jace can explain it over lunch.”
Leaving the file she’d brought with her on her lap, she flipped open the file from the desk, then scanned the contract and Harry’s highlighted paragraphs that referred to penalties of early cancellation. Frisky’s Restaurant chain was not a strong example of moral restraint on Jace’s part. If she weren’t already bogged down with other tedious work, she’d volunteer her time to educate women about being used as sex objects. She shut the folder. Whatever Jace’s issue was, she’d have it settled by the time he finished his deep dish. “It’s only a short walk. We may as well beat the lunch crowd.” Sydney stood, and the case file she’d brought with her tumbled from her lap. Leave it to the cowboy to distract her, just as he had last time.
She bent and reached for the folder and the papers that peeked out. Jace’s large hand covered hers as his gaze collided with her startled one.
Shivers tingled up her arm.
“I was fixin’ get that for you, Sydney.”
Her breath hitched and she nodded.
“You’ll have to remove your hand.”
Maybe she could stop at the drugstore on the way for earplugs to block the Texas accent that made everything he said sound like a beautiful sonnet. “Right.” She lifted her hand and stood, certain the blush she’d felt earlier had crept down her neck. Acting like a lovesick schoolgirl over a man she’d spent only twelve hours with two years ago was not professional. She needed to get a grip.
Jace handed her the file and his features hardened. “I’m happy to have lunch with you, Syd, but I’m not going to change my mind. I’m done with Frisky’s.”
She gathered the file she’d brought from her office along with Jace’s. “I’ll get my purse. You can fill me in as we walk.”


Jace opened the door to the street and Sydney marched past him. Her flowery scent lifted on the breeze and assaulted his senses. The same perfume that had nearly intoxicated him two years ago.
I’m in trouble.
If he’d known his uncle would involve Sydney in what he thought was a family discussion, he’d have declined Mom’s suggestion to visit his uncle and said he had to be in Wisconsin with his bulls.
He followed her out onto the sidewalk, and she looked at him. “It’s about an eight-block walk. Is that okay with you? I try to walk everywhere I can, for the exercise.”
He glanced at her red shoes. The heels had to be at least four inches high. “Sounds good to me.”
Letting Syd lead the way down the crowded sidewalk, he planted himself next to her, with Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park to his left. He jammed his hands into his jeans pockets and looked off past the park toward the lake. The last time they were together, they’d talked nonstop. Today he felt like a schoolboy on his first date. Someone had to break the ice. “So how have you been, the past two years?”
She glanced his direction and picked up her pace. “Fine. Working hard, and that’s about it. What about you?”
“Can’t complain. Ridin’ bulls, raisin’ bulls, and tendin’ the ranch. You’re looking good. Life must be treating you well despite the daily grind.”
“When you have a job you love, it never seems like work.”
He frowned and stared at the concrete as he walked. Nice deflect. The woman probably had guys asking her out every night of the week. Or maybe by now she had a significant other. “Looks to me like you’re still being assigned “trench work,” as you called your job last time we were together. I figured by now you’d be trying those cases you were aspiring to oversee, not assigned the boss’s rebellious nephew for a counseling session.”
She huffed a laugh. “I’m happy to help out your uncle since his schedule jammed. I’m working on cases—doing discovery. The courtroom assignments should come very soon.”
He resisted asking what “discovery” was. Enough talk about the law. “And what occupies your time on weekends?”
She crossed her arms, causing her briefcase to swing on its shoulder strap. Her full red lips pressed together.
He got the message, and a disappointing one at that. The attraction she’d felt for him two years ago no longer existed. “Sorry if I ask too many questions. Just wanted to make conversation.”
They reached an intersection as a taxi squealed around the corner. Sydney faced him, and her large brown eyes, framed by the longest lashes he’d ever seen, searched his face. “I’m sorry, Jace. This is to be a business lunch, and if we can discuss your contract issues as we walk, we’ll be on our separate ways all the sooner. I’m only trying to keep our agreement. Or have you forgotten?”
How could he forget agreeing that despite falling hard for each other that long-ago day, they weren’t a good fit? Not with her legal work in Chicago and him being tied up with the family ranch. “I haven’t forgotten, but it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other’s company. I’m not interested in anything beyond that and appeasing Uncle Harry, who, I’m sure, is trying to appease my mom.” Did he really mean those words? He may have felt that way two years ago, but not now. Especially the way his feelings for her so suddenly returned the moment he saw her sitting in Uncle Harry’s office. He needed to show her as soon as possible that he was a changed man.
A shadow of disappointment appeared in her eyes. She glanced across the street. “Let’s hurry and make this light before it goes red. The restaurant is only a couple more blocks away.” Syd raised her chin and crossed the street with a determined expression.
If she walked any faster, Jace would have to jog to keep up. The only sounds filling his ears the rest of the walk were honking horns and the clacking of her red high heels hitting the pavement. So much for the business conversation she wanted to start. By the time they arrived at Malnati’s, two streets away, Jace wondered if they shouldn’t ditch the pizza, grab lunch from the food truck parked across the way, and head to the park for a chat—a much better place for conversation than inside the noisy restaurant. A place that would give him an opportunity to share about his changed way of life.
“Jace, wait here a sec.”
Sydney scurried across the street and approached the food truck, which was decorated with a huge picture of a sub sandwich. A minute later she emerged from the far side of the truck with a white sack and a paper cup in hand. She scurried back across the street to a man seated on the sidewalk in front of a Seven-Eleven window next door to Malnati’s.
The man’s scruffy beard, worn workpants, and tattered Chicago Cubs T-shirt contrasted with the business attire of the people rushing past him. He stopped playing his harmonica and offered a toothless grin as Syd handed him the bag and drink. “Enjoy your lunch. God bless you.”
A gap-toothed grin split his face. “No, God bless you, lady.”
Jace’s heart swelled as Sydney approached him. “That was nice of you. As close as I was to him, I never noticed the guy, even with his playing the harmonica.”
“Please, no accolades. You’d have done the same if you’d seen him.”
“I’m not sure about that. I don’t run into homeless people much on the ranch, and I don’t get into downtown San Antonio often except to see my attorney.” They stepped up to the restaurant’s entrance and Jace pulled the door open. The aroma of garlic and oregano teased his nose, setting off a rumble in his stomach. He’d order an extra-large deep dish and have the leftovers boxed up. If the homeless man had moved on, he’d watch for someone else to give it to. God had changed him a lot in the past year, and he still had a ways to go.

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