Page 35 of Too Broken to Love

“What about Vivian’s mother? Sam didn’t talk about her much, but I think her name was Diana. Was she uppity too?”

Josie sat on the pretty blue upholstered chair next to the full-length mirror. “Sam’s first wife, Cora, was his everything. Diana was…different.”

A smile hinted at Josie’s lips. “Like Vivian, she enjoyed the finer things and was driven when she set her mind on something, but Sam loved them both. When Diane passed, he made a promise to look after Vivian, and he took promises seriously.”

“And Shayla? She’s Vivian’s niece by marriage from Vivian’s first husband, correct?”

“Yes. Vivian and Shayla stayed close after the divorce.”

Tessa grazed the sleeve of a soft sweater. “How did you know my size? And these colors are perfect for me.”

“Hudson sent me a photo of you, and I shared it with them.”

“What photo?”

Josie pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to Tessa.

Tessa’s breath hitched. He’d taken it on the boardwalk this morning. Did he think he’d need it to show the cops if she skipped town?

No, she wasn’t running. She wasn’t Frank, and Hudson trusted her.

For now.

She knew that situations changed in a heartbeat. Two days ago, she was content next door to Sam. A few hours ago, she didn’t have a place to live at all and considered sleeping in her office.

Now, she stood in the mansion she’d spent the last year avoiding.

She handed the phone back to Josie. “This is too much.” Her reasons for protecting Sam from Frank, and herself from the fallout of Frank’s chaos, were too much.

Josie laughed. “Trust me, honey. This is nothing compared to what Vivian spends.”

“Well, it’s a lot to me.” She eyed the mug on the shelf and inhaled the smell of something delicious in the sitting room. “Thanks for everything, but I’m sure you have things to do besides hang out with me.”

Josie stood from the chair. “Taking care of the people in this house is what I do. I’m not going to stop because Sam’s gone.”

“Gone.” The whispered word broke Tessa’s restraint.

Josie held out her arms. On a sob, Tessa collapsed into her embrace. As she let her tears flow, she hoped Hudson was finally letting out his grief too. If he kept holding it in, the weight of it might break him.

Hudson sat in the carved chair in front of Pop’s desk. Tracing his finger over the smooth wood, he glared at Malcolm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit. I may have been at the end of the hall this morning, but I saw the way you looked at Tessa. You were about to kiss her.”

He accepted the cup of coffee Malcolm handed him, not bothering to deny his assessment. “Shouldn’t you be thinking about the will instead of giving me shit? Or maybe you’d like to tell me why Lia said you should sleep in the pool house?”

“No to the second because it’s between Lia and me. And no to the first because the reason we are having this will reading sucks. If I open the cork on what I’m feeling, it’s going to get ugly. And then you’ll ugly cry too. And then we’ll be hugging like best friends forever and I don’t want to get throat punched.”

“Wise plan.” Walking around the desk, Hudson rested his palms on the headrest of Pop’s tall-backed chair. The supple leather warmed his fingers, as if the old man’s snow-topped head had just been resting there.

Malcolm leaned back in his chair and straightened his tie. “Still worried Tessa’s a gold digger?”

“No.” His lightning-fast answer concerned him. Could he trust his instincts about the pretty little thief? After Shayla, he’d been hyper-vigilant about not letting his cock overtake his common sense. But nothing since meeting Tessa had been clear.

“Dammit, Pop.” He shoved his hand into his dress pants pocket and gripped the sinker. “I wish I could talk to the old man and ask him about Tessa.”

With a hard sigh, Malcolm got up and strode to the bar. “Are you keeping the tracker in the ring now that you trust her enough to kiss her?”

“Yes. She’s in danger.” Hudson twisted the ring he’d slipped on his pinky. Turning the stone into his palm, he closed his fist around it.