Chapter 71

Tessa glanced left, then right and backed into the bathroom. Shimmying between people, she quickly locked herself in one of the stalls before a customer could see her nametag. They were finding her everywhere. For God’s sake she couldn’t breathe without a customer or an employee cornering her. Even Nic was second guessing herself on things she did everyday.

Christmas sucked the life out of you, and it was beginning to seriously look like the brain was part of the loss. Sweet George, she hadn’t sat down for the better part of four hours now and even the commode was looking good. She couldn’t quite make herself sit down on it though, she wasn’t sure she could be tired enough to sit on a public toilet.

Instead she pressed her forehead to the cool metal of the door and closed her eyes. Storytime would start in less than an hour and she needed to change into the princess gown and somehow transform her haggard self into a bright eyed woman who hadn’t just worked all day on limited sleep.

Taking three deep breaths she reluctantly left the stall and washed her hands, splashed water on her make-up free face and winced. It was going to take a trowel to fix the bags under her eyes. Pushing through the door Nic grabbed her arm and hauled her into the hallway.

”Did you know how many cameras were going to be with the news crew?”

Tessa pulled her arm back. “What the hell, Nic?” She sighed and followed her to the end of the small corridor. Two huge cameras were set up on tripods and a glossy female reporter was touching up her makeup. Squinting, she noticed two different logos on the cameras.

“Did I say yes to two different stations?”

“Didn’t one call a few weeks ago to set it up after you started Storytime Sundays?”

She fell back against the wall and put her hands in front of her face. “Can you just kill me?”

“What? This is great! Free publicity, Tess.”

A hysterical laugh started to bubble free before she could stop it. “Oh yeah, free publicity and Jon and Richie are coming with the kids.”

“Oh shit!”

“Yeah, no kiddin’,” she dug into her pocket for her cell. Hitting the speed dial for Jon she clamped an arm over her churning stomach. “C’mon answer.”

“Hey, you know the drill-“ came his short message via voice mail.

“Shit,” she muttered. “Jon, it’s Tessa give me a call as soon as you can.” She shoved her cell back into her pocket and let her head thunk back against the wall. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. It’s a known fact that Jon doesn’t let his kids get filmed, and the local reporters should know this by now. So I’m going to set up a little spot for them to sit away from the cameras and we should be fine.”

“What about the reporters outside?”

“God willing, one won’t make it through the door, but people are starting to arrive already and it will be easier to sneak in.”

“I’ll keep watch, you go get ready. Jon’s a big boy and knows how to deal with reporters.”

“You’re right.”

“Of course I am, now go and beautify. I hate to say it, but you need some help for once sweetie.”

“As if I don’t already know this?”

“Well, you know…just in case you didn’t look in the mirror when you snuck off to hide in the bathroom.”

“I wasn-“

“Oh honey, don’t lie to me,” Nic said and crossed her arms under her chest.

Tessa stopped, it just wasn’t worth the effort to lie. “That’s just eerie that you know that.”

“Nichole knows all, now shoo.”

She just closed her mouth and hurried for her office. Her pocket buzzed as she closed herself in her office, locking the door. She quickly opened the cell when she saw the number. “Hey,” she said a little breathlessly.

“Hey yourself,” he said with a smile in his voice. “Did you leave me a message?”

“Yeah, I think maybe you and the kids should skip tonight.”

“A little late for that darlin’, I’m at your backdoor.”

She cursed long and low.

“Hey, hey what’s this?”

“I’ll be right there,” she said and shut her phone. “Dammit,” she muttered to herself and finally managed to make it to the store-room door after helping three customers and two employees.

Distantly she realized she could make her way through the store-room which was a new thing all together. She unlocked the back door and slipped outside. Any thoughts of being tired and grouchy eased at the line up of spit polished boys from age two to forty-seven.

“Thanks for letting us come in the back, Tessa,” Richie said and bussed her cheek. “I’d like you to meet my daughter, Ava. Honey this is Miss Donovan.”

Tessa put out her hand for a shake. “As much as I’ll give your Dad points for manners you can call me Tessa.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said in a shy voice and hugged herself to Richie’s side. “Are you really going to read about the Mouse King?”

She grinned. “You know the Nutcracker? Oh yeah, it’s my favorite story. My Dad used to read it to me every Christmas.”

“Is he going to be here tonight to read it?” she asked.

A sad little pang hit her chest. “No, I wish he was. I took over reading it when my Dad died years ago. So now I read it to kids just like he did.”

“I’m sorry about your Dad, that’s not cool at all.”

Tessa pushed Ava’s slim ponytail over her shoulder and patted her. “No, not at all but reading it for you guys and the rest of the kids inside is just the way he’d like it.” She crouched down and smiled at Romeo. “Hey guy, ready for another story?”

He smiled and his dark blue eyes twinkled. “Santa!”

She glanced up at Jon. He just laughed. “Don’t ask.”

