The Bachelor's Sweetheart (3 page)

“I'll get those.” Josh was out of his seat before the attorney could even push his chair away from the computer.

Taking his copy from the top, he handed the other one to Tessa, sat and reread the revised clause. When he'd finished, Tessa already had a pen in hand, ready to sign.

“Looks okay to me,” he said, picking up the other pen the attorney had laid out on the desk.

“Hold off on signing until I get someone to witness your signatures.” The attorney left them alone in the office.

“You are all right with my change?” Josh asked, breaking the silence.

“I guess I have to be. No one else will do the work as cheaply as you will.”

“You got other bids?”

“No,” she shot back. “But I thought you had more faith in me.”

“I have plenty of faith in you. It's the tourist trade I'm not so sure of.”

The attorney returned with Josh's former girlfriend. “This is Lexi Zarinski. She's filling in for the next few days while our receptionist is on vacation.”

“I know Josh and Tessa from church. Hi.”

“Hi.” Josh and Tessa signed and dated the agreement. The attorney took both agreements and placed the second sheet with the witness signature line on top.

Lexi signed them both with a flourish. “I'm taking my lunch break now. Do you guys want to join me at the diner?” Although Lexi had included Tessa in her invitation, her gaze rested on Josh. He rearranged the pages of the agreement on the desk in front of him.

“Sorry, I've got to get over to the school. I'm telling Hope's class about my job for career day.”

“And I told Grandma I'd go with her to her doctor's appointment in Ticonderoga.”

“Okay, maybe another time.” Lexi made her exit.

The attorney rose and shook their hands. “Nice seeing both of you again.”

“Thanks,” Tessa said.

Josh nodded. He looked around for Lexi lurking as they walked across the reception area to the door. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to get some lunch, but I don't have time now.”

“I would have taken you up on the offer. Maybe even treated to make up for my outburst about you getting paid.” She stopped when they reached the sidewalk and looked up at him. “You know, I could just hug you for what you're doing for Grandma and me.”

After the way Tessa's glamorous appearance at the wedding had affected him, he was glad she didn't.

* * *

Josh grabbed his laptop from behind the driver's seat before he headed into the building that housed the Schroon Lake Central School, grades kindergarten through twelve, his alma mater. He signed in at the main office with Thelma Woods, who'd been the office manager for as long as he could remember.

“The third grade room is the same as it's always been,” Mrs. Woods said.

“Okay, and I'll be taking Hope home after school.”

She leafed through a small pile of papers clipped together. “Yes, I have the note from Becca right here. You'll need to sign out before you leave.”

“Will do.”

“Josh.” Hope called to him as he left the office.

He waved at his sister.

A middle-aged woman was leading a group of kids including Hope down the hall past the office. She stopped. “Mr. Donnelly?”

“Josh.” He offered his hand.

“I'm Merilee Bradshaw, Hope's teacher. We're on our way back from lunch. You can walk with us.”

He stepped in line with Hope.

“Is that your daddy?” the little boy in front of her asked.

“No,” Hope huffed. “Like I told everybody, Josh is my brother. I have three big brothers. Jared, who I live with. He talked to our class last year. Mrs. Bradshaw said we had to have different people this year. Connor. He's the pastor at my church and on his honeymoon with Natalie, so he couldn't come today. And Josh.”

Josh shook off the pang of hurt that he was apparently Hope's third choice. “Who's your friend?” He nodded at the little boy.

“Owen Maddox, and he's not a friend. He's a boy.”

“Can't boys be friends? Tessa is my friend, and she's a girl.”

“You're a grown-up, and she's your girlfriend. That's different.”

“No, she's just a friend who's a girl.”

Hope looked skeptical.
Gram at the wedding, now Hope
. What was so hard for everyone to get about Tessa and him being friends, not a couple?

“Our room is the next one,” Hope said.

“I know. It was my third grade room, and Jared and Connor's, too.”

Mrs. Bradshaw stood at the classroom doorway, counting heads as the kids filed in. She closed the door behind her last student. “Everyone put your lunch boxes in your cubbies, so we can hear Mr. Donnelly's talk.”

Josh waited for his sister and, when she finished, she led him to the middle of the room. “This is my desk, and this is my friend Ava.”

