Loving Tessa (January Cove) Read online

  "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.

  Chapter 2

  "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 smi
led. 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?”

  “Yes, sir,” Paul said as he watched his boss’s face finally relax.

  “I’ve gotta run. I need to check on some things around the beach area,” he said as he slipped his sunglasses onto his face and walked out the door.

  ***

  Tessa wiped the tiny counter, cleaning up random bits of tomato sauce from her attempt at making good spaghetti. She feared that her son would never know what good food tasted like as she wasn’t the best cook in the world, and when she wasn’t damaging his taste buds with her own cooking, he was eating from a can or a jar.

  “Mommy? Go to the beach?” Tyler said with his pleading blue eyes. He’d been asking for days now. It had been impossible to keep him from seeing the ocean waves out of the tiny camper windows.

  “Not today, sweetie,” she said patting the tuft of blond hair on his head. It was the same hair his father had. The same head of hair she’d fallen in love with and subsequently come to fear. Maybe Tyler’s hair would darken as he got older. She hoped so, and that made her feel guilty for wanting anything about her son to change.

  “Why not?” he asked with tears welling in his eyes. How could she tell him that they were in hiding? How could she explain that it wasn’t worth the risk to go outside more than they had to, even though they were hours from home.

  “Honey, it’s getting late. It’s after dinner. We need to get baths…” she said. He started to cry. She knew this was hard for him. He’d been uprooted from everything he knew, even if what he knew was violence. His toys were gone. His room was gone. Guilt rose like bile in her throat, and she turned away from him to stop her own tears from escaping.

  The truth was that she couldn’t give Tyler a real bath anymore. The old vintage camper had a small stand-up shower with a handheld hose. When she bathed her son, it felt like she was giving her dog a bath. What kind of mother was she? Every option she'd weighed hadn't seemed safe. The only way to be safe was to be alone. She’d learned that the hard way. But Tyler was now paying the price for her poor decisions from long ago.

  As Tessa looked outside, she saw the sun starting to set over the ocean. Maybe they could sneak down to the shore and Tyler could play in the ocean for a little while without anyone noticing. Most people would be near their motorhomes and camp sites getting dinner ready. Deciding that it was worth the risk, she turned to Tyler.

  “Okay, bud, I’ve got a surprise for you!” she said smiling as Tyler’s eyes got bigger. “We’re going to put on our swimsuits and play in the ocean for a little bit before it gets too dark.”

  Tyler squealed with delight as he jumped up and down. Within minutes, he was buck naked running to the tiny bedroom on the other end of the camper, throwing the few articles of clothing in his rolling suitcase up in the air. Tessa giggled as she watched him. It was the first bit of normalcy she’d felt in a long time, and she prayed that showing their faces on the beach wouldn’t prove to be a big mistake.

  ***

  Aaron sat on the small front porch of his cabin with a beer in one hand and his cell phone in the other. He wasn’t expecting a call, but it was a habit of his to keep his phone close ever since his mother’s stroke. Plus, running a campground meant that anything could happen at any minute, so he liked to be reachable.

  As he swigged a sip of his beer, he leaned back in his chair and surveyed the beautiful sunset view. He couldn’t help but look at the old camper next to his cabin and wonder where the beautiful, if not secretive, woman and her unruly dog were. Were they inside, cooped up like convicts? Or had they finally gone somewhere. It seemed awfully quiet over there.

  Tired of sitting still, he got up and walked toward the beach, dropping his bottle of beer into one of many receptacles along the way. The last thing he wanted was for any of his patrons to see him chugging alcohol as he walked around the campground. Most of his customers seemed to be near their campers, firing up their grills for dinner time.

  What he saw next stopped him in his tracks. It was her. She was wearing a pale pink two piece bathing suit, and the orange glow of the sunset radiated off her skin even from far away. The gentle sea breeze was lightly blowing her long hair across her shoulders, and she seemed relaxed for the first time since he’d seen her. As she ran her fingers through her hair and stared into the ocean, he couldn’t help but feel like she was haunted by something. Or maybe someone.

  As he moved closer, he crouched behind a dune. Feeling a bit like a stalker, he decided that he needed to at least know what was up with this reclusive woman staying on his property. Suddenly, he heard a child’s voice screaming and crying, and she began to run toward the outcropping of jagged rocks near the shore. He froze in place for a moment as he saw her, panic-stricken, running across the sand toward the sound of a small child crying.

  Without thinking, he ran from behind the dune to find her crouched next to a rock and scooping a small boy up into her arms. She clutched him close to her, and Aaron’s legs felt like they were in quick sand as everything seemed to go in slow motion. He knew he was running, but he couldn’t get to her or the child fast enough for his taste. What was that about?

  With no time to think too hard, he called out to her. “Is he okay?”

  “I don’t know!” she said through tears as she looked back at him with a terrified look in her eyes. Aaron finally made it to her and fell to his knees beside her. There was a big cut across the boy’s forehead, but at least he was crying. Still, the mound forming behind the cut was threatening to open it up even larger.

  “We need to get him over to the urgent care center,” Aaron yelled above the sound of the waves crashing against he adjacent rocks. “Come on!” he yelled as he stood up. He carefully took the small boy into his arms and she stood up beside him. They ran toward his cabin with the boy crying all the way. As they reached his cabin, he unlocked the Jeep with his remote and carefully placed the boy in the back seat, buckling him in and trying to assure him everything was going to be okay.

  “It’s going to be okay, Tyler,” she said, trying to soothe him through her own tears as she
sat close to him in the backseat. “Thank you for taking us. My camper… it doesn’t really…” she said pointing to the beaten up old clunker that she and her son were living in.

  “It’s okay. Glad to do it. Doc Clayton is the best around here, and he’s usually working at the urgent care center today. They stay open pretty late, so he should still be there.”

  “Okay…” she said, obviously tending to Tyler and paying little attention to Aaron. Still, as he drove, he couldn’t help but listen to her genuine love for the little boy. The sounds of a real mother, much like his own. It took him back in time to those days when his mother was the only parent around to soothe him. Every skinned knee, broken bone, broken heart. His father was gone before he ever had a chance to know him. Where was this little boy’s father?