Let It Snow (The Hope Falls Series) (5 page)

From the look on Nikki’s face and the rock she was currently sporting on her left hand, things were going well.

“Oh my God! It’s so good to see you!” Nikki exclaimed as she pulled Tessa into a tight bear hug. Stepping back, she asked with excitement, “What are you doing here?” Her eyes widened as she sucked in an audible breath. “Holy shit! Does Jake know you’re here?”

Tessa smiled the first true smile she had had in a long time. It was so good to see that Nikki’s lively spirit had not diminished in the last thirteen years—and neither had her colorful vocabulary. It made her chuckle a little. “Hi, it’s good to see you too. I’m here to meet Henry to go over my Grandma’s will.”

Sadness fell over Nikki’s face as tears immediately sprung to her eyes. She shook her head slightly as her hands clutched at her chest. “Adie passed? Oh…I’m so sorry, Tessa.” Again, Nikki’s arms came around Tessa as her voice filled with emotion. “She was
such
an amazing woman.”

Tessa had forgotten how much her Grandma had meant to the people in this small community. Over the last eight years of caring for her Grandma—
alone
—she’d lost sight of the fact that there were other people who had cared about her as much as Tessa had.

Nikki sniffed as tears fell down her face. She pulled a tissue out of her purse and blew her nose. “Sorry to get so emotional. It’s just with having no grandparents that lived in this country, Adie kind of adopted me as her granddaughter.”

Wiping her eyes, Nikki smiled as she said, “I remember that, whenever I would go to her house, she would just let me talk and talk. At my house, my family got tired of how much I had to say, which I can’t blame them. I was
really
talkative. They would make little comments about it or just have this look on their faces that I could tell they were irritated. But not Adie.” Nikki shook her head, smiling through her tears. “She always listened and would even ask questions.
No one
ever asked me questions. I think they were scared of how long it would take for me to answer.”

Tessa felt her own eyes filling as her lips twitched up in a smile. “That was Gran. She had a way of making everyone feel
so
special.”

Nikki nodded. “When did she…?”

“Oh, um about nine months ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nikki repeated. And Tessa knew that she truly was. She could feel it radiating off of her.

But before Tessa completely lost it, she motioned to Nikki’s left hand and asked, “So you’re engaged?”

“Yes!” Nikki’s entire face lit up like a bright, shining star. “Oh my god, you have to come to the wedding!” Her hands clapped together excitedly.

“When is it?” Tessa asked.

“Oh, we haven’t set a date yet. Mike, my fiancé, is finishing out his term in the Senate and I am working on my Master’s full time. We are thinking early next year sometime.”

“Congratulations on the wedding! Let me know when you set a date and I will definitely try to be there. What field are you getting your Master’s in?” Tessa had always thought that Nikki could be anything she set her mind to. She could rule the world if she wanted. She was bright, beautiful, and funny, and she just had an inner light that people naturally gravitated towards.

“Psychology,” Nikki stated proudly.

“That’s great, Nikki. You are going to help so many people,” Tessa said, and she genuinely meant it.

“You know, you’re just like her.” Nikki’s eyes once again got misty. “You make people feel special too.”

Tears fell down Tessa’s cheeks at Nikki’s words. She’d been back in Hope Falls for less than twelve hours and she felt as though she’d already been strapped in and gone on an emotional roller coaster ride.

Tessa really hoped this meeting with Henry was short and sweet. She wasn’t sure if she could handle another twelve hours here.

‡

J
ake jerked his head up in confusion. Quickly taking in his surroundings he realized, he was in his office. Sitting at his desk. With a massive crick in his neck.

A loud knock sounded at his door.

He must have fallen asleep while he was going over the paperwork. Looking down, he saw the file on the Crescent Road fire. One glance at his computer screen told him that he hadn’t even inputted two pages before he passed out.

Again, there was a pounding at the door.

“Come in,” he barked.

Jake rolled his neck from side to side, attempting to loosen it. He didn’t know who his uninvited visitor was, but it had better be important. He wasn’t even supposed to be here today. Normally when he was in his office with the door closed, the guys respected that and kept their distance.

The door swung open and his sister walked in with a very strange expression on her face. It was equal parts bubbling with excitement and etched with worry. His first thought was that she must have gotten pregnant and was scared to tell him.

He didn’t
love
the idea of his sister having a baby before she was married, but hey, she was engaged. And Mike was a stand-up guy, and Jake knew that the man would take care of his responsibilities.

Jake made sure to keep his expression blank. He didn’t want to ruin Nikki’s grand “I’m pregnant” speech—knowing his sister’s flare for the dramatics—by tipping her off that he’d figured it out. Plus, he thought it might be fun to give her a hard time about it. Act all shocked and shaken. That could be fun, and he could use some fun.

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.

*