7. Tessa
O ne of Tessa Wylie’s superpowers was the simple fact that nothing really embarrassed her. She’d learned at a young age that anyone who looked as good as she did—or certainly had in her peak years—could get away with just about anything.
But that power had disappeared tonight. In fact, shame crawled all over Tessa’s body, like hives that caused a miserable, itchy rash. She felt it on her skin, in her bones, pressing on her heart.
Anyone else and she’d have lied and laughed, squirmed out of a sticky situation, and slipped away, leaving her audience teetering between smitten and amused. But this wasn’t anyone else. These people were part of her past and had, at one time eons ago, felt like family.
Did they own this place? Were they renting…a completely empty home? Or were they just here like she was—drawn by nostalgia and an ache for a better time…a better life?
How and why had they ended up here?
Guess she was about to find out.
Waiting for them, Tessa stood on the deck outside the main living area, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she stared out at the moon over the dark waters of the Gulf. Awkward didn’t begin to describe how she felt, half dreading a prickly confrontation, half hoping they could just dive right back into the past.
At the sound of the sliding glass door opening, she turned from the railing to see Eli and Vivien coming out to join her, both dressed now, looking much calmer but no less curious.
“Would you like anything?” Vivien asked. “We have water or…a drink.”
“I wouldn’t mind one of my Pellegrino’s, which I so carelessly left in the fridge.”
“And a toothbrush upstairs,” Eli said with zero humor.
Tessa cringed. She had made herself a little too comfortable here, she supposed.
“I’ll get your water,” Vivien said, the picture of class in this super bizarre situation.
Kate would act that way, too, she thought. It was no wonder those two had always been thick as thieves when the families were together.
“It’s a little chilly out here.” Eli walked to two canvas folding chairs—the only furniture other than the new bed in the entire place. “I’ll bring these in. We can talk inside.”
She searched his face, which looked less harsh in the moonlight than it had under the beacons that had blasted her from a deep sleep.
Eli Lawson was, what? Fifty-two or fifty-three now. Even without seeing him for thirty years, she might have recognized him. The blue eyes, of course, but he had a distinct smile—relaxed and warm. Back in the day, that smile was generally aimed at her.
Not that he was smiling now. He was furious, she guessed, and having a tough time hiding it as well as his sister.
“Okay,” she said, not wanting to argue with anything, since they could, by all rights, call the cops and have her hauled out of here.
Inside, he placed the chairs in the living room, which was lit only by the soft under-cabinet lights in the kitchen. He nodded for her to take one.
“The witness stand?” she joked.
“I’ll sit on the floor,” he replied, folding down as Vivien walked back and offered her a can of overpriced sparkling water.
“Relax, Tessa,” she said softly. “We’re old friends.”
The words were like a balm on her ragged heart, and she darn near hugged the woman. Instead, she lowered into the canvas chair and thanked her for the water.
“So, are you renting here again?” she asked. “Or…what?”
“I think we’ll ask the questions,” Eli said, waiting a beat for Vivien to sit in the other chair. “Starting with, what exactly are you doing here, Tessa? This is quite literally trespassing. Breaking and entering, even.”
She looked from one to the other, considering all the ways she could go. An embellishment of the truth. A total and complete lie. Or honesty?
“Tessa.” Vivien reached over, gently touching her arm. “Are you in trouble?”
Against her will, she nearly melted…and chose honesty.
“I guess it depends on how you define trouble,” she replied. “I was, uh, let go from my job about two weeks ago, and with that went my lavish lifestyle as a permanent resident of the Ritz-Carlton.”
“So you just broke in here and…and made yourself at home?” Eli asked, giving none of the gentleness that his sister had offered.
“Not…exactly.” At his unconvinced look, she laughed lightly and shifted in the ridiculously uncomfortable canvas seat. “I mean, yeah, I brushed my teeth a few times and might have left a coffee cup, but I’m not living here, if that’s what you mean.”
“Then what are you doing asleep in a guest room?” he asked, his gaze narrow with suspicion.
“I didn’t mean to crash, but…” She took a sip, knowing he wanted specifics and facts and a reasonable explanation. Nothing that she actually had on hand. “Long story, like I said.”
“Well, considering we found you trespassing on private property, we’d kind of like to hear it,” Eli replied, his gaze icy.
