First Comes Love. Elizabeth Bevarly

actually talking about it. Not until the day Tess had just up and put voice to it the way she had.

      But Will had moved on and forgotten all about the incident. He would put it right out of his mind. Totally and completely. Well, pretty much. Sort of. Hey, just because he couldn’t quite bring himself to look Tess in the eye anymore, that wasn’t any big deal, was it?

      Nah.

      “School was great today,” she told her brother. But there was something in her voice that didn’t quite ring true, something that sounded a little strained.

      “They give you the big award?” Finn asked.

      He’d risen from the chair long enough to give his sister a quick peck on the cheek, and now he folded himself back into it. The physical resemblance between the two siblings was amazing, Will noted, not for the first time. Except that Finn’s hair was black instead of blond. Then again, all of the Monahan kids resembled each other—all had those piercing blue Monahan eyes, all were extraordinarily good-looking, and all of the boys, at least, were tall and fit and slim. Tess, too, was fit and slim, but at five foot two, she didn’t exactly qualify for tall.

      Upon closer inspection, though—but not too close— Will noted that she didn’t exactly qualify for fit today, either. Even standing in a slash of evening sunlight that spilled through the open bay door, she seemed a little pale, a little fatigued. A little…sick? But that was impossible. Tess Monahan never got sick.

      “It wasn’t that big an award,” she told her brother, scattering Will’s thoughts. “But, yes, they gave it to me.”

      “Congrats again, Tess,” Will said. And avoided her gaze.

      “Thanks, Will,” she replied softly. And avoided his, too.

      A strange and uncomfortable silence followed, and for some reason Will got the impression that Tess wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. Finn seemed to sense the odd mood, too, along with his sister’s lack of color, because he tipped his head to the side to observe her.

      “Everything okay, Tessie?” he asked in clear concern.

      She nodded quickly. A little too quickly, Will thought. “Fine,” she said, the word coming out clipped and fast. “Everything’s fine. Perfectly fine. Why wouldn’t it be fine? Do you know something I don’t know that would cause it to be not fine?”

      Will exchanged a hasty glance with Finn, then both men gazed curiously at Tess.

      “Uh, no,” Finn said. “I don’t think so. You know more than me—you’re the teacher, after all.”

      Tess seemed to relax a little but was still obviously guarded as she said, “So you haven’t…you know… heard any…news?”

      Will and Finn traded another one of those curious glances, then, “What kind of news?” Will asked.

      Tess shrugged, but there wasn’t anything casual about the gesture at all—it was as quick and anxious as the words that followed it. “I don’t know,” she said. “Just…news. Newsy…news. Something, you know… out of the ordinary. Something you wouldn’t normally expect. Something that might shock or surprise you.”

      Will and Finn both shook their heads. “No,” Will said. “It’s been pretty quiet around here today.”

      Tess expelled a long, slow breath and swallowed with what Will could only liken to relief. Then, “Oh,” she said quietly. “Okay.”

      “Is there something we should know, Tessie?” Finn asked, his voice laced with suspicion. “Something you want to tell us?”

      “No!” she said, even more quickly than before. Immediately she blushed and dropped her gaze to the ground.

      Oh, there was definitely something going on here, Will thought. Tess was acting very strangely. She was usually the most cool, calm, composed person he knew. This wasn’t like her at all.

      “I mean,” she began again, “uh…no. There’s, um, there’s nothing. And if you do hear any news,” she added, glancing up, only to blush more furiously and drop her gaze again, “it’s not true.”

      This time when Finn looked over at Will, it was with obvious apprehension. But all he said was, “Okay, Tessie. But if you want to talk about something…”

      “Nothing,” she stated emphatically. “I don’t want to talk about anything. There is nothing to talk about.”

      “Okay, kid. Whatever you say.”

      “Will,” she said, turning her attention away from her brother, “do you have that old tire you promised me for the kids in day camp?”

      He nodded, putting aside—for now, at least—his concern over her strange behavior. “I found a truck tire,” he told her as he went to retrieve it from out back. “It’ll be a good size for the garden you want to make.”

      Within minutes he had the big tire loaded in her trunk for her, and Tess was climbing into her car and waving goodbye. Boy, she couldn’t get out of there fast enough, he thought. He winced as she squealed her tires pulling out into the street.

      “Man,” Finn said when Will returned, “what’s up with her?”

      Will shook his head. “Got me. But there’s something going on, that’s for sure.”

      Finn sighed philosophically. “Well, whatever it is, it’ll come out soon enough. Tessie never could keep a secret to save her life.”

      Will tipped his head toward the car he had been working on when Tess arrived. “Put on some coveralls and get under the car with me for a minute. I need your opinion on something.”

      Within seconds—and without coveralls— Finn was rolling himself under the chassis from the side opposite Will, heedless of the dirt and grime that were already decorating his designer dress shirt and tie. Will shook his head in wonder at his friend’s carelessness, but he figured Finn would just buy himself some new duds to replace the old ones, if they got dirty. And, hey, it wasn’t like the guy couldn’t afford it.

      “What’s up?” he asked.

      For long moments the two men pondered a complex mechanical dilemma, until the arrival of two red high heels—complete with shapely calves—appeared on the other side of the car.

      A feminine voice called out, “Hel-lo-o-o-o-o? Will, are you here?”

      Yeesh! Abigail Torrance, Will thought. Probably with another casserole. Just what he needed. His freezer was already overflowing with Abigail’s…creations. God, he hated casseroles.

      “Go ahead,” Finn said softly with a devilish smile, wresting the wrench from Will’s fingers. “I’ll take care of this. I know how you feel about Abigail.”

      Damn the man. The last thing Will needed was some woman underfoot. Still, Abigail—along with her trucking fleet—was one of his best clients, so he couldn’t very well offend her by telling her to shove off, could he?

      With a resigned sigh he pushed himself out from under the car and stood. Even though he knew it wouldn’t do much good, he wiped his grease-stained hands on a grease-stained rag, then raked them both through his black hair. Akin to nothing, it occurred to him that he was long overdue for a haircut.

      “Abigail,” he said with a forced smile when he saw her. “What a surprise. And is that a casserole you’re holding?”

      She smiled in reply, turning her head in a purposeful way that Will knew was completed in order to show off the faint dimple in one cheek. She really was kind of pretty, he thought, and he had always preferred brunettes. But for some reason Abigail just didn’t rev his motor—so to speak. Then again, few women did.

      It wasn’t that Will wasn’t interested in the fairer sex—on the contrary, his…masculine drive…was probably a bit more, uh…more masculine…than that of a lot of men. But there were