Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) (16 page)

Jake was surprised that he actually felt better after telling his brother what had happened. He’d never talked about it before, but now he was thinking that maybe he should have.

“And that’s the last time you saw her?” Eric asked in a tone that Jake was sure many a criminal had been interrogated with.

Jake nodded as he confirmed, “Yeah. That’s the last time I saw her. Until the other night at JT’s. She sent me postcards from Italy and Paris. They just said that she was thinking of me and hoped I was happy and doing well.”

“Have you talked to her?” Eric’s tone softened to sound more like a brother and less like a police investigator.

Jake shrugged. “There’s nothing to say.”

Eric’s arm reached to the counter, and before Jake even saw it coming, an empty beer can tagged him right in the head.

Jake’s hand flew up too late to block it. “Hey! What the fu—”

“I knew you could be an idiot, Jake, but I didn’t think you were really that stupid.”

Jake threw up his arms. “She left. Now she’s back because she
has
to be and then she’s going to leave again. End. Of. Story.”

His brother slowly shook his head at him. “Jake, I know that I have been giving you some shit. Making you dance with Darla. Getting in your business. But I was only doing that because I wanted to see what
this
really was. If it was something real or just a memory that you couldn’t let go of.”

Eric leaned forward on the table with an earnest expression on his face. “This is real, Jake. You love her. I’ve never seen you move as fast as you did when you thought Tessa had left last night. Or be less interested in a blond with a huge rack as you were when Darla came to ask you to dance. And I know you didn’t listen to the rest of the message but it went into great detail about everything that you miss and
love
about Tessa. Great. Detail.”

Jake covered his face with his hands and rubbed them up and down. How could Eric know the whole story and still be giving him shit about her? He should be on his side.

“Look,” Eric said as he stood, “you guys have some serious unfinished business that, if you ever plan on moving on with your life and finding happiness, you need to deal with. Yes, she might leave again. But she’s here now. Talk to her—before it really is too late.” Eric slapped him on the shoulder as he headed out of the kitchen towards the front door. When he got there, he turned back before opening it. “I am sorry that you went through all that. Losing the baby. Losing Tessa. I wish you would have told me sooner. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that alone. You were just a kid. But when you talk to her, try and remember that she was a kid too when she lost a baby she didn’t even know she was carrying.”

With those words, his brother was gone. Jake winced at the loud cracking sound of the door shutting, still feeling the effects of his hangover.

He laid his head on the cool surface of the table until Lucky started crying and scratching at the sliding glass door.

“Sorry, boy.” Jake felt bad that it was so late in the day and he hadn’t been out yet. He decided he would take him on a run to make it up to him. Maybe he could sweat out some of the alcohol he’d ingested the night before and clear his head a little bit, because Eric’s words were playing over and over in it.

“…
she was a kid too when she lost a baby she didn’t even know she was carrying.”

‡

“T
hank you so much for going shopping with me,” Tessa told Nikki as they grabbed the last bags out of the trunk.

Nikki shut the trunk of Tessa’s car and they headed into Jake’s house. “Oh please, you never have to thank me for going shopping, even if it’s for cleaning supplies. Also, as much as I enjoy being able to go to school full time, I get a little stir-crazy shut up in my house taking online classes.”

Tessa could understand that. Nikki had always been adventurous, even as a pre-teen. So it made sense that she’d been a flight attendant. Seeing the world. Always on the go. But now that she was working on her Master’s in Psychology, she was studying full time.

“Do you think it’s weird that Jake doesn’t live here?” Nikki asked as they unloaded the bags in the front room.

Tessa normally hated talking behind people’s back, but in this case she just couldn’t help herself. She was just so happy that someone else felt the same way she did. “Yes!” she exclaimed.

Nikki eyes lit up, apparently happy to find someone else to discuss the subject with as well. “Every time I ask him about it, he gives me a different reason-slash-excuse. Amy and I even surprised him by getting him the couch and a new bed. We figured that, since the old ones had been so well used, he could have a new ‘slut-free’ start. We told him he could burn his old stuff. But even cootie-free furniture didn’t get him excited about living here.”

Tessa must not have covered her reaction to Nikki talking about Jake’s colorful, slut-filled past.

Nikki’s eyes widened in horror. “Shit, I’m sorry. I don’t have a filter.”

Tessa waved her hand dismissively. “It’s fine.”

“None of those girls meant anything to him.” Nikki bit the inside of her lip.

She appreciated Jake’s sister trying to make her feel better, but the facts were the facts, and the little bit she’d heard in the few days she’d been back in town had told her that Jake had been a busy boy. Very busy.

Still, she didn’t want Nikki to feel bad or think she’d upset her. Trying to assure her, she said, “Seriously, it’s fine. Jake and I are… Or, um, we were…just kids. It was a long time ago.”

Nikki slowly nodded her head, not seeming entirely convinced. Then she said, “I really thought you guys were going to get married. I used to imagine what the dress I would wear at your wedding would look like.”

Tessa smiled. She remembered that Nikki always used to ask what her wedding colors were going to be. She didn’t know then that it was because she had been picturing herself in the wedding.

“You guys were really perfect together,” Nikki said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “He hasn’t been the same since you left.”

Tessa’s head shook slightly back and forth. There was no way that was true. Jake was so strong and he lived his life to the fullest. Fun should seriously be his middle name.

