One More Chance (Lake Placid Series Book 9) Read online

  One More Chance

  Natalie Ann

  Copyright 2021 Natalie Ann

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Also by Natalie Ann

  About the Author

  Blurb

  Prologue

  1. Tipping Point

  2. Tumultuous Relationship

  3. Totally Worth It

  4. My Pride

  5. Embarrassing Thing

  6. Temporary

  7. Looking For Her

  8. Definition Of A Date

  9. Made You Leave

  10. Steal My Cookies

  11. Made It Very Clear

  12. Not Here Long

  13. Holding A Grudge

  14. Getting Good

  15. Life On Hold

  16. A Change For Them

  17. My Stance

  18. Evading The Question

  19. Head In The Sand

  20. A Good Cause

  21. Understand Each Other

  22. Spend It With You

  23. All Remember Everyone

  24. Life On Hold

  25. The Sweetest Thing

  26. Seeing A Doctor

  27. Pull Away

  28. Remember Everything

  29. Right In Front Of Them

  30. Made It Through

  31. Her Baby Daddy

  32. Heart Was Heavy

  33. Make Things Work

  34. Far From Perfect

  35. She Was Wrong

  36. Got The Best Of Him

  37. Land On Her Butt

  38. Bunch of Obstacles

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Also by Natalie Ann

  The Road Series-See where it all started!!

  Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery

  Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption

  Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality

  Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason

  The All Series

  William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love

  Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing

  Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me

  Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way

  Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want

  Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love

  Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You

  Landon Barber and Kristen Reid- All Of Us

  The Lake Placid Series

  Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance

  Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance

  Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance

  Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance

  Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance

  Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance

  Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance

  Logan Taylor and Kennedy Miles- It’s My Chance

  Justin Cambridge and Taryn Miles – One More Chance

  The Fierce Five Series

  Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas

  Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody

  Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden

  Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason

  Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade

  Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella

  Fierce Family

  Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam

  Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies - Bryce

  Drake Fierce and Kara Winslow – Drake

  Noah Fierce and Paige Parker - Noah

  Wyatt Fierce and Adriana Lopez – Wyatt

  Jade Fierce and Brock James – Jade

  Ryder Fierce and Marissa McMillan – Ryder

  Fierce Matchmaking

  Devin Andrews and Hope Hall- Devin

  Love Collection

  Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love

  Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love

  Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love

  Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love

  Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love

  Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love

  Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love

  Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love

  Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love

  Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love

  Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love

  Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison - Forever Love

  Blake Wilson and Gemma Anderson – Simply Love

  Brendan St. Nicholas and Holly Lane – Gifts of Love

  Paradise Place

  Josh Turner and Ruby Gentile – Cupid’s Quest

  Harris Walker and Kaelyn Butler – Change Up

  Philip Aire and Blair McKay- Starting Over

  Nathan Randal and Brina Shepard – Eternal

  Ryan Butler and Shannon Wilder – Falling Into Love

  Brian Dawson and Robin Masters – Mistletoe Magic

  Caden Finley and Sarah Walker- Believe In Me

  Amore Island

  Family Bonds- Hunter and Kayla

  Family Bonds- Drew and Amanda

  Family Bonds – Mac and Sidney

  Family Bonds- Emily & Crew

  Family Bonds- Ava & Seth

  About the Author

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  Blurb

  Taryn Miles decided to give Lake Placid one more chance after leaving home after college. Greener pastures were in her future. Or so she thought. What should have been a better life turned out to not be much different than what she had.

  Dr. Justin Cambridge and his father’s relationship changed the moment he said he had no interest in taking over the family golf resort in little old Lake Placid. What he wanted was an exciting career in emergency medicine in a big city. But when his father falls ill, he decides to bury the hatchet and return home to help care for him and maybe mend the relationship before it’s too late. Staying there long term wasn’t an option—only he should know by now that saying about the best laid plans...

  Prologue

  Taryn Miles was rubbing her hands together. She wasn’t sure if it was anticipation, excitement, or fear. Probably a combination of them all.

