“Him and me.”
Stu emerged from under the sink and checked the water again before beginning to clean up the mess of his scattered tools. “Did you say you sent out resumes already?”
“Yes. I figured it might take a while, so why wait?”
Stu squinted at her, irritated. “You figured your old uncle was such a push-over that if some hospital wanted to interview you and offer you a job in another state you’d get an easy out.” He shook his head. “Nope. That wasn’t our agreement when I bailed you out the last time.”
“What?” Secretly Tess was hopeful that if something happened with her resumes she could get out of town faster. And since Stu rarely rejected her plans, she never gave the alternative any mind. “You wouldn’t…”
Stu laughed and shook his head. “Maybe I wouldn’t but do you think for a second Harrison Flynn would be OK with you leaving town before he’s been paid?”
“Why do I care what he thinks? He can’t do anything if I leave!”
“Maybe not. But trust me, there’s satisfaction I can’t begin to explain in proving them all wrong. Especially him.” Stu grunted as he grabbed another wrench from the floor and set it back in his toolbox. “It’s called the higher road and you’re doing great. Giving up now would undermine all the progress you’ve made.”
Tears burned Tess’s eyes. She swallowed hard against them. She was tired, lonely, and angry. This line of thinking wasn’t doing her any good.
Stu wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close against him. “I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “And for the record, I think you should stick with Josh. He might be exactly what you need to get you out of this funk and convince you that you aren’t the same girl anymore.”
Tess gulped as 2 Corinthians 5:17 popped into her mind. In an effort to try to make it real again, she said softly, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. “
“And you’re doing that,” he said. “I hope you believe it.”
Tess wished she could. She’d believed it when she was with Josh but now, back home, it might have been a dream. “I need to get to work,” she muttered. “I can’t be late again or Derek will harass me–or worse, fire me.”
“Before you go, call Josh,” Stu said.
Tess closed the toolbox and lifted it as she followed her uncle from the apartment and out to his truck. “What for?” She’d spent nearly an hour the night before talking to him, and while it was wonderful, she’d sensed there was something he wanted to tell her but was holding back. It could only mean that he was reconsidering his intentions, and of course, she could hardly blame him.
“What for? For fun, for a smile,” he said. “So, he can tell you how wonderful you are and you can giggle like a high school girl.” Stu shuddered, making Tess smile as he continued. “I don’t want to think what you two talk about. Tell him your plans for the bike this year.” He tossed some supplies into the back of his truck. “Go on. You got an hour.” He opened the door to his truck and glanced back at her. “I’ll stop by the diner around six. Make sure you got a Reuben sandwich ready for me.”
Tess nodded and went into her apartment. She glanced at her phone and sighed, not wanting to need Jed but realizing she truly did.
16
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4
“Hey, Tornado. Miss me?” Josh asked, pleased that despite their long conversation the previous night, Tess was calling again.
“Ha. Ha.” Something in her voice told Josh she wasn’t calling for fun.
He closed the door to his office, against the prying ears of his students and the secretary. “What’s wrong?” he asked. The long pause that followed told him that despite the miles between them he’d managed a bulls-eye. “Tess?” He heard a sniff and what sounded like Tess blowing her nose. “Hey…” Josh said gently. “Can I help?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not even sure why I’m calling.”
“Maybe because you like me?” Josh teased.
Tess laughed weakly. “Nope.” She paused. “Ok, maybe a little.”
“Good. That’s how much I like you too.”
Tess exhaled, indicating her defeat. “I’m burned out. I’ve been working my tail off for the last few weeks and I guess I realized how hopeless this all is.”
Josh sat at his desk, accepting her point and yet confused at the same time. “What’s hopeless?”
“You and me. Getting out of town. Convincing anyone I’m different,” she said. “I guess I called to tell you that we should probably stop calling each other. I don’t want to drag you down. You need to focus on your job and I have a lot of debt to work on. I can’t even be a good, fake girlfriend in another state.”
Against his better judgment, Josh laughed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to laugh but…well, I won’t stop calling you.”
“You will if I change my number.”
“Tess.”
“You think I’m kidding?”
Josh sighed, wishing they could talk in person. “Talking to you is the highlight of my day. I love it. You will win and I’ll be there cheering you on, you hear me?”
She sniffed.
Josh imagined her nodding as she wiped her nose. “Don’t give up,” he whispered. “I’m on your side. I always pick a winner.”
Tess groaned. “No, you don’t. You used to be a Brown’s fan.”
Josh laughed until his sides hurt. “It was one summer. And I’m reformed. I promise. I’ve been a Pittsburgh’s fan for years.”
“OK. I guess I can still be your fake girlfriend.”
The sound of her light chuckling filled Josh with pride. He’d done that. He’d made Tess smile. “That’s my favorite girl,” he said.
“I…”
“You OK?” Josh asked gently.
“If I’m really your girl, Jed…I think I’ll be fine.”
Josh smiled. “Good,” he said. “Because you are. Listen, there’s something I want to ask you.” Josh leaned back in his chair as he waited what seemed like an eternity.
“Yeah?” she finally asked, her voice shaky. “What is it?”
