“If I offer it, it’s not imposing. Take it. It’s sitting empty.”
Tessa looked at Lily for support. Lily shrugged.
“I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine at my folks’ place.”
Cecilia’s dark eyebrows rose on her forehead. “There are many degrees offine. Let me know if you change your mind. Take this quiche with you. It’s basil and Italian sausage with a butter crust.”
“Thank you. I love this one,” Tessa said, curling her hands gently around the quiche.
“I know you do,” Cecilia said. She tapped her burgundy fingernails on the table in a wave of clicks. Then she looked at Lily. “How’s that beautiful baby girl?”
Lily smiled. “A two-and-a-half-year-old princess with a wild streak.”
Cecilia laughed. “She’s spirited all right. Bring her by to see me soon. Tell her I’ll make her cake-batter pancakes.”
Lily clicked her tongue. “You spoil her.”
“I hope so.” Cecilia glanced toward the kitchen. “Back to work for me. Tessa, tell your mother I said hello.” She pocketed the apartment keys.
“Yes, ma’am.” Tessa watched Cecilia walk away, and once she was safely tucked into the kitchen, Tessa asked, “Would you take the offer?”
“Do you really want to live with your parents for weeks?”
Tessa exhaled. “No, but . . . maybe repairs to my condo won’t take as long as they usually do in disaster situations.”
“Tessa, I love you, and I’m going to be honest with you.”
Tessa slumped against the booth. “When are you ever not?”
“You swam out of your front door this morning. You told your mama it was ruined. Your car is currently under water up to the roof. It’s going to be a while before you can put your life back in order.”
Beside the number two in her notebook, Tessa scribbled,Move home for weeks?Then she drew a frowny face.
Lily dropped enough money on the table to pay for the bill and to leave a generous tip for Laney, who had been moving around the diner nonstop since they’d arrived. She hefted Tessa’s bags from the seat. Tessa closed her notebook and dropped it into her purse. She slid out of the booth and glanced toward the ceiling, wondering what it would be like to live above a diner.
“You think the apartment perpetually smells like bacon grease?” Tessa asked.
“Let’s hope for biscuits,” Lily said with a smile. “But if not, at least the carnivores in town would be uncontrollably attracted to your bacon scent.” Lily laughed when Tessa glared at her.
“Are you talking about men or dogs?” Tessa grumbled.
Lily snickered. “Based on your track record, is there a difference?”
Tessa snorted and followed Lily out of the diner.
Chapter 3
Good-for-You Garden Omelet
Aftertossingandturningmost of the night, Tessa woke before the sun rose. She lay in her childhood twin bed, one foot sticking out from beneath the fluffy comforter stitched with pink roses. She stared at the ceiling fan going round and round. Anxiety gained momentum inside her like a steam locomotive chuffing and increasing its power. She thought of her wrecked condo, of the furniture she’d so carefully chosen, of the stench of pond water tainting everything.
She rolled out of bed and padded into the hallway of her parents’ ranch-style home. Her daddy’s snores growled, signaling she had a few more minutes of time alone. Tessa searched through one of the bags she’d dragged from her condo and pulled out a water-stained romance novel. The swooning, buxom brunette clutched a muscled Native American as though she would die without him.Maybe her condo flooded too, Tessa thought. She could go for some clutching herself.
She started a pot of Maxwell House coffee that she hoped wouldn’t wake her mama too soon and curled onto the sunporch’s patchwork couch. She lazily flipped through the book until she found one of the good parts. She tried to read and relax her mind, but not even the desperate love and breathy sighs held her focus. Nothing pulled her mind away from chiseling at the same question over and over again:What am I going to do?
Tessa poured coffee into a handmade pottery mug detailed with swaths of lavender pigment and a kiln-fired glossy finish. She stared out the kitchen window and allowed herself a few minutes to feel an aching sense of loss over losing her condo. By the time she’d finished her second cup, her mama was awake, and Tessa made sure the tears were gone.
“You’re making a plan, aren’t you?” her mama, Carolyn, asked from the kitchen table, where she sat with a mug of steaming coffee and the lifestyle section of theMystic Water Gazette.
