Chapter 1
“Tessa! We’re leaving in twenty minutes, where are you?” My friend Kaia’s voice came blasting out of the speaker of my mobile phone and I wanted to smother her with my pillow. Well, smother the phone with my pillow at least. Cracking an eye open I peeked at the glaring green lit numbers. It was five minutes to six, what was her problem?
Then I lurched up. It was five minutes to six, I’d overslept! Telling Kaia I’d be at her place in ten minutes I scrubbed my teeth and face, almost using the toothpaste as my facewash, threw my toiletries in a bag, and grabbed the bag I’d thankfully packed the night before. It was vacation time and I’d almost missed it.
I looked down at the clothes I’d thrown on, a conservative button up top in a shade of electric green that was about as wild as my wardrobe got, black slacks, and shoes my other friend Cora called “the erection crushers”, and sighed. I’d promised the girls I’d wear some of the new clothes I’d bought but they were packed up and I didn’t have time to change. I only had five more minutes to get to Kaia’s house if we wanted to hit the road and get to the Singing Stones Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains we were heading to on time. I wanted to miss the morning traffic in Atlanta and only had a few minutes to spare.
Hoping I wouldn’t get caught speeding, I floored the gas pedal of my SUV and drove away from my home, hoping I’d turned everything off and locked all of the windows and doors. I was singing a version of the Mad Hatters frantic cries about not being late to myself and kind of felt like Alice after she fell down the rabbit hole. The world was surreal without coffee and breakfast, something I’d have to rectify along the way but not just now, I needed to pick up my girls.
I finally pulled up to Kaia’s house with a screech of protesting brakes as I threw my foot on the pedal. Cora and Kaia were at the curb, looking at me in disbelief and awe. I never drove like this, I was never late, and I was certainly never unpredictable. At 28 I was one of the most conservative, mature, “together” people I knew. I dressed to suit my job and to garner respect, I’d paid off most of my student loans and was now working to save up for a house, I owned my own car that I bought on my own because my credit rating was excellent, and I was always on time for work.
I rolled down a window as Cora and Kaia stood there, still gaping at me.
“Yes, I know. The world has just ended, hell has indeed frozen over, and yes, there are probably zombies roaming the earth as we speak. Get in before they find you.” My joke fell on stunned ears but the other two women, my best friends and coworkers, finally got into the car after loading their luggage. Kaia sat up front while Cora climbed into one of the back seats.
“So what happened?” Kaia asked after five minutes of silence. She was looking at me as if she was afraid I’d go off, or perhaps would spontaneously combust.
“I stayed up late reading that horror book you gave me. Then my alarm didn’t go off. So here we are, on time but I still feel like I’m supposed to be rushing. This isn’t a good start to our day.”
“Girl, we’re fine, slow down. If we get stuck in traffic, we get stuck in traffic.” Cora spoke up from the back seat, her fingers already busy clattering on her phone. I had to guess she was blogging this part already.
With a slight smile, I looked at my two friends and pulled into our favourite fast-food restaurant for some country ham biscuits and coffee.
“We’re going to be huge when this vacation is over.” Kaia protested but I noticed she didn’t turn her biscuit away.
I drove away from the window and back onto the interstate, my biscuit almost gone already. Kaia and Cora are my two best friends, beautiful, intelligent, and excellent educators. We are as different as day and night though, both physically and mentally. Even our personalities are different but somehow that brought us all closer together and made our circle of friends even stronger.
Kaia is half African American and half Caucasian, her skin a light coffee color with dark brown, almost black hair. She’s tall, well over my five foot six, and athletic but with exotic features that make her a stunning beauty at 27 years old. Combine all of that with her clear grey eyes and she is simply stunning. I often stared at her in wonder at just how perfectly symmetrical and beautiful she is, both on the inside and out.
And Cora! I glanced back at my friend in the rear-view mirror. Cora was about three inches shorter than I, and much thinner than my plush frame, but she was gutsy, beautiful, and didn’t put up with anybody’s junk. Cora could provide for herself and now that she was pregnant she’d become almost fierce about her independence. I think she was even more “with it” at 25 than I had been. The girl was going places if her pregnancy didn’t slow her down.
