Tessa spent the remainder of the week attempting to put Josiah's kiss from her mind, and she failed miserably at it. She told herself she was crazy to even consider giving up her job based on the effects of a single kiss, but then she would think about the possibilities of another kiss, and totally think it was a sane course of action.

A romance with Josiah was currently ranking higher than a job.

Tessa decided to wait and see how the follow-up meeting with Levi went before she seriously considered quitting her job. Josiah hadn't been at the initial meeting, which had concerned her. However, she pushed it aside as her mind filled with exciting possibilities when Levi seemed open to the possibility of adding the cabins under the hotel's umbrella, and the job had jumped ahead of romance.

But it still wasn't a yes. Levi had asked Tessa to run a few more numbers and find solutions to the few concerns he had, and then meet with him the following Monday to follow up.

She thought it would be easy to research and address his issues by the deadline, but a wrench was thrown into her plans on Friday night. She had gone home at her usual time with the idea of working all day Saturday and Sunday as needed, but she hadn't been home for an hour when there was a knock on her door.

She wasn't expecting anyone and was taken aback when she found her sister, Gloria, and Ted Braswell standing on her porch. Tessa stood in silence, staring at them with wide eyes, before her sister broke the awkward moment.

"Tessa, aren't you going to invite us in?" Gloria asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Ummm, sure," Tessa said, standing back and opening the door wide for them to enter.

Ted dropped a kiss on her cheek as he passed her, then took his time looking around the small house. "I see what you mean, Gloria. It is quaint but small."

"What are you doing here, and why are you here together?" Tessa asked with a frown. She didn't like the idea that she had been a topic of conversation for them.

"Ted wanted to see what the fuss was all about," Gloria said, sitting on the arm of the couch, watching Ted look around.

"Fuss?" Tessa asked.

"Yes, why on earth would you want to move to the middle of nowhere to run a little hotel that won't ever amount to much?" Ted asked.

Wow, Tessa thought. Had he always been so insulting? She knew she could bring up the fact that it was because her father wouldn't let her run one of his hotels or manage anything pertaining to the hotels, only his house, but she knew it would fall on deaf ears.

"We'll stay tonight and tomorrow night. Our flight leaves early Sunday morning. Ted will need a room at the hotel." Gloria said, pulling out her phone, which had started ringing, looking at the number, she frowned then put it away. That was unlike Gloria. She always answered the phone.

"I'm starved, is there somewhere decent we can get a meal?" Ted asked.

Tessa debated what she should do. She could cook something, and they could eat in and chastise her at home, or she could take them out to eat, and they could chastise her in public. However, if she took them somewhere loud, then they really couldn't discuss much.

Tessa pulled out her phone and texted Amy, asking her to please book a room in Ted's name. Then, she asked for her opinion on somewhere they could go to eat that was a local hotspot, perhaps with live music.

Amy texted back that the dance hall about ten miles out of town had live music and decent barbecue, plus it was Josiah's night to play.

Tessa paused and had to read Amy's response twice.

Joisha played in a band? Was she ready to see Josiah? She hadn't seen him since the kiss.

Amy's next text told her that if she was planning on going, she should head that way soon if she wanted to get a table. Perhaps they could slip in unnoticed. She asked Amy to send her the address, having made up her mind.

"Let me change; then we can head to eat." Tessa headed to her bedroom, looked through her minuscule options for clothing, and decided on the same dress she had worn to dinner with Amber.

"We should go now if we want to get a table," Tessa said after she had changed.

"I find it hard to believe that anywhere around here gets that busy," Ted responded drily.

Tessa gave Ted the address, and he entered it into his navigation system. It only took them about fifteen minutes to get to the dance hall, and the parking lot was already packed.

They made their way into the building, and much to Tessa's dismay, the only empty table was one up front by the stage, so much for going unnoticed.

As soon as they sat, Annie, the waitress from the hotel, made a beeline for them.

"Tessa! Are you here to see Josiah?" she asked as she pulled out her order pad.

"No, I wasn't aware that he was playing until Amy told me this evening. How long have you worked here?" Tess asked, looking around at the massive crowd. "Is it always this crowded?"

"Oh, years! It gets pretty crowded most nights, but tonight is a celebration of life for the old football coach; he passed away last week. They'll take a collection up for his family a little bit later." Someone called her name, and she turned with a wave. "What can I get you all?"

They ordered their drinks, then Tessa told her to bring a sampling of whatever was best on the menu.

Gloria and Ted had moved their chairs closer together while Tessa had been talking with Annie. One would think that it was so they hear each other over the crowd, but Tessa noticed how their arms and hands kept brushing each other.

She didn't have much to say for herself; she let Gloria and Ted do all the talking, and she was becoming more aware of a closeness between them. If she was honest, they weren't even attempting to hide it from her, and she wondered why she had never noticed it before.

Shortly after Annie took their order, she saw a few people take the stage, and Josiah, who was one of them, was holding a fiddle in his hand. The second man had a guitar, and the third and oldest man in the threesome approached the mic.

He thanked everyone for coming, discussed why they were there and who they were, and then introduced 'Joey' and Andy, who were going to play a song in honor of the man who had passed away.

"Look, Tessa. It's your cowboy." Gloria whispered in her ear. "He looks yummy doing just about anything, doesn't he?"

Josiah did look good. He looked every inch the cowboy. He was wearing a pair of crisp blue jeans, a button-down white collared shirt, and well-worn cowboy boots.

A hush fell over the crowd as he stepped to the mic, lifted his fiddle, and then began to play the most haunting melody Tessa had ever heard. Eventually, the guitar joined in softly in the background, and then, together, the instruments blended to create a lasting memory.

In that moment Tessa realized that she had fallen in love with Josiah, not Joey, the man who played to the crowd, but Josiah, the moody and complex man who was now pouring his heart out though music. She loved him so much that she was considering quitting her job for him. Suddenly, her crazy made sense, at least to her.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from Josiah as his hands created music that made her and everyone in the room teary-eyed. Tessa had never met the football coach, but she could feel the love for him in the room and was glad that she was there to witness it.

It was what a small town was all about.

When the song ended, a hush fell across the crowd for a moment then a round of applause went up. Joey and Andy were thanked, then more band members started to take the stage.

"I didn't know your cowboy was so talented," Gloria said a little loudly, catching the attention of a few people near her.

"He's not my cowboy, Gloria." Tessa shook her head in denial just as the food showed up.

"At least the food looks good," Ted said as she dug into his plate without a word of thanks to Annie.

Tessa was starting to realize that her values were very different from her family's.

She didn't think she could move back home now if she wanted to.