Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 18 TESSA

I sigh as I open the front door.

Part of me wants to tell her to freaking just get lost, and the other part of me is actually starting to get used to these drop ins. Maybe I should just sit her down and have a talk. Maybe we can actually move past this as sisters.

I mean, I doubt it, but I guess stranger things have happened.

“Tomorrow’s the big day!” Stephanie squeals as she steps into my house uninvited. “What can I do to help?”

“It’s all done, but thank you so much for stopping by,” I say. “I was just going to lie down for a bit. I’m exhausted after working all morning.”

“Oh, okay. I got a room at the bed and breakfast in town, so I’ll be around. I’m so excited for the fair tomorrow! I spoke with Mrs. Burton when I was walking into the diner for lunch and she needs an assistant, so I’ll be at her table all day tomorrow. Unless you need me to do anything, of course.”

Is this chick high?

What the hell is she talking about?

Maybe I have pregnancy brain or whatever it is. My head feels a little foggy, and I just fended off one crazy lady only to have another show up on my doorstep.

I need a break from all this. I just want to go back to the house on the corner— our house—and sit on the stairs and stare into the family room and imagine a time when our lives aren’t quite so tumultuous.

But today clearly isn’t the day I get to do that.

“You…you’re assisting Mrs. Burton?” I repeat.

She nods. “Right, but I told her I might need to help you out. She’s so sweet, and her quilts are just gorgeous, right? I might take one or two home myself. A little Fallon Ridge souvenir. I might even replace the pinecone on my end table I picked up when I walked through the park last time.”

I let the strangeness of that one slide as I think about Tristan’s words to me. She’s got some of the same traits Savannah has and it’s both toxic and scary .

He’s right, and the more I get to know about each woman, the more parallels I see.

They’re both searching for their father’s approval but can no longer get it.

They both appear as if from out of nowhere.

They both have personalities bordering on obsession.

They both seem to have addictive traits.

I don’t know a ton about psychology, but I took a few classes in my pursuit of my nursing degree.

There’s something off about both of them, and now they’re staying at the same bed and breakfast—the only place in town with rooms to rent. I imagine they’ll run into each other at some point if they haven’t already, and the thought of them teaming up together is, frankly, terrifying…but also one hundred percent realistic.

For whatever reason, they seem to want the same thing, which is Tristan and me apart.

I’m scared that not one but two women are already trying to come between the two of us when we’ve barely even gotten back together. We haven’t even identified what we are yet, although he bought me a house. That seems to put us decidedly in the serious category.

Still, I can’t imagine how many countless others there will be hoping to tear us apart given Tristan’s status.

I brush away the thought for now and focus on what’s in front of me. “Thanks for the offer, but I think we’re all set. I’m sorry to cut this short, but I really need to go lie down.” I hold my stomach a little dramatically for effect, and her eyes widen.

“Is everything okay?” she asks.

“Yes, everything’s fine. I’m just exhausted.” I offer a tight smile as I walk over toward the door, expecting her to do the same.

“You’re twenty-six weeks along?” she asks instead.

I nod. “Yep.”

She offers a smile and winks at me. “Good to know, you know, just in case.”

“Always good to be prepared,” I say weakly. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She looks mildly offended that I’m kicking her out, but I really don’t want her standing over me petting my hair while I’m trying to take a twenty-minute power nap—something I desperately need right now.

It’s been a day.

A good day, but still, a day. Good stress is still stress, and the thought of moving out of my mother’s house and with Tristan into the house on the corner gives me a new type of butterflies I didn’t know existed. Even back when we were together in high school, I figured we’d stay together, but actually moving in together was a thought so far into the future that it never really seemed like a reality.

And now, he bought me a freaking house.

And not just any freaking house. The house on the corner .

It’s thrilling and scary and comforting and right all at once, and I’m starting to think that maybe the best things in life are a combination of all those things.

I lie down and close my eyes, but I don’t fall asleep. I hear my bedroom door open a short while later, and I open my eyes. It’s my mom.

“Come on in,” I say, and I sit up and lean against the headboard. “Can we talk a minute?”

She nods, a look of concern coloring her eyes. “Is everything okay?”

I nod. “Sorry for worrying you. Everything’s fine.” I smile, and I can’t help when the smile seems to stretch on forever. “It’s wonderful, actually. I have some news.”

She looks at me hopefully as she sits on the edge of my bed and takes my hand between both of hers.

“Tristan and I are back together,” I say. “Officially.”

She lets out a soft gasp. “Oh, honey. That’s wonderful. Have you told him about—”

I cut her off with the shake of my head, and she nods.

“He told me he just wants to focus forward,” I say. “To focus on the baby. Our baby.”

“ Our …but what about the father?” she asks.

I sigh. “You know he wanted nothing to do with her. Tristan had his lawyer send over some papers to make sure it’s all legal. Tristan said he wants to raise her with me.”

“He wants to be her father?” she asks, a touch of incredulity in her tone.

I nod. “We haven’t discussed it yet, but I think I might list him as the father on the birth certificate.”

“Can you do that?” she asks.

I lift a shoulder. “I need to look into it, maybe ask Tristan’s lawyer.”

“That’s a good idea. I just…” She trails off as she searches for the words. “It’s a lot. Does he realize what he’s getting into? Do you ?”

“Does any first-time parent?” I counter.

She chuckles and shakes her head. “Good point.”

“We want to be together. We want the same things. We want a family together, a family that should have started seven years ago.” My voice breaks a little. “But we can start fresh now, and there’s nobody who can take that away from us.”

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll find out about…you know…?” she asks.

“I’ll tell him someday. When the time is right. But now’s not it. He bought me a house, Mama.”

Her eyes grow round. “He bought you a house ?”

I nod.

“Where?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham’s house on the corner.”

She gasps again. “Oh, Tessi-cat.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Your dream house.”

I nod. “He knew. He’s always known. He asked, and they said yes. It’s ours now.”

“So you’re moving out, but you’re not moving far,” she muses, squeezing my hand. “You’ll be sticking around?”

“It looks like we’ll be sticking around in the off-season, anyway,” I say, my lips lifting in a smile. “I only stayed away from this town out of fear of running into him. Well, that and the whole, you know, not wanting to be around Dad after what he did to me.”

She nods. “I know.” She brushes away a tear. “I’m just so happy you’ll be here, and I’ll get to be close to help with my grandbaby.”

I lean forward and toss my arms around her shoulders. “Love you, Mama.”

She reaches up to pat my arm. “Love you, too, baby girl.”

A family, a baby, a home, and Tristan. It looks like I will have everything I could ever want, and it’s all coming together where we started in Fallon Ridge.

I just wish I could get rid of the feeling that something is going to tear it all apart before it becomes our reality.