Loving Tessa (January Cove) (2 page)

***

     Aaron drove through the pounding rain, typical for this time of year at the beach, and finally pulled into his driveway. After hours on the road, he was glad to be back home in January Cove. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate what his friend had done by letting him use the mountain cabin, but relaxation wasn't working for him right now. He needed to busy his mind. Too much space in his thoughts only led to thinking about Natalie, about the life he thought he was going to have but wouldn't.
     He lived in a small cabin at the campground, opting to stay in total control of what was going on there at any given time. He’d been running the campground for three years, and in that time he had grown it well. Adding a restaurant had allowed the campground to bring in more money, and he was almost done with renovations to the small mini golf course that visiting kids loved the most.
     With over one hundred RV sites, there were always a lot of visitors during this time of the year. Summer was the busy season in the hot and humid coastal town, and Aaron made it his job to know each of his guests and ensure they were having a good time.
     Most of the camp sites had grills, tables and other hookups for the RV visitors. It also had bath houses, a laundromat for those who didn't have a washer and dryer in their campers, a boat dock and a small store where visitors could stock up on essentials.
     For the kids, Crystal Cove had an arcade and game room, fishing and even paddle boats. Of course, there was a swimming pool, playground and a place to play horseshoes. The idea was for everyone to enjoy their stay so they would always come back and visit.
     Aaron loved the constant chaos of running such a bustling campground. It kept his mind occupied, especially during the busy season. While others might need to sit quietly to relax, working was his form of relaxation. His hope was that one day the business in his mind would finally push Natalie out of there for good. Until then, he'd run his business and put up that mental barricade himself.
     He pulled into the cabin, which was adjacent to some of the smaller RV spaces at the campground, and held a duffel bag over his head for protection from the pounding rain as he yanked on his bigger suitcase in the back of the SUV. Suddenly, without warning, a big dog jumped up behind him and pushed against his legs causing him to collide with the back of the SUV. Grasping at the tailgate, he caught himself before hitting the pavement.
     "Damn it!" he yelled over the rain as he watched his bags fall to the ground in a heap. The dog, a boxer it seemed, continued to jump up as it excitedly licked him in the face and barked.
     "I'm so sorry!" He heard a woman's frantic voice behind him and watched as she attached a leash to her unruly dog and pulled him back. Reaching out a hand, she attempted to offer assistance to Aaron as he ambled up from the ground. He didn't take her hand, and he barely looked at her at first. "He slipped out the door. I'm so sorry," she said. For the first time, he looked at her. Her brown hair was soaking wet and sticking to her face. With her tanned skin and crystal clear blue eyes, she was a beautiful woman but there was a hint of fear - or was it sadness - in her voice and in her eyes.
     "It's okay. You'd better get back inside with him, though. This storm seems to be really kicking up."
     "At least let me help you get your stuff inside. I can put him up..."
     "No, really. It's okay. Save yourself," Aaron said with a laugh as he pointed back at her camper. She returned his smile, although timidly, and then turned back to the small camper.
     Aaron stood in the rain for a moment, no longer caring about the droplets pounding on his head, and wondered about the beautiful, wet woman in the small, dilapidated camper next to his house. One thing was for sure - he would find out more about her as soon as he possibly could.

***

     "Crap!" she yelled as soon as she was back inside of her camper. "Beau! Bad boy!" she snapped at the dog. He hung his head and slid behind a chair.
     So much for her goal of not letting anyone see her. Hopefully she hadn't done too much damage by showing her face to the mystery man that Beau had befriended in the rain. Maybe he wouldn't remember her face, after all she was drenching wet when he saw her.
     She looked down at her clothes that were now clinging to her and decided that she'd better change them so she didn't get sick. The last thing she needed was to have to go to the local doctor or hospital.
     As she peeled her dripping wet clothes off, she thought about the interaction with the handsome stranger. Who was he? Obviously, he was staying in the cute little cabin next to her lot, and he was one of the sexiest men she'd ever laid two eyes on.
     "Stop thinking like that, Tessa," she chided to herself. She was in no position to have those kind of thoughts about any man. Her life was in enough upheaval without involving a man in it.
     "Mommy?" Tyler called as he ran across the small living area.
     "I'm changing my clothes, honey," she said from behind the door of the tiny bathroom.
     "I'm hungry," he moaned. She felt like the world's worst mother. Her son was hungry, and she'd all but forgotten to make dinner.
     "I'll make you something in just a minute, sweetie," she said, trying not to show the stress in her voice. Tyler didn't need anymore stress. His short life had been full of it.
     Tessa dug a can of ravioli out of a box that she'd brought along for her trip and opened it up. While Tyler was wolfing it down a few minutes later, she took out a towel and attempted to dry Beau off and clean the water droplets all over the floor. This camper was her refuge, and she had to make sure that she took care of it.
 

