Chapter Fifteen #3
Bree: You don’t get to take all the credit. It can be at a crowded restaurant with lots of chaperones.
Tess: You really know how to tempt a girl.
Bree: I try. Tomorrow night? A quick bite. Judge to judge.
Tess: Back to reset mode, huh?
Bree: How about we don’t label it?
There was a long pause, and Bree waited. Her phone said the last message had been delivered. Then the screen showed that Tess was typing, and finally another message appeared.
Tess: I have dinner plans with a law school classmate tomorrow and presiding judge mixer Wednesday. Maybe dessert on Thursday?
Bree: That sounds safe.
Tess: A pie à la mode date then.
Before she could respond, a follow-up came from Tess.
Tess: Oops…a pie à la mode meeting.
Bree had to smile.
Bree: You’ll send me the time and place?
Tess: I will.
Bree: Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.
It was Thursday night and the last evening of the conference. Bree pulled into the parking lot of the Oceanview Diner. She’d had a good conference so far, but she was ready for tonight’s dessert with Tess and a return home tomorrow afternoon.
Bree entered the restaurant and looked across the room.
Tess sat at a table with a cup of tea. Bree stopped and studied her.
She wasn’t just attractive. She was smart and funny and so much more than she often revealed.
Tess had clearly been hurt in the past, and she didn’t open up to most people.
Bree knew their personal interactions were a gift.
She ignored the escalation of her heart rate and walked over.
“Hi, Your Honor.”
Tess smiled and nodded toward the seat across from her. “Have a seat, Your Honor.”
The waitress came to take their order. They agreed to share a piece of peach pie à la mode.
“Good week?” Bree asked.
Tess nodded. “I’ve learned a lot. There’s a great deal of responsibility to being a presiding judge. Some things I need to pay better attention to. And of course, no downplaying the importance of Arrogance 101—I’ve got new skills.”
Bree laughed. “Uh-oh. So are we going to be dealing with the supercilious, sanctimonious, swaggering Theresa Fairchild as our presiding judge?”
“I’m offended. Swaggering? I’ve never swaggered. But I know how to sashay.”
“Okay, I have to agree. I’m very fond of that move, a sexy sashay.” Bree just couldn’t help herself. Tess pushed every flirt button she possessed.
The waitress brought the dessert and asked if they wanted a second plate. Bree stood up and moved to the seat next to Tess as they both told the waitress that wasn’t necessary.
“Are you ready to get back to the grind?” Tess asked.
Bree was enjoying her new job, even if she was on a steep learning curve. Even if she had feelings for Tess she needed to sort out.
“This week has been a nice break.” Bree took a bite of pie. “Our evening on the beach…”
Tess nodded and then her expression grew serious. “We need to talk.” Her tone was guarded, the tone Bree knew she used when she was protecting herself.
“I thought that’s what we were doing.” Bree’s chest squeezed at Tess’s shift in demeanor.
Tess cleared her throat. “I understand that you have your priorities—you should. That you need to succeed at redefining your life. It’s that I just don’t want to bounce around, emotionally.
I know that you’ve been in a committed relationship, married and divorced, and probably many other”—Tess seemed to be searching for the word she wanted—“liaisons. That while you’re younger than I am, I’m undoubtedly less experienced.
” Tess paused and her face flushed. “I just can’t be involved in a physical relationship without my emotions getting involved. I’m not a player.”
Bree felt her pulse escalate, and she held her tongue for a moment.
Maybe she deserved the insinuation that she was a player.
She recognized that she came across as completely commitment adverse from Tess’s perspective, but it hurt.
She took another bite of dessert to buy a moment to calm down. “What are you trying to say?”
“That I need that reset, and I need you to help us stick to it. That I’m weak around you. That we need to figure out a way for me to be your presiding judge. For you to be my new colleague. For us to each stay in our own lanes. To adhere to that reset.”
Tess stood up, pushing the remainder of the dessert in front of Bree.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Tess, so if keeping this”—Bree pointed between the two of them—“as presiding judge to new judge is what you need, I’ll do my best. But I want you to know that I’ve never been a player.
” She looked away from Tess. “I was married to one.” Then Bree looked up into Tess’s welling hazel eyes. “I’m weak around you too.”
“I’m sorry, Bree. I just want…” Tess pressed her mouth closed and shook her head before she picked up the bill. “I’ll pay on my way out. I’ll see you back at work in Corazon Cove.”
Bree closed her eyes a moment. She owed Tess more than heartache. This was so much more complicated than she could have ever imagined when she’d agreed to Ned’s request. And before her feelings for Tess had deepened.