Summer In Stanton (Stanton Falls #3) (2 page)

Tessa pulled up to her
apartment and sighed when she got out of the car.  She looked around at
how busy it was and laughed to herself.  It had been a long time since she
was not working on a Monday.  She grabbed the box with all of her work
belongings and headed into the building and up the stairs.  She was still
in shock about her firing.  Luckily for her, it wasn’t a money issue.
 Though she made enough money to live very comfortably, she was never one
to waste money.  She liked to think of herself as sensible.  A good
portion of what she made the past few years she had saved up.  

Between savings, 401K,
and stock investments she had a nice nest egg stashed away.  That was good
because she really didn’t know what she was going to do with herself.  She
went into her apartment and put her stuff down.  The only thing she really
wanted to do now was talk to someone.  She grabbed her cell and hit the
only number on her speed dial that wasn’t work related.  

“Dad.  Hi.”

She could hear the
surprise on the other line.  

“So it really is you.
 I almost didn’t believe it when I saw your number on the caller id.
 Don’t tell me you finally took a day off from work.”

That’s one way of putting
it.  

Tessa’s father had been
on her for the past few months about how dedicated she was to work.  That
was the kind of treatment she’d gotten from him since almost missing her sister
Melissa’s wedding earlier in the spring.  She remembered her father having
some not so kind words about the prospect of her not being there.  Nothing
bad but enough so that she could know for sure how disappointed he was that she
seemed to always put work before family.  

Ever since he remarried
three years back, he had been begging her to slow down and just live life.
 ‘What was the value of having a high paying job when it didn’t allow a
person to enjoy the basic things in life,’ he would ask.
 
‘Jobs come and go but family and faith are
forever,’ he would sing.  Boy was he ever right but she wasn’t going to
take the time to congratulate him on that right now.  Even if she wanted
to, he heard her silence and followed with a question.  

“What’s wrong?”

“I . . . oh my gosh, it
doesn’t sound real until I say it.”  

Tessa’s mind started to
reel.  The reality of it all was finally hitting her and she just hoped
her voice didn’t give away her own shock.  Still, her father knew her so
well that she couldn’t hide it if she really wanted to.   

“Okay calm down.
 Let me get the obvious questions out of the way.  Are you hurt?
 Are you pregnant?  Are you sick?”

“No, no, and no dad.
 I lost my job.”

She’d said it.  The
funny thing was that it didn’t hurt.  Not like she had expected it to.
 She figured that once she said it out loud to someone else, that she’d
fall apart.  She was more upset and surprised about it than anything else.
 Maybe it was because of the reassurance she got from hearing her father
respond on the other end of the line.  His concerned voice came through
the line

“Tessa I’m sorry to hear
that.  I know you loved that job.”

“Yeah, I thought so but
I don’t know any more now dad.”

“What do you mean by
that honey?”

“Well, I thought I
did but I don’t really feel any loss.  You know how it feels when you lose
something that really matters to you?  I just don’t feel that right now.”

Her father chuckled on
the other end of the phone.  

“Of course you didn’t.
 It was just a job.  One that you put more into than you ever got out
of it, might I add.  In truth, I am happy for you.”

His laugh, she could
understand.  He was probably laughing at all the times that he’d told her
so and how it was coming true; but for him to say he was happy she’d lost her
way of making money was too much.

“Excuse me dad?”  

“You may not want to
hear this now but this could be a good thing.  Heaven knows that you
needed to take some time off from that job.  Maybe this is His way of
making you do just that.”

“Are you serious?
 You think God
wanted
me to join the unemployment line?”

That was one of the
reasons Tessa didn’t talk to her father as much as she used to.  He would
always find a way to spin God into everything they talked about.  If
something good happened, it was God.  If something bad happened her father
was certain that He would turn it around.  Tessa had never met such a
hopelessly optimistic person.  Sometimes it came in handy but right then
it was just annoying.  

“Tessa I’m not trying to
belittle your situation but you know I’m a straight shooter.  I call ‘em
how I see ‘em and I know for a fact that you didn’t love the job.
 Whenever I talked to you, it always seemed that you were less and less
satisfied with it.  I just believe that this is a critical moment for you.
 You can do anything you want to right now.  I hope you understand
that.”

She knew he was right.

“I do dad.  I hate
to admit that I’ve spent so many years of my life doing this only to not care
that much when I got fired.  Let me correct that.  I do care about
what I do but I think the company was getting tiring.  It wasn’t the same
any more as when I first started.  Something about the joy of it all got .
. . I don’t know . . . lost along the way I guess.”

