A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [79]
“Look, it isn’t that easy, okay? Tessa comes from a different world than I do. She’s beautiful. She used to be on TV—God only knows who she’s dated in the past and—”
“Cluck,” Melissa said. “Cluck. Cluck—”
“Stop it,” Tom ordered.
“Arrest me,” Melissa challenged.
“That is tempting,” came the raspy reply. Tom hooked his thumbs under his belt. “And if you think all this jabbering is throwing me off, you’re wrong. I’m a trained investigator, remember. I know there is something going on between you and Steven Creed. In fact, I’d go so far as to say you weren’t even home last night.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I might have driven past your place once or twice.”
Melissa raised one eyebrow. Tilted her head to one side. “Is that right? Well, let’s assume, for one wild and crazy moment, that I did have something ‘going on’ with Steven. Why would that be any of your damn business?”
He smiled. “It wouldn’t,” he conceded. “But I’d be happy about it. The whole damn county would be happy, in fact.”
Melissa’s tone was dangerous, which was fine, since she wanted it that way. “Because—?”
“Because you don’t have a life. Ever since you and Dan broke up, you’ve been—it seems like you’re—”
“And I suppose you have a life?”
“I get by,” Tom hedged.
“‘Getting by’ doesn’t count. You’re still a young man, Tom. You’re nice-looking and honest and you have a steady job. Lots of women would be interested in you, and Tessa might just be one of them, for all you know. I can’t believe that as brave a man as you are, you’re afraid to risk one tiny rejection.”
Tom didn’t answer. He just stood there, looking like he was trying to think of a smart-ass comeback, but none was forthcoming.
“All right,” Melissa said, “there’s a dance at the Grange Hall Saturday night. Why don’t you ask Tessa if she’d like to go?”
He let out a breath. “Tessa’s always friendly when I stop by the café for coffee, or pick up something from the bakery side,” he confessed, “so I get to thinking she might be up for dinner and a movie, anyway, but then at other times she seems pretty distracted, like a lot of things are worrying her. How do I know I’m not misreading the smiles and all that? After all, Tessa is nice to everybody, not just me.”
Melissa felt a rush of sisterly tenderness and touched Tom’s arm. “It’s a dance, Tom. Ask her. Either she’ll accept and you’ll both have a great time, or she’ll refuse, and you’ll be able to stop wondering and move on.”
He turned stubborn then. “I’ll ask Tessa if you’ll ask Creed,” he said.
The depth of her reaction to the suggestion startled Melissa. Suddenly, she wanted to run back to her office and hide behind her work again.
Which was completely crazy, considering the things she and Steven had done in bed together just the night before.
Weren’t parts of her still humming with sense memories?
Tom pounced on her hesitation and jumped in feet first. “Now who’s chicken?” he asked.
Melissa forced herself to relax. Tried for a throw-away smile. “How do I know this isn’t a trick?” she asked. “I invite Steven to the dance and then you conveniently fink out on asking Tessa. Where would that leave me?”
“Dancing with Steven Creed?” Tom teased, a grin in his eyes.
“You go first,” Melissa said. “And I have to be there when you ask her.”
Tom pretended to be horrified. “You don’t trust me?”
“Not when it comes to this,” she replied, lifting her chin. “You’ve been waffling for a year, telling me you’re going to make a move and then backing off again.”
“You expect to be there when I talk to Tessa?”
Melissa nodded. Glanced at her watch. “Nearly two o’clock. It would be entirely reasonable for us to go out on a coffee break right about now,” she said. “We’ll head over to the Sunflower, and when Tessa comes to the table to take our order, you just say something like, ‘There’s a dance this Saturday night and I was wondering if you’d like to go with