Naughty by Nature (10 page)

Tessa’s heart did
a somersault.  “Me?”

“Aren’t you the
girl who was chief bridesmaid at Stone’s wedding?  The same one who nearly made
Wolf have kittens when you made him think his car had been stolen?”

Tessa felt the
blood rush to her face.  Wolf had told his mother about that?  “Yes,” she
squeaked, embarrassment clogging her throat.

“Well, you’re the
one he’s been talking about.  And I think,” she leaned toward Tessa as if sharing
something in confidence, “it’s because of you that he’s loosened up so much. 
He’s come down off his high horse, so to speak.  He’s too serious all the
time.  Time enough to be serious when you’re dead, I always say.  I think
you’re really good for him.”

“Me?” Tessa
squeaked again.  Where was this conversation going?  How had they ended up down
this garden path?  Interesting though it was, she wasn’t sure she was ready for
that type of discussion.

“Yes, you.”  Lydia
was practically glaring at her.  “And why not?  You’re nothing like that
Vanessa woman he took up with.  She led him on and then-”  She stopped abruptly
then shook her head.  “I’ve said enough already.  Let’s just say, compared to
her you’re like a breath of fresh air…” then she narrowed her gaze, “…so far. 
Don’t let me down, Tessa.”

Tessa could only
nod but she said nothing.  She didn’t even know for sure what she was agreeing
to.  To be a good friend to Lydia’s son…or something more?  She shook her
head.  This was getting a bit too intense.  Time to change the subject. 

“Have you started
therapy yet?”  She decided to get back to the real reason she was there - to
see how Wolf’s mother was doing and offer whatever support she could.

Lydia rolled her
eyes.  “Party pooper.  You had to remind me, didn’t you?”

Oops.  Now she’d
put her foot in it.  She’d gone and spoiled Lydia’s happy mood.

But, to Tessa’s
relief, when she looked at Lydia she didn’t seem sad – or mad – at all.  She
seemed to take everything in stride.  She was smiling.

“I’ve had two
sessions so far,” she said, “and my physiotherapist is a dream.  Young enough
to be my son, mind you, but he makes Ruben jealous.”  She chuckled, clearly
amused at her husband's discomfort with the attention another man was paying
his wife.  “I have to keep reminding him that the man is a professional, just
doing his job.  Men.  Such big babies.”

“I heard that.”

The two women
whirled around just as Wolf walked back into the room with his father right
behind him.
“And we’re not babies,” Wolf said as he directed his father to where Tessa
sat. 

She hopped up
immediately and stuck out her hand.  “Please to meet you, sir.”

He took it as he
looked down at her from his height of at least six feet.  He was almost as tall
as Wolf.  “Pleased to meet you, my dear,” he said in a solemn voice.  Then, his
face still serious, he said, “You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?  Just
like Wolf said.”

That made Tessa’s
eyes widen.  Just like Wolf said?  Had they been talking about her?  Somehow,
that made her a wee bit uncomfortable.  But at least he’d given her a
compliment.

“Thank you,” she
said and gently pulled her hand from his grasp as she stole a quick glance at
Wolf.  He had an enigmatic look on his face which, of course, meant she had no
idea what he was thinking.  Darn.

At that moment
Lydia raised her hand to wave at the men.  “Come help me up, guys.  Let’s move
into the dining room now.  I’m sure everyone is starving.”

That evening Tessa
enjoyed a wonderful meal with Wolf and his parents.  Both Lydia and Ruben Spencer
had been such a surprise to her.  Lydia had been bubbly and upbeat throughout
the entire evening even though she’d had to be wheeled to the table in a
wheelchair.  Ruben, although a lot more reserved than his wife, was nonetheless
a pleasant man who engaged her in conversation about her experiences as a high
school teacher.  After hearing her stories he seemed relieved that he’d chosen
to work with adult learners rather than teens.

And now, after
saying her goodbyes, she was walking down the steps with Wolf and inside she
felt like a very warm bulb had been turned on and she was glowing from the
inside out.