  Here she was ready to tell her family she was moving to Florida a few short months after graduating from college.

  She hadn’t been able to find a job and it was driving her insane. It shouldn’t be this hard, but it’s not like many jobs were flowing around her unless it was in tourism and she was going for accounting. Boring, just like everyone said she was.

  But she’d gone to Tampa with a few friends for two weeks and got back to town three days ago. She’d had so much fun there, more than she’d ever had he
re. She’d looked at her life and realized it was pretty quiet and dull and maybe it was time for a change. An adventure of sorts.

  She was young yet. Now or never, she’d been telling herself.

  She squared her shoulders and marched out of her bedroom that she’d shared with her sister, Kennedy, growing up. Kennedy was living with friends in an apartment in town and working as a massage therapist. Kennedy had always known what she wanted and had no problem lining up a job when she was ready. She’d own her own place someday because Kennedy said she would and she always followed through.

  Her brother, Trevor, was home for another week and then would be going back to God only knows where in the Army where he was a Ranger. At twenty-two years old, Taryn really didn’t want to live home with her father, the chief of police, and her mother who was a nurse.

  Being the baby of the group, she always had them hovering over her more than the others. It was time to move onto something better. Something more exciting.

  Anything other than Lake Placid where everyone knew and questioned her.

  She saw her family was relaxing out back on the deck, and decided to join them. A Sunday dinner like she’d had so much growing up.

  “Are you ready to tell us what is going on?” her mother asked. She should have known there was no hiding this, so she just decided to jump right in.

  “I got a job.”

  “You did?” her father said. “That’s great. I know you’ve been dying to get out there to work, but you’re going to be working your whole life.”

  “I know. I just hate sitting around doing nothing. It’s driving me crazy.”

  “Why sit around when there is a ton to do here,” Kennedy said. “But you don’t care to be outdoors that much and never did.”

  “It’s not that,” she said. “I’m just not so much into nature and hikes or hunting. You like that stuff. I don’t mind swimming and being on the lake, but there is only so much I can do of that too.” She’d always found it calming to sit on the dock and stare at the lake.

  “If you want to meet a guy you’ve got to get out of the house,” Kennedy said, winking.

  That was another problem here. Slim pickings for men. Not that she dated much, but she wanted to. Most guys in this area had issues dating the chief of police’s daughter.

  “Leave your sister alone,” Trevor said. “If she wants to date that’s fine, but he has to pass my test.”

  She narrowed her eyes at Trevor. “No, thank you. It’s bad enough being the daughter of the chief of police. I don’t tell many my brother is in the Army.” And very few he was an elite Ranger. And almost no one but family knew he was a sniper.

  “So where did you get a job?” her mother asked.

  Here goes nothing. “Tampa.”

  “There’s a company called Tampa around here?” her father asked, with an odd look. He’d never think she’d leave, she knew that.

  “No. In Tampa,” she said. There was dead silence. “One night I was just looking online when we were in the hotel and I decided to apply for kicks and giggles. I never expected to get called in for an interview the next day. Then a second one after that. They called me on my last day and offered me the job.”

  “You’re moving to Florida?” Kennedy asked her with a big grin on her face.

  “Yes. What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing. Good for you. It’s no secret you don’t like being here. I guess I just didn’t think you’d do this. It’s kind of sudden.”

  Her mother had tears in her eyes. “It is sudden. Are you sure you’ve decided?”

  “You’re not going to try to talk me out of it?” she asked, shocked.

  “You’ve always been pretty independent and determined once you set your mind on something,” her mom said. “I’m not sure there is much I can say if this is what you want. Nor do I want you to have regrets if you don’t go, even if you’re my baby and it’d kill me to watch you drive away.”

  She didn’t think they’d take this so well. But she looked at her father and saw he was struggling. She was a bit of a Daddy’s girl. “When do you start?”

  “In three weeks.”

  “Where are you going to live?” her mother asked. “Or did you find a place already?”

