Page 29 of Inn To You

“I don’t know. You’re the one always stating people want something from you. I figure the shoe fits both feet. You scratch her back. She scratches yours. What is in it for you if you help her?” Zack narrows his eyes at me.

For a long minute, I glare back at my brother, recalling more of my dad’s philosophies. Don’t ever let anyone take advantage of you who you can’t take advantage of in return. For once, his statements are unsettling. I’m not looking to take anything from Tessa in return for helping her. She has nothing I’d want.

Then I consider the time I’ve spent with her son during the week she was sick and the daily interactions with her. There is something more I might want.

“I think I just want her,” I whisper to Zack.

His brows hitch again. “Doesn’t she have a kid?”

Being that my brother was a single father for a short while, he understands that single parenthood and the dynamics of dating can get tricky, yet he figured it out with his first attempt. River was a blessing he never saw coming.

“Her son is amazing.” My voice cracks as I mention Jonas. He’s so energetic. I’ve taken him to baseball practice this week, and he has the heart, even if lacking talent. He wants to be good at the game. He’s sharp at board games as we’ve played a few in the apartment while his mom continued to recover, and he loves to explore things. Anything. He acts like everything he discovers is important. He showed me how to work the graphics for editing his images, and his talent just astounds me.

“You want the boy or the mother?”

I sit up straighter and zero in on Zack’s eyes which match mine. “Are you saying I’m playing the kid to get to the mom?”

“Are you?” Zack questions, tipping back in his chair.

“Fuck you.” I stand, ready to leave, while Zack chuckles.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you so passionate about something. About someone. Two someones in this case.” His gaze remains on me.

“Meaning?” I’m not certain I even want his answer, but I am curious.

“You are so like Robert.” Our father. Zack still can’t call him Dad. “Willing to give only if there’s a take.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Irritation makes my body hum.

“You wined and dined for guests and received some kind of kickback, right? A tip? An invitation? Sex even.”

My brother isn’t wrong. Pulling courtside basketball tickets came with a cost. I never had to mention a tip. The fee was understood. Sometimes, I’d even be included in the favors I did. I’d be invited to share a drink at the bar as appreciation. Other times, the benefit was sex. A lonely woman who wanted a night on the town but needed a companion.

The glare my brother is giving me makes me want to scrub my skin. I never had trouble doing what I did, but comparing me to our dad, thinking I’d take advantage of a single mother, Zack has crossed a line.

“I’m out of here.” I step toward the door, and Zack leans forward.

“That’s what I’m most afraid of. See, you left when Dad was arrested. You didn’t look back and hooking up with this woman only to leave her behind…especially with a kid… not cool, Noah.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Reaching for the door, I yank it open and storm from the house. The house that was once my childhood home. A place that held safety and happiness until it didn’t. And I hate that my brother is correct. I didn’t want to ever look back.

11

[Tessa]

Noah had been incredibly helpful the week I was sick, and we’d grown closer from all the time he spent caring for Jonas and me. We talked about my father, and he mentioned his. We even discussed Isaiah a little bit. Noah told me what Jonas asked of him.

My already huge case of mother’s guilt swelled to gigantic. “I want to be enough for him, but I know he could benefit from a positive male role model.” My father would have been the best example. Even Uncle Joe could have helped, but his absence says it all lately. He’s not interested in playing grandpa.

Noah and I also talked more about the inn, my deadlines, and my concerns.

One morning as he enters the inn, I’m bubbling with excitement. “The bank finally called me,” I blurt as he nears the front desk.

“Great,” he mutters, continuing toward the office.

“I—” My mouth falls open but clamps shut as he disappears. With no one present in the lobby, I enter the office myself. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” With his harsh tone, I don’t believe him.