Tempting Tessa Page 3

  I walk Jake out and decide to head over to my parents’ house. I’ve missed Ty today and am ready to see my little man. Once I arrive there, I go over everything from today with my parents and we eat an early dinner so that we have time for them to come see the flooring options that I have at the house.

  “You picked some great options, Tessa,” my dad says to me as he looks over the flooring samples.

  “Yes, sweetie, they are great. It is going to be hard to choose just one,” my mom adds.

  “I know, but I’m glad that I was able to bring the samples home. With them in my kitchen I realize options 1 and 4 don’t work. So now I just have to decide between 2 and 3.”

  “I like 3 best, the color goes so well with the cabinets and trim in here. I also really love the texture,” my mom says.

  “I agree with your mother,” my dad adds.

  “I think I like the third one best as well, and I agree about the color and texture. When I have looked at flooring before, I was always drawn to the hand scraped options and that is what this one is.”

  Just then there is a knock on the door as it opens. In walks Caroline, Luke, and the boys. The boys take off looking for Ty who is in the playroom building his next great project. Caroline and Luke come into the kitchen to give us their opinions on the flooring options.

  “Tessa, these options are beautiful, you did a great job this morning picking them out,” Caroline says as she looks over the flooring samples.

  “Thanks, does one pop out at you more than the others? I’ve eliminated the first and fourth options as I don’t think they match very well with the cabinets or trim.”

  “I agree. My favorite is option 3,” Caroline says as she picks the sample up. “This one matches the best. It’s the same texture we have in our kitchen and I just love it!”

  I laugh. “Sounds like option 3 it is. Everyone that has seen them has picked that one out.”

  “Glad we could be of help,” Luke adds with a chuckle.

  My parents head out as they are a little worn out after having Ty since last night. I know Luke and Caroline can’t stay for long as the boys all need to get to bed, but I offer her a glass of wine and Luke a beer. Maybe I will get the courage to ask Luke about Jake.

  “So tell me the timeline again for the repairs,” Caroline says as she accepts the glass of wine and takes a drink.

  “Jake said they have a large commercial building project starting soon. He said once the groundwork is done they will be starting and that is scheduled for late next week or the beginning of the following week. He said as long as I have the flooring picked out and he can get it ordered, they can squeeze in my job before that one starts. If that doesn’t work, then it would be the end of summer before they would be able to get over here. It was perfect timing when you texted him this weekend.”

  “Amazing how it all worked out. Now tell me more about this attraction??” she says coyly.

  “Caroline, I can’t even explain it. When I opened the door, I was just taken aback by how good-looking he was. He was so polite and accommodating. I would enjoy getting to know him more. Luke, tell me about him, is he dating anyone?”

  “I don’t think so. He just moved back to town a few months ago to take over the construction company from his dad. I know he’s had a rough 6 or so years. He was deployed and got hurt and took his time getting back to civilian life. We’ve kept in touch online and just reconnected in person. He’s been so busy lately. Landing that commercial project was a huge thing for them.”

  Caroline pipes up. “Hey, how about we have a barbeque this weekend at the house? We can invite Jake and you and Ty can come. Maybe you guys can get to know each other some more in a relaxed atmosphere.”

  “I’m game for that. I don’t want to blindside the poor guy, but it would be nice to get to know him a little more.”

  “Perfect! Luke, text him and invite him over Saturday for lunch and hanging out.”

  “Will do, dear,” he answers her, smiling and shaking his head. I’m sure I hear him mutter something about playing cupid or matchmaker. What can I say? I love my best friend. She has seen me at my best and my absolute worst and would do anything for me that I needed.

  The next morning I send Jake a text to let him know I picked the flooring so that he can get it ordered.

  Tessa: Hey Jake, I’ve selected option 3 for the kitchen flooring. The code on the back is 2578.

  Jake: Sounds good, Tessa. I’ll get it added to your paperwork and have someone in the office email it over to you with new the totals.

