Splendor (Inevitable #2) (3 page)

Chapter Two

September, two years later

Tessa Lockwood did not like Wednesdays. She was well aware that most people didn’t share her feelings, that the majority of the world thought of this day as “hump day”, when their busy work weeks were half over and they could begin winding down for the weekend ahead. But for Tessa, it seemed that nearly every bad thing that had happened in her life so far had occurred on a Wednesday.

Bad things didn’t happen every Wednesday, of course, but when they did she usually had some sort of uneasy premonition. Like the butterflies kicking around in her stomach as she brushed her hair and got ready for work this morning. Or the chill that shimmered up her spine as she hurriedly ate a piece of toast with jam and drank a cup of tea before dashing out the door of her apartment.

The unsettled feeling continued during the crowded bus ride to work, and she tried desperately to quell her nerves. She wondered if her sense of unease had anything to do with the fact that Peter was supposed to be flying home today. After almost two years, one would think she’d stop worrying when he had to take a long flight home from a job assignment in Asia. Even though he frequently flew in and out of some less than stable socio-political countries, he’d never had any problems, at least none that he’d ever told her about. So she knew that her unsettled emotions this morning weren’t due to unnecessary worry about her husband’s incoming flight from Cambodia. But there was definitely
something
, some niggling little fear that something bad was going to happen. And her spidey-sense had yet to be wrong.

Tessa had to stand on the bus, as usual, and she assumed her normal position of never really making eye contact with anyone else on board. Most of the people riding the bus at this time of the morning were either going to work like her, or to school, but there were definitely a fair number of weirdoes along, too. San Francisco was a very diverse city, after all, with people of varying ethnicities, sexual orientations, and socio-economic classes, and Tessa was pretty sure she’d seen a really good sampling of them all in the two years she’d been living here and riding the city buses.

The bus left her off a block away from her office building, and she exited the stuffy, crowded vehicle with relief. It had taken her a long time to get used to relying on public transportation when she and Peter had moved here from Tucson. Because both of their cars had been old and in dire need of repairs, they’d unloaded them before moving to San Francisco. Now they relied on buses, rapid transit, and walking to get around, which made good economic sense because the cost of maintaining even one car in this very expensive city would not have fit into their extremely tight budget.

And money was always tight, the budget always stretched thin. Tessa made a good salary but Peter only got paid when one of his news stories actually sold. Not to mention the fact that the cost of living in San Francisco was exorbitant, the rent on their tiny, cramped apartment more than twice what they’d been paying for a much larger place in Tucson.

As Tessa entered the building that housed the corporate offices for the Gregson Hotel Group’s American headquarters, she hoped that Peter would arrive home with good news about his job. When they had moved to San Francisco two years ago, it had been for Peter’s new job as a freelance reporter for an international news agency based in the city. His assigned territory was Asia, requiring him to make frequent and lengthy trips to such places as Vietnam, Malaysia, China, and Thailand. He was hoping to find a better position that didn’t require nearly as much travel in addition to offering a regular salary, and had recently begun sending out resumes and doing some networking among the contacts he’d developed.

The past couple of years had been hard on Tessa, left alone and lonely for such frequent periods of time. Peter was all she had – he wasn’t just her husband but her best friend, her family, her everything. And when he was away for weeks at a time she struggled constantly with her fears, her loneliness, her sadness. The fear that she would descend into darkness like her mother had done for so many years plagued her often, and she was determined that she wouldn’t suffer the same fate. But it was hard to be alone, and she had to wage a constant battle with her emotions to keep positive and happy, to stay busy and not dwell on her sadness.

Tessa liked her job, finding the work both challenging and rewarding, though of course she would have preferred being a PA for one of the executives. Not only was the salary considerably higher but the position carried more prestige and responsibility, with some of the PA’s even traveling with their managers on occasion. But she also knew she would need a college degree before she could even think of applying for a job like that, and going back to school at this time just wasn’t in the cards. Her super-tight budget would never allow for college tuition and books. And, ironically, even though she and Peter lived in a cramped apartment in a questionable neighborhood; couldn’t afford to own a car; and ate a lot of cereal, ramen noodles, and peanut butter sandwiches to stretch their dollars, they made too much money for her to qualify for most grants or scholarships. It was a cruel sort of Catch-22.

