by Kaci Hart
“I see. It was just the way you said it.”
“Well it’s true. Trust me that everyone is relieved. A bigger one could tear this place up. You’re happy when everyone lives and you are grateful when your property gets spared as well. The bigger problem here might be him.”
Libby was pointing to Connor. He had his hands on his waist and was looking around. There was something about the look in his eyes that said it was too much. He already had trials. Now this might just be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Tessa didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like it was her responsibility but she just couldn’t let it end like that. Sure, she had no real stake in how things turned out with Connor and the bed and breakfast, but she was starting to care about him. There had to be something she could do to help him save the place. She just had to figure out how.
Chapter Eight
Connor was startled from his sleep when he heard a thump on his roof. For a second he was afraid that another tornado was hitting his place. That would be like nature was just heaping more coals on the fire but it wouldn’t surprise him in the least bit. It wasn’t until he heard old Jake’s voice yell to someone else outside. When he looked out of the window, there was a lot of activity going on outside.
He hopped out of the bed and quickly dressed before heading down. When he got to the lobby, he turned to Libby.
“What’s going on? What’s everyone doing here?”
She laughed at him.
“Maybe you should ask Tessa. She’s outside.”
“Okay.”
He walked outside and realized much more was going on than he had thought. He saw Tessa in the center of all the activity and he went directly to her.
“Tessa, what did I wake up to?”
“Not much. Just the spirit of this town you live in.”
His attention was diverted when several people shouted out to him.
“Hey Connor.”
Another young person shouted to him while digging a whole.
“Coach. What’s up!”
“Hi. Hi. Hi.”
He wasn’t going to find out anything standing in the middle of all this so he asked her to follow him to the side of the house.
“Okay. So explain.”
“I will but first you have to promise to not get upset with me.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“Well the other day, I came to your office to talk to you and I overheard you on your phone call. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but it sounded like you were so upset. I talked to Libby and she told me how much trouble the place has been in over the past year. When the tornado hit Monday, you had this glazed over look on your face. Like you just couldn’t take anymore. I couldn’t stand seeing that. I had to do something.”
“So what? How did you convince all these people to come help?”
“I didn’t really have to do much convincing. I just went around town and talked to people. Before I knew it, I had people willing to give money to help refortify the place. The people who couldn’t donate offered their time and services.”
“But this looks like half the town is here.”
“Not quite, but enough to get the job done. Connor everybody in this town loves you because you do so much for the town itself.”
Connor couldn’t believe it.
“This is amazing. I mean, I never would have thought something like this could happen.”
“Well you need to think differently. Look at what everyone is doing for you. Mr. John is working on the roof, and Dan from the flower shop has some of your students planting donated flowers. Ms. Celia has a few ladies helping her quilt new sheets for the beds, and drapes for the curtains and table cloths. Like they say, many hands make light the work.”
“Wow. I . . . I don’t know what to say. You arranged all of this but why?”
“Because you deserve it Connor. You’ve been working so hard to keep this place up and running. On top of that you volunteer for the school as coach, and you even cut the church grass for goodness sakes. If anyone deserves unrequested help, you would be him. You’d be surprised how many people were upset that you didn’t ask for help before. I had to remind them just how stubborn you were about doing things yourself. Of course everyone agreed that you wouldn’t just let anyone help you so we all arranged to help you out without asking. That way you couldn’t turn us down.”
“I guess I have no choice. So then what do I need to do?”
“Absolutely nothing. Well there is one thing. Come with me.”
Connor followed her into the house, and the dining room. He smiled when he saw her pull the strawberry shortcake out of the fridge and top it with fresh whipped cream.
“I wasn’t sure if this day could get any better and then you spring this on me.”
“Don’t get overwhelmed yet. There’s more. You wait there a minute.”
“Okay, but I can’t take much more.”
“This you will. I have to show this to you.”
He watched as she walked off and wondered what in the world he really did to deserve all of this. She came back about a minute later with a tablet in her hand.
“Look at this.”
He took it from her and looked at the screen.
“Okay so you took a few pictures of the place.”
“Not just pictures. These are going to be a part of your new website.”
