Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series)

by Melanie Shawn

  Stepping into his office without even greeting him, Nikki moved the pile of papers off of the green leather chair that was located in front of his desk and sat carefully at the edge of it. Her eyes lifted to meet his.

  “I don’t know how to say this,” she began before taking in a deep breath and placing her hands flat on her thighs.

  Here we go.

  “Guess who I ran into at Sue Ann’s this morning,” she said slowly.

  Sooo,—not pregnant.

  How had Jake forgotten, even for the thirty seconds that it had taken Nikki to walk in and sit down, that Tessa was back?

  “Tessa,” Jake said flatly before turning his attention back to his screen. He hadn’t wanted to talk to Eric about it last night and he sure as hell didn’t want to talk to his sister, who had practically idolized his ex-girlfriend, about it now.

  “You knew?!” Nikki exclaimed.

  Jake nodded. He hoped that she would take the hint that this was not a subject he felt like exploring and leave.

  “Who told you she was here?” His sister almost sounded mad that someone had beaten her to the punch. And that’s exactly what Tessa’s return felt like. A hard punch to his solar plexus, gut, and balls.

  “I saw her last night.” Jake knew that Nikki would find out anyway. Half the town was probably talking about it.

  “You did?!”

  Jake nodded.

  “Where? When? What happened?” Nikki shot the questions at him in rapid-fire succession.

  Jake had always known when to pick his battles. And fighting Nikki on this by saying that he “didn’t want to talk about it” or giving her half-assed answers was not going to fly. When his sister wanted information, she got it. She was relentless. Plain and simple.

  The fastest way to get this conversation over and done with was to give her what she wanted.

  “JT’s Roadhouse. Last night. Nothing happened,” Jake stated quickly.

  “Nothing happened?” Nikki narrowed her eyes at him and tilted her head.

  Jake shook his head no.

  “Did you talk to her?”

  “Briefly.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “Adeline. Tessa’s small bladder. Her need to wear a jacket.” Jake knew Nikki might think that he was just giving her the highlights but that actually was the sum of their entire conversation.

  Nikki crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Are you trying to piss me off?”

  “No, I’m trying to work.”

  “Jake, Tessa’s here. In Hope Falls. What are you doing just sitting here like it’s any other day?”

  “Because it is.”

  “You don’t want to go talk to her?”

  “And say what, Nikki?” Jake looked at his sister. It might have sounded like a rhetorical question but it hadn’t been. He had no idea what to say to her.

  “I don’t know!” Nikki’s hands flew up in the air. “Find out how she’s been. Ask her how long she’s planning on staying. Tell her you never stopped loving her.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Jake never talked about Tessa. No one knew how he did or didn’t feel about her.

  “I know you still love her,” Nikki said with a cocky expression on her face. It was the same expression she’d had when she was a kid and tried to blackmail him to keep her quiet when she figured out that he’d been sneaking out.

  How ironic that, at the time, he’d been sneaking out to meet Tessa.

  “You don’t know shit,” Jake snapped as his jaw tightened. He wasn’t trying to be a dick to his little sister but he was not going to discuss this.

  A wide smile slowly spread across her face. “Yes, I do. I wasn’t sure until right now. I had a suspicion since that night at JT’s when I was upset about Mike and you told me that if I walked away from him, I didn’t deserve him. I thought it sounded a tad personal and the only girl I knew you ever really cared about was Tessa. And she left. I don’t know what happened between you guys, but I do know that you would not be this upset if you didn’t still love her.”

  “Why don’t you go practice your psychology on someone else? I’m not upset. I’m just trying to work.” Jake tried to keep his tone as even as possible. Frustration and anger were pulsing through him and he didn’t want to take it out on Nikki. He knew she wasn’t trying to be a pain in the ass. She just couldn’t help herself.

  “So if you’re not upset, then you won’t mind if I invite her to Sunday dinner?” Nikki said with a challenging twinkle in her eye. “I’m sure Mom would love to catch up with her. You know how much she adored Tessa.”

