by AJ Nuest
“Yes.” Dibs’s palm met the small of her back. “And Rex will take a vodka martini, three olives.”
Mr. Brenner shifted his eyes to her before mixing their drinks. “It’s Rex then, is it?”
“No,” she answered in unison with Dibs’s, “Yes.” They shared a smile.
“Dibs thinks since he has a nickname, everyone else should have one too,” she explained. “Unfortunately, that’s the one he’s given me. You may call me Tessa.”
Mr. Brenner turned with her martini in hand. “So, it’s more of a pet name, than nickname.”
She hesitated. What was this? Another of his little tests? “Rex is what Dibs prefers to call me…so I let him.”
One of Mr. Brenner’s eyebrows rose the slightest degree as he handed Dibs a glass of scotch. “She’s got spunk, I’ll give her that.” He clinked their glasses together before tipping his drink to his lips.
Approval glinted in Dibs’s eyes, and she smiled around a sip of her vodka. He had been pleased with his father’s response.
All of their heads swiveled at the swish of the door. Tessa’s toes curled inside her shoes as Mrs. Brenner gracefully crossed the room, a tan raw silk skirt flowing at her feet, intricate blue and green embroidery dancing around the hemline. Her blue silk shirt had three-quarter length sleeves and ended abruptly at the top of her waistband. Thick cuff bracelets encircled each of her wrists, stunning in their brilliance, stacked with cut emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds. Her ash-blonde hair was pinned up and highly coiffed, adding to the height and length of her, a tall, slim, imposing force to be reckoned with.
As she neared, the slender tilt of her jaw came into focus. Combined with her wide unlined brow, the slope of her aristocratic nose, her stunning beauty belied her age. When she was younger, Mrs. Brenner must have been exquisite.
“Ah, my darling, you look ravishing.” Mr. Brenner kissed her cheek when she stopped in front of them.
“How many bourbons have you had, Benjamin?” She accepted the glass of gin he offered. “You’re being absurd.”
Mr. Brenner glanced at Tessa, the rim of his glass nearly hiding the purse of his lips.
Oh no, this wasn’t just a test. It was a goddamned course final. She gulped a generous swallow of her martini, a small concession against the very long evening ahead.
“Darling, allow me to introduce Ms. Adams.”
Mrs. Brenner lowered her intimidating stare to Tessa’s dress. “We’ve met. By the pool.”
“Yes.” Tessa skimmed the high arch of Vanessa Brenner’s eyebrows before meeting her sapphire gaze. “I feel I must apologize. I’m afraid we didn’t meet under the best—”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She dismissed Tessa’s amends with a wave. “This isn’t the first time I’ve caught David in the pool with one of his lady friends.”
Tessa jerked her focus to Dibs.
“I was seventeen years old, Mother. Let it go, already.”
She bit her lip, smirking into her glass.
“What is this on your face?” Dibs’s mother clutched his chin and briskly turned it under her appraising eye. “Did you forget your razor?”
His shoulders lifted with a deep intake of breath. “No, Mother.”
“Well, you should shave. A beard looks messy. Don’t you agree, Miss Adams?”
“No, I don’t.” She smiled up at Dibs. “I actually think David looks quite handsome.”
“Well, there’s no accounting for—”
“Mother,” he snapped. “It’s my face and I will do with it as I please.”
The door swung open, and a handsome young man in a deep brown suit entered. “Hello, everyone. Sorry I’m late.”
“Marcus, you have impeccable timing as always.” Raising his glass, Mr. Brenner welcomed the new member to their group.
Tessa aimed an inquiring eyebrow at Dibs, but he was preoccupied pinching the bridge of his nose, mumbling incoherently.
The young man bore the signature Brenner square jaw line and possessed Dibs’s athletic build, but stood slightly shorter, with olive skin, and brown hair and eyes.
“Hello, Father, I’ll have a bourbon if you’re pouring.” He pecked each of Mrs. Brenner’s cheeks. “Mother.”
“Marcus, where is Emily?” She kissed the air around his face. “Why isn’t she with you?”
