Summer In Stanton (Stanton Falls #3) (6 page)

Connor stared in Tessa’s
eyes for a bit longer and he was pretty sure that he was having the best time
that he’d had in forever.  The only reason he pulled his gaze away from
her was the explosion in the sky above them.  

“Fireworks?”

“End of the festival.”
 He smiled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. “Come on,
let’s go.”

They ran around to the
lakeside where it seemed like a lot of people were already meeting up.
 After finding a spot on the ground, they sat and watched the fireworks
together.  Occasionally, he would catch her stealing glances in his
direction. The whole time his mind thought back to what she’d said minutes
before.  That there was something about the town and the people that made
her want to stay.  

He knew it was silly and
that he’d only known her for a short amount of time, but that didn’t mean
anything right then.  As they sat there looking at the kaleidoscope of
colors decorating the sky, she lay her head on his shoulder and he found
himself hoping that he was one of the people that made her want to stay.

Tessa looked at the
pictures on the wall as she made her way to Connor’s office in the back.
 Connor had told her some history on the old great house the day before.
 It turned out that his grandfather was very much into civil rights when
he bought the house, refusing to buy a place that had ever had slaves working
the land.  It took him a good amount of time to find the property but he
was highly satisfied with it and Tessa could see from the rich stories the
pictures told that the families that lived here in the past were interesting
ones.  

She hadn’t really been
through this part of the house before since she had no reason to really visit
Connor.  He really had been avoiding her but in the past few days they
were warming up to one another.  She had hoped to catch him before lunch
today.  She wanted to make him a nice meal.  Something special to let
him know how much she appreciated his newfound hospitality to her.
 She knew it was dangerous ground but she found herself thinking that she
just might add a little more time on to her trip.  

That was before common
sense and good logic kicked in.  As much as she really did enjoy it there,
Stanton Falls wasn’t her home.  New York was.  And no matter how much
she was starting to like it here with him, she wouldn’t be here much longer.
 She had been here a week already and only had one week of time on her
self-approved work hiatus.  Of course she could add more time to her trip,
and maybe she would, but at the end of the day, she couldn’t stay.  

None of that meant that
she couldn’t enjoy the time she was having already.  She just had to make
sure she wasn’t getting
too
overly attached.  But then, Connor
wasn’t making that easy.  She was having a terribly hard time figuring out
what to do and when that happened, she remembered her mother always saying when
you can’t decide, eat.  Now she just had to know whether Connor wanted
meatloaf or a pot pie.  She was hoping pot pie.  She loved baking
with dough.  

When she got to his
office, the door was slightly ajar.  She got ready to knock on it but
heard him talking on the phone, so she waited.  She hadn’t expected to
hear what she did though.  From the sound of the conversation, and the
frustration in his voice, she knew whatever he was talking about, it wasn’t
going the way he would like it to.  What she gathered from it was that he
might have to consider selling the place.  She couldn’t imagine what
scenario would ever cause him to do that.  

As much as it seemed like
he loved the place, she couldn’t see why he would sell it.  She made her
way back to the front desk, careful to make sure that he didn’t hear her
creeping around his office.  She needed to find Libby.    

***

“I had no idea things
were that bad.”

“Yeah.  Remember
when I told you the chef left and all the other issues here?”

“Uh huh.”

“Well that wasn’t the
worst of it.  Last year things got so bad that he almost lost the place.
 He’d taken a loan out for repairs on the building but that was when things
started drying up round here the worst.  If this were a big town, he’d
have lost this place back then.”

“I never would have
guessed.”

“Yeah.  It’s not as
bad as it was then but that’s not really saying much.”

“Good point.  So do
you think he will really sell?”

“Connor?  No.
 As easy as it might be to do so, he’s never been the one to take the easy
route.  He’ll stick it out but--”

Tessa wasn’t sure what
scared her more, the way that Libby stopped and her eyes shot open in concern
or the loud alarm that she heard coming from outside.  She saw Connor run
from the back and she only heard one word that he was shouting.

“Tornado!”

Then the lights went
out.

***

It seemed like forever
before the sirens stopped, and Tessa was scared beyond measure.  She’d
never been through something like that before.  In New York City,
tornadoes were extremely rare.  Tessa was no fool though.  She had
seen enough of the before and after shots on the television news to know
that she’d be better off listening to everything Connor told her to do, so she
did.  Actually she huddled as closely to him as possible.

That didn’t make it one
bit less scary.  It was just like what she’d heard.  The loud winds,
the hail hitting the roof, and all the rest.   When it was over, she
was so glad that it was done.  It was the longest minute or so of her
life.  She heard Connor’s soft whisper to her.

“You ok?”

“F-fine, if you don’t
count the fact that I’m scared out of my mind.”

“I understand.  I promise
to get back to you but I need to make sure everyone else is okay.  Can I
leave you here for a second?”

She wanted to say no and
ask him to stay but there were people that could be hurt.  

“Go.”

Seconds later she felt
him pull away from her before she heard his concerned voice call out in the
darkness.

“Is everybody okay?
 Anybody hurt?”

There were only a few
guests in the hotel and it was a relief when everyone responded.  She
heard shuffling in the dark and then the door opened.  She saw Connor’s
silhouette in the door.

“Everybody come this
way.”

When she got outside,
she was shocked.  Tessa brushed dirt off of the steps and sat on them,
looking around in disbelief at how quickly nature could revolt.  She
smiled when Libby walked over and sat beside her, and put her arm around
her shoulder.

“I know you’re shaken
up.  They don’t ever get any less terrifying.  Thank God it was a
small one.”

Tessa was amazed at the
statement.

“
That
was a small
one?”

“Yeah.  You gauge
‘em in part by how much damage was done.  Sure, we lost power but that was
the worst of it.  Just a little paneling torn off and some shrubbery
uprooted.”   

Tessa saw what the other
woman meant.  She didn’t see the same level of devastation that she expected
but then again, she was expecting pure catastrophe.  

“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.  

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.”

***

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.