perfect despite the hours she’d spent in the kitchen. She’d given a critical once-over to Tess’s black wrap top and slim charcoal pants, but her only comment had been that maybe Tess should consider adding more red highlights to her hair, just to “spice up” her shoulder-length auburn bob. Tess was perfectly content for now with the color nature had given her, but she hadn’t wasted breath arguing.
The sisters didn’t look much alike. Tess’s brown eyes had a more golden tint than Nina’s, her face was more oval and she’d inherited their father’s shallow chin cleft. At five-four, she was two inches shorter than her sister, though she’d always wondered if being taller would have made any difference in Nina’s still treating her like a child.
“Everything looks beautiful, Nina,” she said, knowing just what to say to make her sister happy. “I can tell you’ve worked very hard.”
Nina heaved a long-suffering sigh. “You have no idea. All the chopping and mixing, cooking and baking, not to mention keeping up with all the kids’ extracurricular activities and volunteering at two different schools. I’m utterly exhausted, but of course it’s all worth it for my family.”
Through her mental sigh, Tess heard a football game playing in the den. She knew her brother-in-law, Ken, and her nephews, thirteen-year-old Cameron and nine-year-old Austin, were parked in front of it, though both boys were probably engrossed in handheld video games. Almost fifteen-year-old Olivia was in her room, likely risking carpal tunnel syndrome with marathon texting to her bazillion friends. None of them had offered assistance to their mother, though Nina wouldn’t have accepted if they had. She loved being a martyr to her overly indulged family.
Nina shook off her air of selfless weariness to replace it with a sympathetic smile toward her much younger sibling. “You wouldn’t understand, of course, not having a husband and children of your own to take care of.”
She didn’t add the uniquely Southern, artfully patronizing “bless your heart,” but Tess heard it anyway. Ever since Tess turned twenty-one eight years ago, Nina rarely missed an opportunity to voice her concern that her sister would remain single and childless. It didn’t help that her only semiserious relationship during those years had crashed and burned.
While Tess wanted a family of her own, she was increasingly resentful of her sister’s condescension, making every holiday gathering progressively more uncomfortable. That was a shame, because she and her sister were the only surviving members of their immediate family. Their parents, who’d been in their midforties when Tess was born thirteen years after Nina, had both died within the past six years. Now Nina always made a big show of including Tess at every holiday table because as she said, “Tess has no one else to share the special days with.”
Tess drew a deep breath before asking, “Would you like me to call everyone to the table?”
“In a moment. First I want to ask if you’d allow me to give your number to Cameron’s orthodontist, Dr. Mike. He’s really quite nice, if a bit socially awkward. He’s been divorced for almost a year. He seemed interested when I showed him your photo on my phone, but after that little fit you threw last time, I knew better than to give him your number without asking.” Nina rolled her eyes, as if making it clear she thought it unreasonable that Tess objected to Nina handing out her number to just any single stranger.
“Seriously, Nina, stop trying to fix me up,” Tess said with a firm shake of her head. She didn’t mind her friends arranging the occasional blind date, but she’d rather her meddlesome sister stay out of her love life, such as it was. The thought of her photo being shown to random men made her very uncomfortable. “I don’t need you to arrange dates for me.”
“Well, someone should. I don’t see how you’re going to find anyone sitting in that office working for your taskmaster of a boss. I mean, sure, you meet construction workers and architects and suppliers, but you’re too professional to flirt with them on the job and you’re never not on the job, so where does that leave you, hmm? Needing a little help meeting someone, that’s where. And because I’m actually out in the community mingling with nice, successful people, who better to direct a lead or two your way?”
“If I want your help, I’ll let you know, all right?”
Nina didn’t quite growl her frustration, but she seemed to be making an effort to restrain herself. “You haven’t forgotten about Dana’s party the second Saturday in December, have you? You have to be there. Everyone’s expecting you. You can come alone, of course, but you know how snooty some of our cousins would be if they think you can’t find a date. Perhaps that would be a good time for you to spend an evening getting to know Dr. Mike?”
“I’ll find my own date, thank you.” Tess wasn’t sure where or how, but she’d bring a date if she had to hire someone!
Maybe she shouldn’t let Nina get to her this way. Maybe she should go to the family gathering alone as she usually did, with her head high and her shoulders squared. Confident, composed and contentedly independent. But then she’d have to endure everyone trying to set her up with their dentists, accountants and gynecologists.
Before her sister could demand details, Tess turned toward the dining room doorway, which was decorated with a garland of autumn leaves and just-too-cute little gourds. “I’ll call everyone in to eat. It would be a shame to let this delicious food get cold.”
It was probably the only threat that could have derailed Nina’s attention from Tess’s personal life. At least for now.
* * *
Tess must not have known anyone else was in the office at 6:00 p.m. on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. No other reason she’d be chatting on her cell phone with her office door open, so her words drifted out very clearly to Scott Prince in the lobby. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, really. It was simply that while he hesitated, trying to decide if it would be rude to interrupt her, he heard a bit more than he intended.
He’d just quietly entered the reception area of Prince Construction Company, Inc., the Little Rock enterprise into which he’d invested all his time, sweat, money and dreams for the past nine years. It had been a struggling little local-only construction company when he’d purchased it from the retiring owner, with whom Scott had interned while he’d obtained a master’s degree in construction management. His family and friends had been concerned to see him take such a major financial risk, considering him too young and inexperienced at twenty-seven to successfully run a complicated business. It had taken almost a decade of personal sacrifice and unwavering determination to prove their doubts unfounded, but he was now owner and CEO of a successful, multistate enterprise specializing in small to medium commercial construction projects.
Tess had started working for him as a clerk over six years ago and had become his office manager and valued administrative assistant. No one got to him except through her. Some people said he was gifted when it came to surrounding himself with the right people. Tess was a prime example of that. He admitted freely that the whole operation would fall apart without her to oversee the office.
But this was Thanksgiving weekend, not an official workday. Shouldn’t she be spending it with family or friends—at least unless he needed her for some crisis or another, as he confessed he so often did?
“It was the usual painful family meal,” he heard her say from the other room, almost as if in answer to his silent question. “My sister tried to fix me up with every single male she’s ever met, because she says I’m incapable of finding eligible men on my own. My brother-in-law finally told her to lay off because as he said, ‘Some women are just meant to be single.’”
Scott grimaced,
