Chapter 20
TESSA
After spending the morning talking with Willow, Tessa was determined to talk to Hayes face-to-face when he got back. Unfortunately, her phone battery was dead, so she would have to wait until she charged it back up before she could contact him.
“What should I say?” she asked herself as she drove back to the resort from town. “I will just pretend like everything is fine until he gets back. It would be better to talk face-to-face.”
Tessa threw her phone down on the couch and groaned in frustration. Another text from Hayes. There had only been random texts from him since he left town. Tessa realized she had decided it would be better to talk to Hayes face-to-face, but she really wanted to hear his voice.
Tessa was almost positive that there was something more than friendship between her and Hayes. She thought maybe her feelings would fade since she and Hayes had a break from pretending to be a couple, but that had not happened. She missed having him in her day-to-day life to talk and laugh with.
Luckily, he will be back soon. Then I will just tell him how I feel. It will be good, Tessa encouraged herself.
HAYES
Hayes pulled back into the driveway at Tessa’s house at the resort.
He hadn’t seen her in five days since he had stayed longer at his brother’s house to help Jessica a little bit.
Randy was recovering well, but when Jessica returned with the kids, harried and worried, Hayes just couldn’t leave her alone to deal with everything immediately, no matter how much he wanted to see Tessa.
Now that he was about to see her in person for the first time in almost a week, he was nervous. He and Tessa had texted each day, but just small, trivial things. Nothing significant. He felt that they were both waiting to see each other in person to broach any important subject.
Now he grabbed his bag and climbed out of his truck. The slamming of the truck door must have alerted Tessa to his presence because she appeared on the front porch just a moment later.
“Hi,” Hayes said.
“Hi,” Tessa answered.
They just looked at each other for a moment. Well, we are off to a good start. Nothing awkward at all, Hayes thought sarcastically.
He climbed the stairs to the porch and stood beside Tessa. The air crackled between them.
“Hi,” Hayes said again.
“Hi,” Tessa echoed. She took a deep breath. “How’s Randy?”
“Doing better,” Hayes answered. “I think I completed most of his to-do list, so he will be able to recuperate without worrying about that.”
“That was nice of you,” Tessa replied. “You are so good at helping people and making everything better.”
Hayes brushed off the compliment, although it meant a lot to him that Tessa saw him that way. “He would have done the same for me.”
They went inside, and Hayes stowed his bag by the front door.
“I made a light dinner. I wasn’t sure exactly what time you would get home,” Tessa said.
“You didn’t have to make dinner for me,” Hayes protested.
“I wanted to. I missed you,” Tessa admitted shyly.
Hayes’s heart skipped a beat at her admission. He thought back to Randy’s advice to just tell Tessa how he felt. He opened his mouth to speak, but then settled on simply saying, “I missed you, too.”
They smiled at each other and headed to the kitchen.
During dinner, their conversation picked up, and they settled back into their usual banter.
Things seemed almost normal between them again.
Hayes was wondering if the attraction between them was just a fleeting thing when Tessa said, “Would you like to go for a walk with me?”
“Sure,” Hayes agreed. They made quick work of cleaning up the kitchen, then made their way to the path behind the house by the lake that led to the family’s private dock.
As they reached the dock and the tiny house, Hayes marveled at the serenity. “Wow, I have always loved it back here. It’s so tranquil.”
“Thanks,” Tessa said. “I love to come here and just soak up the peacefulness.”
They walked down the dock and sat together at the end, their feet dangling over the water. Was it his imagination, or had Tessa scooted a little closer to him as they sat down? Their legs barely brushed each other, but Hayes was aware of every movement.
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Then Tessa turned to Hayes and said, “You know, it was weird not having you at the house this week. I really missed you.”
TESSA
During the week Hayes had been gone, Tessa decided she was going to be honest with him and address what she felt was happening between them.
She had it all planned out with a small dinner and a walk to her dock.
It was where she felt the calmest, and she just loved being there.
It was one of her favorite places, and she wanted to share it with Hayes.
When she saw him pull into the driveway, she almost lost her nerve, but she went out on the porch to meet him. After their initially awkward exchange, Tessa worried that things were going to be different, but after a few minutes, they seemed to get back to normal.
Now sitting on the dock next to him, so close she was almost touching him, Tessa felt her nerves come back.
This is what you want to do. This is what you need to do, she told herself sternly.
So, she was honest with him and told him that she had missed him.
She was getting ready to say more, but Hayes began talking.
“I missed you, too,” he said, smiling. “It’s funny how soon you get used to new routines. But it was nice to see Randy even though I wish it wasn’t because he broke his arm. He gave me some good advice.”