“Exactly.  That’s
what I mean.  Now you have a chance to change all that, so I guess I should
just ask if you have any plans yet.”

“Not really.”

Tessa was no mind reader
but she knew her dad well.  There was no doubt in her mind that her
well-meaning father’s momentary silence would be followed by a suggestion or
two that involved her spending a few days back home.  

“Then you need to get
away from it all.  How about you come home for a little bit of time and
gather yourself before you make a decision.”

Tessa scoffed.

“Right.  And have
you and Antoinette hovering over me all the time.  Thanks but no thanks
dad.  How is she by the way?”

“She’s great.
 Still married to me so the luckiest woman I know but stop trying to
change the subject.  I have an idea that you shouldn’t be able to hate too
much and it doesn’t involve coming here.”

“Let me hear it.”

“You never had a chance
to use the hotel room Annie and I got for your birthday weekend last year and
they don’t do refunds but they hold the money towards a reservation for up to
two years.  I think this might be as good a time as any to use it.”

Tessa vaguely recalled
the place her dad was talking about.  She remembered thinking that it
looked like a cozy spot for a getaway if she ever really did take time off from
work.    

“You know you might be
on to something.  I think I still have the brochure that you sent me lying
around here somewhere.  Gimme one sec.”

Tessa came off the phone
and rummaged around in her home office desk before returning.  

“Yep.  You know
this place doesn’t look half bad at all. “

“It’s even nicer than it
looks.  When your Annie took me there, it was really nice.  Fishing,
golfing, and enjoying real nature with my wife.  That’s the kind of life
God intended for these old bones.”

“Old bones?  Dad,
you’re barely fifty-three and you retired early.  There are no old, weary
bones there so stop looking for sympathy from me.”

“Oh yeah.  Well the
memory is the first thing to go right?  Coulda swore I was older than
that.  Probably tired from spending all that time running after two girls who
grew up way too fast.”

“Dad, you wanted us to
stay kids forever.”

“True.  Which
father doesn’t though?  The answer is none.  Anyway, Tessa go check
it out.  I promise you will love it.”

Tessa found herself
considering it the more she looked at the pamphlet.  

“I haven’t had a real
vacation in forever.”

“Understatement.”

“I think I will go
then.”

“Good for you.  You
know you deserve it.  I mean, you work like a dog and . . . hold on honey.
. .  that’s your Annie calling’ on the other line.  Just a second. “

“Actually dad, I need to
go anyway.  I’ll call you back later.”

“Okay.”

Tessa hung up the phone
and gave the brochure the once over again.  It would be a good getaway.
 Besides, it wasn’t like she could get up and get a job tomorrow.
 The worst thing about getting fired in her position was that it would be
pretty high profile.  Everyone in her industry would know that she’d been
released from her position.  In truth, she’d been on the other side before
and she knew that as far as most of them were concerned, she was tainted goods.
 No reputable company would want to hire her.  Whoever decided to
take that chance would want her services at a discount.  

Maybe she should start
something of her own.  If she had to make her way up from nothing, at
least she wouldn’t have to do it while working for someone else.  The more
she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.  She knew people.
 She had developed real, valuable connections during her time in the city
and she was going to put them to good use.

Just not yet. Her dad
was right this time.  It had been too long since she had a breather.
 She’d decided that for the first time in forever, she was going to take a
little time for herself.  After over two years, she most definitely deserved
it.

Tess looked around as
she drove down the streets of the town.  

This place is unreal.
 

As a marketing executive
from New York, the city was a direct contrast to the concrete skyscrapers and traffic
congested streets that she was used to.  The town itself looked small but
she knew from the drive in that there was a lot of land on the outskirts.
 They just hadn’t done much development.  She could never understand
places like this one with people who had the space and opportunity to build
something grand but chose to stay with a homely, small town look.  

Tessa shook her head as
she took in her surroundings.   She took a mental note of the town on
her way in.  If she ever needed to shoot a video with a location that had
an everything-is-clean-and-pure look to it, Stanton Falls would be at the top
of her list.  Of course she would need to actually get a client first but
there would be plenty of time for that after this getaway.  She’d called
ahead and set up her room, adding enough days to make up two full weeks.
 She might as well enjoy it as much as possible.   If she was
going to start her own company, who knew when she would really get another day
off after that.  

Tessa pulled the compact
car she rented to a stop in the miniature parking lot and stepped out of the
vehicle.  She looked around before she grabbed her bag out of the trunk of
the car and made her way towards the building.  The first thing that
caught her eyes was the landscaping.  The finely trimmed green trees and
shrubs were accented by flowers in almost every color of the rainbow.
 She saw a guy on a mower riding across the grass in the unforgiving Texas
heat and assumed he was the one that so masterfully took care of the grounds.