The baby’s father ran like a track star when he found out about the baby, breaking Cora’s heart. He’d apparently fled back to Ireland, too cowardly to stick around and take care of his own child. But Cora had me and Kaia, she’d be fine.
Cora was gorgeous in her own right. Copper red hair that just gleamed in the sunlight, with tumultuous green eyes that could never decide if they wanted to be a silvery green or a brownish green. The color changed with Cora’s mood and only highlighted just how beautiful she was.
I, on the other hand, had your average light blond hair, dark blue eyes, and was overweight. An avid walker I was often frustrated by my inability to shift some of my weight. Despite my unmarried status, I looked like your average housewife with a conservative streak that bordered on obsession. I hated showing any skin that might be deemed inappropriate and would often wear light jackets even in the summer. In Georgia that can be a very foolish choice.
I didn’t like to draw attention to myself, though, and this made dating, much less finding a life-partner, very hard to do. If I’d lose ten more pounds, you’d be able to see that my face was more pointed than round, but it just wouldn’t move. Kaia had suggested seeing a doctor about it and I was considering it. I hated the way I looked but there was nothing I could do about it. So I hid.
Kaia and Cora had made me promise that on this vacation I wasn’t going to hide, however. I even had a two piece bathing suit in my suitcase, though it wasn’t as tiny as the ones Cora and Kaia had likely brought with them. I had shorts, and short sleeved shirts, skirts that only went as far as my knees, and I’d even brought some sexy lingerie, instead of my usual cotton and serviceable sets.
Our motto on this vacation was “laissez le bon temps rouler”. No, we weren’t going to New Orleans, and we weren’t going to Vegas, but we were going on vacation and the good times had to roll. It’s what we were going for. And if I met a guy, I told myself, I met a guy. And then the good times might indeed roll!
Chuckling to myself I took the exit we’d planned to stop at and drove us into the world’s largest baby store. We’d plotted stops along the way, so that we could check in by eleven without having to wait, and this was the first of them. I wasn’t looking forward to an hour spent in a baby store, looking at cribs and diaper sets, but it was Cora’s choice.
Three hours later we were pulling into the parking lot of the resort and wondering how we were going to get home if we bought anything else. We’d bought baby clothes for Cora, hiking gear for Kaia and me, and some mirrors for my hallway at a handmade furniture store that I simply couldn’t live without. My SUV was full! Kaia and I went to the back of the vehicle to do some juggling to get our luggage out while Cora giggled in her seat.
“I guess we should have waited for the shopping part until we were on our way home. But you guys got me such lovely things! I’m going to love wearing those maternity tops when it’s time!” Cora was so enthralled with her daydream about her new tops that she didn’t notice we’d got out the luggage and were waiting for her.
“Come on girly, get a move on. I thought I was the slow one today?” I called out to her.
Sticking out her hand Cora giggled when I took it. She was only four months along, and barely showing, but she was already having difficulty moving around. I kissed her cheek as she got out, and we all moved into the resort.
The exterior looked like a four floor wood cabin with a pine façade and dark green tiling. With lots of windows, we could see that the place had great views of the mountains and the balconies on the front would be a great place to spend a peaceful moment during our vacations. We each had our own room and we couldn’t wait to get in them. We’d wanted the rooms with the Jacuzzis but the price was just too far out of our budgets so we’d settled for rooms with views.
We walked into the reception area, a waterfall and the sound of some mellow blue grass music in the background, and went to the smiling woman that greeted us from the middle of the room at the reception desk.
“How may I help you today ladies?” The woman in her mid-thirties with dark brown hair asked. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and she had on an outfit I’d call a light business suit. Her demeanor matched the black color of her business suit, she frowned through her question and looked pained as we rolled up our cases on the polished marble floor.
“I reserved three rooms for the next two weeks, my name is Tessa Johnson, this is the print out I was told to bring with me.” I handed over the paper with a barcode on it and tried to smile at the woman but she wouldn’t even look at me.
With a huff the older woman scanned the code and then made more unhappy noises as she clicked through the computer’s tabs.
“Nope, sorry, you’re registered for next week. Have a nice day.” The woman turned away as if she’d already dismissed us from her mind, but I protested before she got far.