Wolf opened the
door for her and she slid into the driver's seat.  He rested a long, lean hand
on the window and peered down at her.  On his lips was a smile.  “You were
great, Tessa.  For the first time since we got back from India I heard my dad
laugh out loud.”  He shook his head and his eyes were full of gratitude.  “You
came to help Mom but you ended up helping Dad as well.  And me, too.”  He held
her gaze.  “Especially me.”

At that moment
Tessa knew from first-hand experience what they meant when they said, ‘cat got
your tongue’.  She had no idea what to say.

Wolf cleared his
throat then straightened, looking almost as embarrassed as she felt.  He patted
the roof of her solar orange Audi TTS coupe, her one luxury in life, and looked
at it admiringly.  “Nice,” he said, as if noticing it for the first time.  He
didn’t fool her one bit.  She knew he was only changing the subject so he could
push that awkward moment behind him.  “I’ve never seen this color on an Audi
before.”

“The only one in
Ontario.” 

He raised his
eyebrows.  “You should give me a ride in it one day.”

“I most certainly
will.”

He nodded then
stepped back and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.

When am I going
to see you again
?  Unbidden, the question popped
into her mind.  As she stared up at him, her eyes taking him all in, she knew
she didn’t want to leave.  Not just yet.  Not till she knew she’d be seeing him
again soon.

He must have been
thinking the same thing because he said, “When will I see you again?  Remember,
we still have that project to discuss.”

“Thursdays are
usually best for me,” she said.  “Want to do lunch again?”

He shook his
head.  “I have a better idea.  Why not come by my office on the weekend when
you’re not so pressed for time?  Then I can show you what I do and we can
bounce ideas off each other.  And,” he gave her a smile, “you won’t have to
rush off to a class full of kids.”

“Sounds good.” 
She smiled back at him.  “And, as luck would have it, I’m free this weekend.” 
She was free every weekend but he didn’t have to know that.

“Great.  What
about Sunday around one o’clock?  I can order in and we can have lunch at the
office.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“Okay, I'll let
you go now.”  He'd approached the car while they were talking but now he gave
it another pat.  “It’s almost nine o’clock.  You need to get home and rest. 
School tomorrow.”

Tessa nodded and
switched on the engine.  “G’night, Wolf.”

“G’night,” he
said, copying her.  “And call me when you get home.  Let me know you’re safe.”

Tessa nodded and
as she drove out of the driveway and onto the road Wolf was still standing
there, hands in his pockets, watching her leave.

And she knew without
a doubt that whatever she was feeling he’d begun to feel it, too.  He cared and
that was all she needed to know to make her feel on top of the world.

 CHAPTER SEVEN

“Earth to Wolf. 
Do you read me?”

At the sound of
Mike’s voice Wolf blinked and his attention snapped back to the screen.  “Yeah,
sure, I’m with you.”

The production
manager chuckled.  “You could’ve fooled me.  I asked you a question two times
and it was like you zoned out.  All I heard was silence.”

“Sorry.”  Wolf
gave him a rueful half smile.  “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”  Actually, it was
not a lot in terms of size.  It was a tiny woman called Tessa Tyndale.  He just
couldn’t stop thinking about her.  Cynic that he was, he’d told Stone he could
never fall victim to Cupid’s arrow.  Now he wondered if he would have to
swallow those words.

“So this is the
challenge we’re having.  The provincial curriculum has changed this semester
but the tapes you brought in still reflect the materials from the last school
year.”  Mike picked up his pen and used it to point at the index on the
screen.  “Three of these have changed.”  He shook his head.  “We’re doing great
work, Wolf, but we can’t keep doing it in a vacuum.  We need to have a finger
on the pulse of what’s current at the Ministry of Education or else we’ll be
creating programming that’s irrelevant."

Wolf nodded and as
he pondered Mike’s words he grew thoughtful.  He trusted Mike’s judgment and what
he was saying made perfect sense.  And, he realized, the timing of that remark
could not have been more appropriate.  “I think I’ll have the solution to our
problem very soon,” he said.  “There’s a high school teacher I know, a highly
motivated person who, unlike us outside observers, is in the middle of the
action.  She’s right there in the classroom, day after day.  I have no doubt
she will be the perfect complement to our team.”