“Well, I was thinking about what you said about everyone in town thinking you hadn’t changed, or at least not believing in you and I wondered if you might think about…I don’t know. Addressing that in a public way. Maybe if you talked to your pastor about being baptized. Maybe they’d accept you, and believe you’re serious.”
Tess didn’t speak for several moments.
Josh wondered if she’d heard him. “Tess?” he asked quietly. “What do you think?”
“I think you’ve been talking to Uncle Stu,” she snapped.
Josh laughed. “No, I don’t make a practice of talking to your uncle about you,” he said. “Why? Did he mention it?”
“Maybe.” Her voice held bitter tone.
Josh tried not to let that discourage him. He plunged on. “You always said he was smart,” he said gently.
“Even smart men make mistakes.”
“Hey, it’s just an idea. But maybe you should consider it. It might take something like that, something dramatic, for the naysayers to believe you mean it.”
“You don’t get it, Jed.”
Josh glanced at the clock, aware that he had a meeting in less than twenty minutes. He didn’t care. “Tell me. I want to be sympathetic. But baptism is a public confession of your faith. You aren’t ashamed of your relationship with Christ, are you?”
“Of course not. It has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the judgmental people in the congregation.” She paused. “I sneak into the back of the service alone—or if I’m lucky with Morgan—maybe get out before I’m forced to talk to anyone…” her voice drift
ed off as she laughed wryly. “I can’t even get anyone outside my family to shake my hand during the greeting time.”
Josh’s hopes sank. “Just because it won’t be easy doesn’t mean it won’t be worth it. Look, Tornado, I’m happy to answer any questions about it, and I’ll be praying for you. But you shouldn’t move ahead until you’re ready even though I think you are.”
Tess snorted. “I’m going to work.”
Josh smiled as her defiant attitude returned. “Better?”
“Maybe.”
Josh couldn’t stop from laughing. “Oh, Tess. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Jed. Even if you do get on my nerves.”
Josh laughed again. “Oh, it’s taking a lot of effort right now not to hop on a plane, so I can be with you.”
“Ditto.”
“I better go,” Josh said reluctantly. “We’ll talk later, OK?”
“Sure.”
Tess hung up before Josh could say anymore. He set his phone aside and leaned back in his chair as he closed his eyes.
~*~
“Here’s to the end of double shifts!” Morgan cheered as she toasted Tess, clanking their milkshake glasses together.
Tess laughed, though her heart wasn’t in it. In the few weeks she’d been working double shifts she’d managed to pay off some debt, even as the rest of her troubles appeared to be weights she’d never escape. “I’m so glad I get to sleep in tomorrow.” She set her glass on the table. She reached for a fry and dragged it through a mountain of ketchup before popping it into her mouth. “I forgot what that’s like.”
Morgan nodded. She’d worked some of the overtime with Tess, though her responsibilities at home—taking care of two sickly parents—hadn’t allowed her to do nearly as much time at Pine View. She lifted her burger but before taking a bite, said, “How on earth did you get out of the Saturday breakfast rush?”
Tess shrugged. “No clue. The only thing I can think is that Derek’s too busy with his new best friend to notice me. He’s not even tried to grab my rear end in the last week. It’s been like a vacation.”
“I can imagine.” Morgan laughed but suddenly grew serious. “Hey, I ran into Stu over at Flynn’s pharmacy. He…” she glanced around the restaurant before continuing. “…I mean, it might not be anything, but he was with a woman and when I walked over to say hello I was sure I saw them holding hands. He’s not dating anyone is he?”
Tess tried to mask her shock. Her uncle was a handsome man when he made an effort to clean himself up—but he preferred work, which drove him away from most women. He’d told Tess many times that he didn’t need the drama a woman would bring to his life. And judging by the way he rarely got along with his sister-in-law, Tess took him at his word. That she’d never heard of him dating, mention a girlfriend, or show any interest whatever in the opposite sex convinced Tess completely that her uncle was a loner. It never occurred to her that he could have a life outside of his work and taking care of her.
Tess forced a laugh before responding to her friend. “You’re working too much,” she said. “Uncle Stu hasn’t ever dated that I can think of. I don’t think it’s possible.”
Morgan raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I’m only telling you what I saw.”
“I’ll ask him but I can already predict his answer, ‘I can’t help it if the ladies love me. I can’t get rid of them,’ and then he’ll change the subject.” Tess reached for her milkshake and took a long drink before continuing. “Besides, don’t you think he’d tell me?”
Morgan squirmed. “Well, you have been a little…I mean, you’ve had enough on your plate for a while now. And then with the Josh situation, maybe he didn’t want to bring it up.”
Again, Tess laughed. Between work and daily calls, and sometimes hourly texts from Josh, she was pretty busy. She hadn’t even been able to get to church in a few weeks. But surely Stu would tell her something as important as his having found a girlfriend.
Someone approached her. Thinking it was the waitress, she glanced up with a smile that quickly faded.
Justin.
“Scoot over,” he demanded.
Tess moved to the end of the bench to keep him from sitting down. “Go away,” she said before taking a bite of her sandwich.
