It was Thursday night and the last evening of the conference. Bree pulled into the parking lot of the Oceanview Diner. She’d had a good conference so far, but she was ready for tonight’s dessert with Tess and a return home tomorrow afternoon.
Bree entered the restaurant and looked across the room. Tess sat at a table with a cup of tea. Bree stopped and studied her. She wasn’t just attractive. She was smart and funny and so much more than she often revealed. Tess had clearly been hurt in the past, and she didn’t open up to most people. Bree knew their personal interactions were a gift. She ignored the escalation of her heart rate and walked over.
“Hi, Your Honor.”
Tess smiled and nodded toward the seat across from her. “Have a seat, Your Honor.”
The waitress came to take their order. They agreed to share a piece of peach pie à la mode.
“Good week?” Bree asked.
Tess nodded. “I’ve learned a lot. There’s a great deal of responsibility to being a presiding judge. Some things I need to pay better attention to. And of course, no downplaying the importance of Arrogance 101—I’ve got new skills.”
Bree laughed. “Uh-oh. So are we going to be dealing withthe supercilious, sanctimonious, swaggering Theresa Fairchild as our presiding judge?”
“I’m offended. Swaggering? I’ve never swaggered. But I know how to sashay.”
“Okay, I have to agree. I’m very fond of that move, a sexy sashay.” Bree just couldn’t help herself. Tess pushed every flirt button she possessed.
The waitress brought the dessert and asked if they wanted a second plate. Bree stood up and moved to the seat next to Tess as they both told the waitress that wasn’t necessary.
“Are you ready to get back to the grind?” Tess asked.
Bree was enjoying her new job, even if she was on a steep learning curve. Even if she had feelings for Tess she needed to sort out.
“This week has been a nice break.” Bree took a bite of pie. “Our evening on the beach…”
Tess nodded and then her expression grew serious. “We need to talk.” Her tone was guarded, the tone Bree knew she used when she was protecting herself.
“I thought that’s what we were doing.” Bree’s chest squeezed at Tess’s shift in demeanor.
Tess cleared her throat. “I understand that you have your priorities—you should. That you need to succeed at redefining your life. It’s that I just don’t want to bounce around, emotionally. I know that you’ve been in a committed relationship, married and divorced, and probably many other”—Tess seemed to be searching for the word she wanted—“liaisons. That while you’re younger than I am, I’m undoubtedly less experienced.” Tess paused and her face flushed. “I just can’t be involved in a physical relationship without my emotions getting involved. I’m not a player.”
Bree felt her pulse escalate, and she held her tongue for a moment. Maybe she deserved the insinuation that she wasa player. She recognized that she came across as completely commitment adverse from Tess’s perspective, but it hurt. She took another bite of dessert to buy a moment to calm down. “What are you trying to say?”
“That I need that reset, and I need you to help us stick to it. That I’m weak around you. That we need to figure out a way for me to be your presiding judge. For you to be my new colleague. For us to each stay in our own lanes. To adhere to that reset.”
Tess stood up, pushing the remainder of the dessert in front of Bree.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Tess, so if keeping this”—Bree pointed between the two of them—“as presiding judge to new judge is what you need, I’ll do my best. But I want you to know that I’ve never been a player.” She looked away from Tess. “I was married to one.” Then Bree looked up into Tess’s welling hazel eyes. “I’m weak around you too.”
“I’m sorry, Bree. I just want…” Tess pressed her mouth closed and shook her head before she picked up the bill. “I’ll pay on my way out. I’ll see you back at work in Corazon Cove.”
Bree closed her eyes a moment. She owed Tess more than heartache. This was so much more complicated than she could have ever imagined when she’d agreed to Ned’s request. And before her feelings for Tess had deepened.
Chapter Sixteen
Tess woke up on Saturday morning with Thelma patting her on the cheek and Louise telling her from the floor that the food offering was absolutely not adequate for a hungry feline. Tess crawled out of bed and headed to the kitchen to solve the starving cat problem.
From the time she’d left Bree in the restaurant two days ago, Tess had worked to school her emotions to indifference and reinforce her resolve to attain that reset mode that she’d insisted she wanted in their work environment. She chastised herself for the maelstrom of dejection she’d been fighting, for not being happier that Bree hadn’t objected.
She ran a few miles on her treadmill and followed the workout with a warm shower that didn’t do anything to improve her mood. Then Tess decided that she might as well spend the rest of the morning accomplishing the mundane chores that included laundry and a trip to restock groceries. Maybe a call to Flo or Alice later would help her get her head and her heart in a better place.
After she’d finished a dark load of wash, she hopped in her car and headed to Frieda’s Grocery Mart with her list. After she’d grabbed a cart, Tess noticed a man sitting on a bench not far from the entrance—a large man, but not the least overweight. He had a sign. As she approached, she could see that the sign saidAny help offered greatly appreciated. Tess wasn’t surprised to see him there—the Central Coast had a fair number of unhoused individuals with the decent weather it offered year round.
Tess walked the aisles and filled her cart. Food for one, the story of her life. She loaded her cart with the mix of groceries she’d need for the week. She thought about how many people were hungry in this country and how lucky she’d always been. As she finished up her own list, she passed the deli. She stopped and decided to order a roast beef sandwich on sourdough bread.
Tess made her way through the checkout and pushed her cart to her car. She’d had the cashier place the sandwich in a separate paper bag. After she loaded her own cloth bags into her trunk, she headed back across the parking lot on foot with the paper bag. She wasn’t great at this type of encounter, out here in the real world in blue jeans and a T-shirt instead of with the fortification of her robe.
