Free Summer In Stanton (Stanton Falls #3) by Kaci Hart Page A

long way to staying out of the red.  Combined with the other
reservations that they had already started getting because of the website and
the hotel would have a decent capacity for the rest of the year.  Things
were starting to turn around and he knew that it was all Tessa’s fault.

Chapter Nine

 
 
    Connor knocked on
Tessa’s door.  They were all supposed to be going out tonight to celebrate
the successes that they were having.  Everything was turning around so
well.  He couldn’t tell by the way that she looked when she opened her
door.

 
    “What’s wrong?”

 
    “Nothing technically.”

 
    “Then why do you look
like the world as you know it just changed?”

 
    “I just got off the
phone with my former boss and it turns out that they realize how much of an
asset that I am for the company.  It turns out them firing me didn’t have
the intended effect.  I was the only one there that really knew what I was
doing and now they want me to come back.  They want to spin it as an administrative
leave rather than them firing me and rehiring me.”

 
    “Wow.  That’s a
good thing right?”

 
    “I don’t know.  I
mean I guess so.  It’ll be easier than going out on my own.”

 
    “There’s a but there.”

 
    “Of course there is.
 There is always a but.  They would need me to come back tomorrow for
a big presentation.  There’s no way they can spin it like that and not
have me there for the shareholders meeting.”

 
    “Then there isn’t a but.
 You have to go.”

 
    He saw the puzzled look
on her face.

 
    “What?  Did you
expect me to beg you to stay?  To tell you that we have something real
here and that we should check it out.  See it to the end?”

 
    “I guess kind of.”

 
    Connor sighed.
  He put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes.

 
    “Tessa, I don’t have to
tell you all that.  You already know it.  What I can tell you is that
I want you to be happy.  I can’t keep you from your life in New York.
 That’s not my call.  I mean let’s be honest with ourselves.   We both knew all along that you were going to
have to go back.”

 
    He saw the tear roll
down her cheek.  

 
    “I guess so.  I
just didn’t expect it to be so soon.  I don’t even get a chance to let it
soak all in yet and here you are taking it like it’s nothing.”

 
    “You really believe
that?”

 
    “I don’t want to but what
am I supposed to think when you seem all emotionless about it?”

 
    “That I’m honoring my
promise to not do exactly what I want to.”

 
    “What promise?”

 
    “You made me promise to
not get all touchy when you finally left, so I won’t.  It’s kind of obvious
that both of us care about each other but we are fundamentally different.
 You can’t stay here and there is no way a country boy like me is moving
to New York so I guess we’ll just have to enjoy the time that we do have
tonight until then.”

 
    “Okay, but do me a
favor.  Don’t tell anybody yet.  I’d rather tell them when we get
back.  I don’t want to ruin their good time.”

 
    “I promise, now let’s go
before they think something is up.  You know Ms. Celia.”

 
    “Do I ever.”

 
    He watched her lock the
door and they headed downstairs.  At least he got one more night with her
in Stanton Falls.  

 
 
    ***

 
 
    Tessa sat in the
conference room with her manager and a representative for Cobali Services.
 This was the latest important meeting about ad services for the latest
high profile new client that corporate was desperately wooing.  They were
presenting the client with a Product Placement Proposal.  Tessa remembered
how it felt when she first got back.  That first day it seemed like the
amount of work that they had given her had quadrupled.  It wasn’t until
now, almost three weeks later, that she realized nothing had changed.  She
didn’t have more work.  She just had