“Let’s see, what month is it? April?” He received the crystal tumbler Mr. Brenner offered. “Ah yes, that would mean she’s in Paris, spending scads on her new spring wardrobe no doubt.” He smiled at Dibs, shaking his hand. “How are you, old man? And who is this lovely creature you brought with you?”
“This is Rex.” Dibs tipped the lip of his glass forward. “Rex, this is my kid brother, Marcus.”
“Tessa Adams.” She offered her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“She’s absolutely breathtaking, Dibs.” Marcus retained her hand, but withdrew a pace, running his gaze up and down the length of her. “Well done, old man.”
She pinched the inside of her cheek between her teeth. Affable manner aside, this Brenner was apparently no less tricky than the rest of them. “Thank you for the generous compliment, but the last time I checked, Dibs wasn’t responsible for my appearance.”
“And she’s feisty.” Marcus squinted, a hint of intrigue coloring his tone. “Fantastic.”
“Now that we all know Marcus is completely taken with Miss Adams…” Mrs. Brenner floated a hand toward the table. “Shall we be seated?”
Dibs’s brother tucked her hand inside his arm, choosing to escort her to the table. “Has she made you want to run and hide yet?” he asked quietly, tipping his head toward his mother.
Tessa huffed. “Hide and seek is a child’s game, Marcus.”
“Goddamn it, Dibs!” He aimed a full grin at his brother. “She’s absolutely marvelous.”
They all found their seats, with Mr. and Mrs. Brenner at the end and head of the table, Tessa on Mrs. Brenner’s right and Marcus on her right. Dibs sat directly across the table on Mrs. Brenner’s left, while another place setting remained unoccupied before the chair on his left.
“Don’t tell me you’ve invited Caroline, too.” He jerked his chin toward the empty seat.
“Of course, David.” Mrs. Brenner unfolded her napkin over her lap. “Your father and I thought it might be nice to see the family, since you’ve finally left that vile city for our part of the world.”
A clink resounded when the base of Tessa’s glass connected with the edge of her plate. Should she stop drinking now…or give up and get completely smashed?
“I suppose my thanks for that should go to you, Miss Adams.” A cunning smile curled the corners of her mouth as Mrs. Brenner plucked a small silver bell from near her water goblet. A cheery chime sang through the abrupt silence.
Tessa’s spine met the chair with a hard jolt. Had their hostess just implied she was responsible for their trip to Bernhamwood…perhaps even cajoled Dibs into bringing her here? Fine. If this was some daring game of wits, she was happy to rise to the challenge. She smiled in return. “You’re most welcome.”
Mrs. Brenner’s fingertips whitened on the handle of the bell. Marcus sputtered, and then quickly altered his laughter into a small cough.
Dibs cleared his throat, but his focus remained on her hand, holding the stem of her glass. Tessa followed his gaze down to the bracelet at her wrist, and then smiled into his eyes, sparkling with mischief over the gentle curve of his lips.
“So, what is it that you do, Tessa?” Marcus twisted in his chair, his arm on the edge of the table so he sat facing her.
A server arrived and lowered a bowl of soup onto Mr. Brenner’s plate.
“I own an event-planning business.”
“Yes, Marcus,” Mr. Brenner explained. “Tessa’s company is handling the summer BFG meeting this year.”
“Really?” Marcus lifted his brows around the table. “That should be very interesting.”
“We’ll have some interesting activities planned for the attendees,
if that’s what you mean.”
“What’s truly interesting to me is how you and David began dating at the same time your company was given the event.” Mrs. Brenner leaned slightly aside when the server delivered her soup.
“Pure coincidence,” Dibs said.
“We weren’t actually dating at the time.” Tessa opened her napkin across her lap. “We were just friends.”
“Oh?” Mrs. Brenner asked. “So you began dating after your company had been hired for the event?”
Tessa’s pulse quickened. So now she had apparently blackmailed her way into working for BFG? Using sex as a bargaining tool? Oh-h-h, the woman was in for a rude awakening if she chose to banter words as if they were chips at a poker table.