As Tessa put away her jacket and purse and booted up her computer, she thought it was likely all for the best that she couldn’t afford to go to college. She’d admittedly never been a brain or the best student, getting by with mostly B’s and C’s during high school. Of course, there had been some real extenuating circumstances behind that – a mentally ill mother, moving around and changing schools multiple times, always teetering on the edge of poverty.

At least she’d done very well with the computer and business classes she had taken at community college back in Tucson. The certificate she’d earned from their Office Technology program had enabled her to get a job at the Gregson Resort in Tucson, and the eventual transfer to the American headquarters here two years ago.

But this would likely be as far as she could reasonably expect to advance in the company without that college degree, so Tessa had made up her mind some time ago to simply do the very best job she possibly could. She took a lot of pride in her work, and worked very hard to be an exemplary employee. She was never late, never left early, never took more than her allotted time for lunch. She’d dragged herself into the office on more than one occasion with a cold or the flu, doggedly refusing to call in sick. And unlike most of her co-workers, she didn’t waste time during the work day gossiping, checking her personal email, sending texts or making phone calls. She was well aware that everyone who worked on the Management Support Team were watched like a hawk by Andrew Doherty, the Managing Director’s sharp-tongued, eagle-eyed PA.

In the time she’d worked here, Tessa couldn’t recall even one occasion when Andrew had so much as cracked a smile. He was all business all the time, and he didn’t miss even a single detail. Tessa had seen him chastise her co-workers for all manner of minor errors or oversights, everything from a misspelled word on a contract to ordering the wrong sandwich for a lunch meeting to an executive’s dissatisfaction with the flight that had been booked for a recent business trip. Andrew never raised his voice or used bad language or issued threats, but it was more than obvious by his icy, formal demeanor when he was displeased. So Tessa worked very, very hard to make certain she wasn’t on the receiving end of one of his famously scathing dressing-downs.

The Iceman – as one of Tessa’s co-workers had irreverently dubbed Andrew – arrived at the office about five minutes after she did. She knew he’d likely been at the office until early evening on the previous day, and probably had to deal with phone calls and emails after hours as well.

She offered him up a warm but businesslike smile as he passed by on the way to his office. “Good morning, Andrew.”

He gave her a brief nod. “Hello, Tessa. First one in again, I see.”

Her cheeks pinkened and she gave a small shrug. “I got the early bus. It’s a bit less crowded than the next one.”

“Mr. Gregson is going to need some spreadsheets done today,” he told her briskly. “I’ll be sending the information your way shortly.”

It was a great source of pride for Tessa to know that her expertise with producing complex spreadsheets was highly valued by the Managing Director. Mr. Gregson used them on a regular basis for his reports and presentations, and the vast majority of them were delegated to her for processing.

“Of course, Andrew. Send them along at your convenience and I’ll get right to them,” she assured him. “I don’t have anything else pressing on my schedule for today.”

“Good to know. I’ll email you the supporting data within the hour.”

Tessa always paid extra attention to her work when she knew the project was for Mr. Gregson. It wasn’t just the fact that he was the Managing Director – in charge of all the hotels in North and South America plus all of the employees here at the regional office. She couldn’t – or perhaps more truthfully –
wouldn’t
define her feelings for the incredibly handsome, dynamic man but she knew that they were not appropriate emotions for a married woman to be having for a man who wasn’t her husband.

