True Blue - A Second Chance Romance (Complete)

Chapter 4

Rushing down the hallway, Emily searched her bag for her car keys. Whenever things got a little overwhelming nature was her refuge. There was a park down by the water, a favourite bench under an old oak tree. It reminded her of the lake house, a place she always felt calm.

Thoughts of fresh air and space to breathe were knocked out of her mind when Emily slammed into a hard surface. As her brain tried to catch up to her body, for a moment she stared, frozen in place, at the buttons of a freshly pressed white shirt. Her nose was pressed into a man's chest.

"There you are."

Emily blew out the breath stuck in her throat and convinced her heart to start beating again. Looking up she found familiar caramel eyes complimented by long thick eyelashes daring to make any girl jealous.

"Lance." She sighed. "I didn't see you there."

"Obviously." Lance chuckled good naturedly. "Good thing you don't wear lipstick or Beth would accuse me of cheating on her."

Emily smiled at her brother in law. If there was one thing she was sure of in this world it was this man's complete loyalty to her sister. Lance may have been her friend first, but Emily had watched with delight as he fell in love with Beth. Despite being the youngest of the three Montgomery sisters, Beth had married first and now they had a young boy. Fatherhood agreed with Lance, just as much as marriage did.

"Sorry." Emily tried to remove the wrinkles she saw in his shirt. "I was just on my way out. I...I need a cappuccino."

Lance brushed off her hand and taking her by the shoulders, spun her around the other way. "Fancy coffee is going to have to wait. My father is looking for you. There's a problem with the Anderson brief."

Emily groaned. She had spent half the evening working on the paperwork last night. When she couldn't see straight anymore, she left the last few minor things for her assistant Tristan to tidy up this morning. Tristan unfortunately was not the best with details and must have missed something.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can fix it. You always do." Lance patted her on the back like she was 'one of the boys'. "And I'll personally make you a hot and somewhat passable coffee. Just as soon as I'm finished with this witness interview."

"Witness?"

"Yeah, from the new case Dad gave us this morning." Dad to Lance was Mr. Simpson to her. Managing Partner in the firm and the man who had hired her. Emily was not naive enough to think she got the job on her superb skills alone. She knew, like many of the people here, she was hired because her sister was married to the boss's son.

Unlike Lance, who didn't care what people in the office thought of why he was here, Emily went above and beyond to prove she was worthy of the position. It often meant working long hours of overtime, like last night making sure everything was buttoned up and shipshape. Her sisters complained she worked too hard and needed to get out of the office and get a life.

But besides truly enjoying the work, it wasn't like she was missing out on much of a life anyhow. At twenty-six the only people demanding her attention were her slightly out of touch father and a self-obsessed older sister. With those options awaiting her, work was a very viable alternative.

"You got the files, right?" asked Lance, looking at her as if she was a puzzle to be solved.

Emily forced her head to bob up and down. Aside from the client herself, there were three witnesses in the case. Lance could be interviewing anyone.

"He's waiting in the lobby now," Lance looked at his watch. "Army fellow is probably ticked I'm late for my eighteen hour appointment." He air-quoted the 18:00 and rolled his eyes.

Emily's stomach lurched. Army. It had to be Finn. Emily turned to try to catch a glimpse of the couches at the now opposite end of the hall. Absentmindedly she reprimanded Lance. "You mean fourteen hundred, eighteen hundred is six o'clock. Maybe I should help with the interview?"

"Nice try Montgomery. You need to clean up your assistant's mess. I'll handle this meet and greet. There will be plenty of time for you to interrogate the General later. I know you women all love a man in uniform." Lance winked at her.

Emily forced herself to laugh at his inference, drawing upon her years of experience at hiding her inner turmoil with a calm exterior. If he only knew how much she already loved this particular man in uniform.

But Lance was blissfully ignorant of her relationship with Finn. Emily hadn't met Lance until her first year at law school, four years after Finn had disappeared from her life and long after most people's memories of him had faded.

Standing out from a crowd, Lance made a good first impression. They had instantly liked each other, bonding over a horrible professor who seemed to live in the dark ages. Lance was easy going and had a way of making her laugh off her worries over the pressures of the class. He was also very straightforward and genuine. After only a few classes he asked her out on a date.

It had been easy to say yes to Lance. He had taken her to a romantic Italian restaurant just off campus and they had laughed and talked the night away. Everything was easy and comfortable with him. Just like his personality and contrary to his frat boy looks, sandy blonde hair and movie star smile. At the end of the evening, when Lance leaned in, Emily let him kiss her. Part of her had wanted the kiss to be amazing, wanted her heart to be able to move on from Finn.

But it wasn't amazing. In fact, it felt a bit like kissing her brother. If she had a brother. Luckily Lance felt it as well and they both laughed it off, instantly deciding to just be friends. They were inseparable after that, supporting each other through the gruelling schedule of law school. When Emily invited him home with her for a weekend, Lance met Beth and the rest was history. Emily Montgomery had successfully made a match again.

It had been the same for Thomas. Theirs had also been an instant connection. Unlike Lance though, Thomas was deep and thoughtful. Emily was drawn to his intelligence. His strikingly good looks were simply a bonus. Maybe if Emily hadn't been nursing a broken heart over Finn, she could have had a chance with Thomas. She was just too closed off back then. Too incapable of letting anyone else near her heart. When Thomas met her roommate Sophie, it was game over for both of them.

Finn always blocked any chance at romance for Emily. Everyone she met was held up to his standard. They all fell short.

"He's a Captain not a General yet. I should at least see..." Emily shook her head. "I mean meet him. Since he's here." Was that movement down the hall? Emily tried to peer past Lance but he shifted in time with her, blocking her view.

"Like I said, I got this. Go do what you do best."

"And what's that exactly?"

Lance flashed his perfect teeth at her in a big grin. "Make everything ok."