“All that’s true, but it’s more than that.” Lacey leaned forward, her expression turning more serious. “I never met anyone like you. I just love you, honestly. I believe in you, and I trust you.”
Tessa stared at her, the echo of old Gerry’s voice and offer still in her ear, knowing that if she took it, this girl would be hurt.
“Because nothing good ever lasts in my life,” Lacey continued. “I can’t seem to get traction and I’m going to be twenty-five. Twenty-five.”
Tessa knew she should laugh and make a joke like, “Oh, to be twenty-five again,” but the number hit with a little more impact than it should, making Tessa look down. She’d been twenty-five herself…and that was twenty-five years ago, so…
“I mean, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Lacey plowed on. “I’m a bit of a quitter…or at least I have been when it comes to work. But this? I don’t want to quit. I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
Tessa sighed, a punch of guilt making her want to be honest—shehadto be honest.
“It might change, Lace,” she finally said. “You need to know that.”
Lacey froze, her chatter quieting. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” She huffed out a breath. “I have to be straight with you. The Ritz has offered me my old job back.”
“What?” Lacey mouthed the word, turning a little pale.
Tessa took a long sip of her drink, delaying the news that would truly affect Lacey. Finally, she exhaled.
“Nothing is definite or decided, but I have agreed to think about it.”
“What’s to think about?” Lacey shot back. “They treated you so unfairly! That isn’t where you belong! You’re here and…we’ve got a business and…this is so much fun and….” She swallowed. “Please don’t leave, Tessa.”
The words pressed on her heart. “Lacey, it’s a really good job with benefits and I live in luxury for nothing. I wouldn’t have to worry about where I’m going to be sleeping in six months.”
“You’ll be living with us at the Summer House!”
“We can’t be sure about that,” Tessa said. “Crista hasn’t agreed not to sell yet and…you don’t know what’s going on in her life. She could change her mind and take the cash.”
Tessa was already certain that’s what Crista would do if she had another baby. They’d sell the Summer House and have a nest egg for two kids.
Lacey shook her head furiously, as if she just didn’t want to hear that. “My mom and Uncle Eli will convince her. And even if they don’t, we could stay here and build the business. Find a place to live and?—”
“Or I could try and get you a job at the Ritz.”
She closed her mouth and stared. “I…I…I don’t want to work at the Ritz,” she admitted softly. “Thank you for that, but I don’t love the corporate world. There’s something about being in this together, with no boss—well, you, and you’re amazing—and the freedom of owning a piece of something built from nothing. It’s just so thrilling to me.”
“Then you could start your own business,” Tessa said.
“Not without you! Tessa! I love you!”
This time she said it loud enough that half the restaurant probably heard, and a few people chuckled at the heartfelt admission.
But not Tessa. She couldn’t laugh. She couldn’t. The words scraped over the most tender place in Tessa’s heart, opening an old wound and making it bleed.
Probably because that wound had resurfaced lately.
“Lacey, please, I?—”
“No, no, you have to know this. You can’t think about going back to the Ritz. Weneedyou here.Ineed you here. Forget friend. Forget aunt. Forget mentor. You’re like a secondmotherto me, Tessa. That’s how much I love you. And you would have been?—”
“Stop!” Tessa rasped the word. “Please don’t say that again.”
“Oh, my—Tessa! You’re crying!” Lacey was up in a flash, rounding the small table, wrapping Tessa in a hug. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say something to upset you. And if you have to take the job?—”
“No, it’s not the job, Lacey.”
