Tessa hadn't been able to sleep, so she had decided to go to the hotel and work on the cottage project. It was pouring rain when she arrived, and she had to shake water off her umbrella before she entered the hotel. The shift change hadn't happened yet, so Amy stopped her as soon as she entered.

"Tessa, your friend never checked in last night," Amy said, concerned.

"No, he and my sister decided not to stay. Did anything exciting happen last night?" Tessa asked with a tired smile. "I'm sorry I should have let you know."

"That's alright. It's not as if we don't' have plenty of vacancies, and everything here was quiet. How did you like Joey's playing?" Amy gave her a knowing smile.

"He was very good, and the food was great, thanks for the recommendation." Tessa looked over her shoulder as Holly entered.

"It's really coming down out there!" Holly smiled as she shook off the rain. "Tessa, how did you enjoy your evening last night? Annie said that your friends ditched you, and Joey had to take you home."

Tessa looked from Holly to Amy, who didn't look the least bit embarrassed about the question. She actually looked eager to hear the answer.

Tessa shook her head in disapproval, but gave a smile because it tickled her sense of humor. It was a small town, and there wasn't much to discuss, which caused her, of all people, to be the main topic of conversation.

"He did, and if that's such exciting news, it must have been a really slow news day."

Holly and Amy looked at each other as they tried to decide who would ask the next question. Not put off in the least by her teasing.

"Annie said you two danced," Holly looked eager to hear all about it, which Tessa found odd. They had always been upset with the idea of Josiah dating anyone, especially Trinity, but suddenly, she wasn't getting a feeling of animosity from them with regard to her dating Josiah. If anything, they seemed almost eager for it to be true.

"Yes, my sister and I had an argument that upset me, and Josiah thought that a dance would take my mind off of it." Tessa looked back and forth between the girls.

"Did it?" Amy asked. "It would take my mind off of almost anything."

Holly nodded her agreement.

Tessa couldn't help but laugh. "I don't doubt that it would. It helped for a minute, but I didn't really feel better until my sister called and we made up a little later."

"Oh, so Joey took you home?" Amy sounded disappointed.

"Yes, what's up with the hopeful matchmaking all of a sudden?" Tessa looked between the two of them. If they were going to be blunt, so was she.

"Well, it's team Tessa or team Trinity, and we all agree on team Tessa," Holly said, moving around the reception desk to clock in for her shift, as Amy started to gather her things and then clocked out.

A large boom of thunder shook the building, and Tessa looked out the door, hoping Josiah wasn't out riding the range in the storm. "There are no teams."

Tessa couldn't help but wonder what everyone would feel when Levi and Trinity came out with their relationship. Would they be as approving as they were about the idea of Tessa and Josiah?

"Be careful going home, Amy," Tessa advised before she wandered over to her office and settled in to work. After a few minutes, she leaned back in her chair and looked at the rain pouring down.

She had almost convinced Josiah to make love to her the night before; if she had stayed, this morning might have been something very different for her. She let herself fall into a daydream where, on a rainy Saturday morning, she was curled up with Josiah listening to the rain.

Her phone chirped, and she looked down at it to see that Josiah had sent her a message asking if she was alright.

She assured him that she was, in fact, in the office preparing for Monday's meeting.

He didn't respond to that, so she went back to work and was making decent headway when there was a commotion in the lobby. She noticed Josiah walk over to the reception desk and start flirting with Holly.

He didn't stay with her long before he joined Tessa in her office, hung his raincoat on the rack by the door, and left the door open as he sat across from her. He looked good. He was wearing a pair of old blue jeans, boots, and a button-down shirt.

"If you're leaving the door open to squash rumors, it's too late for that. I was quizzed this morning about us dancing and you taking me home. It would seem that Annie has a work texting group."

"Really, what did you say?" he asked, sounding curious.

"I told them that you took me home, which you did." Tessa shrugged. "What are you doing here? Aren't you helping Levi today?" Tessa asked, letting her eyes drink him in as she changed the subject.

He smiled. "No, we can't do much in the rain. I thought I would come and check on you and take you to breakfast."

"Here?" Tessa asked, amused.

"Yes, it was handy that you were already here. It was half the battle won." He smiled back, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"What's wrong, Josiah?" Tessa asked, leaning back and throwing her pen on the desk.

"Nothing." He shook his head as he looked at her, letting his eyes wander over her face and hair.

"Fine, nothing's wrong," Tessa said, standing. "Should we go eat? I want to bounce some ideas off you before I meet with your father on Monday." She wasn't going to force him to share.

When he didn't move, she sat back down and waited.

He stood and closed the door, then returned to his seat. "What did you mean when you said you would fight for me?" He was watching her closely.

"No, Josiah. I'm not going to do all the giving. I'm a relatively open person, but I'm not going to continuously put myself out there with no feedback from you." Tessa shook her head.

He gave her a big Joey smile, about to say something witty, no doubt.

"Don't, Josiah!" Tessa stood again. "Don't turn Joey back on and do and say the witty and correct thing. If you're not willing to be honest and open in this discussion, then it's best if we don't have it until you are."

Josiah stood and looked at her across the room. "Then I'm not ready to have this conversation."

"Fine, let me know when you are. I'm not going anywhere." Her voice was soft, and she saw something flicker in his eyes that looked a lot like hope. It was hope that she also felt because he hadn't said he wouldn't have the conversation, only that he wasn't ready to.

"Come on. Let's have breakfast, and I'll tell you all about the new development regarding team Trinity and team Tessa." Tessa led the way to the dining room, where they sat at their usual table.

Josiah ended up staying for a few hours, answering some questions she had, then leaving her to work on the project after assuring her it was all but a done deal, and Levi was probably testing her on how hard she was willing to fight for her plan.

Nothing personal was discussed, and Tessa was no closer to understanding the handsome mystery of Josiah Shaw.