  Okay, maybe she was trying to be a pain in the ass.

  Jake shrugged nonchalantly. “Whatever floats your boat.”

  “Good,” Nikki said with a smirk.

  Jake could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she formulated some sort of plan. Well, she could plot and scheme until the cows came home. Nothing was going to change how he felt.

  Nikki stood to leave, but just as she reached the door, she turned around and asked, “So what happened with Adie?”

  Jake knew how much Nikki had loved Tessa’s grandma. She used to spend hours upon hours at her house. They would knit, color, and bake. Everything a grandma does. He hated being the one to break the news to her. “She passed away.”

  “I know. Tessa told me. She said it was about nine months ago,” Nikki spoke quietly, and Jake could tell she was getting choked up. “But do you know what happened?”

  “No, I didn’t ask.” Jake knew he should have and guilt pressed on his chest.

  “I didn’t either.” Nikki shook her head and wiped her eyes. “I was just so surprised to see her and then finding that out was just a lot to process.”

  Tell me about it, Jake thought. His sister was preaching to the choir. Jake didn’t respond. He knew anything he said could send his sister off on a tangent, and he just wanted to be alone. Because, like she’d so accurately pointed out, Tessa’s return was a lot to process.

  He looked back at his computer and began to type. Instead of taking the hint and leaving, his sister walked around the desk and threw her arms around his neck.

  “I love you, Bubbas,” she said, using the name she had called him when she was little because she couldn’t pronounce Jake.

  He could feel the emotion radiating off of her. Nikki didn’t really show her emotional side that often. In fact, this behavior was very un-Nikki-like. But he knew that she’d always had a hard time with death. They’d been lucky enough not to lose too many people who were close to them, but when they were young and would lose a pet, Nikki took it harder than the rest of the family.

  He wrapped one arm tightly around her. “I love you too, Nik.”

  As she straightened, she looked right in his eyes with steely determination. “I know. And I also know you still love Tessa. So man up, grow a pair, and go talk to her.”

  And there she was. Nikki was back.

  *

  “Thirty thousand dollars,” Tessa repeated slowly, trying to slow her heart that was about to beat out of her chest.

  Henry moved his large cowboy hat and flipped through a few more papers. “That’s what it looks like. The property tax has not been paid for quite a while. The interest and penalties accrued. Then there is also the mortgage that is past due. Since you were given the home in the will, unfortunately you are now responsible for all of it.”

  Tessa felt like the walls of the quaint café were closing in on her. She couldn’t believe what Henry was telling her. After applying for a loan to open her studio and finding out that her credit score was so low, she’d gone to see a lawyer to get to the bottom of it and found out about the house. He hadn’t given her the details, just that Henry Walker was overseeing her Gran’s estate. That was two days ago, and now here she sat.

  “I’m so sorry about all this, darlin’. I had no idea Adeline had even passed until I got a call from that city slicker lawyer of yours. When the taxes started
coming back unpaid, I tried to find your grandma, but I kept hittin’ a brick wall. The last known address I had was the retirement home in Mission Beach. The letters were returned, and when I contacted them, they said they had no forwarding address for her.”

  Tessa heard the words that were coming out of Henry’s mouth. But the only thing she could focus on was that number. She had built a pretty significant nest egg when she’d been on staff as a photojournalist for Time magazine. But it was gone now.

  Over the six years that she had to stop traveling to take care of Grandma Adie full time, it had dwindled. Weddings, bar mitzvahs, and quinceañeras didn’t pay quite as much as being a Time magazine photographer on assignment in war-torn countries. But she had still been doing okay until she had been forced to put her grandma in a nursing home the last four years of her life. That large monthly expense had steadily eaten up the rest of her savings.

  “So what are my options as far as selling the house?”