“Gotcha,” she said and stood. “Hiya Jake.”

“Hi Pirate Lady. Where’s your sword?”

“You certainly have a good memory.” When he just continued to look at her with those intense blue eyes that were so very Jon she shook her head in near amazement. “I had to give the sword back to my friend.”

“Your friend is a pirate?”

“No, but he plays one at school.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “He goes to Pirate school?” He looked up at Jon. “Can I go to Pirate school, Dad?”

Jon’s lips quirked into a lopsided grin, “Only if I get to go too, Jake.”

Stephanie stepped forward, “Don’t mind my brothers, they’re still fixated on the pirates. They talk about it non-stop.” She held out her hand and shook hers firmly. Another pair of Jon’s eyes hit her square with interest, wariness and a touch of suspicion. “I’m Steph.”

Jesse just grunted, “Hey.”

“That’s my other brother,” she tugged out an earbud from under his hat. “He’s rude, but sometimes we call him Jesse.”

Jesse just sneered and tucked the earpiece back into his hear. Jon rolled his eyes and smiled at her. “He’s entering phase one of teenage hell.”

Tessa smiled, “You’ve got yourself a lovely family, Jon.”

Romeo monkeyed his way up Jon’s arm and without thought he slung him onto his hip. “Good thing, because the store won’t let me return them after thirty days.”

“Lame, Dad,” Stef said and folded her arms.

Pieces of Jon filtered through in each of his children from Jake’s look, to Romeo’s energy to Jesse’s sullen moodiness that could be so much a part of Jon. But it was his daughter that looked so much like his ex that it was disconcerting. Only the intense blue of her eyes and the shape of her nose gave her away as Jon’s.

Suddenly she didn’t want them inside. To see the way Jon would close up with the cameras everywhere around his kids was just too much on top of the stress of the day.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” he walked with her until they were by the door. “What’s up?”

“The reporters are swarming out front and there are two local channels inside to catch part of my reading.”

“Is that what has you so worked up?”

“I’m not worked up.”

His voice lowered, “Babe, I don’t think you’ve ever hung up on me before. And you’re so pale.” His hand reached as if to touch her, but dropped back to his side. He sighed. “I deal with reporters every day and so do my kids to an extent. If it’s local news they already know I’ll give them a sound bite if they leave my kids alone. It’s a win-win for them.”

“I’m sure it will be fine then. I just know you hate them around your kids. And I wanted…” she swallowed and started again. “I just wanted the storytime to be perfect this year and it’s just turning into a circus.”

“C’mon let’s get everyone settled and inside, Okay?”

Tessa nodded and opened the door. Richie corralled the kids and the all filed through the store room. “I set up a small section in the back for you guys.”

“You didn’t have to do anything special, Tessa.”

“I know.” She led them up front and Jon signaled to Richie and the kids followed him to the stage area where Tessa would be reading.

“I’ll be right there, guys. I just want to talk to Tessa for a minute.”

Steph followed Richie but her eyes were suspicious again and locked onto Tessa. She tried to smile, but it just felt so fake. How could anyone not see how stupid she was for Jon? She probably looked like a moony eyed teen around him.

Jon opened her office door and pushed her inside. “Jon, someone will see!” she whispered furiously when he shut the door.

“No one even knows I’m here yet.”

“Darlin’ someone spread it the minute you hit my floor from the back door.”

“I’m not worried about me right now.”

“Well you should be. I’ve been stewing and planning and trying to figure out a way to keep the press out of our relationship until you’re rea-“

He leaned in and captured her lips with his. His thumb coasted over her cheek and his fingers slipped into her hair before settling at the base of her skull with a penetrating deep tissue rub.

“Oh God,” she muttered and let her forehead fall onto his chest.

“Babe, you gotta stop worrying about me.” He pressed his nose into her hair and took a deep breath. “God, you smell good.”

“You gotta be kidding me,” she said and lifted her head. “I smell like I need an hour long shower.”

“You still have that girl hair smell that makes every man crazy.”

“Yeah well you’re certainly crazy.”
He dragged her closer and she took a deep breath in, filling her lungs with soap and man and fabric softener from his red button down. “I’ve got a strategy for tonight at least.”

She slid her arms around his shoulders and just let herself lean on him. Just for a minute and she’d be okay to let him go. Maybe another minute or two. God, she was just so tired. The promise land was only a few hours away. She could escape to Nichole’s house and get away from New Jersey and the reporters for a day.

Even away from Jon. Because she couldn’t think when he was around. She moaned a little as his fingertips found the edge of her t-shirt and started to lift it.

“Oh no, you’re not distracting me with that. I have a book to read.”

He pulled away and grinned. “You can’t blame a guy for trying can you?”

She just rolled her eyed and opened the door, no touches and no kisses at the door as she walked him out. “Go, I’ll find you.”

She dropped into her seat and stared at her make-up case. She had some serious work to do, and very little time to do it in.