Page 76 of Stripping Bare
“Brynne called to tell me to expect you. Give her a few minutes and she should be here. Would you like a cup of pecan coffee and some breakfast while youwait?”
“I wouldn’t want to be any trouble.” What she wanted was to find Jonah and line up their next move against the hacker, but Tessa’s stomach folded into a hunger cramp at the mention of food. And thanks to the delicious, nutty scent coming from the welcoming kitchen, she’d break her I-don’t-drink-much-coffeerule.
“You can’t be more trouble than one of my own kids,” Miss Joan said, her voice full of love and pride. “Stubborn and strong-minded, the lot ofthem.”
“They’re lucky to have you.” Talking with her and smelling the scent of a real home made Tessa long to see her own parents. She’d lived on the other coast for so many years that it didn’t faze them if she only called once every couple of weeks. But since someone had breached her files and started playing head games with Jonah and her a few days ago, she hadn’t spoken with her mom and dad atall.
Miss Joan pulled out a chair at the expansive wood and metal farm table and bustled over to the counter. “Sit and I’ll fix it foryou.”
Having Jonah’s mother treat her like a family friend unnerved Tessa. “You don’t know me fromAdam.”
She turned back to meet Tessa’s gaze. “Sweetheart”—both her eyes and tone held sympathy—“I probably know more about you than you wish I did, what with all that trouble Micki was in lastyear.”
“If I’d known sooner about her boss’s threats, Iwould’ve—”
“Of course you would have.” With a wave, Miss Joan turned back to the coffeepot. “I know who your people are, what kind of girl youare.”
It seemed Tessa was at quite a disadvantage here. Would Jonah’s family ever stop catching her with her pants down…Don’t think aboutthat.
A mug of delicious-smelling coffee, cream, and sugar seemed to materialize in front of Tessa. She stirred in a little cream and had taken her first sip when Miss Joan said, “Reid told me you were somethingelse.”
Coffee backed up mid-swallow and tried to make a detour up Tessa’s nose. She coughed, covering her mouth and nose with a napkin. When she had herself more or less under control, she croaked out, “Reid?”
With a grimace, Miss Joan propped a hand on one hip. “Sorry, but we’re a nosy family. He looked into you quite a bit lastyear.”
Thank. The. Lord.Jonah’s older brother hadn’t spilled the beans to his mom that he’d caught her naked in Jonah’s bed thismorning.
“Gave me the background on your family and what you’ve made of your life since…since…”
“Therapes.”
This time, Miss Joan was the one to swallow, and her eyes filled. “Tessa, I know you may not feel totally comfortable with this, but would you let me give you ahug?”
Although shewasunbalanced by the request, Tessa stood and Miss Joan hurried over to wrap her in her arms. It wasn’t a quick squeeze. She gave Tessa a loving mom’s I-can-hold-you-together hug, one that made you feel as if the chipped and jagged pieces were being glued back together. Tessa knew them well because her mom had given them so many times, especially in the first few years after therapes.
Tessa returned the hug and they were still standing there, rocking right and left, when Brynne walked in. “I see you two are already fast friends,” she said with a sweet smile. Today, she was dressed in black skinny pants tucked into brown wedge boots and a sweater that sparkled gold, silver, and bronze in the kitchenlight.
Miss Joan finally released Tessa, but gave her a soft pat on the cheek. “Sweetheart, you will do. You will do verywell.”
Tessa wasn’t completely sure what she meant, but Miss Joan’s oblique approval warmed herinside.
“Are the guys already at it?” Brynne asked MissJoan.
“Oh, mercy yes. They stormed in here like a bunch of hooligans, grabbed go-cups of coffee, and loaded up the back of Reid’s truck with paintball paraphernalia from thebarn.”
“So they play war games on a regular basis?” Tessa asked. That wasn’t particularly convenient this morning, when she and Jonah needed to talk through everything that had happened the past fewdays.
Brynne and Miss Joan exchanged a look that was half affection and half exasperation. “Apparently,” Brynne said, “you can take the man out of the mountains, but you can’t take the mountain out of theman.”
“They tend to go off and shoot at each other when one of them has a problem to work out,” Miss Joan added. “Women are civilized. We have a cup of coffee and talk. Men need to burn off some of that intense emotion before they’re able to have a sensible conversation aboutanything.”
Didn’t anyone besides Tessa realize Jonah beat himself up for his own intense feelings anddesires?
She turned at the sound of a door opening and closing, and a few seconds later, a woman walked in who could only be one person. Jonah’s twin. Micki was tall and lean like Jonah and her eyes were that same shrewd hazel that missed nothing around her. The Micki avatar the hacker had added to Jonah’s game was right on themoney.
“I heard there’s a paintball game,” Mickisaid.
“They’re already out in thewoods.”