Justin shoved Tess, forcing her to the side so he could sit. “I only want to talk.”
“I could get a restraining order.”
Justin laughed and nudged her.
Tess dropped her sandwich back into the basket with her fries, her appetite gone.
“You like me too much,” he said.
Morgan cleared her throat and glared across the table at Justin with great distaste. While she and Tess were friendly in high school, Morgan wasn’t intimately familiar with the side of her friend’s dark path that came later. Morgan was a good girl. Good grades, perfect attendance, and kindness that oozed from her pores. To find she was sitting across from a convicted drug dealer was probably enough to make her lose her appetite too.
Tess met her friend’s eyes, trying to communicate the apology she wanted to speak but couldn’t.
“You should go,” Morgan said.
Justin turned to meet the redhead’s green eyes. He smiled, reaching across the table with all the smoothness of a snake. He touched Morgan’s hand gently before she yanked it away from him, nearly knocking over the ketchup bottle in the process. Justin laughed. “Easy, babe. I won’t bite. Well, unless you want me to.”
Tess turned to him. “What do you want? Is there a reason you keep turning up where I am?”
“Easy!” Justin exclaimed. “I gave you enough time to cool off. I wanted to rekindle our friendship or maybe more if you’re up for it.”
Tess nodded toward the door. “Get out of here,” she said.
“And what if I wanted to go to church with you, Sister Theresa?”
Tess met his eyes for a brief moment, wondering what he was up to. “The doors of the church are open to everyone. It would do you some good actually.”
Again, he burst into laughter. “Yeah,” he gasped. “I’ll call you when I’m serious.”
“Please don’t,” Morgan said. “I don’t think she wants you here.”
Justin adjusted the thick gold watch around his wrist, making sure both women saw and noted its value, before he leaned back in the seat, his long legs stretching out next to the booth. “It’s a wonder I waste my time. Aren’t Christians supposed to be so kind and loving and hate the sin, not the sinner?”
“That works when the sinner wants to repent,” Tess said. “Well, we were about finished here, so if you’ll excuse us…” she tried to nudge him aside but he refused to budge.
He might be a drug dealer, but he was too smart to actually do the drugs himself. Instead he was the picture of health. Slimy, dirty, drug-money health, but health nonetheless.
“Not so fast, sweets,” Justin glanced down at her and brushed a wisp of hair from her eyes. “I miss you. I don’t understand why we should let all this religion stuff come between us.”
“Don’t touch me!” Tess tried to retreat to the other side of the booth but there wasn’t any room left and she was pressed against the wall. “It’s not the religion. You’re a drug dealer and I don’t want any part of that. I’m cleaning things up. Can’t you leave me be?”
Justin reached out and grabbed Tess’s arm so tightly she blinked back the stars that popped before her eyes. She grunted and tried to break free, but he held firm, smiling as he tightened his grip. “I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say that so loud.”
“Everyone already knows,” Morgan said. “Get out of here.”
Justin ignored her and kept his eyes trained on Tess. “I want your bike.”
If Tess was shocked to run into him again, this was worse. No one touched her motorcycle. No one.
“What?” she asked. “Why?”
“I need to get out of town. Lay low for a bit,” he said. “Can’t exactly take my car. Cops will find me in a sec
ond.”
“It’s in storage,” Tess said, glad when he released her arm. “And I need to check the engine before it’s ready for the road this year.”
Justin gritted his teeth. “Give me the keys.”
“Go away.” Tess glanced up.
Morgan’s face was ashen. She was completely focused on something going on over Tess’s shoulder.
Justin slid out of the booth, towering over the women as he placed his hands on the table. “You wouldn’t even own that bike without me.”
Tess turned her attention from Morgan’s face to Justin’s. She glared at him. “What?! I bought it!”
Justin laughed. “OK, if you think you could afford a piece like that for what you paid…” He stood to his full height and reached out to touch Tess’s cheek. “You go on ahead.”
Tess stared across the table.
Morgan gulped. “Um….” She began, her gaze now focused behind Justin’s shoulder.
Tess turned.
Joshua Thorne was approaching their table.
~*~
On the way to Maple Ridge, Josh had plenty of time to ponder his relationship with Tess. He wasn’t able to talk to her as much as he’d wanted in the last two weeks, and he was certain that surprising her would show how much she meant to him. The anticipation of being with her again was enough to nearly drive him mad.
As soon as the sign for his old hometown was in view, Josh rolled his neck and sat up straighter, the fatigue of the long trip suddenly gone. He was intent on finding Tess immediately, so instead of wasting time, he stopped by the home of the one person he was certain would know exactly where she was. Stu immediately told Josh where to find her, and if the smile Tess’s uncle wore was any indication, Josh made the right choice in electing to surprise the woman he was daily becoming convinced would soon be his wife.
As Josh approached the table it was apparent something was amiss.
The man standing over Tess touched her several times while she tried to shrink away.
Josh drew a deep breath. He needed to stay calm, and yet he was nearly overcome with a desire to rip the man to shreds. Was this what she’d been trying to tell him so many times? Josh didn’t have time to act.
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