***
 

     "Morning, Boss," Paul Gallagher said in his normal cheerful tone. Paul had been working for Aaron for about a year, doing all kinds of odd jobs around the campground. He also ran the register at their small store most of the time.
     "Good morning," Aaron said as he absent mindedly looked through receipts that had accumulated in the five days he was gone.
     "You're back early. How was the trip?"
     "Boring."
     "Wasn't that the point? To get some quiet time away from the chaos here?"
     "Didn't work," Aaron said still not looking up. If there was one thing he'd learned in his life, it was that his blue eyes always gave him away. It was better to hide them by looking down. "So, update me on what's been going on around here since I left."
     "The Morgan family finally left," Paul said holding his hands up to the sky as if he was thanking God for that fact.
     "Thank goodness. They were such a pain. Who stays at a tourist RV park for six weeks anyway?"
     "And who has ten kids packed into an RV?" Paul said shaking his head. "Those were some of the worst kids we've ever had here."
     "What else did I miss?"
     "We got a new woman here about four days ago. She's next to your cabin."
     "Yeah, I met her dog last night," Aaron said through gritted teeth. "She came out in the rain and got him."
     "I only met her briefly when she checked in. Her name is Dawn, I think."
     "Dawn," Aaron repeated without thinking. "She doesn't look like a Dawn." The comment was odd, even to Aaron himself.
     "She keeps to herself. In fact, I haven't seen her come out since she got here."
     "Why would you rent a space at the beach and then stay in your camper?" Aaron asked.
     "Don't know. We might want to watch her, though." Aaron knew what Paul was referring to. They'd had a fugitive stay at the park one time. He had killed his girlfriend and used the park to hide out from the police for almost two weeks before they located him.
     "Well, I'm in a great position to do that since I'm right next door," Aaron said.
     "Maybe she's just trying to get some quiet time, unlike some people I know," Paul joked. Aaron didn't laugh, but grumbled instead as he went back to looking at receipts. Paul knew enough about him to know that it was best to leave well enough alone when Aaron was in a bad mood.
     As Paul walked out, Aaron realized that his mind still wasn't relaxed enough to look through the receipts, so he decided to take a walk on the property. There was always something to do at the campground, and he liked to fiddle around looking for the next project or repair.
    He walked outside, glancing first at the mystery woman's cabin to see if she was outside. No such luck. He wondered for a moment if Paul was right. Could she be some kind of fugitive? She sure didn't look dangerous. With her voluptuous curves showing themselves through her wet, clingy clothing, she looked like a woman he could definitely snuggle up to at night. Shooing the thought away, Aaron groaned as he made his way up the path closest to the store.

"So, those are the numbers for the quarter so far," Aaron said as he slid the papers across the table to his mother. Adele Parker, the town's most revered business woman and mother to five kids, smiled at her son as she slid her glasses down her nose.
     "Sweetie, you don't have to sound so business-like with me. I'm your momma," she said with a chuckle.
    "I'm well aware of that, momma, but this is our business." As soon as the words had escaped his mouth, he regretted them. They'd almost lost her to a mild stroke recently, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel bad. "Sorry, mom. It's been a rough few weeks. I'm still not myself, I guess." He reached across the table and patted her hand.
     "I understand, baby. When you lose the one you thought you'd spend the rest of your life with, it rocks your entire world. Don't rush things. All I ask as your mother is that you don't close your heart off to those who love you."
    "I promise. So, how are you feeling?"
    "Good. Now that I have Jenna here helping me, things are working much better. She's a smart cookie, that one."
    "I'm glad she and Kyle found their way back to each other," Aaron said forcing a smile. He was happy for his brother, but he couldn't help but be a little jealous at the same time.
     Aaron finished up his meeting with Adele and then headed back to the campground. As he pulled in, he could see the mystery woman behind her camper wrestling with her dog. She looked like she was losing, and Aaron parked just in time to see the big dog standing over her on the ground.
     "Come here, buddy!" he yelled in an attempt to get him off of her. The dog ran straight toward him, and Aaron grabbed him by the collar. As he did, the woman timidly made her way toward him. She seemed almost scared to come closer to him. "You okay?" Aaron asked looking up as he held onto the dog.
    "Me? Um, sure. I was just giving him a bath..."
    "With all due respect, it looked more like he was about to maul you."
     "Beau wouldn't hurt me. He's my buddy," she said smiling as she reached out and pet the dog. "He just got too excited."
     "If you say so," Aaron said standing up. The woman quickly clipped the dog into the leash. "Aaron Parker. I own this place." He reached out to shake her hand, but she stared down at her feet.
     "Nice to meet you," she said without looking up. "I better go." She started to walk back to the camper.
    "And you are?" he called to her.
     "You own this place, so I am sure you know my name," she said as she turned around and smiled. Her dark hair had a shine under the sunlight streaming through the tall trees surrounding the campground, and the curve of her neck sent chills up his spine. She had a natural, rare beauty unlike the women he saw walking up and down the beach everyday.
     "Remind me," Aaron said with a fake smile. She was starting to both arouse and irritate him.
     "Dana," she said as she walked into the camper and shut the door. Dana?

***

     "And you're sure she said Dawn?" Aaron asked Paul from across the counter.
     "Positive. See? Here's her paperwork," Paul said sliding it across the countertop.
      Aaron stared at it for a moment and the sighed as he slapped it back down onto the hard surface. "Why is this lady lying?" he said to himself.
      "Maybe you should ask her."
     "But she hasn't done anything wrong while she's been staying here, so don't you think it would be a little odd for me to ask her? I mean, there's no law against using a fake name. She paid cash, right?"
      "Yep. She paid cash in advance for three weeks. After that, I have no idea where she will go or if she'll pay more to stay here."
      Aaron ran his fingers through his hair, a common stressed out trait of the Parker men. As he thought through his options, he realized that he couldn't just go and confront a woman for not being overly friendly. Maybe she didn't want people to know her real name out of an abundance of caution for some reason. Either way, he had enough to deal with in his own life, so he opted to leave her alone for the time being.
      "So, have you heard from Natalie lately?" Paul asked. Just the sound of her name crossing someone's lips made Aaron sick to his stomach.

“No, and I don’t want to. Don’t mention her name again, okay?” Aaron said pointedly as he looked into Paul’s eyes. Paul swallowed hard.

“Sorry. Just making conversation.”

“Well, she’s no longer a topic of conversations that include me. Understand?”