Vivien inhaled sharply, clearly wanting to give Tessa more of a chance than her brother. “You said you worked for the Ritz-Carlton,” Vivien said. “Why don’t we start there?”
Tessa regarded her old friend, remembering her as a teenager. Much about Vivien hadn’t changed, other than the usual softening and a few laugh lines. She still had thick, gorgeous dark-gold hair. Curtain bangs framed friendly eyes that were just a few shades darker than her hair.
There had always been something trustworthy—innocent, even—about Vivien, and Tessa had liked her very much all those years ago.
“I live—well, lived —at various properties,” Tessa finally continued. “I was one of the top event coordinators for the Ritz. I plan huge parties, conferences, weddings, whatever. I move from property to property, and that’s where I stay, residing in-house for the duration of a major event.”
“Don’t you have a home?” Vivien asked.
She shrugged, used to the question. “No point. I would never be there. My job requires me to be on-site for long periods of time and as soon as one event ends, I head to another Ritz and start the next one.” She curled her lip. “Put all of that in the past tense, since it’s over now.”
“And what brought you here?” Eli asked.
“I was down at the Ritz in Naples, about ten hours south, working on a massive event, when…” She shifted in her seat.
When she got used, betrayed, lied to, and possibly set up for failure. But that might be a little too much truth.
“When I, uh, left the company rather suddenly. I packed up and got on the highway and headed to my next event, in Dallas, because I was certain my name would be cleared?—”
“Cleared of what?” Eli sat up straighter. “Charges?”
The way he said it brought that kick of shame back, but it was the look of total disgust in his eyes that really hurt. Then again, hadn’t their father been arrested for something work-related? She couldn’t quite remember, only that after that last summer, the Wylies never heard from anyone named Lawson again.
There was plenty of explaining to go around, but since she was in the hot seat, she tried to appease him with a smile.
“No, I wasn’t charged with anything, unless stupidity is against the law. I trusted a man I shouldn’t have. A tale as old as time, I’m afraid.”
Her smile didn’t get one in return, but the short speech did take some of the ice out of his eyes.
She took a sip of water, wanting to get this grilling over with. “Anyway, by the time I was a few hours away, I found out I was good and gone at a job I had slayed for quite a few years and didn’t even get severance.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. So what brought you here? To this empty house?” Vivien asked.
Closing her eyes, she remembered the moment when she made the decision, teary-eyed and sad, desperately missing the only person in the world who would have been able to help her. And the fact that it happened on February nineteenth only added to her bone-deep misery—a date that always reminded her that she’d made some questionable decisions in her life.
Alone, unemployed, and longing for comfort, she made what might have been another one.
“I was on I-10 when I saw the sign for Destin and I…” She blew out a breath and turned to Vivien, sensing she might get this. “I just had to come back.”
From the smile she got in return, she instantly knew that her old friend—once one of the best she’d ever had—understood.
Relief washed over Tessa. “I’d never been here again since that last summer and I had nothing else to do, so I zipped on down here,” she continued. “I remembered the street was Gulf Shore Drive and came from memory to where I knew the house was.”
“How did you know?” Vivien asked. “Everything’s different.”
“Eight hundred and two steps,” she said.
“From the harbor to the house,” Vivien finished, a smile lifting her lips. “We used to count them in a song.”
“Right!” She laughed, inexplicably overjoyed that Vivien shared that silly childhood memory. “It’s more like a marina than a harbor, but I figured it out. When I got here, that oak tree I liked to climb was still across the street. I knew I had found…our summer cottage. Except it’s a cottage no more, huh?”
“So you just walked on in and brushed your teeth?” Eli asked without the humor she’d so hoped the situation would get. Maybe it wasn’t funny, but he didn’t have to act like she broke the law.
Okay, maybe she had.
“I, um, got chatting with the contractor, Don,” she said. “He mentioned that the owner might be looking for a buyer, so…I might have pretended to be house shopping.”
He dropped back in his chair. “Yeah, he mentioned you. Said a woman was sniffing around a few weeks ago.”
“That’s me. The sniffer.”
“And squatter,” Eli muttered.
“No, not that very moment, no. On that first visit, I was just…blown away.” Tessa heard the awe in her voice, and didn’t try to hide it, looking around. “Not only is it beautiful, it’s…” She searched for the word. “It’s Destin. It’s a part of my childhood. No, not this actual house, but the beach and atmosphere and the very essence of this place is just…” She pressed her hand to her chest and closed her eyes. “It called to me.”
