“Anything. We have a contest going. Who knows the most about Friends trivia. He’s always trying to one-up me.”
Leo liked Friends that much? One of the million things she didn’t know about him.
Except she knew that he liked to sleep on his stomach. With his hand under his pillow. When he woke up, his thick mane of hair was adorably tousled. And watching him lift himself out of bed and walk to the bathroom shirtless with abs she could wash her clothes on had been more eye-opening than a cup of coffee.
“Do you like him being back?” Tessa asked. The answer was already clear from the way Gia’s eyes lit up when she talked about her brother.
Gia gave an enthusiastic nod as Dee set steaming mugs of hot chocolate in front of them. “My dad’s still afraid he’s going to pick up and leave, though. But now that you’re married, maybe you’ll both stay.”
Tessa didn’t know what to say to that. Leo had bought a house. That told her he was determined to work things out with his dad. But as for her…she’d done her time in Blossom Glen. She had zero intention of staying.
Gia’s words sent a stab of guilt through her. What would the lie of their fake marriage do to her relationship with Gia in a few months when it was all over?
Sylvia Ortega, one of her grandmother’s friends, walked up to the table and put her arm around Tessa’s shoulder. “Congratulations on your wedding, Tessa. Who’d have thought you’d have such a whirlwind romance?”
Tessa laughed but couldn’t help thinking that Sylvia was probably voicing what a lot of people thought—that she was way too practical or sensible to do such an outlandish, out-of-character thing.
But on a positive note, it was definitely an improvement over people feeling bad for her.
“Thanks, Mrs. Ortega.” She smiled brightly. “Leo is wonderful.”
She’d said that to go along with her fake marriage, but did part of her really believe it?
“You deserve every happiness. Congratulations!”
As Mrs. Ortega returned to her table, Tessa said, “I’m sorry, Gia. I didn’t mean for this to be an embarrassing brunch.”
Gia laughed. “I don’t mind that they’re saying you two had a whirlwind relationship,” Gia said. “True love is true love, right?”
Tessa dug her nails into her palms under the table. How could she possibly endorse a decision like that for a teenager? “Well, we have known each other a long time,” she hedged.
“Some time you’ll have to tell me how you fell in love with Leo. It’s so Romeo and Juliet.”
Tessa laughed. “I’d rather talk about you. Biomedical engineering, huh?”
“I love science,” she said. “And I want to make a difference.” Just then, Gia glanced up from her hot chocolate, noticing something beyond Tessa’s shoulder, then immediately looked down, her face coloring.
“What is it?” Tessa asked. “Do I need to turn around? More town busybodies on the way over?”
The color spread furiously over Gia’s face. “No. I mean, it’s just a boy from my class.”
Tessa leaned over and dropped her voice. “Is he cute?”
“No!” Gia looked up. “Maybe. A little.” She blew on her hot chocolate, making sure not to look up again. “You went to IU but lived at home, right?”
“Yes, I did,” Tessa said calmly, but her brain was going a mile a minute. She’d invited Gia to breakfast to get to know her better, but also because she couldn’t help comparing Gia to herself at her age. Leo had told her his worries about her decision to stay local for college, and she wanted to find out more.
“Well then, you won’t judge me.”
Tessa tapped her fingers on the table. “I think that wherever you go and whatever you do, you’ll be terrific at it because you work hard and have passion.”
“See?” Gia gave the table a little smack and sat back. “I knew you’d be on my side.”
“I am on your side,” Tessa said. She thought about her temporary marriage. About the dangers of advice-giving. About how maybe she should mind her own business.
Then she tossed all that to the wind. Because what if she could help Gia in a way that she hadn’t been able to help herself?
She reached across the table and took Gia’s hand. “I’m always here to support you—except there’s just one thing to consider as you make your decision.”
“What’s that?”
“Pushing yourself to try new experiences is important. What seems comfortable and safe might seem…stagnating down the line.” She certainly knew that firsthand.
Gia crinkled up her nose. “What do you mean?” Dee delivered their pancakes, and Gia tucked right in to eating them.
Tessa suddenly heard Leo’s voice in her head telling her to treat her own sisters like sisters. And that meant sharing her own experiences.
She took a deep breath and plunged in. “You know my dad died when I was your age. It changed my whole life.”
Gia shook her head. “That’s really tough. I’m sorry, Tessa.”
“I took on a lot of responsibilities overnight.”
Gia kept eating pancakes, and Tessa wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear this or not, but she kept going. “I felt like I had so many shoulds. Do you know what I mean?”
“You stayed to help your mom, right?”
“At the beginning, she needed all hands on deck. I worked hard, took over what used to be my dad’s duties at the bakery, and tried to be there for my sisters when my mom couldn’t be.”
“Are you saying you should’ve left your family to go away to school when they needed you?”
Tessa sighed deeply. She hated using her own mistakes as an example, but…maybe it could prevent Gia from repeating them. “They did need me—at first, anyway. But after a while, I got comfortable. I started dating someone in town, and things fell into a routine. I think I used the same excuses to keep myself here long after I really needed to stay.”
She’d stopped growing.
It had been easy to blame that on her situation—even on Sam.
Seeing how Leo was unstoppable, how he reached for the stars with his out-there plans, and how he believed anything was possible, had made her understand that sometimes you had to do something desperate to get yourself unstuck.
“And then you met Leo?”
“Leo…” What could she say about this complicated situation? “A man isn’t a solution to any problem, Gia. But Leo is a big thinker, and he doesn’t understand the word impossible. All I’m trying to say is, don’t take the weight of the world on your shoulders when you don’t have to. Or use that as an excuse not to grow.”