“Hi,” the little girl at the desk beside Hope's said. She eyed his laptop. “Are you going to show us racing videos like Hope's other brother did last year? They were really cool.”

Yeah. Josh was sure they were. Jared was cool. “No, we're going to design a solar-powered go-cart.”

“But you didn't bring any wood or stuff.”

“On the computer. You'll see everything we do on the screen up front.” Josh had thought the kids would like brainstorming ideas for a go-cart and using the computer-aided design program to draw plans. His talk was hands-on. He planned to let the kids come up and use the program to add their details. And he'd gotten permission from his boss to print out copies of the plans at work for Hope to bring in and hand out to everyone on Friday.

“Oh,” Ava said.

“Mr. Donnelly, we're ready.”

Despite the lack of enthusiasm from Hope's friend Ava, the talk went as well or better than Josh had hoped. The kids had some great and outlandish ideas. And Josh seemed to have made a friend in Hope's non-friend, Owen. The little boy latched on to him to the point of asking if he wanted to sit next to him at his desk for the second job presentation of the afternoon. With Hope's permission, he did.

“Class, let's thank Ms. Foster and Mr. Donnelly for talking to us today,” the teacher said when the other speaker had finished her presentation.

“Thank you, Ms. Foster and Mr. Donnelly,” the classed chimed.

A bell rang.

“That means the buses are here,” Hope said.

“Everyone get your things together and line up,” Mrs. Bradshaw said.

She led the queue of third graders to the main door while Jared and Hope headed to the office to sign out. Owen trailed behind them.

Josh stopped. “Owen, don't you need to get on your bus?”

“No, I wait for my mom in the office. She's a teacher's aide. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” Josh hoped he wouldn't regret his hasty agreement.

“You know a lot about go-carts. Have you ever made a Pinewood Derby racer?”

“No, I haven't. I wasn't a Boy Scout. But my nephew made one.”

“I want to make one, but Mom doesn't know anything about building things.” Owen stared at his feet. “And my dad's at Dannemora. We moved here so it's not so far to drive to visit him.”

Josh swallowed the lump in his throat.
The maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility
. Although his father had never been in more than the county jail for a few days, Josh could certainly relate to an absent father.

“With all the stuff you know, we could make a winner.”

He squatted to Owen's level. “I can't make any promises, but who's your Scout leader?”

“Mr. Hazard.”

“I know Mr. Hazard. I'll talk with him and see what I can do, okay?”

A smile lit Owen's face. “Okay!”

“I'll have to have your mother's permission to help you.”

“You can wait with me now and talk to her today.”

Josh stood. “No, I want to talk to Mr. Hazard first.”

“All right.” Owen took a seat in the office, and Josh signed Hope and him out.

“Bye,” Owen said as they left. “See you tomorrow, Hope.”

“Bye, Owen.” Hope's goodbye sounded friendly enough. If it hadn't, he would have had to have a talk with her, which wouldn't be in sync with the fun-brother persona he cultivated. Hope's situation as the new kid last school year hadn't been a lot different from Owen's.

“Can we build something, too?” she asked as he made sure she had the seat belt buckled across her booster seat correctly.

“What do you want to build?” If he didn't watch it, he'd have so many projects going he'd have to take a leave of absence from his real job to do them all.

“A castle in the backyard at my house.”

“I'll need to talk with Jared and Becca about that one.”

“All right, but I'm sure it will be okay.”

Josh wasn't as sure. “I missed lunch. What do you say to an ice cream sundae at the diner while I get a burger and fries?”

“I say yes. Becca and Jared only let us get cones.”

Score one for big brother Josh.
Since he didn't plan on having any kids of his own, didn't have it in him to be a husband and father, he figured it was his place to spoil Hope and Jared and Becca's family and any kids Connor and Natalie might have.

Hope caught him up on everything third grade while he ate his late lunch.

“Be sure to talk to Jared,” Hope said when he walked her into the house.

“Talk to me about what?” Jared asked, walking in behind them.

“Tell him, Josh.” Hope scampered off to the other room.

“Hope asked me to build her a castle in your backyard. I assume she means a playhouse castle.”

“Better check that. With Hope, you never know. She could mean a full-scale stone-wall moat-surrounded castle.”

Josh laughed.

