Page 71 of Built of Flames
He really did have everything he needed.
The nightmares woke Tessa. She was dripping with sweat, but she’d managed to keep in the screams. It was a good night.
Her room at Midnight Lodge was on the second floor, right next to the stairs and as far from the others as possible.. She could slip outside for a walk or downstairs for a tea with no one the wiser.
She could get into the woods and leave if it became necessary, but she hoped it wouldn’t.
Over the past decade she’d lived in so many rooms, so many towns, but none of them were home, or ever could be. Settling down was always a danger, but she really wanted a home. Friends she could keep.
Not a family. She didn’t think she ever wanted one of those again.
But friends like those at Midnight Lake? Those she wanted. Tansy was the center of a wonderful group of people. A mix-match of scientists, security specialists, and people who liked to make the world better.
She wanted to fit in, but she wouldn’t stay if it would bring danger to these people.
Knowing she wouldn’t sleep again, Tessa slipped out of bed and moved through her morning stretches, easing the aches she continued to face.
The scars were covered by her sleep pants and long-sleeved t-shirt, but she visualized the skin stretching and becoming more flexible. At one point, the doctors hadn’t known if she’d ever walk again. But they’d rebuilt her.
She wouldn’t win any races, and the two-mile hike from the road to the lodge took her far longer than anyone else, but she could walk it.
No one questioned her pace. They walked with her instead of taking it at their usual jog. Or they brought the golf cart so she could ride. Without a word or a question.
She really hoped she wouldn’t have to leave again.
Tessa moved down the stairs and smiled at the four dogs sleeping around the pellet stove. Jetson lifted his head and watched her, but none of the others budged. They were used to her moving around the lodge in the dark.
“It’s okay, Jetson, just making tea.”
She grabbed some of Tansy’s homemade tea and when the water boiled, she curled up on a chair to watch the sun rise over the lake.
As a kid, she’d have never expected to have a career studying animal behaviour to help humans deal with climate change.
She’d wanted to be a professor at the University of Texas. Teaching math to people who loved the ebb and flow of numbers as much as she did.
That dream could never be a reality, but she’d made peace with that. Eventually.
Thoughts of Texas brought back memories ofhim. As they always did. She hadn’t said his name aloud in over ten years. She tried not to even think it in her head.
Her friend. Her first love. Not that he knew anything about that part.
He’d been the rodeo star. The gorgeous, athletic, kind boy who was loved by everyone. Even the girl who occasionally helped him out in math class.
Tessa made a point to never watch rodeo, to never search his name. It would be too painful.
But on mornings where the sun lit up the snow like a fairyland, she wondered what had happened to him.
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Jemi Fraser writes romantic suspense filled with hope, heart, and humour. Her stories combine her love of mystery with the satisfaction of a Happy Ever After. Armed with a mug of tea and freshly-baked cookies, Jemi is living out her own HEA in beautiful Northern Ontario.
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