“New website? I never had an old one.”
“I know! I can’t believe you ever expected to get business in this day and age with just paper brochures.”
“They worked fine for my mom and dad.”
“Yeah but that was ages ago. If you want to thrive, you’ve got to be current and up to date. That doesn’t mean you have to change the place. Just how you let the world know about it. By tomorrow I’m going to have you set up with an excellent online presence.”
“Great.”
“I wanted to ask if you have any other pictures or anything else we can use to show the history of the house. From a marketing perspective, I want to present the hotel as a destination. Have you had any famous people that have stayed here?”
“A few. A couple of musicians and actors. A few political figures. Even a couple of presidents have spent time here.”
“Are you serious? Please tell me you have a picture of them. Any of them.”
“How about all of them.”
“No way.”
“Yep. In the attic.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. You are sitting on a goldmine if that’s the case. Don’t you know anything about marketing?”
“Not really.”
“Well then I guess that settles it. I am going to need to stay a little longer to get this all together.”
“Okay. Now I am officially still dreaming. The only thing that would make today better would be if you told me you were never leaving.”
It was a little forward but at this point, he didn’t care. She was special and he would be an idiot to at least not say something to her. She blushed and looked away so he knew she felt something. Unfortunately, he didn’t hear what he was hoping for.
“I would love that Connor but I am going to tell you the same thing I told myself when I thought about it. We all have to wake up sometime. As much as I like it here, this isn’t my life, it’s yours. I just want you to enjoy it as much as possible.”
“Gotcha. Well you can’t blame me for trying.”
Connor took a bite of the cake and smiled at the medley of flavors in his mouth.
“Oh yes I can. I can completely blame you for making me want to do something foolish. The best I can offer is that I am gonna stay for a week or two more. I really think we can share how special the bed and breakfast is with everyone and make a decent amount of money doing it. Just promise me you won’t get all touchy when I finally do leave.”
“What? I never liked you from the beginning, remember?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
***<
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Tessa put the muffins in the oven and began washing her hands.
“You never told me how you do all this.”
“What? You mean cooking?”
“Yeah,” Connor responded. “I mean some people can cook and then some people just do what you do. It’s on another level.”
“I wouldn’t call it all that.”
“And you shouldn’t but if you ask anyone else here, they will say you might just be the best cook they have ever known. So how’d you learn?”
Tessa sat down at the table across from Connor and looked at him. There weren’t many guys that she ever talked to about her mother but Connor was different. For some reason he made her feel safe. Like she could tell him anything he wanted to know.
“My mom. I haven’t talked to you about this at all, I don’t think, but I was barely twelve years old when she died. Needless to say we were very close. She was my role model and everywhere she went, I followed and she loved cooking for us. She’d say that was how she showed her love, you know. And it was true. She loved us with every single meal that she cooked. When she died, I kept all her hand written cookbooks and took care of cooking for my dad and my little sister. It might sound silly but it always made my sister and I feel like mom was right there with us. Cooking was one of the ways that I kept her alive inside. I don’t know if any of this makes any sense to you.”
“I understand more than you know Tessa.”
She gazed into his warm eyes and she could tell that he meant it. That was when she remembered what she knew of his past.
“That’s right. You lost both your parents when you were that same age didn’t you.”
“Just about. I was about a year older though.”
“I can’t imagine how hard that was. As least I had one parent.”
“True, but I did have a really loving grandmother that took good care of me.”
“Good. I’m glad you had someone there to take care of you.”
“Oh yeah. And then there’s Ms. Celia and Libby. I consider them my adopted family. All in all, I didn’t have it so bad. I just always knew that there were some pieces missing. I still love what I had though. I mean, some people say that they would change the past if they could go back and do so but I don’t know if I would.”
“Really? I’ve probably wondered so many times what life would have been like if she had still been there.”
“I get that but what about everything else? Like Ms. Celia and Libby. I’m sure you have somebody like that in your life. Maybe your relationship with your dad and sister was stronger as a result. To have her back, you’d have to take a chance at sacrificing the good things you have now.”
“I never looked at it like that. I guess you’re pretty smart.”