  “Well, it is your property. So you can do with it what you wish. I can call Lauren and have her meet you there this afternoon so you can take a look at the place. I’m sure she can give you the low-down as far as its value and such.”

  “Lauren Harrison?” For some reason, Tessa had thought that she was a TV host now. She was sure that she remembered seeing the pretty blond on a commercial or a billboard or something. Or maybe she’d just imagined it. It was quite possible that, over the past few years, she’d begun having stress hallucinations.

  “Yep. Well Harrison soon-to-be Stevens. She and Ben should be tying the knot any day now.”

  “Ben?” Tessa didn’t remember a ‘Ben’ growing up, but Henry was referring to him as if she would know who he was.

  “Her co-host on Home Sweet Vacation Home, Ben Stevens,” Henry explained.

  “Oh, okay,” Tessa said, somewhat relieved that she wasn’t going crazy after all. “Yeah. If you could have her meet me there at her earliest convenience, that would be great.”

  “Will do, sweet pea. Now you call if you need anything. I’m sorry again for your loss. That Adeline was one fine woman,” Henry said as he stood and picked up his Stetson. Before he left, he paused and said, “It sure is good to see you home. This town looks good on you.”

  Tessa smiled and politely said, “Thanks.”

  She didn’t have the heart to tell him that this wasn’t her home. Sure, at one time she’d thought that it would be. That she would make a life here. With Jake. But that all changed. Now, there was no way she could live here.

  “More coffee, hon.?” Sue Ann asked cheerily as she shuffled over to the table.

  “No, I’m good. I think four cups in two hours is my limit.”

  “Everything okay?” Worry creased Sue Ann’s brow.

  No. Everything was not okay. But there was no way Tessa was going to burden anyone with her issues. She would handle it alone. Just like everything else in her life.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine.” Tessa tried to sound as upbeat as possible. Which was difficult since she was pretty sure she was going throw up.

  “Well, you know me. I don’t like to pry in people’s business. And I tried to give you and Henry a little privacy.” Sue Ann set the pot down as she slipped into the chair Henry had just vacated.

  “I appreciate that. Thank you,” Tessa smiled at her.

  “But it’s a small place and I did overhear a few things. Adeline was your blood, but she was also our family, and so are you.” Sue Ann reached across the table and patted Tessa’s hand supportively.

  Tessa nodded, not trusting herself to speak. After being away for so many years, she wasn’t used to this outpouring of emotion, and it was a little—a lot!—overwhelming.

  Sue Ann gave Tessa’s hand one more pat before she nodded decisively. Then she stood and grabbed her coffee pot. “Now, honey, if you need anything, anything at all, you just let me know.”

  Since Tessa didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask if Sue Ann had thirty thousand dollars she could borrow, she asked instead, “Actually, do you know where I could find Jake?”

  Tessa could pretend that she just needed to return his jacket, but the truth was that she felt like her world had just been turned upside down. And even though she knew it was a bad idea, she couldn’t help herself. She just wanted to look into his eyes, even if it was only for a moment.

  Sue Ann’s eyes sparked with interest and her mouth twitched, but she quickly covered it with her response to Tessa’s question. “Well now, if he’s not at one of his houses—”

  “One of his houses?” Tessa repeated. How many houses did he own?

  “Well he has the condo and the house,” Sue Ann explained, “but I would bet he’s down at the fire station. Since he got promoted to chief, he’s been there a lot.”

  Tessa shook her head. “So Eric is the Police Chief and Jake is the Fire Chief?”

  A bright smile lifted on Sue Ann’s face. “Yep. Those Maguire boys are good men. Rosalie and Sean did a good job with those boys.”

  “How are Rosalie and Sean?” Tessa asked as she stood and placed a twenty down on the table. She’d always loved Jake’s parents.

  Growing up, her house, no matter where it was, was always quiet. Her dad liked it that way and her mom did everything she could to keep her dad happy. When her parents moved to Germany her senior year of high school, she’d been so excited to be allowed to stay with her Gran. And her Grandma Adie’s house had been much happier. There was always music playing and they had game nights where they would stay up late and play Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. But as much as she loved it, it was still just the two of them.