She felt guilty every single time she saw Ian Gregson, or even thought about him, and recognized the little thrill that shimmered through her body as attraction. Tessa always dismissed her reactions to her charismatic, compelling boss as nothing more than a silly little schoolgirl crush, the same sort of harmless infatuation one might harbor for a movie star. God knew she would never, ever consider acting on her awareness of him. Besides the very obvious fact that she was completely devoted to Peter and would never consider being unfaithful to him, there was the matter of Ian Gregson being her employer. And he was so far above her in every way – intellectually, socially, economically – that it was laughable to think he would ever notice a lowly employee like herself. He dated socialites, businesswomen, and occasionally celebrities. Tessa’s co-workers were constantly tracking their boss in the society and gossip columns online, and chatting about the current woman in his life. And whether Tessa cared to hear about Ian Gregson’s personal life or not, she typically wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Just like she was rarely given a choice of the other mind numbing topics they chattered about incessantly – clothes, makeup, celebrities, a variety of TV shows, what club they had hit last weekend, the latest argument they’d had with their boyfriend. The list went on but none of the topics of conversation were of particular interest to Tessa, and certainly none of them could be called intellectually stimulating.

But she was far too shy and retiring, and too intimidated by her co-workers, to speak up. It had been that way for her ever since childhood. Moving and changing schools so often had made it difficult for her to make friends easily. She had always felt like the new girl, the outsider, and just when she’d finally started to fit in and make a friend or two, her flighty, emotionally unstable mother would uproot them and move on to the next town where Tessa would have to start all over again. And old habits died hard it seemed, for Tessa still felt like the outsider at the office, even though she’d worked here for two years. She had never really bonded with any of her co-workers, didn’t feel as though she could honestly call them her friends, and, sadly, didn’t trust any of them.

She had been at her desk for more than half an hour before the rest of the team began to filter in. As usual, Marisol was the first one in and she gave Tessa a weary smile as she put her things away. At twenty-eight, Marisol was a pretty, petite Filipina woman, married with two small children under the age of four. Even though she and her husband got a lot of support from their families, working full time and caring for two young kids wore her out. She yawned constantly during the day, drank endless cups of coffee, and seemed to operate in slow motion most of the time. Still, Marisol was sweet and quiet, was always kind to Tessa, and generally didn’t join in most of the incessant gossiping and chatter as the others did.

Next to arrive was Shelby, a giggly, easily distracted strawberry blonde who reminded Tessa of a bird. Of medium height, Shelby was stick thin, her arms and legs spindly. She had a small face with a pointy nose and chin and deep-set, almost beady eyes. Her high-pitched voice and annoying little laugh at times sounded just like a chirping bird.

Andrew seemed to pick on Shelby more than any of the others, to the point that she was now terrified of him and would start quaking whenever he was close by. Privately, Tessa thought Andrew’s methods could be a little less intimidating but nonetheless could understand his constant irritation with the silly, not especially bright Shelby. Tessa wondered how she’d ever been hired to work in this very high profile unit given her overall lack of ability.

The next two to arrive were BFF’s Gina and Alicia. Since they were roommates, they arrived and departed the office together every day, and at times it seemed like they were joined at the hip. They gossiped all the time, were merciless in their critique of other employees’ wardrobes and grooming, and Tessa neither liked nor trusted them. They were always nice to her – almost sickeningly so – but she knew for a fact that they talked about her behind her back, made fun of her inexpensive clothes, and cattily speculated why she always seemed to get the best assignments from Andrew.

Both women were obsessed with clothes, shoes, hair, makeup and manicures, read fashion magazines and online blogs on a daily basis, and were always smartly dressed. Gina was the more exotic, flamboyant of the two with her olive skin, big dark eyes, and masses of dark brown hair. Alicia was classier, more refined, with a chin-length bob of wheat blonde hair, ivory skin and a designer wardrobe she was able to afford via her monthly trust fund stipends.

With their sly, almost predatory mannerisms, Gina and Alicia made Tessa think of the conniving Siamese cats from
Lady and the Tramp
. She was extremely careful not to give them any fodder for gossip, rarely if ever discussing her personal life, and generally not contributing to their almost nonstop commentary about the goings-on in the office.