“Mother, you’re being rude.” Dibs yanked his chair forward an inch. “You don’t have any right to insinuate—”
“No, Dibs.” Tessa held up her hand. “She’s right. That is absolutely correct, Mrs. Brenner. Dibs and I met, we became friends, through our friendship we discovered I had presented to BFG Investments, a few days later my company was hired for the event, and then about a week later we began dating. The strange thing is we would likely have met each other, anyway.”
She met the clear blue light in Dibs’s gaze, her beacon amid a threatening storm. “It’s an astonishing thing to me how fate can put someone so wonderful in your path. Even when you least expect it, and even when they’re the last person you’re looking for.”
She refocused on Vanessa Brenner. “You see, Mrs. Brenner, the truth is I didn’t want to date your son. In fact, I insisted quite emphatically we didn’t date. But over time, as I came to know him, and learned what an amazing person he is, I simply couldn’t resist. David won me over, plain and simple. And for that, you have him to thank.”
Tessa selected her spoon, vibrantly aware of the weighted tension saturating the air. With a wink at Dibs, she tipped the soup to her lips.
“Parry and thrust,” Marcus whispered, gleefully rubbing his palms together.
The door opened to reveal a pretty girl, her thick blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders as she entered. The sparkling angora sweater she wore over white woolen pants at once reminded Tessa of the icy white snow on the mountain.
She beamed and rushed forward, throwing her arms around Dibs’s shoulders “Dibsy! I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“Hi, Bunny.”
“I’ve got so much to tell you.” She passed him and pecked Mr. Brenner’s cheek. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hello, Pumpkin.”
“Daddy, we really must discuss the plans for my birthday.” She tugged the empty chair from the table and sat. “Absolutely everyone has been asking about the details.”
“It’s funny you should mention that, Pumpkin.” Mr. Brenner dipped his chin toward Tessa. “Ms. Adams is an event planner. Perhaps we could talk her into helping out with your upcoming soiree.”
“Of course.” Tessa smiled at the girl she assumed was Dibs’s sister.
“Caroline, this is Tessa Adams, David’s new girlfriend.” Mrs. Brenner blithely flipped her hand in Tessa’s direction. “Ms. Adams, please meet our daughter, Caroline.”
The disappointment crumpling Caroline’s brow suggested she would rather have been cornered by a ferocious pit bull. “Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine.”
“I’m afraid my husband may have misspoken,” Mrs. Brenner announced. “You see, Ms. Adams, I usually handle our family celebrations. After all, it’s not very difficult to plan a party.”
Like some demented tennis match, every head in the room swiveled to Tessa…because, of course, her business held absolutely no value.
“I believe what my mother meant is it’s not very difficult to plan our parties.” Marcus smiled, but his pleasantness appeared forced.
“Oh, I wasn’t offended. You see, my company doesn’t plan parties. We plan events. Big difference.”
He nodded, gifting her a genuine smile.
Tessa lifted her spoon for a second sip. Dibs shook his head, the muscle ticking in his jaw a sure sign he was about to pop his cork. Time to play it very, very cool.
“So, what were you talking about before I came in?” Caroline swept her spoon over the rim of her bowl, darting her eyes about the table. But the poor girl had no idea what she was doing.
“We were just discussing how David and Ms. Adams met.” Mrs. Brenner offered.
“How did you two meet, exactly?” Marcus planted an elbow on the table and swung the bottom of his glass toward Dibs.
He locked onto Tessa. “At LaGuardia Airport, during the ice storm several weeks ago.”
“And?” Marcus asked.
She innocently lifted her brows.
“And what?” Amusement danced across Dibs’s lips.
“And then what happened?”
He sat back in his chair, sizing up his younger brother. “And then I saw her and I knew.” He zeroed in on Tessa from across the table once again. “So I took the seat beside hers and bothered the heck out of her until she started paying attention to me.”
“I’m sure that didn’t take very long.” Caroline grinned at Dibs.
He shot her a skeptical frown. “It took two weeks.”
A laugh blurted past Tessa’s lips, and when every head wrenched back to her, she quickly stared into her soup.
“So, now that you’re dating, may I ask what your plans are?” Mrs. Brenner’s question held a bitter tang in contrast to Tessa’s laughter.
