Balancing Act. Laura Browning

she remembered. A baby.

      “Tessa!” Zach interrupted her thoughts. “I’ve caught something. Come help.”

      She jumped up and coached him through landing the fish he had on the line–a bluefish that put up a good fight. Not huge as fish went, but he worked the line enough it turned Zach into one happy ten-year-old. That was enough for Tessa.

      By the time they headed home Sunday afternoon, they were both tired. Zach pulled out his Gameboy and played it, more out of habit than actual interest.

      They were about halfway home when he looked up, game forgotten for the moment.

      “Will I have to go live with Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin?”

      Tessa was used to the questions that often seemed to come out of nowhere. She glanced over at him, then turned back to the road. What on earth had started him worrying about that? Sometimes she wondered at the depths at which his brain was always working. It bothered her that a ten-year-old should even have to consider where he might be forced to live.

      “No,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “You’ll stay with me. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

      “Yeah. Aunt Kathleen smells like that porta-potty perfume, and Uncle Edwin smokes cigars. Yuck.”

      Tessa laughed. Zach had a way of making her look at things on the most basic level. She reached over and ruffled his hair, and he grinned back at her. They were covered in salt spray, flushed from the sun, and Tessa was happier than she’d been in a long time.

      Those feelings of peace and contentment lingered as she ran up the stairs Monday morning. She slipped her heels back on before she left the stairwell and smoothed the skirt and jacket of her business suit. In a matter of minutes, she carried a steaming mug of coffee to Seth.

      He sat at his desk, an ever-growing pile of snapped-in-half pencils lying in front of him. When she set the cup down, he grunted. As she started to remove the pile of broken pencils, he snapped, “Leave them. Leave me. I don’t want to be disturbed.”

      Tessa, unruffled, turned on her heel to go.

      “Will there be anything else this morning, sir?” From the relative safety of the doorway, she figured he wouldn’t dare throw anything at her–not that he had, but she’d heard rumors of such things happening to some of her predecessors.

      Seth glanced at her from under thick blond brows drawn together in a forbidding frown. “No. As I said, I don’t want to be disturbed.”

      Whatever had so upset him Friday afternoon must still be an issue, even after the visit to North Carolina. Tessa went to work on several reports in the works. There was another trip to arrange for Seth later that week. Since his brother, Brandon, wasn’t expected back until the end of the week, she would have to book a commercial flight. She scribbled the number for his travel account down on the back of an envelope as she began to work on the trip, but was prevented from doing anything else when the elevator doors opened and an athletically built man with wheaten hair and gray eyes stepped off. He was dressed in a navy sport coat and tie, not in the formal, conservative suits Seth preferred.

      “I’d like to see Barrett,” the man said. “Please tell him it’s Chris Stevenson. He’ll want to see me. It’s about his sister Anna.”

      Tessa invited him to take a seat as she stalled for time. Then she punched the intercom button.

      “Mr. Barrett?”

      “What?” he snapped back. “I thought I told you I was not to be disturbed this morning.”

      Tessa grimaced. A gut-feeling told her this visit was tied to that package. She pushed open the door and stepped into Seth’s office.

      “What the hell is it, Teresa?”

      “Tessa,” she corrected him, knowing he was provoking her on purpose. “It’s Tessa, sir.”

      “Whatever.”

      “I think you will wish to see this visitor,” she added.

      “Someone gave you permission to think?” Seth goaded her. She knew it, but she wasn’t rising to the bait. One temperamental person on this floor was enough. Instead, she glared right back at him.

      “His name is Chris Stevenson. He said he wished to see you about Anna.”

      Seth stood up. He towered over her, but she didn’t give ground.

      “Why the hell didn’t you say so?”

      “Because you didn’t give me a chance?” she suggested.

      Seth frowned. She frowned back.

      “Show him in.”

      She smiled as sweetly as she could. “Right away, Mr. Barrett. Shall I bring you both coffee?”

      “No, but you might want the first aid kit handy.”

      Tessa did pause then, casting a questioning look at him. He was serious. Okay, maybe his temper was as bad as rumor had it.

      She glanced back at Chris Stevenson and said, “Mr. Barrett will see you now.”

      With a silent blessing on the man’s continued good health, she held the door for him and then shut it as he walked into the office. Even from outside, she heard Seth. His words left her in no doubt both what it was about and that finding the first aid kit was a necessity. She also located an ice pack to be on the safe side. God knew, she had gained experience dealing with fights while she worked with juveniles. And this seemed to be a very similar occasion.

      She had gathered all the supplies when Seth’s voice came over the intercom.

      “Tessa?” He added emphasis on her name. “Please bring two cups of coffee and a bag of ice. Oh, you better bring the first aid kit too.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      Tessa refused to show any surprise at all upon seeing the bloody handkerchief Stevenson held to his nose. She handed him an ice pack, keeping her expression the same as if she had been giving him a letter to sign.

      Seth almost smiled. “Thanks, Tessa. That will be all.”

      “Yes, sir, Mr. Barrett.”

      Tessa returned to her desk and shoved her personal mail back into her oversize purse before she returned to what she was working on. Arrangements for the trip for Seth. She looked up the account number again and soon had everything booked. He would take the corporate jet later that week instead of a commercial flight, so all she needed to manage were rental cars and the hotel suite.

      Chris Stevenson left a short while later, the ice pack still on his nose. Tessa watched him with curiosity until he disappeared in the elevator.

      “Tessa!” Seth barked over the intercom. She started. “Get in here. Bring the laptop.”

      Seth worked like a demon until lunch. Whatever had distracted him was now forgotten.

      “Check my calendar.”

      Tessa replied without needing to think. “You have a one o’clock appointment with Barrett senior and a supplier is coming in to make a pitch at three.”

      He stared at her, narrow-eyed, but Tessa just returned his look with a bland expression.

      “I don’t even want to know how you do that. It’s a little scary.” He stared out the window for a moment. “Cancel the supplier. Damn. I don’t suppose there’s any way you can make that one o’clock with my father disappear.”

      She tilted her head and gave him a steady look. “I can, if you’re serious.” At his nod, she asked, “May I use your computer, sir?”

      Seth stood up and moved from behind the desk. “Help yourself.”

      Tessa sat down and logged into the company system. She moved through several different screens, alternating between typing and clicking the mouse