hug Samantha back but it was hard to get close enough with a baby bump between them. Her friend was in the third trimester, and on her tiny frame, her pregnancy was really showing. “This isn’t working!” Tess pulled back laughing and put one arm around Samantha’s shoulders instead. She’d missed this closeness. For the first time since she’d arrived in Benson she felt a glimmer of hope. At least she’d have a chance to reconnect with her friend. “How’d the meeting with the mayor go?” Samantha asked.
Tess had no idea how to answer that. “Fine,” she lied. Samantha picked up one of her suitcases, but Tess grabbed it back. “You are pregnant! I’ve got the bags.”
Samantha sighed and opened the rickety gate. “It’s so weird to have everyone trying to look after me.”
“Get used to it. You’ve got a couple more months to go.” Tess yanked her unwieldy suitcase roughly over the flagstone path.
“You know what else is weird and kind of terrifying?” Samantha asked as she pulled out a key for the door. “Trying to choose a house for you. You live in a beautiful, modern apartment with a view of the entire city! There’s nothing like that out here.”
“I’m sure it’s great,” Tess reassured her.
She was lying again. Nothing was going to be great for her in Benson, especially with her and Slaid’s history getting in the way, but that wasn’t Samantha’s problem.
“I think you’ll like it, though I still wish you’d stay with us. We have our house, and we have my grandmother’s old farmhouse furnished and ready.”
Tess felt a pang of guilt. “That’s so kind of you, but I think if I stay in town it will be easier to make contacts in the community.” She didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings, but the last thing Tess wanted was to stay in Samantha’s house, or anywhere on Samantha’s ranch, where life revolved around her friend’s pregnancy. She wished her memories didn’t hurt so much, but they did. “Besides, aren’t you turning Grandma Ruth’s house into a bed-and-breakfast? You don’t need me getting in the way while you’re working on it.”
Samantha smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know... Maybe I’m too sentimental... I can’t seem to change anything about it. So for now it’s my office and a guesthouse. Perfect for friends...like you!”
Tess realized her excuses weren’t satisfying her friend, and there was no way she could tell Samantha the real reason. Because despite a decade of friendship, Tess had never explained that she’d had a baby—or that she’d placed it with an adoptive family. Or that she’d never been able to forget those few moments she’d held her son, and the complete devastation she’d felt saying goodbye to him. There were a lot of things she’d never told anyone, and it was way too late to start now. So she shrugged and plastered a smile on her face. “Unfortunately, my friend, I am here to work, and being near you would be too tempting. I’d want to hang around your gorgeous ranch and gossip all day.”
That seemed to appease Samantha. She pushed open the front door, revealing a small entryway, the whitewashed wood panels punctuated by a line of iron coat hooks. “Welcome home, then,” she said with a tentative smile.
Inside, Tess left her bags by the door and followed Samantha on a tour of the cottage. Her friend had been careful in her choice, and it showed. The old plank floors were polished and the walls were a clean white. The tall windows and high ceilings let sunlight flood the rooms. It was soothing. There was a front bedroom that had been turned into an office, and Tess appreciated the old scarred pine table that served as a desk—there was a lot of space to spread out and work.
The shabby-chic decor was the exact opposite of the sleek modern pieces Tess had chosen at home, but she had to admit that it perfectly suited this place. There was a cozy kitchen with a giant gas stove and a comfortable living room with overstuffed armchairs in front of a fireplace. The tiny bedroom was dominated by a scrolled iron bed frame. Tess noted with relief that two extra duvets were stacked on top. She would need them for the cold fall weather out here.
“Tea?” Samantha walked down the tiny hallway toward the kitchen.
After her meeting with the mayor, Tess would have preferred a brandy. “Sure,” she answered, and hauled her suitcases into the bedroom. She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, pulling the pins from her hair, letting it fall around her face. She took a deep breath and exhaled. Her heart hadn’t slowed down since she left the mayor’s office and her mind was whirling, asking the same question over and over. How was it possible that she’d slept with the mayor of Benson?
She heaved herself up and walked into the kitchen on leaden legs, gratefully accepting the steaming tea Samantha handed her. Its warmth was somewhat comforting. There was a small table by the back window of the kitchen, and Samantha lowered herself carefully onto one of the chairs. Tess sat down opposite her because that was what was expected. And if she just did what was expected, then she wouldn’t do what she really wanted, which was to call Ed and threaten to quit if he didn’t let her go home.
She looked out the window. On this side of the house, they had a view of the rear garden with its small flagstone patio. There was a fire pit in the center of it surrounded by a few old, wooden Adirondack chairs painted in festive colors. It was a cheery scene until she looked beyond the picket fence, where there was only high desert. The dry ground was speckled with scrubby bushes until the hills got high enough to be speckled in granite. Then they sloped abruptly and turned into mountains.
“This is a great spot!” Samantha enthused.
“It’s beautiful.” Beautiful in a rugged, formidable way that made Tess want to jump in her car and race home. “I appreciate all of your help. The house is perfect.”
“You’ll be able to sit here and see all kinds of animals—jackrabbits, deer. And that fire pit will be a lovely place to sit at night and watch the stars.”
The enthusiasm in Samantha’s tone left Tess bewildered. Lonely contemplation had to be one of her least favorite activities. She looked at her friend instead of the window—there was way too much open space out there, too much quiet. “I’m not much of a stargazer.”
“Maybe you’ll become one now. Just wait until it gets dark. You’ll be amazed at how clear the sky is here in the fall.”
Tess made a mental note to stay inside and close the curtains at dusk. Time to change the subject. “How are you feeling anyway?” she asked Samantha, knowing she should.
“Hungry. And sleepy. I just want to nap, then sleep, then nap some more.”
“Of course.” Tess remembered her pregnancy, how her body had craved sleep so badly there were days she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Her uneasiness morphed into full-blown anxiety. The long drive today, with so much wilderness all around, had cracked open the closed doors of her mind, the ones that usually kept memories like this at bay.
“So what did you think of our mayor?” Samantha asked.
Her meeting with Slaid was another life event she’d like to shove behind a closed door. “He seems nice enough.” She tried her best to sound disinterested. “But I couldn’t really tell—we only met for a few minutes. What’s he like?”
“Well, handsome, for one thing. But you’re probably already aware of that.”
Oh, boy, was she ever. She could instantly picture what he’d looked like in that hotel room in Phoenix, skin
