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She narrowed her eyes. “What kind of changes?”
“Things like scaling back on international jobs and spending more time in the States. At one time, he even mentioned focusing more on consulting gigs. That’s why I called him last night. Besides, it was originally his case, so we knew his intel could help resolve the issue. And it did.”
As Holly tried to wrap her head around Alex’s words, shame, guilt, and regret battled within her. Had Chace been considering a career change? Even before returning to Hickory Ridge to help with Emme and Wren? And if so, why hadn’t he mentioned it to her?
Maybe because you never gave him a chance, Genius.
“He did it for me,” Holly murmured as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks.
“You asked him to leave SSI?”
Holly sank to the floor in front of the washer and dryer, tears blurring her vision and burning the back of her throat. Is this what Chace thought she wanted? For him to give up his career entirely?
Because it wasn’t. All she wanted was for him not to put himself in the line of danger willingly. To choose safer options. Not quit his damn job.
But perhaps Chace considered resigning the ultimate path of least resistance. If he didn’t work for SSI, there were no assignments, dangerous or otherwise, for him to accept or reject. Or no Alex breathing down his neck.
“Holly?”
She shook herself out of her thoughts. “No,” she answered his question. “At least that’s not what I meant.”
Or did she?
Oh God, what had she done? “Last night before you called, we’d been talking about our relationship. How we still felt about each other. What broke us up and kept us apart. If we wanted a second chance. Then, as well as now, the sticking point always came back to one thing—the dangers of his job. He tried to assure me that working with SSI wasn’t like the military. That he could refuse any job offered to him. So, I asked if he could refuseyou,since I know firsthand how tenacious you can be. He told me he would do whatever it took for us to be together. Thirty seconds later, you called.”
“And you didn’t allow him to explain anything,” Alex correctly presumed.
“No. I told him he probably shouldn’t keep his boss waiting.”
She jumped at the loud thump reverberating through the phone and realized Alex had slammed his fist into something hard. Probably his desk, since she had no doubt he was at work. “Women!”
Years of fury surfaced in a flash. “Don’t even start that, Alex.”
“Oh, here we go.”
Holly could picture him leaning as far back in his cushy leather executive chair as possible. Plowing his fingers through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. And she didn’t give a flip. “Shut up, Alex. Caring about the well-being of those we love is not a character flaw. And even though it’s hard for you to believe, some people even appreciate the concern.”
Like Chace, who was willing to give up a career he enjoyed to prove he was a man of his word—that having her in his life was far more important to him than anything else in the world.
“Looks like you got exactly what you wanted, then.”
“This isn’t what I wanted, Alex.” Her battered and broken heart seized. “I never asked Chace to quit. I only wanted him to make safer choices.”
“Teaching isn’t exactly the safest profession in the world anymore either, you know.”
Hadn’t Chace alluded to the same thing? “C’mon, Alex. That’s like comparing apples to oranges.”
“Is it? Do you actually believe victims of school shootings and their families would agree with that? Granted, school was never intended to be a combat zone, but it's become one, like a host of other places once deemed safe. Because in this day and age, life is dangerous, Holly. And though most people don’t wake up in the morning and consciously put themselves in a targeted situation, it doesn’t mean someone else won’t. Because life happens. So, when people hire us for protection, at least we have the training and skillsets to carry out the job more safely and successfully than most.”
On sibling principle alone, it pained Holly to admit Alex was right. “Point taken.” But it didn’t mean she had to like it.
“Just offering a little perspective.”
Along with a few other well-meaning people in her life lately.
“Chace loves you, Holly.”
Her heart flipped inside her chest. “I know.”
