Free Loving Tessa (January Cove) by Rachel Hanna

second guessing every decision in her life. Why couldn’t she just be a normal twenty-something woman with normal twenty-something problems?
     
    The one good thing she had going for her was that Adele Parker was very known in January Cove. Her signs were everywhere, and she raised five children on her own. She had to be a pretty good woman to create children who were doing so well in their lives.
     
    "So, no clues as to where we’re going?" she asked with a sly smile.
     
    "You even know this area?" Aaron responded with a laugh.
     
    "Nope. Not a bit. I sort of ended up here by default. We rolled into town on fumes, and I saw a sign for your campground before it was too late. In fact, I'm not sure how I'll ever move the camper off your land."
     
    "Well, I can always push it up to the road," Aaron joked. “Of course, I’m not even sure a homeless raccoon would want to live there.”
     
    "Gee, thanks," she said, lightly punching him in the arm.
     
    "So, tell me a little something about yourself, Tessa. First of all, what's your last name?"
     
    "Why does that matter?" Her guard immediately went back up like a fortress around a castle.
     
    "Because if I'm going to help you, I'm probably going to need your name. Tessa isn't exactly enough information to go on," he said.
     
    "My last name is Reeves.
     
    "Good to know. Tessa Reeves. I like that. It's nice."
     
    "I'm glad it meets with your approval," she said smiling. "So you tell me something about yourself then."
     
    "What do you want to know?"
     
    "Tell me about the relationship that went sour."
     
    "I've already told you everything there is to know.
     
    "I don't think so. You gave me the Cliff Notes version, but there has to be more to it than that. Were you really in love with her?"
     
    "I thought I was. When all was said and done, I think I was more in love with the idea of being in love with her. I'd really like to settle down and have a family, and I thought we had that kind of relationship. I'm glad that I know now that she wasn't the kind of woman I've want to spend the rest of my life with, but it didn’t make it any easier to go through all of that."
     
    "Does she ever try to contact you?"
     
    "You know that's two questions. I get to ask you another one," he said with a wicked smile.
     
    "Fine. Ask away. I can't promise that I'll answer, but you can ask," she said with her own sly smile.
     
    "You have family?"
     
    "You mean like a mom and a dad?"
     
    "Yeah."
     
    "My mother passed away when I was ten years old, so I was raised by my father. Unfortunately, my father got into some trouble when I was a teenager and ended up in prison. He died there when I was nineteen years old. That's when I met my ex, at my lowest point in life."
     
    "I don't hear from her anymore."
     
    "Who?" she asked.
     
    "I assumed that you wanted the answer to your previous question. Her name is Natalie, and I don't hear from her anymore. I see her around town with different guys, but I don't care to hear from her."
     
    "You shouldn't want to talk to someone like that. Anyone who could hurt you must not be a very good person," she said offhandedly.
     
    Aaron looked at her with a grateful smile and then returned his eyes to the road. "Thanks."
     
    "It must've been hard to grow up without your father."
 
    "Yeah, but I never really got a chance to know him. I was only two years old when he died, so I only know him through the stories that my mother tells and pictures. I assume it was a lot harder for you because you got to spend the first ten years of your life with your mother."
     
    "It's never easy to lose a parent, but it was especially hard to lose my mother. I was an only child and I felt like I lost my way after that. A girl needs her mother, and my father just went downhill after she died. It was like he lost his will to live and started doing all kinds of stupid things that messed up both of our lives."
     
    "So that's how you ended up with your