It took all of Liam’s restraint not to scoop Tessa into his arms and kiss her until they were both dizzy. He was so relieved to see the girl he’d fallen in love with was still there. She wasn’t merely some fierce, cold shell they portrayed on TV. She was inclusive and thoughtful.
“He’d love that!” April teared up again, and Tessa took over finishing with the bedding. “Any chance that kid has to get his hands dirty, he’s all in. He’s never gone clamming before. You might have to carry him away from the sand kicking and screaming.”
“I’m sure we can show him the ropes.” Tessa’s gaze lingered on Liam, and she didn’t look away when he met her eyes. In fact, she offered him a warm smile. Hope bubbled in his chest that maybe—just maybe—she was thinking of staying.
Chapter Nine
Tessa
“If I get eaten by a bear, Ed, I swear I’ll haunt you as a ghost,” Tessa muttered as she and Sophie trekked up Old Man Franks’ private dirt road. The accident site was nearly two miles from town, and Tessa hadn’t been to the gym since she left New York. Her Cheetos and Skittles diet hadn’t really done her any favors either.Just a little four-mile hike.That’s not so bad, right?
“Tell me again why we’re hiking right past a no-trespassingsign?” Sophie looked as daunted as Tessa felt. From here, the road offered a steep grade. Easy enough for a truck, but not for someone with weak calf muscles.
“I lost a necklace.” Tessa didn’t see any reason to lie to Sophie. If she told her sister she was searching for a watch, it would just waste time they didn’t have. As it was, she had promised to help with laundry later.
“Let’s get a move on it, then. We still have four loads of towels and linens to get through tonight.” The winding roadwouldbe mostly uphill.
Earlier, Tessa had scoured every inch of the Mustang’s interior, but there was no trace of her necklace. Liam was being extra nosy, too. She doubted he bought the watch lie. Tessa had never worn one, and wasn’t about to start now. They got in the way when she was cooking. But she refused to tell him she kept that necklace, much less how upset she was about losing it now.
Tessa kept an open ear for the sound of an engine. Though years had gone by, she hadn’t forgotten the risk of traveling uninvited on the private road. Old Man Franks’ house was more than four miles from town; the dirt road offered a shortcut to a handful of other properties and to the highway she used yesterday. But he didn’t care much for sharing.
Though Tessa was prepared to jump behind a tree, she hoped it didn’t come to that. Sophie couldn’t realize how risky this little venture was. But for Tessa, hiking alone with her thoughts was riskier. There were too many, and they gave her a heavy case of anxiety. It was as if she was trying to be two different people.
“You ready to tell me what happened?” Sophie asked after several minutes of silence, filled only by huffing and puffing. After the first steep leg of their hike, the incline smoothed to an almost flat stretch. Tessa’s calves burned just the same.
“Ed happened.”
“I don’t mean about the car,” Sophie said.
Out in the woods, it was safe to talk. Not that any paparazzi had followed her to Alaska, but they wouldn’t find them in the wilderness even if they had. “I made it to the final four.”
“But?”
Sophie, the sweetheart, was so intuitive. Unlike Liam, who automatically assumed she lost. She wasn’t a loser until the winner was broadcast on TVs across America. After that, it was too late to change anything. An entire country would have a predetermined perception of who she was, and she might never again find decent work in a respectable kitchen. “Derek framed me for cheating.”
“What?” Sophie gasped, though it might have been from the hike. They had one meager bottle of water to share between them, only because her sister was wise enough to bring any at all. Sophie took a small sip, then handed the bottle to Tessa.
“Remember my coq au vin with the risotto?” Tessa had made it for her sister during her rare—and only—vacation to Hawaii. She tried not to think too much about that trip, because it only reminded her of what Sophie’s ex-husband had pulled. It was a good thing Liam was the Army veteran and not her. Otherwise Tessa would fly south and try out some hand-to-hand combat.For starters.
“Oh, that was so good! Can you pretty please make that before you leave?”
“Sure.”
“Go on, sorry. I was lost in a food trance thinking about how much Ilovedthat.”
Tessa stopped at what she hoped was three quarters of the way. The break was risky, but if they didn’t catch their breath, they’d be in no shape to run should they have company—whether it be Old Man Franks or a black bear.Ed should know to keep his distance. “Derek stole my recipe card and smuggled it to Vegas. I don’t know how he did it. I mean, they checked our bags. Went througheverythingto make sure no one brought anything in that might give them an unfair advantage.”
“I see.”
“The card they found at my station wasn’t evenfolded.” Tessa hated to think how Derek might’ve gotten away with it, though she remembered well how cozy he’d gotten with one of the minor producers. He always was an impossible, arrogant flirt. Some women ate that up.
Tessa used to be one of them.
“I made that dish for one of our challenges. I know that recipe blindfolded and in my sleep. I don’t need written instructions. But he somehow managed to plant the card at my station. And it was my card from my recipe box. It was my handwriting and had the same coffee stain on the lower left corner.”
“They can’t prove it.” Sophie didn’t ask a question. She understood. “And no one believes you?”
“Well, one of the producers was always nice to me. Janet rooted for me from the beginning. I’ve called her every day, just to see if anything has come to light. But I don’t have any other allies outside of her. She, at least, believes me. Everyone else is so freaking giddy at the gut punch this will give America that they don’t care what the truth is.”
