by Karen Pokras
Tessa nodded. She hoped Holly realized just how lucky she was. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He knows what the deal is … dinner, that’s all. If he tries that fast hands crap again, I’ll really show him what shut him down means.”
Her sister sighed with a worried look. “Just try to have a good time, okay?”
Chapter 13
“You look beautiful.” Ava put another safety pin into the back of the dress Tessa had borrowed for the gallery event that evening. She hadn’t worn a dress this fancy since Holly’s wedding three years ago. “It’s too bad that doctor can’t see you in this. Maybe you can wear it again on your date tomorrow night.”
“I doubt we’re going somewhere requiring me to wear anything this swanky … but I do look hot,” she agreed, admiring her reflection in the mirror. Deep purple always was a good color on her, complementing her dark brown hair and blue eyes, and accentuating her flawless porcelain skin.
While twisting her body to get a better look would probably be the most lady-like thing to do in this situation, it was just not going to cut it. Instead, she stood on her toes and twirled—twice. It was the only proper way to fully appreciate the ensemble. She was so sick of wearing business attire every day. Her wardrobe was so pathetic: conservative suits and ill-fitting comfort clothes. It was no wonder she felt so down on herself most of the time. She twirled around a third time.
“Watch those sudden moves. You don’t want these pins to pop.” Ava watched her sister in the mirror and smiled. “You do look hot, though. Just how did you manage to give birth and still keep your hips so tiny? I should hate you, you know.”
Turning around, Tessa looked at her sister. Ava looked fabulous in a Kelly green velvet dress. Her long, auburn hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her hazel eyes sparkled with flecks of green that matched the gorgeous fabric she wore. Of course, Ava would look spectacular in a potato sack.
“What are you talking about? You’re stunning. You always have been.” It’s true. Ava was always known as the gorgeous one when referring to the Haines sisters. She was tall and elegant—a natural beauty—while Tessa was often referred to as the cutest of the three sisters. A bubbly, cheerleader type, she had a slender frame, long brown hair with perfect natural waves, a little button nose, bright blue eyes, and an engaging smile that could light up a room—when she smiled that was. Holly, the only blonde in the family, had more of a wholesome girl next-door look to her with warm brown eyes and freckles.
“It feels odd to wear something without stains on it,” Ava teased, examining the front of her dress as if she were double-checking. “I’m just glad I never got rid of these clothes from my old life in the art world.”
Tessa watched her sister’s expression, examining it for sadness or regret. “Do you miss it? The excitement of having a career in something you were once so passionate about?”
“Sometimes, but I’m doing something else I’m really passionate about right now, and it’s even more fulfilling.”
“Mom!” Jenna yelled from downstairs as if on cue. “Logan just spilled all of his juice on his new pajamas!”
Shaking her head, she let out a breathy sigh. “At least most of the time it is. I’m thinking I may need to add in more nights like tonight, though, so I get to do both.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Haines!” the babysitter yelled. “I’ve got it!”
“Come on, we’d better get going before the babysitter changes her mind and bolts. The art world awaits!”
~~~
Walking through the front doors of the gallery, Tessa was instantly captivated. Unlike her older sister, she’d never been to an event like this before. In fact, she was embarrassed to admit she’d never even been to an art gallery. Opening nights at the university and community theaters where she’d worked were really the only openings she was used to. Those types of events were completely different. Dressing up meant wearing your good jeans. Pizza and beer were the norm, with maybe a bottle of cheap champagne to spray over the cast and crew afterwards to celebrate. Here, people were in formal gowns and tuxedos, sipping what she assumed was not so cheap champagne. There was no pizza to be found; instead, fancy appetizers were passed around on silver trays by men and women wearing white gloves. At theater openings there were bear hugs and slaps on the back. Here there were fake air kisses on cheeks and formal handshakes. Guests tonight acted as if they were in a library rather than at a party, talking in hushed tones as they mulled about looking at paintings tagged with numbers priced with many, many zeros after the dollar signs. Did Ava really enjoy hanging out with these pretentious snobs?