“Yeah, but that’s my grandma’s. When they first passed, I told her that I’d wished I’d gone with them. She would tell me that it wasn’t what they would have wanted and it wasn’t what God wanted for me either. Then she would go on to tell me that I would come to love the life I had and the people who were in it. I always thought that she was just saying it to pep up her grandson. It wasn’t until just now at this table that I finally understand it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Honestly, there are some things in life that you don’t want to sacrifice. It hasn’t been easy but it’s been worth it. Taking care of this place has allowed me to help out so many people. The kids I coach. I was able to make sure Ms. Celia always had a roof over her head. Even meeting you. I wouldn’t want to give that up either.”
She noticed he’d stopped talking and when she turned her head to look at him, he was staring right back into her eyes.
“You’re extremely special to me Tessa. I want you to always know that.”
“Th-thank you Connor. You’re special to me too.”
They stopped talking and smiled at each other for a few seconds before Tessa got up from the table unable to take the silence between them that said so much. She clumsily grabbed the mittens off the counter.
“Well the muffins smell done.”
She walked over towards the oven to take them out when he came up behind her.
“Let me get them for you.”
She quickly turned back to him.
“Oh don’t worry I’ve…”
She started to slip on the floor. Thankfully Connor was behind her before she reached the ground. He held her there for a few seconds, just looking into her eyes. Then Libby’s voice came from around the corner.
“Tessa, have you seen Connor… I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?”
The smile on Libby’s face said exactly what she thought she interrupted.
“Not at all. I slipped and Connor was helping me up.”
“Yeah that’s Connor. Ever the gentleman. I’m sorry but I am going to have to steal him from you.”
Connor helped steady Tessa on her feet and then spoke to Libby.
“What’s going on?”
“There’s someone out here that wants to see you.”
“Do you know what they want?”
“She told me but I’d rather she tell you herself. Actually, maybe you should come too Tessa, since you’re the main reason she’s here.”
“Me?”
“So it seems. Besides, we wouldn’t want you to fall without him here to catch you, right?”
“Uh right.”
Tessa followed him out of the kitchen.
***
Connor walked up to the elderly woman who was sitting on the wingback chair.
“Can I help you?”
“Why you must be Connor. I swear you are the spitting image of him?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t follow.”
“Your granddad, Clark.”
“You knew grandpa Clark?”
“Knew him? Well he and Camellia were two of my closest friends growing up.”
“Really?”
“Don’t tell me the two of them never talked about me? Jasmine Beaumont.”
“Wait, you mean the Jasmine Beaumont from this picture here?”
Connor turned around and brought the photo off the wall for everyone to see.
“One in the same.”
“Well I was young when grandpa died so grandma didn’t talk about those days except to say that the three of you started this place together and that you sold your share to them when you moved clear across Texas.”
“Yes I did. My husband was a politician and had to be in the thick of things so we moved to the state capital. I love every single place in this state but I really loved it here. Miss it a lot sometimes.”
“Well if it’s any consolation, your room is just as beautiful as ever.”
“Oh did those two really go and name all the rooms after women they knew?”
“Yes. I’ll have you know that your room is one of the most elegant in the house.”
“Of course.”
“So to what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Well my grandniece was online looking for a place to honeymoon. She is the type that doesn’t want to travel all over the world. She’s looking for intimate and nice, you know. When she showed me the list of places she was thinking about, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Who would have thought the place would be still standing after all this time? It looks beautiful.”
“Yeah, we recently did some renovations. Place has been worn down over the years. Now all we need is the customers and we will be good.”
“Well with that website, I’m sure you’ll be getting more customers. Speaking of which, I didn’t just come because I wanted to see the place. I want to talk shop.”
“Talk shop? I’m sorry Ms. Beaumont, but the building isn’t for sale.”
“Oh heavens no, I don’t want to buy the place. That’s too much work. I wanna rent it out for my grand niece’s wedding.”
“Are you serious?”
“Well of course. It says on your website that you do everything. Catering, flowers, service. They want a destin
ation wedding and this is one of the most beautiful places I know and the price is in their budget. Of course we will need rooms for all the guest so you may be booked up for that whole week.”
