Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) (12 page)

T
essa pulled into the small parking lot of Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures and saw that not only was Lauren’s car already there, but six others were there as well. She was running late, as per usual. Jake hadn’t wasted any time taking off after he’d shown her around his home. Before leaving though, he’d given her strict instructions to lie down and get some rest—after taking her vitals once more and checking to see if her eyes were dilated so he could “rule out a concussion.”

She’d promised she would, and oddly enough…she had. As soon as Jake and Lucky had left, she’d taken a quick shower. After lying on the grass and walking through her grandma’s dusty, spider-webby house, she’d felt really grimy. And since she’d planned on leaving after she’d met with Henry, her suitcase had been packed in her trunk, so she’d had fresh clothes to change into.

Either the former owners or Jake had renovated the house, so there were upgraded appliances and fixtures throughout, but they had outdone themselves in the master bath. Jake’s shower was like heaven in water form. Not only was it large enough to hold eight easily, it also boasted dual massaging showerheads, a skylight window, dark brushed-stone tiled walls, and a bench seat in the corner that had been perfect for shaving her legs. The room also had barrel ceilings, natural stone heated flooring, an electric towel warmer, and two wood-framed mirrors sitting atop rock crystal his-and-hers basin sinks with warming lights in the ceiling.

Tessa could have lived in just that room and been perfectly happy. It was larger than her first apartment in New York had been. The only thing it was missing was a claw-footed bathtub. Tessa had always dreamed of a claw-footed bathtub. She thought her desire might have stemmed from reading all those historical romance novels as a teen. They had just always seemed so decadent to her.

Although if there would have been one there today she might have fallen asleep in it, which would probably not have been safe. Because as it was, she’d barely made it to the large king-sized bed in Jake’s room before it had been lights out.

The only reason she’d woken up when she had was because Sue Ann had called to see if she would be staying another night. When Tessa told her that she wouldn’t be needing the room, Sue Ann had asked if she was leaving town. Tessa had said that she wasn’t. To which, of course, Sue Ann had asked, “Then where are you staying?” When she’d told her that she would be staying next door to her grandma’s at Jake’s, she’d tried to downplay the “Jake’s” portion of things and play up the “next door to my grandma’s” part. Still, Tessa distinctly heard a smile in Sue Ann’s voice when she’d cheerily told her that was “just lovely” and to “let me know if you kids need anything.”

Tessa sighed as she climbed out of her car and made her way up the familiar dirt path leading to the front door of the main house. Nerves began flittering in her stomach. Other than Nikki and Lauren, whom she’d only briefly seen today, she hadn’t seen any of these girls in over a decade. Two of the women in the room would be Jake’s sisters and the rest were his friends.

She wasn’t sure what they knew about her past or present. Nikki had seemed friendly enough today. But maybe that was because she’d been so young at the time that Jake hadn’t told her about what had happened. Or maybe he had.

Also, what would they think about the fact that she was staying in his house? Because now that Sue Ann knew, Tessa would happily put money on the fact that half of Hope Falls was probably aware of her current living situation.

Oh well. She wouldn’t be in town long and she was only staying at the house for Jake.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. Sure, it had started out that way. But now, it definitely didn’t hurt that after forty-five minutes in Jake’s bathroom she was as relaxed as if she’d had a two-hour massage in a luxury day spa. Not that she’d ever been to a luxury day spa, but she’d imagined it.

As she stepped up onto the porch, the door swung open. Nikki rushed outside and pulled her into a hug. “You made it!” Nikki exclaimed happily.

“Yep,” Tessa nodded as she followed Nikki inside.

As she walked into the large living area, Tessa was greeted with hugs galore from the girls she hadn’t seen yet upon her return—Karina, Amanda, Sam and Amy. Every one of them was saying how happy they were to see her and how sorry they were about Adeline. Tessa was having a hard time taking it all in as well as getting over how grown up everyone looked.