“Excuse me. Excuse me ma’am!” I called out to her retreating back. I was normally calm and placid but this woman’s attitude was simply rude and uncalled for. I was on the verge of tears and losing my cool. After a hectic morning and a long drive this attitude was not what I’d hoped to be met with.
I could take cool and impersonal, I could take even somewhat rude, but this callous disregard for customers was beyond the pale!
“Excuse me!” I called out the words in a louder, sterner voice this time. I saw a man turn in our direction but didn’t care.
The woman turned back, her eyebrow raised as if she’d been called back to speak with a disgusting bug.
“Yes? What do you need? I told you, you’re registered for next week.” Her tone was cold.
Mine wasn’t so cold.
“Look, I don’t know if you have PMS, a migraine, or if your dog just died but your attitude sucks. There has obviously been a mistake, look, even the printout says I reserved three rooms for this week and next. I expect you to sort it.” My tone was still sweet but it dripped with venom.
If the woman’s eyebrow went any higher it would be in her hairline! But up it went and my tone seemed to set her off even more.
“Look lady, we’re booked up. Your reservations are for next week, the computer says so! Now go away!” She leaned over the desk and actually growled at me. “Or I’ll call security.”
“Lordes, that is enough. Go to my office at once.” The man that had been watching us came over to the desk and brushed past the woman. “No, in fact, just go clear out your cubby, clock out, and don’t let me catch you back on the premises.”
“But Hale! These women…” But her words were cut off.
“I don’t care what your excuse is. What I just overheard is uncalled for. Now go. Before I call security.” His glare brooked no argument and the woman actually seemed to shrink on her four inch heels.
The woman quickly tottered away and the man turned to us. We were all standing there stunned, our mouths hanging open. Between her attitude and his sudden interruption of her meltdown we’d had quite the show.
“My apologies for Miss Fischer.” His hand flicked dismissively in the direction the woman had departed. “She’s been causing some problems lately. Now, if you ladies can forgive us and would agree to stay on at the resort for your stay in Adam Falls I’ll be glad to upgrade your rooms to,” he paused to look at the screen, “three of our best suites.”
He looked up at us with a smile and my heart seemed to stop beating. It started again with a flutter when his eyes met mine and I forgot how to breathe.
“Ma’am?” He asked two heartbeats later, his smile amused.
“Oh, um, Cora? Kaia? What do you think?” My eyes begged them to agree. I’d been afraid Kaia was going to crawl over the desk and smack the woman in the mouth when she’d been so rude to me but Kaia had controlled herself. I could see her trying to calm herself down now and smiled at her, pleading once more.
“Alright.” She said, her face still revealing her doubt. “But any more of that nonsense and we’re leaving. Are those the rooms with the Jacuzzis?”
“Yes, they are. I’m also sending up some champagne and light snacks and sandwiches, free of charge.” The man said.
I handed over my credit card; the women had already paid me their share of the fees, and took the paper from him when he gave it to me to sign. Our fingers brushed together and I shivered at his touch. I looked into his deep brown eyes and saw how they widened just a little as he looked at me. His nostrils flared slightly, and I wondered at the reason. My fingers longed to play in the curly reddish brown hair on his head and to smooth it away from his face. The man was gorgeous, muscular, and could never be attracted to a woman like me. I was nowhere even in his league. He must have been looking at Cora or Kaia, he couldn’t have been looking at me. Even though he had been.
“Right then. My name is Hale Masters. I’m one of the owners of the resort. This is my mobile number, if you need anything, anything at all, just give me a buzz. Any time, day or night. Promise?” He asked me with an intense look.
Oh he did make my knees wobble!
“Yes, sure. And thank you Mr. Masters. Thank you very much.” I said as I put the paper in my handbag and started to wheel my luggage away.
The man couldn’t have really been interested in little old dumpy me, could he? I had to fan myself as I walked away from him, the urge to run back and lick him up one side and down the other almost too strong to resist. I grinned from the moment I stepped onto the elevator until I sat down in my room, staring at the bottle of champagne with the note tied around it.
“Would you all meet me at seven for dinner? In the lobby downstairs.-H”
The girls were going to have a fit! I might myself!