“You’re not here to buy something, are you?” Tessa asked, unable to take her eyes off the prices. She knew Max made a decent salary, but she didn’t think he made that much. One of these paintings could pay a year’s worth of her rent, including utilities, and possibly gas and groceries as well.
Ava laughed. “No, I’ve just always loved this artist, Claudette Rayne. She held several exhibits at the gallery I ran in California. I haven’t seen her in years. There she is. Come, let me introduce you.”
Barely able to keep her balance on her heels, Tessa accidentally bumped into a woman as her sister grabbed her hand and hurried her across the room.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, tugging away from Ava in order to stop to apologize.
“It’s no problem,” the woman responded, smiling kindly.
“Here’s your drink, darl—”
That voice. Watching the man as he approached the woman, Tessa was unable to speak. She shut her eyes for a split second, thinking she had to be seeing things, and opened them back up. Nope, there was no mistake. Was he about to call this woman darling?
“Tessa?” Ava asked, now standing by her side. “Are you okay?”
Tessa slowly took her eyes off the man and looked at her sister, forcing the corners of her mouth into a tiny smile.
“Ava,” she began, “this is Dr. Hall. He’s the doctor who treated Sophie in the hospital recently when she had the flu. Remember?” She brought her eyes back to him and squinted, trying to get a read on him, but his expression remained blank. So he was out with someone. Big deal. It’s not like they were a couple or anything. “Dr. Hall, it’s nice to see you again. This is my sister, Ava.”
“Oh,” Ava murmured, looking at Tessa rather than the doctor. She waited for Tessa to nod to her—a sign to follow her lead. “It’s … nice to meet you, Dr. Hall. Thank you for taking such good care of my niece.”
“I’m sorry,” Tessa said, addressing the woman and trying to maintain a friendly tone to her voice, “how rude of me. I’m Tessa Haines.” She held out her hand.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, seemingly oblivious to the tension churning amongst them. “I’m Jeannie Hall, Dr. Hall’s wife.”
Tessa kept her smile, trying not to show any reaction as her brain screamed, Wife? Now it was a big deal. What the hell? For a split second, she thought about causing a scene, but decided he really wasn’t worth it. She felt sorry for the woman, actually. That asshole probably hit on every decent looking woman that walked through the E.R., and she couldn’t help wondering how many of them fell for his tricks. She was proud of herself for not sleeping with him that night. Of course, it also proved Holly wasn’t right at all. It wasn’t fear she had felt, it was intuition, and she should have listened to it the first time.
“Well, then. It’s nice to meet you, Jeannie. And I’m sorry again for bumping into you. Have fun tonight,” she said in a remarkably calm voice. She moved her eyes slowly back over to Brandon for a brief, yet strong and deliberate, glare. She wouldn’t be looking at or speaking to him ever again.
Chapter 14
“More.”
“I think you’ve had enough, Tessa.” Ava pulled the pitcher out of her hand mid-pour, placing it down on the table.
After the run in with Dr. Sleazy at the gallery, Ava said a quick hello to the artist she came to see, made a round of even quicker good-byes, and led
Tessa straight out the door and over to Holly’s house. They were still dressed in their formal attire as they sat around her kitchen table for an impromptu girls’ night gathering.
“What are you talking about?” Tessa asked, taking it back and filling her glass. She gulped down the contents in one swoop. “Holly makes a kickass vanilla milkshake, and I’m starving. You made us leave before I could eat any of that fancy grub.” Licking the white ice cream mustache off the top of her lips, she added, “Got any snacks to go with this?”
“It is a shame we left so soon,” Ava agreed. “The food at those things are always one of the highlights. I just figured you’d want to get out of there.”
Tessa shrugged. “Maybe, although it’s probably best we left when we did. There was a chance Dr. Gigolo might have met Ms. Fist if we stayed any longer.” She turned abruptly to face her other sister. “You see, Holly? This is why I didn’t want to call him. ‘Call him, Tessa. He’s just respecting your wishes to go slow. Face your fears. Don’t you want a father figure for Sophie?’” Licking the inside of her glass, she tried to get every last drop of ice cream out. “You know,” she continued, “I should have gone with my gut. I knew something was off with him. My gut never lies. My gut told me Sophie and I were just fine living comfortably on our own.”