Of course she’d seen Karina in magazines and on television. Karina Black was a huge pop star now. But when Tessa had known her, she had been just Karina Blackstone, a quiet, dark-haired sophomore girl who always carried around her guitar. Tessa did remember though that they’d had photo lab together and Karina was always making her laugh. She’d had a very dry sense of humor and quick wit.

Tessa had watched, with the rest of the world, as Karina skyrocketed to fame. Her debut album had gone platinum—and so had every album she’d released since. But after a decade of touring and “Hollywood life,” Karina had returned to Hope Falls, where she’d met Sue Ann’s grandson Ryan. Apparently, from what Sue Ann had said when she was filling her in on all-things-Hope-Falls this morning after Henry had left, Ryan and Karina had had a bumpy start but they were now happily engaged, living together, and even touring together.

Then there was Sam, the Olympic medalist snowboarder. The fiery redhead had been extremely competitive when Tessa had been a T.A. in Sam’s P.E. class. Tessa still remembered the teacher, Miss Langley, having to give her a pep talk whenever Sam hadn’t performed up to her self-imposed high standards. Tessa was sure it was that drive that had helped her achieve all the success she’d had.

Sue Ann had told her that Sam was now engaged to Luke Reynolds, who was also an Olympian. They had both bowed out of the competitive circuit and were running the ski program at Mountain Ridge. If it weren’t for the red hair, Tessa wasn’t sure she would have recognized Sam on the street. Her freckles had faded and her cuteness had transformed into stunning beauty.

Amanda didn’t look like she’d aged a day since the last time Tessa had seen her. Her blond hair and fresh face looked exactly how Tessa remembered her. Tessa had always thought that she resembled one of the porcelain dolls her grandma had collected, and that was still what Amanda reminded her of.

She saw a wedding picture hanging on the wall of Amanda and Justin. It made Tessa’s heart fill and ache at the same time. It was great to see that she had gotten her happily ever after, but at the same time it made Tessa wish that she had gotten hers as well.

“What’ll you have? White or red?” Lauren asked, holding up two bottles.

“Oh, none for me. I’m driving,” Tessa said.

“I can take you. I’m just having water,” Amy offered as she lifted her bottle in the air.

Amy looked different as well. Jake’s little sister had worn glasses and always had her hair pulled up in a ponytail with her nose in a book when Tessa had known her. Now her light brown hair flowed beautifully around her face. She no longer wore her wire-framed glasses, and Tessa noticed for the first time how large and blue her eyes were.

From what Sue Ann had told her, Amy had just recently started dating and now lived with Henry’s nephew, Matt, who, like Amy, was a teacher at the high school. Sue Ann had said—in a whispered voice—that Matt had lost his wife tragically years earlier and had moved to town to start over. From the glow Amy had, it looked like things were going well.

A glass of wine did sound like the best thing since the invention of Twinkies, but she had to decline. “No, it’s okay. I’ve got my car.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine in the parking lot.” Amanda assured her. “You can come pick it up tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” Tessa asked both Amanda and Amy.

Both girls nodded in unison.

Well, who was she to turn down a ride and a glass of wine? Especially after the day—no scratch that,
years
—she’d had. “Red.”

Lauren’s lips turned up into a small smile. “Girl after my own heart. All of these lightweights always go white.”

From the looks of the three empty bottles of Pinot Grigio on the table, Lauren was not kidding.

Tessa heard the front door opening behind her just as a girl who looked exactly like a young Sofia Vergara walked through the door. Her long dark hair hung loose, she didn’t have a stitch of makeup on, she wore black leggings and a loose sweatshirt, and somehow she managed to look more put together than Tessa did when she spent hours getting ready.

“Hey! Sorry I’m late. The senior ladies wanted me to show them how to give a lap dance after Burlesque class.”

Tessa almost spit out her wine. Luckily she only choked a little bit. It’s not that there was anything wrong with lap dances. It was just not something she usually heard in the same sentence as “senior ladies.”

“Please tell me Renata was not one of them,” Karina said flatly.

