In-Between: A Hessa Story (1)

Chapter 29: Hardin

"Okay, I am actually really impressed." I comment on Tessa and Karen's finished product of the cake.

"Thank you, but Karen did most of the work anyways." Tessa smiles at me, obviously proud of her work.

"Oh stop dear, you did a great job." Karen pats Tessa on the back. They both begin cleaning up the mess they made and I decide to be nice and help. Tessa grabs the bowl of leftover frosting and begins licking the bowl clean. I walk over to her, shaking my head.

"Would you like some?" She sarcastically asks.

I open my mouth, but Tessa just shoves the bowl in my hands.

"No..." I shove the bowl back, but keep my mouth open.

"You want me to feed you? How old are you again?" She questions me and I laugh.

"Just give me your damn finger." I grab her finger and smear it in the frosting, then bring it to my mouth and lick the frosting off of it.

"Why do you always have to eat off a body part of mine?" She yanks her finger out of my mouth and looks around to make sure Karen didn't notice me sucking her finger.

"Because I can." I wink at her and she rolls her eyes playfully.

We stay at Ken and Karen's until around dinnertime. We spend most of the time playing with Abby. Tessa talks with Karen for at least two more hours after they finished the cake, so I decide to go upstairs and do some more work, continuing to put words on paper just to give something to Vance tomorrow.

-

"I can't wait to see your mother's face when she sees me with you." I say to Tessa as we sit outside her house.

"I should've told her you would be with me... or we should've stayed at Karen's. I don't know why, but I feel so uncomfortable if she knows we are sleeping together in the same room."

Hardin gives me an are-you-actually-being-serious face. "You're kidding me right? What does she think we do in New York, sleep in two separate rooms like you did with Landon?"

"I know, I know... but still she's my mother, we've never been together overnight in her house... let's just go in and rip the bandaid off."

I grab her arm to stop her from getting out of the car. " Stop, you are an adult in a serious, adult relationship." She tries to tear her arm away from my grip, but I don't let up. "She's gonna have to get used to it." I smile. I'm not going anywhere.

"You guys just never had the best relationship, to say the least."

"Carol... she has a respect for me now that she didn't before. She knows how I feel about you and how committed I am to this relationship, so things are different now. We are both grown now and mature. She understands that now, I am pretty sure..."

While Tessa and I were on our hiatus and I was touring for one of my books, Carol came to my book signing when I stopped in Washington:

-

"Carol..." I stood as she walked up to my table. What the fuck was she even doing here? Tessa and I weren't even officially together.

"Hardin..." She didn't even have a book with her.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"  I questioned her.

"I just needed to see you... to talk a little bit, when this is over." She waved her arm around the packed room.

"Let's talk now... Ben..." I looked over to my security. "I'm gonna take a five minute break." He nodded, and Carol and I found an empty room.