  Tessa: Thanks so much. I’ll keep an eye out for the email.

  An hour or so later I get the contract with the totals for them to fix all the issues. I’m surprised to see they could stay within the amount the insurance is paying minus my deductibles. I was expecting it to cost me more, so I’m thrilled.

  Saturday rolls around and I’m so excited and nervous for today. I really hope Jake doesn’t feel set up. Caroline assured me that Luke talked to him and from the little he told her, it seems the attraction might be mutual. He apparently asked Luke a few questions about me too.

  Ty and I arrive at Caroline and Luke’s house around 11:30, ready to have some fun today. We are getting out of my car when a truck pulls into the driveway. I recognize it right away as Jake’s truck and the butterflies start up again. I need to cool it. I don’t want to come across as a love-struck teenager for Christ’s sake. I’m almost 30 years old. Jake gets out of his truck and walks over to us with a huge smile on his face. I noticed his blue eyes the other day, and they stand out to me again now.

  “Hey, Tessa, nice to see you today. Who’s this little man?”

  “Hi, Jake, this is Ty. Ty, this is Jake. He’s the man who will be fixing our house up.”

  “Nice to meet you, little man,” Jake says, offering Ty a fist bump.

  Ty doesn’t have a shy bone in his body, so he fist bumps Jake back and says, “Cool! Can I help with all your tools?”

  Jake chuckles at that. “I’m not sure, Ty, you think you can handle a hammer?”

  Ty gets a huge grin on his face. “Yep! I’m the man of the house!” We all chuckle and Ty runs off before either of us can reply to him.

  “Thanks for humoring him. He loves it when he gets to help. My brother told him a few months ago what it means to be the man of the house and he hasn’t let me forget since.” I smile up at Jake, making eye contact with him.

  “No problem at all. Will he be around the house when my crew is there?”

  “I was planning on him being at my parents’ or here at Caroline’s. I don’t want him in the way and believe me, he will want to be in the middle of everything! I have to work Tuesday through Thursday, so he will be at my parents’ those days for sure. They watch him for me when I’m working.”

  As we chat, we start to walk toward the back of the house together to join the rest of the adults. “Where do you work?” Jake asks me.

  “I’m a nurse down at the hospital. I work in the labor and delivery department three days a week.”

  “Nice, my sister is a nurse. She works in the ER.”

  As we reach the back deck, Luke and Jake do the typical male half hug-pound on the back with the fist greeting. Caroline just shakes her head and welcomes us.

  “Can I get either of you something to drink?” Luke asks both of us as he starts heading into the house.

  “I’ll take a beer if you have one,” Jake says to Luke we walk up onto the deck.

  “I have sangria made up in the kitchen,” Caroline says to me.

  “You’re a woman after my own heart,” I reply to her as I look out to check on the kids.

  Luke comes back with a beer for Jake and a glass of sangria for me. The kids are all out running in the yard chasing each other. Luke is manning the grill and him and Jake walk over to it while Caroline and I sit down at the table on their deck.

  “I brought Ty’s swim trunks in case the kids end up in the sprinkler like last time,�
�� I say to Caroline as I take a drink of the sangria. It’s so refreshing on this gorgeous day.

  “Oh, good idea. I know they loved it the last time you guys were here,” Caroline replies.

  “I can set it up for them once we are done eating,” Luke adds over his shoulder.

  “Sounds good, babe,” Caroline replies to him.

  “If you ladies want to go wrangle the kids, the food should be ready in about 5,” Luke says to us.

  Caroline and I holler for the boys, letting them know lunch is about to be ready and it’s time to get washed up. They must all be hungry as they all come running to us. After getting them all washed up and back out to the table on the deck, the food is ready and waiting for us. Caroline and I take care of the kids’ food and then sit down at the adult table with the guys. Jake and Luke are talking sports when we sit down.

  “Hey, babe, are we still going to take the boys to a baseball game this summer? Jake and I were just talking about trying to hit up some games together.”