“I get that,” Vivien whispered in a tone that said she’d had the same response.
“I simply had to stay,” Tessa told them. “I got a hotel that night. The next day, the contractor was here again, and he thought I was really interested, so he let me walk around by myself for a while. I noticed there wasn’t an alarm, so…”
She wet her lips and looked directly at Eli, who would surely disapprove of what she was going to say next, but she’d committed to the truth now.
“I unlocked the door to that bedroom. I saw the spiral steps that led up from the pool level, so I knew I could come back when no one was here. And I did. A lot. Like every night, and a few times, yeah, I fell asleep, usually upstairs in the main bedroom. Then when I came tonight, I saw the bed and I knew someone was either here or had been. I came by way of the beach, so I didn’t see any cars, but I didn’t want to take a chance. I just put my head down on that new mattress for a second and wham…here we are at the Grand Inquisition.”
“It’s not an inquisition,” Vivien said quietly.
It kinda was, but she deserved it. “I parked my car with all my earthly belongings at the marina, and…” Oh, good heavens, she was a squatter. A homeless, jobless, almost fifty-year-old drifter . She groaned at the thought, mortified.
“It’s fine,” Vivien insisted, as though she felt Tessa’s pain. “I understand why you would come here. I do. This place has called to me more than once over the years.”
Tessa smiled, loving the other woman for the empathy. She knew in her heart why this place felt like home and comfort, but wasn’t sure she could explain it. Would they care that it reminded her of happy times with her father and soothed her grieving soul? Maybe. Or maybe not.
“Anyway,” Tessa continued, “Destin in general and this slice of heaven in particular has my heart and I needed somewhere to feel good and…I’m sorry.” She looked from one to the other, never meaning the words more. “It was wrong and I’m sorry. I’m happy to leave and never come back?—”
“No.” Vivien leaned forward, and Tessa could have sworn she saw tears in her eyes. “You’re in a bind, we have a ton of room, and you should stay.”
A few feet away, Eli bristled, no such sympathy on display.
“Unless that’s a problem for you,” Tessa said to him.
“No, of course it’s not a problem,” he said, casting his gaze away as if it caused him actual pain to look at her. “It’s just…a big surprise.”
“That’s an understatement,” she said wryly, praying for a change in the direction of this conversation. “Now, enough about me. What are you doing here?”
Vivien and Eli shared a look, their brother-sister connection palpable even to a virtual stranger.
They’d frequently been at one another’s throats, Tessa recalled, but they’d watched out for each other—and their little sister whose name she couldn’t recall at the moment. But these two always had each other’s back in various scrapes and binds that the crew had gotten into those summers. Usually because of some wild scheme of Tessa’s.
“Hasn’t Kate told you?” Vivien asked.
“Kate? My sister?” Tessa blinked. “You talk to her?”
“No. But I messaged her,” Vivien said. “I told her we’d rebuilt a house on this property, and I actually invited her down. It was sort of on a whim.”
They’d rebuilt it? Did that mean they owned it? And, wait—they’d invited Kate? Yet Eli acted like Tessa had brought the plague into this place. How was that fair?
“I’m sure that’s why she called me the other night,” Tessa said. “I haven’t talked to her for a while.”
She’d ignored Kate’s calls because there was nothing Tessa hated worse than being the family disappointment. And without Dad to charge to her defense for whatever dumb decisions Tessa had made, it was easier to avoid Kate and Mom. But she missed them with every fiber of her being, just like she ached for her father.
“I haven’t heard back from Kate,” Vivien said. “Is she doing well?”
“Oh, yes. She’s a superstar researcher at Cornell,” Tessa said.
“And your parents?” Vivien asked.
Tessa swallowed. “My mom’s okay, but my dad died six months ago.”
Vivien reached for her. “I’m sorry, Tessa. I always loved Uncle Artie.”
“We all did,” she said softly. “His loss was a tough one. One day he went to the doctor for something routine, they found a tumor, and he was gone less than two months later. It’s probably part of the reason I…” She caught herself and shook her head. Nope, not going to go there. “Anyway. How are your parents?”
Vivien blinked at the question, and again, shared a look with Eli, both of them obviously surprised by the question.
“Oh, no,” she said, sensing she’d stepped in it. “They’re gone?”