Grandma Adie had told her he’d left for college a month after she’d left and that he hadn’t really come back to visit that much before he graduated. College changed people. They matured. “He just grew up, that’s all.”

Nikki’s face grew serious. “I know my brother, and I’m telling you, it’s not ‘he grew up.’ He’s never gotten over
you
.”

Tessa didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t gotten over him either. But none of that mattered, and there was no way she could explain that to Nikki. Part of her wished that what Nikki was saying was true, that Jake really did still feel the same way he had. But another part saw how tragic that would be if it was in fact the truth.

Before she came up with a response or even had time to process her feelings on the matter, she heard ‘Freak Me Baby’ by Silk playing loudly. Nikki started busting out laughing as she pulled her phone from her pocket. She wasn’t able to answer it before the lyrics ‘
Let me lick you up and down, ’Til you say stop’
rang out in the cavernous house.

Nikki answered the phone, grinning from ear to ear, her face lit up like the Christmas tree in Times Square. “How could you possibly have changed my ringtone?”

Tessa picked up a few of the bags and went into the kitchen to give Nikki some privacy. While she was unpacking them, she thought about what Jake’s sister had said.

Could it be true that he hadn’t got over her?

Last night, she really thought that something was going to happen between them. But he’d left. If he still had feelings for her, wouldn’t he have stayed?

“Sorry about that.” Nikki was glowing as she came around the corner. “Mike is on his way. He just got into Oakland.”

“Nice song,” Tessa teased her, motioning to her phone.

“I know, right?” Nikki laughed. “He’s so funny. He keeps changing my ringtone.”

“What if your parents heard it?” Tessa asked, feeling like she was back in high school again, worrying about Rosalie’s and Sean’s reactions to something.

Nikki’s hands flew up in the air. “My mom is the one who changed the ringtone for him when I was at her house this morning. You don’t understand, my parents drank the Mike Gowan Kool-Aid. They adore him. They are proud card-carrying Team Mike members.” Nikki laughed as her eyes danced with happiness. “He really is pretty amazing. I can’t wait for you to meet him at the work party tomorrow.”

“Isn’t he only in town for the weekend?” Tessa asked.

“Yep. He has to fly out again on Monday morning.”

“I don’t want you two wasting your Saturday helping me fix up the house. You should be spending quality time together.” Tessa truly appreciated her friend’s willingness to help her, but she didn’t want her sacrificing precious time with her fiancé for it.

“Are you kidding me? Mike’s a politician. Well, for another six months anyway. He lives for this kind of stuff.”

Tessa knew that Nikki was joking about Mike ‘living’ to fix up houses, but she did ask, “What do you mean, only six more months? He is not running for re-election?”

Nikki shook her head. “Nope. I don’t think that politics was ever what he dreamed about going into. It was almost more of a family obligation. And things with his family have been a little tense since the ‘campaign manager scandal.’ So when his term is up, he’s going to move up here to Hope Falls and start his own practice, put his law degree to good use.”

“Wow. So you guys are going to live here then? In Hope Falls?” Tessa asked. As a kid, all Nikki had talked about was getting out of the small town. She would dramatically say that she’d rather die than end up living here the rest of her life.

“Yep,” Nikki replied happily as she began helping Tessa unpack the bags. “I know I used to think that staying here would be like a constant Groundhog Day, that I would be bored to death. But now, as an adult, I honestly couldn’t imagine living somewhere else. I mean, of course, if Mike had wanted to remain in politics, then I absolutely would have adjusted. But since he fell in love with Hope Falls too, then I guess I’m just a lucky girl. I get to be with the love of my life, live in the only place I’ve ever called home, and be surrounded by family.”

“You deserve it, sweetie.” Tessa was happy for Nikki. She deserved every happiness this world had to offer.

Nikki chuckled. “I think you are the only person on this earth that calls me ‘sweetie.’”

Tessa laughed and shrugged. “You are a sweetie—to me. I think I might always see you as that thirteen-year-old girl who was my shadow.”

“I can deal with that,” Nikki smiled.

When they’d laid out all of the supplies, Tessa pulled up the list that Lauren had emailed to her this morning. “Okay, well I think that everything is here. We should be all set for tomorrow.”

“All right. Mike and I will be here bright and early.” Nikki hugged her before she turned to leave.

“Thanks. See you tomorrow.” Tessa looked at everything she’d purchased and started collecting the receipts to put in an envelope.

She couldn’t believe how quickly everything had added up. Between the cleaning supplies, paint, and flooring, her bank account was running on fumes. Luckily, her roommate Molly’s boyfriend had just moved in the week before Tessa had left. When Tessa had called Molly to let her know that she’d be longer than expected, Molly had told her that Rick would just pay her portion of the rent and utilities for as long as she was gone.

But even with those bills not hanging over her head, Tessa needed to bring in some extra income. Maybe she would call Mary and see if she had any work she could throw Tessa’s way. And she’d also ask Sue Ann if she needed any help at the café.

Between her finances, the house, and Jake, Tessa’s stress level was running into the red. But she would try and pick up some part-time work, and hopefully after tomorrow the house would be in much better shape. So with plans in place to work on two of the three blood-pressure-increasing situations in her life, she decided that instead of dwelling on the third, she would go to her new favorite place in the
whole
world. The master bathroom.

It was her tiny piece of heaven on earth. For now.

‡