Page 5 of Tessa's Trust

I’d forgotten how big he was. He was at least six foot eight with shoulders broader than a Buick. Well, maybe not that wide, but he was big. I wasn’t a tall girl, but I was taller than both Anna and Donna, so I’d always felt that being five foot six had some height. Apparently not.

“Here, let me take your coat.” Bobbo had a deep voice.

For our date, he’d worn clean overalls and a blue-and-white-checked flannel. He had thick brown hair and matching beard, and his eyes were a cornflower blue. Crinkles extended from them, showing he smiled often.

“Thanks.” I let him take my coat and then made sure my jeans were brushed free of dirt.

“Thanks for doing this,” he said. “I guess your biological clock is ticking?”

I paused and then coughed before clearing my throat. “No. No ticking. No clock.”

“Oh.” He looked mildly disappointed. “All right.”

He slapped a name tag sticker above my heart. I looked down. “Tessa Albertini?”

“Yeah.” He stuck his name tag on his chest.

I looked over to see tables lined up and people milling around with drinks in their hands. “What’s going on?”

“It’s speed dating,” Bobbo said. “I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

My mouth gaped, and I quickly shut it. “We have a date to speed date?”

“Sure.” He lifted a shoulder. “To be honest, I didn’t remember you from when we were kids, but I know you Albertini girls cause a ruckus.”

“Hey,” I said, instantly protesting not only my innocence but also my sister’s. Just one. Anna. Donna never got into trouble. “That’s not true.”

“Dead bodies keep piling up around your sister’s place over in Timber City,” he murmured. “I don’t like dead bodies.”

I brushed the hair away from my face, knowing the snow would make it a mass of curls whether I liked it or not. I often didn’t because curls turned frizzy, but at this point, I didn’t care much. “That wasn’t Anna’s fault.”

“It’s never Anna’s fault,” he rumbled. “But wasn’t a dead body found in your apartment? The guy you used to date?”

I winced. “Yeah.” Danny Pucci, my last disastrous boyfriend, had been found in my apartment. “But Krissy Walker killed him. I didn’t.” She’d tried to frame me, and she was now in prison.

“So they say,” Bobbo said, scratching his beard.

“Fair enough.” At least I didn’t have to get through a whole dinner of small talk with Bobbo. This was the price of owning my little slice of a future, and it was worth it. “How long ago did you break up with your fiancée?”

He gulped. “You checked me out, huh? It was a couple of months ago. Louise took one of my credit cards as well as my debit card and spent a fortune, saying we needed new furniture. I need food for the animals and like my home the way it is right now.” His sigh moved his entire chest. “If I had stayed with her, I’d be bankrupt by now.”

It wasn’t any of my business, and I should stick to that. Business. “Real quick, tell me about Rudy.”

Bobbo rolled his eyes. “Guy showed up a few months ago with a birth certificate that showed he was the son of Aunt Sadie’s youngest brother, who left at eighteen, never looked back, and apparently died young. Rudy does look a bit like the family, but he waltzed in acting like we all owed him something. We don’t.”

“So there’s no chance he owns any part of Sadie’s restaurant?” I wasn’t a moron and thus had paid for a title search. It was clear.

Bobbo shook his head. “Not that I know of.” He winked. “You ready for our speed date of dates?”

Sure. Why not? “Okay. How do we do this thing?”

“We’ll start together,” he said. “And then, if things go well, maybe we’ll end up together.”

Yeah, that wouldn’t happen. “Do we just pick a table?”

“Sure. You want a drink first?”

“Yes,” I said. “I definitely want a drink first.”

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