“You mean living locked up in the fortress you built around you that no one can penetrate,” Holly corrected, filling a bowl with pretzels.
“At least one good thing came out of this night,” Tessa told her sisters. “The good ‘ole doc got to see me in this gorgeous dress after all. Isn’t that what you said before we left, Ava? Too bad you can’t wear that on your date with him tomorrow? Looks like your wish came true … sort of. It wasn’t a date, and it’s not tomorrow night, but he did get to see me looking mighty fine.” She picked her now empty glass and began twirling it around to catch her reflection. Yup, Cinderella went to the ball all right, except before her coach could turn into a pumpkin, her prince turned into a rat.
Ava pursed her lips together and took the cup away from her before it broke. “It’s not entirely what I intended, but … well …” A tiny laugh escaped her lips. “You did walk away looking damn good that’s for sure. I still can’t believe he’s married. I don’t think any of us saw that coming. How could we?”
“Seriously,” Holly said, sitting back down as she placed the snacks on the table. “I admit it, I was way off base with this guy. I mean … shit, married? Major asshole.”
“Serious major asshole,” Ben interjected, walking in the room. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I know it’s your sacred girl time and all. I just couldn’t help but overhear some of that. You ladies are being kind of loud. No offense.” Putting an arm around Tessa’s shoulders, he leaned in close. “Don’t forget what I told you the other day. You deserve the best, and this guy is far from it. He’s the sludge they scrape off of the machine parts down at the plant at the end of the day. You want me to send some of my guys over to the hospital parking lot after his shift ends to mess with him?”
“Are you a thug leader now?” Holly asked, smirking.
He stood back up and swiped a handful of pretzels out of the bowl before hopping up on the counter. “No, I just don’t like seeing Tessa get screwed over. She’s like my little sister.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass,” Tessa noted. “Besides, he’s just going to keep doing this whether you mess up his pretty face or not. He’ll wait for the next single, unsuspecting girl to walk through his exam room, act like he gives a damn about her kid, and make his move. You think he cares about me, or the next girl, or the one after that? He’s only interested in one thing.”
“What a scumbag,” Ava said, shaking her head.
“That’s Dr. Scumbag,” Holly added, snickering.
“Anyway,” her oldest sister continued, “you handled yourself amazingly; with dignity and class … and daggers.” She looked up at Ben. “You should have seen the look she gave him. It was priceless. Right in front of his wife, too. Very subtle, but strong. I would have been a blubbering mess if it were me.” She reached across the table for Tessa’s hands and gave them a squeeze.
“Guys like that aren’t worth crying over,” Tessa stated, smiling at her sister. “In fact, the older I get, the more I realize most guys aren’t worth crying over at all. I suppose that will be the telltale sign for me. If he’s worth my tears, he’s a keeper. Now there’s a depressing personal ad. Single, white female looking for man who can make me cry.”
“You’ve got it all wrong, Tessa,” Ben said, jumping down to walk over to the table. “Take it from a male perspective. Then I’m leaving the room. I know I’m not supposed to be in here, but just listen. Not all guys are like that jerk. Really. Most of us are only insecure buffoons. We don’t know squat about women. We don’t know how to act, or even talk to a woman when we meet someone we like, and nine times out of ten, we’re going to make you cry. But most of the time, it’s not on purpose. Usually, it’s because we’re stupid creatures who don’t know any better. All we want is a chance to prove we’re actually decent humans who have big hearts.”
“See that?” Tessa said, feeling her eyes well up. “He’s making me cry. Can we clone him, Holly?”
“Nope,” she replied, wrapping her arms around her husband’s waist, “but don’t worry. I have a really good feeling that one day you’ll find your own stupid buffoon. Now you,” she said, pushing her husband away with a smile, “go. You’ve taken up enough of our time. Don’t you have some sort of manly sports thing to watch on television?”