“Oh, yeah,” Tessa replied, “what kind of advice?”
“Advice on life and lo—other stuff,” Hayes said. “He said I should be honest in all things.”
“Do you make it a habit of lying about things?” Tessa teased.
“No, I try not to,” Hayes said, looking into her eyes.
“So, what do you need to be honest about?” Tessa asked a little breathlessly.
Hayes paused for a moment, looking like to was thinking deeply about something, then he turned back to Tessa. “I think there are a few things I could be more honest about.”
“I think I need to be honest about something, too,” Tessa whispered.
“Tessa, I—”
“Hayes, I—”
They laughed as they spoke at the same time.
“Let me speak first, if you don’t mind,” Hayes said.
“Okay,” Tessa said softly.
“Well, I’ve had a lot of time to think over the past week and put some things into perspective,” Hayes said solemnly. “And being with Randy and his family really cleared some things up for me.”
Tessa held her breath. Was Hayes going to say what she thought he was going to say? Hayes opened his mouth to continue when a shrill ringtone interrupted them, causing them both to jump.
“Oh, sorry, it’s me,” Hayes apologized. “I had the volume turned up when I was working at Randy’s house in case he needed me. I guess I never turned it down.”
He grabbed his phone to turn the volume down and glanced at the screen, frowning.
“What is it?” Tessa asked, concerned.
“It’s the school,” Hayes said. “It’s unusual for them to be calling me now.”
“Go ahead and answer it,” Tessa encouraged.
“No, I’ll get to it later,” Hayes said, but Tessa could tell he was concerned.
“No, it’s all right, it might be important,” Tessa argued.
Hayes reluctantly answered the phone and listened intently. “Okay, okay. I’ll be right there.”
He hung up and stood up. “I’m sorry. I’m going to have to go to the fields. Someone has broken into the locker room and vandalized it. I need to go see the damage and see if anything was stolen.”
“Oh no!” Tessa exclaimed. “Who would do something like that?”
“It was probably just some bored teenagers,” Hayes said. “Hopefully, the damage is not too bad.”
“I hope not,” Tessa said.
Hayes held out his hand to help Tessa up. They began their walk back to Tessa’s house. They held hands the whole way back. Hayes apologized again to Tessa. Tessa assured him it was all right, and Hayes drove off just a couple of hours after returning.
Tessa sighed as she watched him drive away.
She knew he had no choice but to go and see what he could do, but she was sad that they had been interrupted.
She felt they were on the verge of something.
Hayes said he needed to be honest about something.
Was he going to say something similar to what Tessa had planned to say?
She was afraid to hope so, but at the same time, she hoped that they would have another opportunity soon to continue their conversation.
HAYES
Hayes was a ball of tension as he drove toward the fields.
Of course, he was upset that they had been vandalized, but he was also frustrated that his conversation with Tessa had been interrupted.
He felt that she might have been on the verge of saying something like what he planned to say.
Maybe the interruption came at a good time.
What if they were thinking two totally different things?
Or maybe he was being a coward and was somewhat relieved at the interruption because it gave him more time.
Thinking of the interruption shifted his thoughts from Tessa to the situation at hand.
Relieved at the interruption or not, the interruption itself was something else to worry about.
Hopefully, the damage was minimal, and nothing had been taken.
Luckily, with it being the summer, whatever happened wouldn’t interfere with baseball season.
He parked at the fields and leapt from his truck.
Principal Alan Smith was talking to the sheriff by the locker room.
Hayes quickly crossed the parking lot to join them.
“Hi, Hayes,” Alan greeted him. “I was just talking to Sheriff Tyler about the damage. It’s not terrible, but it will take a little bit to fix. We don’t think anything was stolen; it just looks like some kids were trying to pull a prank, but we would like you to check just to be sure.”
“Of course,” Hayes replied as he assessed the damage. A little trash was strewn about and the walls were spray-painted on. He entered the equipment room to take stock.
“At first glance, I don’t think anything was stolen, but I’d like to do an in-depth inventory,” Hayes told Alan and Sheriff Tyler when he rejoined them. “Any clue as to who is responsible?”
“I have a couple of ideas,” Sheriff Tyler responded. “I am going to look into them further.”
“Okay, well, keep us posted,” Alan said. “If they were students, we need to know.”
“Thanks, Sheriff,” Hayes said. “I will get that inventory to you as soon as possible.”
After a few more minutes of talking, Alan and Sheriff Tyler left, and Hayes went to work in the locker room.