  When she’d go over to Jake’s, there was always life, activity, and noise. She remembered that Rosalie had always been in the kitchen. Usually Amy had been somewhere reading. Nikki had always had two or three friends over. And Sean had always been fixing things, either in the garage, the yard, or the house—working on what he called his “honey-do” list.

  “Oh they’re doing pretty good. Sean’s retired and they just celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary not too long back. You should stop by and see them. I know they’d love that.” Sue Ann winked at her before heading back into the kitchen.

  Tessa thought about her suggestion as she headed upstairs to grab Jake’s coat. Would his parents be happy to see her? Did they know what happened? Had Jake told them?

  Well, there was one way to find out. She had to ask Jake.

  Chapter Six

  ‡

  Tessa stood in front of an unmarked door in the darkened hall at the back of the firehouse. Her entire body was trembling, and for some reason she instinctively knew that it was a very distinct possibility that she was on the verge of hyperventilating. She wasn’t sure how she knew that since she’d never experienced that before, but she did.

  Why had she thought it would be a good idea to come see Jake? It wasn’t. That much was clear to her now. What could she possibly gain by this little drop-by?

  She wasn’t even dressed for the occasion. She just had on jeans, Uggs, and a blue thermal. Not exactly va-va-voom. Not that she needed to be. It shouldn’t matter what Jake thought about how she looked. He wasn’t her boyfriend anymore. And he had a girlfriend.

  Her fingers flexed at that thought, and she realized she was gripping his jacket so hard she was scared she was going to ruin it. She needed to simultaneously get a grip and relax her grip. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she took a step back from the door and tried to assess her options.

  Biting down on her bottom lip, she shifted the weight of her feet and listed the pros and cons of just setting the jacket down in front of his door or leaving it with one of the guys who had pointed her in this direction and then hightailing it out of there. Yes, Jake would know she had stopped by, but he would just think it was to return his jacket. Sure, maybe the guys she’d spoken to when she had come in would think her behavior was a little odd. But she could just say that he hadn’t answered the door. It was ju
st a white lie. No harm, no foul.

  Decision made. When she stepped forward to set the jacket down, something caught Tessa’s eye from her peripheral vision.

  “Sometimes he falls asleep in there. Just knock louder,” the young blond-haired guy she thought had introduced himself as Chris when she’d arrived at the fire station fifteen or so minutes earlier appeared beside her. Then, like something out of a bad dream, before she could stop him, he hit his knuckles against the door three times. Hard.

  “What?” she heard Jake’s voice on the other side of the wooden barrier yell and her stomach dropped to the floor. He did not sound happy.

  Yep. Definitely time to abort the mission.

  She pivoted on her heels to turn and leave, because at this point she didn’t care what anyone thought—she just wanted to get the heck out of there—when Mr. Blond-Super-Helper-Man aka Chris opened the door and announced, “You have a visitor.” Then he turned and walked down the hall, leaving her standing there. Alone.

  The door swung open before she could escape. Her heart skipped so many beats it felt like it was playing hopscotch in her chest.

  Jake sat behind his desk, typing at his computer. He was wearing a plain white short-sleeved t-shirt that was just snug enough that you could see the definition in his biceps and shoulders. Tingles spread from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Tessa’s mouth went dry. She didn’t move.

  After several moments of silence, Jake glanced up with a distracted-slash-irritated expression on his face. Until his eyes met hers. Then his stare hardened and his face went oddly…blank.

  Oh boy, not good. She really shouldn’t have come.

  Words started pouring out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Um, here’s your jacket. Thanks for letting me borrow it. I was going to get it dry cleaned since it got it wet”—Tess let out a forced laugh—“but…then I thought…that was silly. I mean, it’s meant to be out in the rain. But if you want I can—”