She watched as he
stopped briefly and took his baseball cap off to wipe his brow.  The
momentary removal of his hat revealed curls of rusty brown hair along with a
young, attractive face.  

Tessa nonchalantly
stopped walking as she watched him.  She didn’t mean to stare but there
was something about his look that caught her eyes.  He really did have a
unique look.   Of course, he was attractive, but there was more.
 He had to be at least one hundred feet away from her but even at that
distance his strong build and sun kissed bronze skin revealed a life spent
working hard.  She was used to categorizing people in her mind and if she
had to describe him, she would say he was a blend of the clean cut look of a
Brady Bunch son and the rugged countenance of an outdoorsman.  

Not half bad looking.
 He could use a shave but he’d be a great model.  What a waste as a
groundskeeper.

When he smiled at her
and waved she slightly blushed.  She hoped he hadn’t seen it.  The
last thing she wanted to do while she was there was have some local guy running
a lawn service thinking she liked him.  Come to think of it, he might not
even own the lawn service.  No point in getting his hopes up.  

Regardless of how pretty
he made the flowers or how perfect his smile was, the two of them were the most
improbable of matches.  

She drove a hybrid BMW
back in New York and he drove a riding mower.  Even with her being
unemployed right now, she was probably out of his league.  

Tessa waved back at him
briefly and picked up her pace and continued her journey to the door.
  She dragged her bags up the two stairs and headed for the
receptionist desk.  By the time she walked inside the building, the
welcome-to-my-house look told her that she was in a special place and the
unbelievably warm smile that greeted her from the front desk only confirmed it.
 A young brunette came around the front of the desk and spoke to her.
 

“Hello, welcome to the
Cammelia.  My name is Libby.  You’re Ms. McGuire, right?”

“Yes I am.”

“Great!  We’ve been
expecting you.  Is your stay for business or pleasure?”

“Oh a little of both.”

“Well this is definitely
the right place.   Let me go ahead and get you checked in and then
I’ll show you to your room.  I’ll just need a major credit card for
incidentals and some photo ID.”

Tessa reached into her
bag and pulled out the requested items, handing them to the girl.

“Of course.  By the
way, is there food on the premises?  After that flight, I’m starving.”

“I can imagine.
 We’ve got you covered Ms. McGuire.  We have ready-made meals in the
kitchen daily or we also have a cook that can prepare something of your choice
for you.  You’ll find a menu in your room and you can have whatever you
want delivered there or you can come downstairs to eat.”  

“Great.”

A few minutes later and
Tessa was all checked in.  She opened the door to her room and smiled.
 It looked just like the brochure.  She wanted to call her dad and
tell him he was right about how nice the place was but she could feel her
stomach’s angry protest so she decided that he could wait as she grabbed the
menu.   Looking over it, she saw that Tuesday’s ready-made lunch was
a pulled pork sandwich and baked beans.  

I am definitely in
Texas.  

She felt her mouth
watering already at the prospect.   She left her bag at the foot of
her bed and turned quickly to go to the dining area.  When she got
downstairs, she walked towards one of the four large wooden tables covered with
burgundy tablecloth and sat down on a carved wood chair.  Moments later Libby
came up to her.  

“What’ll you be having?”

“Huh?  You do this
too?”

“Yeah.  Well around
here, everybody wears a few hats.”

“Oh really.”

“Yep.  I don’t know
if you could tell but business isn’t exactly booming around here.”

“I hadn’t noticed.
 What’s going on with business?”

“Tourism.  Not
enough of it.  It’s gotten so slow around here lately that it’s just been
hard.  Anyway, let me not inundate you with the problems of Stanton Falls.
 Regardless of any issues, I wouldn’t want to work or live anywhere else.
 The town has a way of growing on you.  Anyway, what will it be Ms.
McGuire?”

“Well, first of all,
it’s Tessa.  I’m only Ms. McGuire at work.”

“Okay Tessa.”

“I’ll have the Tuesday
special and a coke.”

“Pulled pork and baked
beans.  Got it.  It’ll be up in a jiffy.”  

Libby walked off and
Tessa looked around.  She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed what Libby
was saying beforehand.  As good as her eye for detail usually was, Tessa
hadn’t noticed at all.  She was really just enjoying being a carefree
guest for at least a couple of weeks.  Still, when she thought about it
she realized just how empty the parking lot was and how she’d only seen one
other person in the building besides Libby and herself.  