  “I think they would enjoy going. Tessa and I were talking about it at the park the other day. Ty wants to go as well.”

  “I looked up the schedule that evening and they have a few Saturday and Sunday afternoon games next month that I was thinking would work best. I think the evening games might be a little too late for the kids,” I say.

  “You ok with letting the ladies pick what game?” Luke asks Jake as we all start eating.

  “That’s fine with me, as long as you all don’t care if I tag along.”

  Caroline pipes up, “It will be so much fun, guys! Maybe we can even catch an evening game as adults only one weekend.”

  “That does sound like an awesome plan,” I add.

  The afternoon continues with easy conversation between the four of us. The kids run and play hard. They probably ran through the sprinkler for an hour. We are all just relaxing when Caroline pipes up, “Hey, we never make any final decisions for your birthday in a few weeks.”

  Damn, I was hoping she would forget.

  “I don’t know what I want to do. Sara and Kate keep bugging me as well. Maybe we can just all go out to dinner and drinks.”

  “Are you crazy, woman? It’s not only your Dirty 30 but it’s also your golden birthday. We must party it up! We are not just doing dinner and drinks. That’s what we do for any normal girls’ night. We are celebrating you whether you like it or not!” Caroline banters back to me.

  Of course, this conversation gets the guys’ attention and I notice Jake is watching me out of the corner of my eye. I’m not sure what to read into his glances at me all afternoon, but I have to admit I like the attention and feelings his attention creates.

  “How about we go to dinner at that Japanese steakhouse you love, then we can go out dancing or to a karaoke bar?” Caroline asks me as she refills our glasses of sangria.

  “I don’t know about karaoke, Caroline. Dinner for sure and probably yes on the dancing.”

  “Don’t be a party pooper, Tessa! I’m going to text Sara and Kate and see if they are up for the shenanigans. Hopefully Sara will have had the baby by then and will be up to going out with us, even if it’s just for dinner.”

  Sigh. “OK, I’ll let you plan what you want but I am not going to get up and sing!”

  “Fine, party pooper,” she retorts back to me.

  We end up all staying for dinner and grill again, as it’s such a beautiful evening. Ty is worn out, so we head home around 8pm. I had such a great day with Caroline, Luke, and Jake. It was exactly what Caroline had suggested it would be; a relaxed atmosphere without any pressure like a date would have been. After I get Ty to bed, I grab a glass of wine and sit down to catch up on my DVR for a bit when I hear my cell dinging that I have a new text.

  Jake: It was great to spend the day with you and Ty. He is such a little character!

  Tessa: Thanks, we had a great day as well. He was very impressed by you. All I heard about on the way home was that he gets to help with the hammer on Monday. LOL.

  Jake: I will make sure to let my crew lead know to expect an extra set of hands on Monday morning. ;)

  Jake: I hope you have a good night.

  Tessa: You too Jake.

  Cue the schoolgirl crush returning after that text exchange. I don’t know how I am going to get through seeing him here in my house next week wearing a tool belt and looking all sexy. My hormones are going to be through the roof.

  Jake

  Monday morning rolls around and our job at Tessa’s starts today. I will stop by to check on the progress mid-morning to see how demo is going. The roof crew should have everything stripped by mid-afternoon, allowing them to start to re-shingle the roof, and finish tomorrow. The inside crew is scheduled to be demoing the kitchen ceiling and floor this morning and then will start to replace the damaged sheetrock first, and then we will complete the floors. I decide to send Tessa a quick text to make sure everyone arrived and things are going well.

  Jake: Just checking to make sure my crew has arrived and the dumpster was delivered in the correct location this morning.

  Tessa: Crew’s all arrived and are working away. However, the dumpster company placed the dumpster right in the middle of my driveway. I don’t know if I can get my car out of the garage.

  Jake: I’m so sorry about that. The driver must not have read the notes on where to put it. I’ll call them now to come and move it so that you can get out.