“I don't see a problem. I'll talk with Becca, and you can work the details out with our little sister.”

“I have something else I want to talk with you about.”

“My loan to Tessa? It's the same as the loans I've made to other local businesses. It has nothing to do with whatever you two have going on.”

Jared, too
?
“Friends. We're friends. And that's not what I wanted to talk with you about. It's her loan, her business. What I want to talk to you about is a little boy in Hope's class, Owen. He sounds like a good candidate for your motocross school program. His mom's a teacher's aide at the school, and he said his dad is at Dannemora.”

Jared whistled.

“After my talk, the little guy asked me if I'd help him build a car for the Pinewood Derby.”

“Are you going to?”

“Probably, after I talk with Ted Hazard, his Cub Scout Leader, and Owen's mother.”

“Your job, Tessa's renovation, Hope's castle, this kid's Scout project and your volunteer fire department commitment. Think you might be spreading yourself a little thin?”

Josh stared at his older brother. “I can handle it.”

Jared might have the money to throw around to help people, but he didn't have an exclusive on giving.

Chapter Three

T
he apartment was in worse shape than Tessa had expected. It looked like she had a good couple of hours' work clearing junk out before she even got to scrubbing off the years' worth of grime on everything. At least the appliances were in good condition, or they should be. Her grandmother had bought them from Jared and Becca last fall when they'd remodeled their kitchen, with the thought she might rent out the apartment.

She opened a box blocking the way from the kitchen to the living room. A combination of dust and mold tickled her nose. “Achoo!”

“God bless you.”

Tessa spun around. “Josh, what are you doing here?”

“I had to pick up a few things at the grocery store, so I thought I'd swing by and see my new place.” He weaved his way around the boxes and crates into the living room and peered into the bedroom. “Not much room for my furniture.”

“Funny. When Grandma and Grandpa had the attic in the house insulated and sealed off to cut their heating costs, they moved everything that had been in the attic up here.”

Josh stood in the middle of the living room, the top of his head almost touching the swag light that dangled from a hook in the ceiling. “It has potential.”

Tessa followed his gaze around the place. “You've been reading real estate ads again. Looking for another house to flip?”

“Not this summer, not with the work you want me to do on the theater. And Hope asked me to build her a castle in Jared's backyard.”

“A castle?”

“A playhouse that looks like a castle—I checked. We're still working out the details. And...” He hesitated. “With my degree almost finished, I'm hoping to have a project manager position with GreenSpaces lined up somewhere else by the end of the year.”

Although Tessa knew Josh's ambitions, the thought that he could be leaving the area in a few months knocked the wind out of her.

“Don't worry,” he said. “I don't see anything coming along before we get the theater work done.”

She sucked in a breath. “It's not that.”

“Then what?”

Was the man that thick? “I've gotten used to having you around, irritating as you can be, especially since almost everyone else I know is coupled off now.”

He walked across the room and tugged a piece of old wallpaper that was curling down from the ceiling. “You don't have to stay around here.” Josh pulled the wallpaper off in a long strip. “Say the word, and I'll put out feelers for any civil engineering jobs with GreenSpaces, or elsewhere. I'm always looking.”

“Yeah, I know.” She pushed a couple of strands of hair that had fallen from her topknot out of her face. It shouldn't bother her that he didn't say he'd miss her when he left. But it did.

“Want me to stick around...”

Yes.

“And give you a hand here this afternoon?”

Tessa laid her finger along the side of her face as if she was thinking deeply. “I could use your brawn to move stuff out to the Dumpster behind the theater.”

“Ah, saving my brains for the paid project.”

“Right. I wouldn't want to use them all up before I got my money's worth.”

“Ha! There's not enough money in the US Mint to buy all my smarts. Where do you want me to start?”

She tapped her foot against the box she'd been opening when Josh arrived. “This box can go downstairs for the Dumpster. It says ‘for library sale,' but I don't know what year. The books smell moldy. I'm sure no one would want them.”

“Are they old? Maybe you could find collectors online looking to buy some of them.”

Tessa usually appreciated Josh's creative ways of making a few extra dollars, but not today. The musty stale air of the apartment was giving her a headache, and everything Josh said or did bugged her.