Tessa remembered Renata Blackstone as a stern disciplinarian. She was tall and thin and always wore her long hair pulled back tight and braided down her back. She was Karina’s grandmother, and she had raised her. Tessa didn’t know where Karina’s parents were, but she did remember going out to the reservation where Karina had lived, nestled in the hills beside Hope Falls, to do a photography project with her.

Somehow Tessa could not imagine the Renata that had given Tessa a stern talking to for wearing too much eyeliner, getting tips on lap dances.

The gorgeous dark-haired girl pursed her lips and her eyes widened before repeating verbatim with a flat tone, “Renata was not one of them.”

Karina moaned and shook her head. Tessa laughed. She’d only been around this new girl for a minute and she already liked her.

Nikki popped up from her seat. “Tessa, have you met Lily, Eric’s fiancée?”

Tessa smiled as she stood and held out her hand. “Oh, no, It’s nice to meet you.”

Lily’s face lit up. “You too. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“You have?” What could she have possibly heard? Tessa had only gotten to town yesterday.

Tessa’s reaction must have seemed like more than just surprise because Lily began explaining. “Oh no, nothing bad. Sorry.” Lily waved her hands like she hadn’t meant to say that. “Eric just told me that you were Jake’s ‘one that got away.’”

The room went quiet and Tessa could feel everyone’s eyes on her. Her cheeks started burning and she was sure that they were bright red.

Lily looked around the room that was so quiet, they could have heard a pin drop. “I’m sorry. Should I not have said that?”

“No, it’s fine,” Tessa said. She knew that Lily hadn’t meant anything by it. Changing the subject, she asked, “So you teach dance lessons?”

Lily nodded as Karina jumped in, explaining, “She got roped into it by Henry. Lily is an ah-may-zing dancer and I hired her to do my winter tour. She moved here from Sacramento on what was supposed to be a temporary basis, but within a week of being here, Henry had her teaching classes and Lauren rented her the house next door to Eric. Poor Lily didn’t stand a chance. Once Hope Falls claims you as its own, it’s like the Bermuda Triangle. You can’t escape.”

I did, but not because I wanted to.

Then Karina added, “Case in point: Sam, Lauren, Justin, me, and now you. We all came back.”

“Oh I’m just here for a little bit. Until I can fix up the house and sell it,” Tessa provided, quickly setting the record straight. She knew that conversations like these were what turned into rumors, and she didn’t want anyone—Jake!—to hear false information.

A knowing twinkle lit in Karina’s eyes as one brow arched. “We’ll see.”

As Tessa looked around the room, she could see that all the ladies had similar looks of keep-telling-yourself-that on their faces. But that was only because they didn’t know what she knew.

She couldn’t live in Hope Falls and not be with Jake. Since she couldn’t be with Jake, she couldn’t live in Hope Falls. It was that simple.

‡

“S
o what happened in the tent?” Eric leaned his head in and asked quietly with an I’m-your-big-brother-so-you-have-to-tell-me look in his eye. Eric might not be a detective anymore, but the reason he had been so successful was that, when he wanted information, his pursuit to gain it was relentless.

Looking around the lively bar, Jake knew that no one was paying attention to his and Eric’s conversation. The rest of the guys were in a heated sports debate.

“Tessa and I went camping up at Mountain Ridge after Prom. Parker found us. That’s it,” Jake answered.

Eric stared at him, trying to read Jake’s expression.

Getting a little irritated, Jake continued, “That’s ancient history. Why the hell do you even care?”

Eric lifted his mug of cold beer to his mouth and took an unhurried swig. “No reason.”

No reason, my ass
.

“Girls are on their way,” Luke declared as he typed on his iPhone.

Every Thursday, the girls all had a “book club meeting” while the guys played hoops. Then afterward they would all meet up at JT’s. Usually, this was the portion of the evening when Jake would find someone to go home with since everyone coupled up with their significant others. Eric used to be his wingman, but now even he was engaged. But being on the solo tip had not slowed Jake down.