“She will?  You
discussed this with her already?”

“Yes, and we’re
going to meet again this weekend.  She’s got lots of ideas which I’m sure will
enhance our product.”  He waved a hand at the screen.  “And all this will
change.  Whatever is new and fresh in the field of learning, that’s what we’ll
have.”

Mike nodded.  “I
see you’re on the ball.  Ahead of me, in fact.  You’ve already identified the
solution when I only just recognized the problem.”  He gave a short bark of a
laugh.  “And that’s why you’re the boss.”  He reached for the phone. 
"I'll have Kareem prepare a list of programs for review.  Maybe you can
discuss them at your meeting this weekend?”

“Sounds like a
plan.  Just make sure I get the list and the samples by Friday.”

His meeting with
Mike over, Wolf got up and left the production room, glad he’d had that conversation. 
The list and the tapes of program samples were just what he needed for his next
date…no, appointment…with Tessa.  He’d have something concrete to work with as
he shared ideas with her.

And he needed
that.  Because not having anything to keep him grounded while they were all
alone together was, almost certainly, a recipe for trouble.

******

“I tell you, I
don’t know what’s wrong with him.  Whenever he thinks he’s right he just
refuses to back down even if I’m the one who’s right.”

As she sat on her
queen-sized bed listening to her mother’s rants on the phone, Tessa let her
shoulders sag and her chin fall to her chest.  Just what she needed on a school
night when she was dead tired from marking papers all evening.  A litany of
complaints from her mother.  Honestly, it was a real mystery that Bob and Eleanor
Tyndale’s marriage had lasted over twenty-eight years.  Every few months it
would be something else and Tessa would get drawn into it by either one side or
the other.  Tessa loved her parents with all her heart.  She just wished they
would mellow and settle down to a calm and peaceful life.  In other words, she
wished they would grow up.

But it looked like
it wasn’t going to happen.  Not right now, anyway.  She would just have to suck
it up as she always did and pray that it would blow over soon.  Sometimes it
took a day or two for things to get back to normal, sometimes just a few
hours.  There was one frightening time, though, when Bob and Eleanor did not
speak to each other for almost two weeks.  Now that had been scary.

“And another
thing,” her mother continued, “I’m getting pretty tired, listening to him
snore.  It’s worse now that he’s older.  He’s driving me crazy.”

Tessa swallowed a
sigh.  At this point they were both driving her crazy but, good daughter that
she was, she didn’t vocalize her thoughts.

“Just sleep in the
next room, Mom,” she said soothingly.  “He can’t help it if he snores.”

“No,” Eleanor said
decisively.  “Sometimes he does it to annoy me.”

“Oh, Ma.”  Tessa
could only shake her head.  The ideas her mother came up with.  With two zany
parents like hers it was a wonder she was so stable and sane, a solid rock in
their stormy sea.

“I’ve had enough,
Tessa.  I need a break from your father.  I’m going to book a flight and come
up tomorrow evening and spend a few days with you, just us girls. I’ll call and
let you know what time to get me at the airport.”

“Wait…uhm…Mom, did
you say you’re flying back to Canada tomorrow?”

“That’s what I
said.  Are your ears blocked up again?” Her mother’s tone was prickly and
impatient.

“No, they’re fine,
it’s just…that’s sort of short notice for me.”  Tessa held her breath as she
waited for her mother’s response
.  Please let her change her mind.  I can’t
take this drama, not right now
.

“Why do I need to
give notice to visit you?  I’m your mother.”  And with that, Eleanor
effectively dismissed Tessa’s only hope to delay the visit.  “If I get there
Thursday evening you’ll be in school Friday, but we’ll have Friday night to
hang out and then all day Saturday to go shopping.  Sunday I’ll make you a nice
homemade meal because I know you’re up there starving yourself and I’ll catch
the last flight back to Florida Sunday night.  By that time I’ll probably be
missing your father just a little bit and won’t mind going back.  How does that
sound?”