“Our father died about a year after…after we last saw you,” Vivien told her.
She drew back. “I never heard that. We didn’t know. How could we not know that?”
“Our parents stopped speaking to yours,” Eli said. “Don’t you know that?”
She turned to him, digging into her memories. “I knew they’d lost touch, but…oh, he died young. I’m so sorry. How did it happen?”
“He was in prison for fraud,” Eli said. “He had a heart attack.”
A chill covered her skin, mostly at the emotionless tone in his voice. There was some pain and unfinished business right there. Yes, she’d heard from her parents that Uncle Roger had trouble with the law, but nothing more. Nothing this dark. Prison? Yikes.
“I’m so very sorry,” Tessa said again. “And Maggie?”
“She’s alive and well,” Vivien said, seeming happy to get off the subject of their father. “She lives with Crista?—”
“The baby,” Tessa said as soon as she heard the name.
“Not a baby anymore,” Vivien told her. “She’s married with a daughter now. We’re all still living around Atlanta and see each other frequently.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Kate still lives in Ithaca near my mom, but I’m…” Tessa lifted a shoulder. “Making myself at home in unfurnished beachfront mansions.”
“Stop,” Vivien said, the kindness in her eyes evident even in this dim light. “You know, I had hoped to hear from Kate and was sad she didn’t respond.”
“Want to call her now?” Tessa asked, reaching to her back pocket for her phone. “She’d love to?—”
“It’s three in the morning,” Eli said, pushing up to a stand. “And I’m going to bed. Feel free to stay in that room, Tessa.”
“Thank you, but I’m so confused. You built this new house—do you own the property?”
“My mother does,” he said. “I’m just the architect and I’ve been overseeing the construction. Vivien can fill you in on the rest.”
She sure hoped somebody would. “Well, it’s awkward, but thank you for being so understanding. I’m sorry I intruded and…” She laughed. “I guess I’m really glad you don’t have a gun.”
He looked down at her and gave the first vague hint of a smile as he studied her. “It’s good to see you, Tessa. Night, all.”
He gave a nod and walked out, heading up the stairs, leaving Tessa to stare at his back until he disappeared around the landing.
“He’s still ticked at me,” she muttered, rising to her feet.
Vivien stood, too, and slid an unexpected arm around Tessa. “I’m not,” she said. “I love seeing you again. Eli’s a stickler for following the rule of law, that’s all.”
Probably because his father was a white-collar criminal, Tessa mused, but she covered that thought by wrapping her arm around Vivien, who’d made this whole thing so much easier.
“You grew up beautifully, Vivien,” she said. “Are you married? Have kids?”
“In the middle of a divorce, but I have a fabulous twenty-four-year-old daughter. You?”
“Never married, no kids. Just free as a bird,” she added.
“Lucky you,” Vivien gushed.
“It sounds better than it is,” Tessa quipped. “Do you work?”
“I’m an interior designer,” Vivien said. “In fact, I’m here to stage this house for sale.”
“So your mother owns it, your brother is the architect, and you’re decorating it. All so you could sell this gem?”
Vivien exhaled, sinking deeper against Tessa. “It’s a long story, but, yeah, that’s the gist of it. My mother’s required by law to give the profits to us, so that’s a tiny silver lining.”
Tessa had a million questions about what had happened to Uncle Roger, but didn’t want to pry. At least, not yet.
“So…Tess.” Vivien gave her a squeeze. “Would you rather sleep or talk?”
“Are you kidding?” Tessa scoffed. “Come to my plastic-covered bed and let’s talk until the sun comes up, just like old times.”
Next to her, Vivien let out a girlish giggle that took Tessa back three decades to a place she never wanted to leave. She had no idea how long they’d let her crash here, but she’d take as much time as she could to bask in this escape from reality.
The sun had indeed risen by the time Vivien blew a kiss to Tessa and headed back upstairs to her own room. They’d talked for three hours, sharing details of life, laughing about old times, and bonding like it was the start of just one more summer in Destin.
Before she’d left, Vivien brought down a towel and some soap so Tessa could shower, and she was just stepping out of the steam, thinking about Kate.
Her sister had to be here. Had to. For one thing, it would be like old times. For another, she’d have a Wylie on her side and it would level the playing field. And maybe they’d let Tessa stay for a good long time.
