7. Jacinthe #2
“Oh, I see,” she drawls. “Well, proceed, then. I’ll catch you later. You’re still starting the pony rides at two, right?”
“ Ouais ,” I bark.
“Sounds good.” She waves at Tess. “Enjoy your tour, Tess! Nice to meet you!”
I wait until she’s disappeared into the kitchen with no sign of coming back before I turn back to Tess.
“Sorry about that. Trust me, you did not want to meet three La Cloche lesbians all at once.”
Tess cocks her head.
“My friends are just very, um, excited,” I explain, “to have a…”
I trail off, my face heating up as I realize I haven’t actually ever heard her confirm she’s gay.
I’d have to toss my Gaydar into a trash compactor if it turns out I’m wrong, but I guess stranger things have happened.
“A new lesbian in town?” Tess guesses. “I am a lesbian, in case that wasn’t clear.”
I let out a heavy breath. “I didn’t want to assume…”
She chuckles. “What gave it away? Was it the hair? The massive carabiner?”
My relief is turning into giddiness now. I laugh along with her.
“Massive, eh? More massive than this?”
I yank my shirt up to reveal the carabiner hooked around the belt loop of my jeans, jammed full of keys, a mini Swiss Army knife, and a plastic keychain shaped like two interlocking pairs of scissors that Natalie and I thought was absolutely hilarious when we were eighteen.
“I don’t know,” Tess counters. “You tell me.”
She hikes her own shirt up, and there it is: the carabiner to end all carabiners.
It’s so thick it makes the waist of her jeans sag. She has even more keys than I do, and her Swiss Army knife is a full size model that makes mine look like a toothpick in comparison.
“Oh. Wow,” I blurt. I can feel my eyes bulging. “That is big.”
I tear my gaze away when I hear a knock on the window beside us.
Maddie, Natalie, and her girlfriend Brooke are all peering at us like they’re standing outside a zoo exhibit.
“Ah, shit.” I shoot them all a glare I hope they can feel singeing their eyeballs. “Sorry. They’re such creeps. Come on. I’ll pretend to give you a tour of the backyard.”
I lead the way through the lounge. People stop me every few feet to say congratulations or shake my hand, so it’s a good ten minutes before we finally get to the kitchen, where yet more people are swarming around the massive selection of finger foods covering every inch of the island.
I have to hip check one of my uncles out of the way so we can get to the back door. Tess and I both gulp down a few mouthfuls of fresh air the second we step outdoors. I hadn’t realized how hot the house was with so many people crammed inside.
“That feels good,” Tess says, fanning her face with both hands.
I tug at the neck of my blazer. “Yeah. It’s like a sauna in there.”
Only a handful of people have made it out to the backyard.
I mowed the whole property yesterday, so the air still smells like cut grass.
There are a few picnic tables scattered around under some big maple trees.
The signature balsam firs that tower on either side of the house create some patches of shade.
Tess and I end up walking over to the small pond lined with rustling bulrushes. It’s late enough in the season that the cattails have gone all puffy, little bits of fluff drifting off in the breeze.
“So,” I say, since we can’t walk in silence forever, “you showed up at my house today to ask me if I hate you?”
Tess laughs and scratches the back of her neck. “I was going to do it with a little more finesse than that. I didn’t realize I’d be crashing your grand opening.”
I run my finger over one of the cattails as we pass by, sending a whole spray of fluff into the air.
“I don’t know,” Tess adds. “I guess I thought maybe we could, like, talk a little? I spent a whole day talking to your mom while I was working on your horses, which I get doesn’t mean I, like, know her, but it seems kind of weird that you and I might be sharing a kitchen without ever having had a proper conversation. ”
I scoff. “Oh, you really think we’re going to let you use the kitchen, huh? Didn’t you read the fine print? That’s an extra three hundred a month.”
Tess stumbles to a halt, her face turning pale.
“I’m kidding,” I add.
“Oh.” She gulps. “Ha.”
I hold my hands up in apology. “Okay, no kitchen jokes. Got it.”
“No, no.” She shakes her head and continues walking. I fall into step beside her. “It’s just…you have a very unpredictable sense of humor.”
“ I’m unpredictable?” I clap a hand to my chest. “You’re the one who keeps showing up at my house uninvited.”
She gives me some serious side-eye.
“That was also a joke,” I tell her.
This time, she laughs for real. She tosses her head back, her shiny lips glinting in the sun.
Maybe it’s not Chap Stick. Maybe she just has a naturally radiant mouth.
Thankfully, she doesn’t catch me staring. We start on another lap around the pond, and her attention drifts over to the white barn at the back of the two acres of property.
“Do you have horses here too?” she asks.
“No, that’s Natalie’s art barn.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Art barn?”
“She’s a painter,” I explain. “We turned the barn into a studio, and she’s going to run art retreats and classes for the guests out there.”
Tess grins. “That’s so cool.”
I nod. “Yeah, she’s pretty badass.”
Without really deciding on it, we both start heading for the barn.
“So, you’re all running the business together?” Tess asks.
“Uh-huh. We do a bit of everything, but we all have our specialties. Natalie is doing all the art stuff, and my cousin, Maddie, is this big math genius, so she’s the numbers girl. I’m in charge of maintenance and tourism operations.”
I can’t keep my chest from puffing out a little as I explain my job.
“We have all these different packages and add-ons for the guests that I set up with some of the other local tourism businesses. We really want people who stay here to get the most out of La Cloche.”
Tess glances back at the house, which is still swarmed with so many people I think the walls might start cracking.
“Seems like you’re off to a great start.”
I nod. “I hope so.”
I don’t sound very hopeful. My cheeks are aching from smiling so much today, but out here, with a couple hundred feet of perspective between me and Balsam Inn, I can’t keep the nerves from dragging my mouth down into a frown.
I need this to work.
I need the inn to do well. I need it to bring more customers out to La Grange Rouge.
I need more time to take care of Maman and the horses and the million little things I have to do around the farm, but I can’t get more time if I don’t make more money, and I can’t seem to get more money without more time.
Lately, life has felt like an equation so impossible even my math whizz cousin Maddie wouldn’t be able to solve it.
Something’s gotta give.
That’s what I keep telling myself, but I can’t figure out what the something is.
I should be back there with everyone soaking up the moment. I should be handing out flyers and yapping with tourists. I should be getting one of those terrible face paintings done so I can jump around and make everybody laugh.
I should be bringing Balsam Inn to life, but instead, I feel like a shadow, like some creepy Grim Reaper hanging over the place.
“You okay?”
I didn’t even realize we’d reached the barn. Tess is standing with her shoulder propped against the brand new sliding door, watching me with this soft look on her face that jolts me straight out of my pity party.
I don’t want soft looks from strangers. I don’t want to be the problem. I don’t have time to be the problem.
I’m the one who solves the problems.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
I reach to haul the heavy wooden door open so I can show Tess the studio. I need the distraction, but I pause after sliding it open just a crack.
Tess is still watching me, and this time, I hold her gaze.
Maybe this is the something .
Maybe I need to get over Tess’s carabiner being bigger than mine and see her arrival in La Cloche for what it really is: an opportunity I can’t risk losing.
Maybe I need to start doing everything I can to make sure she signs the lease.
“You know what? You’re right,” I say.
Her forehead wrinkles. “About what?”
“We should talk. How about tonight? I know a good place for a drink.”