Josh strode over and lifted the box. “Whew. Cancel that thought. I'll take this downstairs, out in the fresh air. You can open some windows. There's a nice breeze that will blow some of the smell out of here. We'll regroup when I come back.”

She watched him heave the box to his shoulder and head back out.
Regroup
. Yeah, that's what she needed to do. She'd become too dependent on her friendship with Josh. It was enabling her to hang back and not try to establish other friendships.

Josh burst back into the apartment a couple of minutes later. “I'm back. Point me in the direction of the next thing you want trashed.”

Several hours and countless boxes later, the natural light in the apartment was growing too dim to continue working. They'd stashed the things worth keeping in the crawl space storage area that ran behind one wall of the living room. Tessa didn't have a clue why they hadn't been put there in the first place. The rest was in the Majestic's Dumpster.

Tessa tossed her cleaning cloth on the kitchen counter. “We'd better call it a night before it gets too dark to find our way out. I'll call the power company tomorrow and have the electricity turned on.”

“No, I'll put it in my name. I didn't expect the free rent agreement to include utilities, and...” He grinned, emphasizing the smudge of dirt on his cheek. “The contract doesn't include them.”

“Since when are you such a stickler for rules?”

“Since my getting paid depends on your financial success. Don't want to cut into your seed money.”

Her chest tightened. He didn't have faith in her. And if he, her best friend, didn't, who would?

“Hey, lose the long face. I'm teasing. If you have an extra key you can give me before I leave, I'll stop by after work tomorrow and see if I can open those two windows that are painted shut.”

But tomorrow was the first Monday of the month, the evening Josh usually came over with pizza or Chinese to view promotion clips of upcoming movies so she could choose what to order. A hollow grew inside her. This was Josh. Of course, business would come before fun—and friendship?

She dug in her jeans pocket for her key ring. “Right here.” Tessa wound the key off the ring.

He took the key. “I can't give you much other help finishing the cleanup here until next weekend. But don't worry about having the place ready for me to move in on Thursday. Connor said it would be fine for me to stay at the parsonage while he and Natalie are away.”

“Sounds good.”

“Then pack up whatever you're taking with you, and I'll drop you at the house.”

“No, you go ahead. I'll walk. I need some time out in the fresh air to clear my head of the smell of Mr. Clean.”
And of other things, like the fear that our business partnership isn't the brilliant idea I thought it was.

* * *

Tessa pressed the latch to the front door of the house, only to find it locked. She'd forgotten that Grandma was going to dinner and then a musical prayer concert at the Camp Sonrise Conference Center Auditorium with Josh's grandparents and Marie Delacroix. After she unlocked the door and let herself in, she dropped into the closest chair. Maybe Josh was right. Maybe the theater was a lost cause, and she should start looking for an engineering job. Opportunities here were slim, though, and she hated to leave her grandmother alone.

She pushed herself out of the chair to see what she could rummage up for supper. Her grandmother's words about Mrs. Delacroix inviting her to share her house ran through her mind. Grandma wasn't alone. Her roots were here. She had friends here. Grandma didn't need Tessa living with her any more than her parents needed her at the mission in Lesotho or, self-pity crept in, Josh needed her presence in his life. He couldn't seem to be with her lately without telling her about how he was out of here as soon as he found the right job opportunity or that she should look for an engineering job somewhere else.

Tessa found a note written on ivory stationery bordered with lilies of the valley in her grandmother's perfect penmanship.

I defrosted the leftover beef stew if you want it for supper, and Edna brought over a strawberry-rhubarb pie made with fresh rhubarb from her garden. There's vanilla ice cream in the freezer. Love, G.

Tessa pulled the container of stew from the refrigerator. If she knew Grandma was well settled with friends, she could look for a job, maybe in Saratoga Springs or Glens Falls. Glens Falls was within commuting distance, if not for the months of bad winter weather. Tessa opened the stew container, and her stomach lurched. But that would mean moving and operating the Majestic weekends only, even during the summer tourist season, or not at all. Wherever she went, she'd have to establish a whole new support system. She'd come to Schroon Lake nearly six years ago and was still working on fitting in. And this was the most comfortable place she'd ever lived.