It might take some convincing, but there really wasn’t anything her sister wouldn’t do if Tessa asked, so she decided to call her right then and there.
Kate answered on the first ring, always wide awake at six in the morning. “Tessa! Oh, my goodness, it’s been so long! I’ve been worried. Are you okay?”
“Fine, more or less. Katie, you are not going to believe where I am.”
“What do you mean, ‘more or less’?” The concern was clear in her voice. “What’s wrong?”
She’d find out sooner or later—especially if she did exactly what Tessa wanted her to do.
“I lost my job.”
“Tess! What happened?”
She didn’t want to go into detail, at least not on this call. “Doesn’t matter. But I ended up in Destin, of all places.”
“Seriously? Wow, that’s a coincidence,” Kate said on a laugh. “I just?—”
“Heard from Vivien that she and her family still own this property and are building a mansion on it.”
“Wait. This property? Are you there ?”
“I am looking at our beach right this minute, Lady Katie.”
Her sister laughed at the old nickname. “Did Vivien find you on Facebook, too?”
If only it were that simple. “Not exactly. I sort of found them. Well, I…” She bit her lip. “I’ll tell you the whole story, but only in person.”
“Are you coming home?”
Home? It had been a long time since Ithaca was home. “No, you’re coming to Destin. Today, tomorrow, soon. I don’t know how much time we have here because they are going to sell this house, which is nuts because it’s beautiful, but we have a chance to be together again. Please come down, Kate. I don’t want to do this without you. I actually don’t think I can.”
The response was dead silence, as expected.
“Can’t you just put your experiments on hold and let the kids stay with Jeffrey?” Tessa pressed. “Mom loves when you let her take care of Marie Curie. Vivien really wants you to come, too. Please throw caution and your schedule to the wind and come down. We’ll stroll the beach and take out a boat and make bonfires and?—”
“Yes.”
Wait, had she heard that right? “Did you say yes?”
“I did. Vivien invited me in a message, and I was waiting to talk to you because I really want to go.”
With a soft hoot of joy, she fell back on the mattress, free of the plastic covering that she and Vivien had ripped off so they could get comfy and talk until dawn. “And I didn’t even have to tell you that Eli is here.”
“Oh, shut it.”
“Never. But he’s not nice like he used to be,” she added. “He’s the architect who designed this house. And it’s stunning with a capital stun.”
She laughed. “I told you I’m coming, Tess. You don’t have to sell me any more.”
“When can you be here?” Tessa asked.
“Give me a couple of days to pull it together. There’s an airport in Destin, right?”
“Heck if I know. I drive everywhere.”
“I’ll figure it out. Send me an address and I’ll let you know when to expect me.”
Tessa popped up and did a little dance in her towel. “Best news ever! And let me tell you, Kate, Vivien is an absolute doll. The same cool kid you remember, too. Oh, did you know Uncle Roger died in prison, like a year after he was arrested?”
“No! I wonder if Mom knows.”
“I doubt it, because wouldn’t she have told us? Vivien said her mother won’t even mention the Wylie family name. We are persona non grata to Maggie Lawson.”
“Huh. I wonder why,” Kate murmured. “Mom said they lost touch, then Uncle Roger got arrested, and Maggie cut out all her friends to save face.”
“I think there’s more to it than that,” Tessa suggested, picking at a thread of the terrycloth wrapped around her. “But whatever. Just come down here and let’s have some fun.”
“Tessa,” she said. “What about your job? What happened?”
“Oh, long story. And I’ll figure my life out soon enough. But this week? This house? This unexpected adventure? We need to recapture the magic of a summer in Destin.”
She waited for her uber-commonsense scientist of a sister to launch into a lecture on maturity and responsibility. But Kate just gave a happy sigh. “I fully agree.”
And that was the best and most unexpected surprise of all.
After they said goodbye, Tessa floated out to the balcony, clutching the towel around her torso. She felt like calling out to the seagulls and diving into the ocean and running up and down the sand.
Hearing a sound, she looked down the length of the house to the other end of the deck, and spotted Eli leaning against the railing, sipping coffee.
Just then, he turned, and even with the distance of the whole house between them, she could feel…animosity.
Despite her attempt to give a truly honest explanation, he wasn’t thrilled about her being here. Maybe it had to do with why his mother had such beef with the Wylies. Whatever. She’d win him over eventually. She hoped.