Dibs sprang forward in his seat.
Wait…what just happened? Tessa hesitantly glanced between them. “I really…don’t…have any plans.”
“Surely you must realize whom you are dating.”
“Mother,” he gritted between this teeth. “That is enough.”
Mrs. Brenner placed her hand on the table. “I don’t see any reason why a mother can’t ask after someone’s intentions when they are dating her eldest son.”
“For Christ’s sake, Mother, that is none of your business.”
“It most certainly is my business. Everything you do is my business, David. You’re my son.”
“I’m also a grown man.” He jabbed a finger at the table. “And fully capable of making my own decisions.”
“Like divorcing Margaret?” she scoffed. “That was a terrible decision on your part.”
“You have no right to bring that up.” He shoved his chair back. “Your scheming is what got me into that mess in the first place.”
“The only one who created any mess was you, David.” She peered down the table at her husband. “How much did that fiasco cost us, Benjamin?”
“I am sick and tired of you laying the blame for that disaster at my feet!” He threw his napkin to the table.
“Well, the blame was yours, David.”
“How can—”
“Just stop it!” Tessa shouted.
Every person in the room flinched in their seat, but she didn’t care. The situation had spiraled completely out of control.
Maybe if she laid her cards on the table…if she spoke from her heart they would see, they would all realize the relationship she shared with Dibs wasn’t a silly game to her. “You asked what my intentions are, Mrs. Brenner, and I would like to answer your question.”
Dibs opened his mouth as if preparing to argue and she glared at him from across the table. Did he really think not to let her state her case in front of his family? He snapped his mouth shut and briskly rubbed a palm across his forehead before tossing that same hand in the air.
“My intentions are these.” She gathered her thoughts, folding her hands in her lap. “When David is sad, I intend to make him happy. When he is ill, I intend to make him well. When he is angry or upset, I intend to listen and find the words to make him feel better. When he is depressed, I intend to bring him joy, and when he is hurt, I intend to find the source of his pain and take it away from him.”
She bridged the distance to Dibs’
s devoted gaze, and radiant love crested the last barricade surrounding her heart. “You see, Mr. and Mrs. Brenner, I’m in love with your son. But I don’t want anything from him. You don’t need to worry because my only intention is to give to him. That’s the way it’s supposed to be when you love someone, isn’t it? To think only of their needs, instead of your own?”
She broke off from Dibs and faced his mother. “Those are my intentions, Mrs. Brenner. I hope you find them satisfactory.”
A dangerous edge formed along Vanessa Brenner’s jaw. She glanced around the table, at last settling on Dibs for a long, quiet moment. With a slow pivot of her head, she aimed a defiant eyebrow at Tessa. “Pretty words…from a pretty girl…wearing a pretty bracelet.”
“Enough!” Dibs slammed his fist on the table.
Caroline started at the same time Tessa jumped in her chair. But Mrs. Brenner chose to stare the length of the table at her husband.
The woman had just declared war.
Tessa stiffened when Dibs’s fierce gaze landed on her. A heavy silence blanketed the room, everyone waiting for him to make the next move.
“We’re leaving,” he said quietly. “Right now.” He stood.
“Don’t go, old man,” Marcus wearily voiced under Caroline’s whine of, “Wait, I just got here.”
What a disaster. What a complete and utter disaster. Tessa placed her napkin on the table.
“I’m sorry you feel you must go, David,” Mrs. Brenner said. “But I believe one day you will come to understand why I do the things I do.”
He pushed his empty seat to the table, rounded his mother’s chair, and offered Tessa his hand. “I stopped trying to figure out why you do the things you do a long time ago, Mother. I will not sit by while you consistently insult someone who is very important to me.”
Tessa grasped his hand and stood. “I’m very sorry,” she whispered, and walked at his side through the door.
****
Holding his hand, keeping pace with his long, brisk strides to the master suite, Tessa repeatedly glanced at Dibs from the corner of her eye…but she didn’t say anything. The dark set of his brow, the tension in his shoulders, told her to keep quiet. Whatever she did say would probably be the wrong thing.