  Tessa: Thanks, it isn’t a huge problem for today, but tomorrow morning I have work.

  I immediately call the dumpster company, as this is unacceptable. They need to get over there ASAP and move it to the correct location. I get ahold of them and they assure me they will send out a driver to move it by this afternoon.

  After dealing with what I need to get done with this afternoon, I head over to Tessa’s to check on the demo myself and to see her, if I am being honest. I just can’t shake this pull I have toward her. After spending Saturday with her at Luke and Caroline’s house, I would love to get to know her even more.

  When I arrive, I first check in with my roof crew. Everything is going as planned with their demolition, so I head inside. I am almost immediately greeted by Ty wearing a hard hat and holding a hammer. He sure is a cute kid.

  “Jake! Look, I get to help with the hammer!”

  “Cool, Ty, have you helped demo anything yet?”

  “No.” He pouts a little. “Mom says it’s too dangerous and I have to stay out of the kitchen. I can only watch from the living room.”

  “Your mom is pretty smart, ya know. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt if something fell on you as they are tearing down the celling.”

  Ty sighs. “I know, I just wish I could help.”

  “I know, buddy. Maybe when they are putting in the flooring you can help with something.”

  “Really!? That would be so awesome!”

  Ty runs off yelling, “Mom, Jake said I might be able to help!”

  I chuckle at his antics and go to find my inside crew. When I enter the kitchen, I find that they’ve run into some issues. It looks like they found another leaky pipe when they opened the ceiling that needs to be fixed. It will be an easy fix and shouldn’t slow us down much, but I do need to let Tessa know, so I go off to find her.

  Jake: Are you around, I need to show you something in the kitchen.

  Tessa: Yep, I will be right down.

  As I wait for Tessa to come down to the kitchen, I continue looking over what my crew has done so far.

  “Hey, Jake, what’s up?”

  “When the guys were taking out the sheetrock in the ceiling, they found another leaky pipe. We’ve sent one of our guys to go get the parts needed to fix it. I just wanted to let you know and show you what we found.”

  “Thanks for the update. Will this cause any delays?” she asks me as I point out the damaged pipe.

  “Not really. It should be replaced within the next couple of hours. As you can see they are almost done with the demo.
With needing to replace the pipe they won’t be able to put up the sheetrock until tomorrow morning, but that isn’t a huge delay at all.”

  “Sounds good. Like I said, we will be out of the way the next 3 days as I have to be at work at 6am and I work a 12-hour shift. Which reminds me, I need to give you a key for your crew for the next couple of days.”

  “If you have it now I can take it, otherwise you can give it to our foreman on site, Jim.”

  “Thank you, I will go find one to give to one of you,” she says as she heads off to find the key. She returns with it and hands it over to me.

  “Thanks, I will make sure the crew has it tomorrow. I will keep you informed with our status each day since you will not be here when the crews are. Would text updates work best for you with your work schedule?”

  “That would probably be best. I can’t always answer my cell while I’m working. But I usually am able to check my texts a few times throughout my shift,” she says to me as I place a tag on her key ring so it can be labeled with her job info.

  “I’ll plan on texting you at the end of each day with updates, and then once the job is complete we can set up a time for the final walk-through for you to sign off on.”

  “That sounds perfect. I will let you get out of here, as I’m sure you’re busy,” she says as I reach out to shake her hand.

  The remainder of the day goes as planned. The roof crew gets the roof completely stripped and ready to be re-shingled. They also get the few pieces of siding that need replacing done. They will replace the gutters after the shingles are finished. The inside crew completes all demo and will be ready to start the install of sheetrock and start the mud, taping and texture tomorrow.

  Tuesday morning arrives and my crews head out. The roof crew gets right to work on getting the shingles up and the inside crew starts hanging the new sheetrock. At the end of the day things have progressed how we expected and we should be finishing tomorrow with all the work. I stopped by a few times to check on the project and missed seeing Tessa each time.