She replaced the lid on the stew container. Pie and ice cream sounded like a better supper. It had three of the four major food groups—dairy, grain and fruits and vegetables. Her hand lingered on the container after she'd placed it back on the refrigerator shelf, her parents' frequent reprimand sounding in her head.
You have to set an example. You can't simply choose to do whatever you want.

She should have the stew. What kind of meal was pie and ice cream? Tessa grabbed the pie and closed the refrigerator door. She could have whatever she wanted for supper. There was no one here to set an example of good eating habits for, and Grandma wouldn't say anything. She cut a large piece of pie and smothered it in ice cream. Her cell phone rang as she polished off the last bite. She checked the number, figuring it could be one of only three people. Grandma checking up on her. Her heart warmed. Josh. The warmth ticked up a degree. Or Uncle Bob, whom she would call back later, or tomorrow.

She didn't recognize the number. “Hello.”

“Tessa, it's Maura.”

Her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. “Oh, hi.”

“I missed last week's meeting and wanted to give you my new home phone number. We moved into the house yesterday.”

“Congratulations,” Tessa said.

“Thanks. I've got my work cut out for me the next few days unpacking.”

“Me, too. I'm getting the apartment above my grandmother's garage cleaned out to rent. No one's lived in it for years.”

“Have fun with that. I wanted to invite you to our housewarming party weekend after next.”

Tessa twisted her hair around her finger. “What day?”

“Saturday evening. Some of the others from the meeting are coming. You can bring a guest.”

“It'll depend on whether I can get Myles to cover for me.” Relief edged with guilt flowed through her. She was thankful for the excuse. She didn't know whom she'd bring except her grandmother. Josh didn't know about her addiction. His hard feelings for his father had made her afraid to tell him and jeopardize their friendship—an accommodation to fitting in, like her drinking had started out as an accommodation to fitting in at college. She'd also chosen AA meetings in other towns where she'd be less likely to run into anyone from church or from the movie theater. Another accommodation.

“I hope you can come. Everything going well?”

“Yes and no.” Tessa told her about the loan for the theater, the contract with Josh for the work and his bomb that he expected to have a job somewhere else by the end of the year. “I don't know if it's the project and wanting so badly for it to work out or the thought of my good friend moving, but I'm unsettled.” She dropped her voice. “I wanted a drink last night, for the first time in forever.”

“You should have called me.”

“It went away as quickly as it came, and my grandmother had something she wanted to talk with me about.”

“You know what you have to do with your uncertainty,” Maura said. “Give it up to God.”

“I know. I'll get back to you about the housewarming.”

“Great. Call if you do need anything, and I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting.”

“I will. Bye.”

Tessa set her phone down, folded her hands and rested her elbows on the table. “Lord, I know only You can control my life. Direct me away from the pull of my addiction. Help me to know and accept the things I can't change, like Josh's inevitable move away from here, from me. I fear that I've let myself become too dependent on our friendship, that I've exchanged one dependency for another and that my reliance on him could jeopardize my sobriety when he leaves. Guide me to depend on You, the one who is always there for all of us. I place myself in Your hands. Amen.”

* * *

The fire siren went off at the same time Josh received the text. He drove directly to the Schroon Volunteer Fire Department hall, bypassing his original destination, the apartment above Tessa's grandmother's garage. A quick glance at the parking lot showed only one other vehicle. He turned off his truck and read the text. An accident on US Route 9, near Paradox Lake, with possible fire potential. An Essex County Sheriff's deputy was already on the scene.

Josh heard the wind-down of a motorcycle slowing and turned to see Emergency Medical Squad members Jon Hanlon, a local obstetrician, and his wife, Autumn, a midwife, pull in. With only him and one other firefighter here, he still had time to call Tessa and let her know that he probably wouldn't be over to work on the windows at the apartment tonight.

“Hi,” Tessa said, picking up on the first ring. “You just caught me. I was about to put my phone on vibrate.”

“Right. Monday night video clips.”

Tessa always turned her ringtone off and made him do the same, so any calls or texts wouldn't interrupt their viewing. He'd forgotten all about their regular Monday date, or rather non-date, yesterday when he'd said he'd stop by the apartment tonight. Josh waited a second for her to ask him to join her.

“You headed over to the apartment?” she asked.

Josh tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “No, that's why I'm calling. I'm at the fire hall. There's been an accident on Route 9.”