The Bachelor's Sweetheart

Josh ground his teeth then relaxed his jaw. Admit it, Donnelly. You’re jealous. Tessa is your friend, and you want to be the one to rescue her from her financial plight, although with a more lucrative plan than saving her struggling theater business. Tessa had too much potential to stagnate in Schroon Lake.

“Hey,” Tessa said. “Lose the face. I would have called you last night, but you had the wedding rehearsal and all.”

“Sorry, I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Like how to talk Connor out of marrying the love of his life.”

Josh grinned. “That and other things. Tell me what Jared suggested.”

“He can’t give me as much of a loan as I was asking the banks for.” Tessa gave a number that was about twenty thousand short of what Josh knew she needed.

“We went over those numbers,” he said. “I can’t see how you can get the job done for any less.”

Tessa gestured palms up, fingers splayed. “That’s where you come in, why I needed to talk with you.”

He read the excitement on her face, and his stomach churned. He had some money invested from the couple of lakeside cabins he bought cheap, remodeled and flipped for a profit. But not money to lend, like his brother, the ex-international motocross champion. His stash was to finance his move away from Paradox Lake when the right promotion came along. He needed to have a good long talk with his brother about putting him in this situation.

“Tessa, I don’t have that kind of money.”

“I know that. I wouldn’t think of asking you for money.”

But she’d ask Jared. He placed his hands palms down on the table. Just give him another five years and he’d be as successful in his own right as his older brother was.

“What I need from you is your brawn and brains.”

He burst out laughing. “Brawn and brains.”

“That doesn’t appeal to your masculinity?” She batted her eyelashes at him.

She was going to have him rolling on the ground soon.

Her expression grew serious. “Here’s my proposal. First, since I’d only be doing the dinner theater a couple of nights a week, Jared suggested I have the dinners catered by that new restaurant that’s opening on State Route 74, rather than add full kitchen facilities. I’d only need a refrigerator-freezer and an industrial warming oven.”

“That makes sense.” So much sense, he wished he’d thought of it, except he hadn’t been encouraging Tessa in her project.

“Second, in exchange for you helping me make the other necessary alterations to the theater building, you could live rent-free in the apartment over the garage adjacent to the theater and Grandma’s house. Then, once I open, I’ll give you a twenty percent cut of the Majestic’s profits until you’ve been fully paid for your time.” She tilted her head so the rays of the setting sun reflected the expectant look in her soft brown eyes. “What do you say?”

A great plan except that he didn’t expect there to be any profits to pay him from.

In response to his hesitation, she prompted, “The sale closing on the cabin is still next week so you have to be out, right? And you don’t have anyplace to live.”

No place but with one of his brothers or back with Gram and Harry again as he’d done when he first returned to Paradox Lake to take the job at GreenSpaces.

“Or did you find a rental?” she asked.

“The closing is next Thursday, and I haven’t found anything long-term, only a couple of places that are available to rent until late June when the summer people start arriving.”

“Then you’ll do it? I’ll have the attorney who settled Grandpa’s estate draw up a contract next week.”

Since he didn’t have much confidence in the project paying out, as a friend, he should say no. But as a friend, he knew how much it meant to Tessa to stay in Schroon Lake and run the Majestic, even though he didn’t fully understand why. She could do so much more with her life.

“Sure. It’s a deal.”

Chapter Two (#ulink_311162f4-0675-5b2f-9afe-a37c5ab4e7ff)

Tessa hugged herself for warmth as she walked the short distance from the Majestic to her grandmother’s house. The unusually warm spring day had turned frosty with nightfall, and the light coat she’d worn to the wedding wasn’t enough to ward off the chill of the air or her thoughts.

After dropping her grandmother off at the house, she’d gone over to the movie house, figuring her part-time college student employee, Myles, would be closing up about then. She should have waited until he checked in with her in the morning as she’d asked him to do. The Saturday night—generally her biggest night—receipts were dismal. And she couldn’t attribute it all to the large number of people attending Connor and Natalie’s wedding. As her grandmother’s house came in view, the moon and streetlight spotlighted the shutter on the second-floor window the winter winds had knocked askew. The theater building wasn’t alone in needing work, although all the house needed was some cosmetic touches and basic upkeep. Maybe she could extend Josh’s contract to cover whatever she couldn’t do on the house herself.

Tessa trudged up the steps of the house she and her grandmother shared and stepped into the living room. She locked the front door behind her. Before she’d moved in with her, her grandmother had never locked her doors when she was home. She’d finally convinced her they should at least lock up at night. “Grandma, I’m back.”

“I’m in the kitchen,” she answered.

Tessa slipped off her coat and reached in the pocket for her phone when her text alert chimed. She frowned at the name.

“Your uncle Bob?” Grandma stood in the doorway drying her hands on a dish towel.

“Yes.” Tessa read the text.

I need you to work on your grandmother. Maybe she’ll listen to you. We’re going to lose the introductory price on the condos if she doesn’t agree soon.

“I just got off the phone with him before you came in.” Her grandmother sighed. “I guess I have to make a final decision. Maybe I should take the train down to Albany and let Bob show me around the community he and Kathy are moving to. But I can’t imagine living someplace where everyone is over fifty-five. I think being around you kids helps keep me young.”

Tessa smiled at her grandmother’s last comment as she hung her coat in the closet. “I thought you had decided you didn’t want to leave Schroon Lake and all of your friends.”

“Come on into the kitchen.” Her grandmother avoided her question, waving the dish towel toward the doorway. “We need to talk.”

Tessa tensed.

“I put some water on for chamomile tea. I shouldn’t have had that second cup of coffee at the reception. It’s past my usual bedtime, and I’m not at all sleepy.”

Tessa followed her into the kitchen. She could use something calming, too. An old longing awoke. Even after five years, the craving for alcohol was there deep inside her. She breathed in. Lord. And out. Help me. “Tea would be great.”

Grandma’s old metal teakettle began to whistle when they walked into the kitchen.

“Grab a couple of mugs, spoons and the tea tin.” Her grandmother bustled over to the stove, turned off the gas and lifted the kettle from the burner. “And the hot plate from the dish drainer. Since it’s just the two of us, I’m not going to bother with a teapot.”

Tessa had the mugs, tea and hot plate on the table when her grandmother brought the kettle over. She put a tea bag in each mug, and her grandmother filled them with boiling water.

They sat next to each other at the small round table.

“You’re the only one in the family who drinks tea plain, like me,” her grandmother said.

Tessa stirred her drink, watching the tea bag swirl around. She pressed it against the side of the mug and placed the tea bag and spoon on the table. “But we didn’t come in here to talk about tea or sugar. What happened to your decision to stay in Schroon Lake?”

Her grandmother dropped her gaze to the mug of tea sitting in front of her. “I found out how little you have left of the money your grandfather gave you to make a go of the Majestic.”

Tessa started. Grandma wasn’t a person to go snooping around in other people’s business. “How?”