“Yes, and while I’m at it,” he stated, grabbing a beer out of the refrigerator, “I think I’ll see if I can burp out the alphabet during the commercials.” Ben mouthed the word buffoon as he slowly walked backward out of the room.
“He must keep you laughing all day long,” Ava told her, chuckling.
Holly nodded. “He’s a good guy. So is Max, and somewhere out there is the perfect guy for Tessa.”
“Agreed,” Ava stated. “Who wouldn’t want you? And Sophie. You both are amazing. You just have to be patient, and you have to be willing to give someone a chance.” She pointed to her heart as a symbol of where Tessa kept her walls.
Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. Her sisters meant well, she knew that, but she was getting tired of the same lecture over and over … and over.
“By the way, drowning yourself in milk shakes won’t make him appear at your doorstep.”
And over.
“So what will make him appear?” Tessa asked. “Where exactly does one go to find oneself a buffoon?”
Chapter 15
Tessa watched through her office window as the black car with darkened windows drove into the parking lot of Abbott and Associates.
For the second week in a row, Mr. Abbott had left Tessa alone in the office to work on her own while he was off on client visits. Although he seemed pleased when he periodically checked in, she was only cautiously optimistic his attitude was changing and continued to keep her eyes and ears open for another position. With his Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality, she never knew what to expect and hated the feeling of being on edge—wondering when his good mood would suddenly burst into a fit of rage.
Working steadily, she made her way through her to-do list, completing nearly all of the work that had previously piled up. It was exactly what she needed to take her mind off her disappointing weekend. After leaving Holly’s on Friday night, she received several texts from Brandon apologizing. At first she thought he might actually have a conscience, although she didn’t feel sorry enough for the guy to respond to any of his pleas. On Saturday morning he asked if they were still on for dinner that evening. Pig. She responded with a simple Go to hell—then blocked his number. That evening, she took Sophie and went to Ava’s, just in case he couldn’t take the not so subtle hint and decided to show up anyway for their date. Hopefully, Sophie wouldn’t need the services of the emergency room again anytime soon—or
ever.
She watched as a man got out of the mysterious dark car. He was young, about her age, maybe slightly older, and carried a briefcase that looked like it had seen better days. He was a bit ragged looking; dressed casually, in a simple, somewhat wrinkled, oxford button down shirt and jeans that had frayed at the bottom. His hair was dark, almost black, and was a mess. At first glance, he looked like he had just rolled out of bed or was living out of his car.
She quickly opened up Mr. Abbott’s calendar on her computer. Other than the client visits outside of the office, he didn’t have any meetings scheduled. Nobody ever came to Abbott and Associates without an appointment … well, besides the postman, package delivery person, and occasional computer guy, but she recognized all of them. It made Tessa nervous being in the office alone, which was a combination of her mother’s neurosis that had worn off on her and Ava’s attack several years ago. She now wished she’d locked the doors and had a baseball ball bat. At the very least she needed to start carrying some pepper spray.
The front doors opened, and she cautiously rose from her chair. Like a snake approaching her prey, she slowly made her way down the hall toward the reception area, her body hugging the wall while she moved closer to the entrance. Keeping her cell phone in her hands, Tessa had 9-1-1 ready and waiting on the display screen. All she had to do was hit send.
“Hello?” the man’s voice called out.
“Can I help you?” Tessa’s shaky voice asked as she rounded the corner.
“Yes. Thank you. Is Mr. Abbott here?”
She noticed him looking at the oversized framed portrait of Steven Abbott that hung in the small lobby of their office … another sign of her boss’ inflated ego. Under the photo was a printed canvas with his bio: graduated from the local university with honors over thirty years ago, passed the CPA exam the year he graduated, a list of large firms he worked for, awards, blah, blah, blah. Any common criminal could come in here and ask for Mr. Abbott, it didn’t prove a thing about this guy’s identity or credibility.