A few minutes later and
a delicious looking plate of food was placed in front of her.  She felt
like her belly itself would have leapt out and grabbed the sandwich if it could
have.  That’s how good it looked.   Whoever was in the back
preparing the food knew exactly how to present a meal.  Tessa picked up
the sandwich and bit into it.  Too bad it didn’t taste anywhere as good as
it looked.  She got up and made her way to the front desk.

“I’m sorry Libby but is
there a shortage of salt in Stanton Falls?”

“I forgot that this is
your first day here.  A few months back, the chef we had left so Miss
Celia took over the kitchen duties part time since the owner couldn’t afford a
new professional chef.  She tries really hard but, as you can see, she’s
not the best cook.  I don’t think she uses enough of any seasoning.
 Here.”  Libby reached up under the counter and grabbed some salt and
pepper packets, hanging them over.  “They won’t make it perfect but
hopefully it’ll get better.”

“Thanks.”

Tessa was so looking
forward to the sandwich that she was really disappointed.  She could have
cooked better in her sleep.  The salt and pepper helped a lot; it was pork
after all.  It didn’t really
need
much.  Overall it wasn’t a
bad meal but it could have been much better.
 
She tolerated it but had made her mind up that more than likely she
would be eating at the diner she drove past earlier.  After she finished
her meal, she headed back to her room and sat on the bed.  She was full
and she was tired.  All she wanted to do was take a nap but she refused to
sleep the whole vacation away.  Instead, she would relax out by the pool.
 

Who cared if she fell
asleep taking in the warm rays of southern sunshine?  She pulled on her
swimsuit and cover-up and headed downstairs to lounge by the pool.  She
walked through the hallways then through the sliding doors to the pool deck.
There was plenty of space for lounging. The pool was beautiful with its
sparkling blue water, naturalistic waterfalls, and the lush landscaping
surrounding it.  If she weren’t so tired, she would have taken a few laps
in the pool.  

She walked towards a
brown wood chaise lounger and proceeded to stretch out on its cushion.
 
Pretty soon she was fast asleep on it as the
long morning and relaxing warmth sapped the last of her reserves.  The
last thing she remembered as she fell asleep was that it was a really nice day
out.

Hours later it was the
thunder that woke her up.  It was probably the single loudest rumble of
thunder she’d ever heard in her life and she screamed as she jumped out of her
seat.  She felt a single drop of precipitation hit her arm and looked up
at the angry grey clouds in the sky.  She was no weather expert but she
was pretty sure she didn’t want to be out in that when it got serious.  In
the minute it took her to gather her stuff and head inside, it had gone from
one drop on her skin to a full-fledged downpour.  She was lucky to get
inside barely wet.  

“Sorry.” Tessa
apologized.
 
“Should have warned you that
the weatherman was calling for rain today.  In my defense, they work off
of percentages.”

“I’m not worried about
it.  I was out by the pool after all.  People typically get wet
there.”

“True.”

“I just didn’t expect
how it just came down so quickly.  It’s like someone really made the
clouds mad out there today and they decided to take it out on me.”

She chatted with Libby
in the lobby for a few minutes before heading back up to her room.  By the
time she headed up, she could hear the rain beating on the walls outside like
the world’s fastest drumroll.  She strolled into the room.

What in the world?

There was water dripping
from the ceiling onto the bed and onto her suitcase. 

She reached for her bag
and grabbed its wet handle.  She zipped it open and started going through
its contents.  She hoped that all of her things weren’t wet—but they were.

When she left her house
early that morning, she’d grabbed a couple of fliers and magazines.  Tessa
was really big on visualizing and these were some of the first things she
worked on when she was hired for the company.  Her plan was to take the
first week and just relax.  The second week, she was going to use these to
remember why she went into marketing in the first place.
  Unfortunately, not only did all the fliers and magazines get
soaked, but apparently they were not printed with the best surfaces because the
ink was running.  Badly.  

Sh
e
groaned as she looked at the ink winding like a thin river all over her wet
clothes.  Every expensive item of clothing she had was most likely ruined
and it seemed like the only thing she was going to have to wear for the rest of
the night was her swimsuit.  

Just my luck.  My
dream vacation is turning into a nightmare by the second.  

Tessa was really upset
that they had rented her a room with a leak.  Maybe they didn’t know but
they should have.  She couldn’t imagine what kind of hotel would even have
leaks.  She was going to have to talk to her dad about how utterly wrong
he was about the place later.  First she needed to get this all taken care
of.  She got up and headed downstairs with her bag in tow.  When she
reached, Libby looked at her, and Tessa read the surprised look on the other
woman’s face.