The Texas Kisses Collection by Jenny Schwartz

Author:Jenny Schwartz [Schwartz, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0141SIS7S
Publisher: Jenny Schwartz
Published: 2015-08-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Enough was enough! Tessa left off painting the garage door, rinsed off the paintbrush and put everything away, then showered and dressed in a cool raspberry pink t-shirt and denim shorts. She would not spend any more time regretting how far she fell short of Caleb’s experience and sophistication. She tied her honey-colored hair up in a high ponytail and threaded it through a baseball cap. She slipped her feet into sandals and picked up Doofus’s leash.

The dog must have heard the faint clink of it because he came running. He sat alertly in front of her, tail wagging madly.

“You’re as stir-crazy as me, aren’t you, boy?” She clicked on the leash. “Let’s go find some fun.”

Doofus pulled her outside and galloped down the front path.

She leaned back. “Whoa.”

Reluctantly, he slowed to a walk, and they headed for the park by the town hall. There were tall oak trees there with lovely shade, a water fountain just for dogs, play equipment for the numerous kids who swarmed there and loved Doofus, and people whom Tessa could talk with.

Her arrival at the park in the midafternoon quiet was greeted with shouts. The kids playing baseball dropped the bat and ball and ran up to her.

She smiled, her heart warmed by their enthusiasm.

“Don’t let them tease you into playing, Tessa,” one of the watching moms advised.

Tessa waved a hand in acknowledgement. “You heard, kids.”

In response, the kids grabbed both her hands and tried to tow her into the game. Apparently, she was fielding. “Be good,” she told Doofus, and unclicked his leash. He might be disobedient, but he was the kindest natured dog she’d ever encountered.

He wandered over to the little kids’ sandpit and helpfully set himself to assist the excavations. Sand went flying.

Tessa winced and turned away.

The baseball game re-commenced. After a while, Tessa sneaked away from fielding to chat with the parents and grandparents who were sitting beneath the oak trees. Doofus came up to her and collapsed at her feet, happy and drooling—the one drawback to owning a boxer in summer. She shifted her sandaled foot from beneath him.

“Town picnic, tomorrow,” Mrs. Ellis said. “I’ve told my Henry to bring a truckload of watermelons.

“It wouldn’t be a picnic without them,” Tessa said. The Saturday picnic at the beginning of summer holidays was a town tradition, and for thirty four years, the Ellis family had supplied watermelons as the after-dinner treat. Tessa had good memories of sitting on the bridge, legs swinging and spitting melon seeds into the water. Not elegant, no. But fun.

She decided she’d spit seeds again tomorrow, and wouldn’t that make the kids she taught stare? She giggled.

“You look happier, now, dear. I guess you’re missing your brother.”

“A bit.”

“You did a good job raising him, you and Annie. Now, it’s time for you to have some fun.”

“That’s exactly what I’ve decided,” Tessa said.

Mrs. Ellis patted her hand. “But don’t play for too long. You’re the kind of woman who needs a family around her.”

Tessa shoved the image of Caleb out of her mind.

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