Page 3 of Too Broken to Love

Tessa slipped on her jacket. Even though temperatures were unseasonably high for early November, the morning still held a bite. The nippy air hadn’t deterred the die-hard fishermen, though.

The wind scattered sand across the boards as she followed Lia to the Coffee Hut at the pier’s entrance. She pulled her credit card from the pocket of her running shorts.

Lia slapped her forearm. “Coffee, and then breakfast is on me since you got it the other day.”

A voice rose behind them. “Both of you put your money away.”

Tessa smiled and turned toward the tall, lean man who’d become the kind of father she hadn’t been blessed with.

“Morning, Sam.” She reached up and ruffled his full head of silver, wavy hair.

“Morning.” He handed a hundred-dollar bill to the teenage boy behind the counter. “This is for mine and Ralphie’s, and for the girls too. And keep the change, son.”

“Thanks.” The teen eyed the money and smirked. “Is this your winnings from yesterday? My grandpa said you cleaned him out at the senior center?”

He shrugged. “Made me feel better since Hudson can’t make it home for the tournament. His meeting tomorrow at the Pentagon must be important, though, since it’s on a Sunday.”

Sam wasn’t the only one disappointed Hudson wasn’t coming home.

She leaned into Sam for a hug. The familiar scents of the sea, cigars, and bourbon filled her nostrils. As she wrapped her arm around his waist, someone tapped her shoulder.

Smiling, she turned to Sam’s childhood friend, Ralphie, and stepped into his burly embrace. “Were you baking this morning?”

He stepped back and wiped crumbs from his sweatshirt. “I made cinnamon scones. The blueberry ones are dairy-free for Sam, so don’t eat them all.”

Lia nudged Tessa with her hip. “You’d better save me one. The twelve-to-twelve shift makes this paramedic cranky.”

Tessa pressed her hand to her belly. Working noon to midnight had always made her cranky too. So did thinking of the last—and final—call she’d responded to.

She shook off the melancholy and leaned into Sam’s warmth. “What time will you be home from Atlantic City?”

“Let’s see.” He murmured to himself about his plans to fish with his buddies and maybe hit the blackjack table. “I’ll be home by four.”

“You’ll call if you’re going to be late, right?”

Sam chuckled. “Always, Tessa.”

She drank in the rumble of his deep laugh. As a former paramedic and the newly appointed director of fundraising for Bay County Memorial Hospital, she knew hooks and fillet knives were a recipe for disaster, especially for an eighty-two-year-old. “You’ll be careful on the drive, right? And is your phone fully charged?”

“Always.” Sam patted his pocket. “I’ll have it with me all day, so don’t worry. I left you a little present by the fireplace. Something I want you to have.”

“I don’t⁠—”

“If you say you don’t deserve a present, I swear I’ll feed Ralphie’s scones to the seagulls.” He took her hand. “You deserve everything good and wonderful in life.”

She tightened her grip on his fingers as hard as she wanted to believe his words. Years of hauling guilt and shame, along with her possessions from one town to the next, had left her little time to enjoy anything good and wonderful.

Sam tugged her to the railing and rested his elbows on the wooden plank. “I want you to open your present when you get back to the house. And when I get home tonight, I’ll tell you the story behind it.”

“I want to wait and open it with you.”

“I don’t want you to wait.” He kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later.” He straightened and backed away. “And if that present is still wrapped when I get home, I’m repossessing it.”

Tessa’s laugh tangled with guilt in her throat. When they’d become neighbors, he’d offered his understanding and protection from a past she wasn’t proud of. But as much as she trusted Sam, she couldn’t bear to say her most shameful sins aloud. Only Lia knew every secret.

Every mistake.

Every scar.