  “I want to know that it’s safe,” her father said. “I want to know the name of the place to check out myself.”

  She expected as much and wouldn’t fight them on it. “I don’t have my own place yet. Jami’s cousin that we were visiting offered to let me stay with her until I got settled and found a place. She’s in a two-bedroom apartment and said she could use the money.”

  Her parents were looking at each other. “How much do you know about this person? What’s her name again?”

  “Ellen, and you’ve known Jami my whole life. You know her parents. You like Jami and her parents. Ellen is nice. She’s a year older and been on her own about six months. She’s making ends meet but would like some breathing room. It’d be cheaper for me to just split the rent with her too now.”

  “Tell us about this job,” Kennedy said.

  She was happy Kennedy was changing the subject for the moment. “It’s a staff accountant at a law office. The pay is really good. It might be more than I would have made here and the cost of living isn’t as high there either.”

  Her mother started to cry and came forward to hug her. “I know there is no talking you out of something when your mind is set on it, but we’ll support you and help you get set up. If you want, your father and I can help move you.”

  She nodded her head. “Thank you. I’d appreciate that. I don’t have much and just figured I’d take a few days to drive my car down there.”

  “Your car isn’t in that great of shape,” her father said. “We’ll help you get set up like your mother said, but let me look the car over first.”

  “Thanks, guys,” she said, going to her father and hugging him too. “This means the world to me.”

  “Just remember,” her mother said. “You can always come home with no questions asked.”

  She nodded again and wiped at her tears. She knew that but had no plans on returning. She was getting out of here and couldn’t wait.

  1

  Tipping Point

  Six years later

  “I see you’re all settled in.”

  Taryn turned her head to see Kennedy standing at the front door of the apartment. She hadn’t even heard it open because the music was blaring while she baked.

  “I am. I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here.”

  “I was going to rent it out anyway,” Kennedy said. Her sister owned the spa on the first floor of the building and had been living in the newly renovated apartment above for a few years before she met her husband, Logan Taylor.

  Logan had been their older brother Trevor’s best friend and a fellow Army Ranger. He’d been living in Manhattan and working as a detective for the NYPD until he was shot and came here to recover. Little did anyone know her older sister and brother’s best friend had had the hots for each other for years.

  They started a romance while he recovered, he’d left the force, and as a shock to everyone, revealed he was a multi-millionaire and purchased an adventure park last fall as the start of his new career. Or as he said, “His new adventure.”

  He had a house on the lake. Kennedy and Logan had married just two weeks ago and they returned from the honeymoon in Hawaii and here was Kennedy standing in the doorway of her old apartment while Taryn was getting a feel for her new kitchen.

  “I know. But finding a place isn’t easy and I appreciate getting a prime location for such a cheap price.”

  Kennedy laughed. “I don’t need the money, but I know you won’t stay here for free either. What are you making?”

  “A few sample cakes. I plan on going to two places today with my business card, then I’ll go into the office later on. You’re here early. You don’t open for two more hours.”

  “Right, but I wanted to com
e see if you were settled. You moved everything while we were gone.”

  She’d come home for her sister’s bridal shower months ago and realized that it was time to come back for another shot. One more chance maybe.

  The life she had in Tampa wasn’t what she thought it’d be. She was in a dead-end job and was still single. The men there weren’t like what she was used to here. In some ways that was good, in some ways bad.

  Though she thought it was slim pickings in Lake Placid, there were so many in Tampa that she seemed to attract that were not her type. She wasn’t sure what she wanted in life and if she was at a tipping point, might as well do it around family.

  Her parents had moved to Florida about an hour away from her a few years ago during their retirement. They were happy she was coming home, but content to stay there for now, talking about coming back for the summer though, with their first grandchild on the way this winter.

  “I wasn’t going to wait for you to return to move me in,” Taryn said, laughing. “I hired a moving company to pack all my stuff up and drive it here. Trevor came over and helped me move things around once the drivers brought it up the stairs.”