The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 Paula Lester (year 7 reading list .txt) 📖

“He’s not my prince.” She went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Through it, Gloria’s voice floated. “Stop fighting it! You two are adorable together. Like Ken and Barbie. William and Kate. Beauty and the Beast.” She paused. “You know, after the Beast got un-furry.”

“I don’t see how I could date someone right now. He’s already gotten suspicious a couple of times, I think. You know, about the reaper thing.” Tessa turned on the water, drowning out whatever Gloria may have responded with.

It was her argument and she was going to stick to it. There was just no way that she and Silas would work. Their lives were so different. And once they were back in Mist River, everything would go back to normal. Wouldn’t it?

When she came back out, dressed and ready to go, the other reaper acted like there hadn’t been any interruption in their conversation. “Reapers date normal people. It can be done. You just have to get better at explaining away the weird. And, eventually, you could even tell him the truth. If you guys get serious and you’re sure he’ll keep the secret. He seems like the type that could.”

“He is,” Tessa agreed.

She pondered that as they headed for the breakfast buffet. Could she really date Silas and keep the true nature of her career under wraps? At least, until and unless they got serious enough for her to divulge the secret? Maybe she was overthinking it. Or maybe she was just crap at keeping secrets herself. It hadn’t been easy at the bar. But then again, she wouldn’t always be surrounded be several hundred other reapers.

She pushed away the questions, deciding they would be better examined when she wasn’t so tired.

Tessa went straight for the coffee bar. The shower had perked her up a little, but she was counting on the caffeine blast to help her enter full-on human being mode.

“Lucky for you, it’s a half day of talks.” Gloria munched on a cream cheese-covered bagel. “Team building exercises this afternoon.”

“That sounds like fun, I guess. As long as there’s no sky-diving.” She hadn’t completely hated the jump she’d done with the Hansons, but Tessa still had no desire to make leaping out of planes a habit.

“There are some choices. Zip lines, snorkeling, stand-up paddle boarding . . . that’s one I’m leaning toward.”

“That sounds fun. As long as I’ve got my balance back by then. I feel a little unsteady still.” Tessa’s stomach growled, and she started loading a plate with fruit because everything else seemed too heavy.

Gloria nodded approvingly. “That should help.”

By the time Tessa had finished eating, she was running late to the first presentation, The Grim Reality of Social Media. It was supposed to be about how to keep your reaper job secret in the age of cell phones and social media, and Tessa thought maybe it would give her some ideas about how to handle the situation with Silas.

There was only one empty chair in the small room when Tessa arrived, and she slid into it with a huff.

“You just made it,” the man next to her leaned over to say with a wink.

Tessa realized it was Lee Stuart. He looked bright-eyed and ready to go, unlike her. The food and coffee had made Tessa feel better, but she still felt like another couple hours of sleep would be beneficial.

“Yeah. In the nick of time.” She pulled out a notebook and pen and settled into the chair.

“This should be a good talk. Preston Peters, out of the LA office, is one of my best reapers. I’m sure he’ll have some good tips to share.” He eyed Tessa for a minute. “You’re new, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m from Mist River, Michigan.”

He nodded. “Ah. One of Cheryl’s crew.” He paused, squinting as though trying to see something better. “I’d give you my condolences at having to work under her part of the organization, but I’m a gentleman, so I’ll keep those thoughts to myself.” He laughed at his own joke. “How are you enjoying the conference so far?”

“Oh, you know, I’m trying to soak up all the information I can. Just listening to all the more experienced reapers and all that. They’re a wealth of knowledge. But I’m really looking forward to when I’m not the newbie anymore, when I can share some wisdom with somebody.” She cast a sidelong glance at him, wondering if it was a good idea to say the next thing. With an internal shrug, she threw caution to the wind. “You know, someone mentioned to me that you and April have a friendly competition thing going on.”

“Friendly. Yeah. Okay, we’ll go with friendly.” He smirked. “But it’s not really a competition. It’s April trying to keep up with me. She’s always eating my dust.”

Tessa had a feeling that was a gross exaggeration, but she nodded amicably. “She’s probably distracted right now by the accounting glitch going on.”

“She better fix it soon. Or I’ll handily win the supervisor of the year award at the end of the conference. And this will be, what, the third year in a row. Not that I’m keeping track.” He winked again.

“She thinks someone in the Chicago office screwed something up.”

Lee scoffed. “April’s just looking for a scapegoat. If there’s been an accounting glitch, it came directly from her own office.” He leaned closer to whisper, “Timothy is the brains between the two of them, but he’s been known to make mistakes like this before.”

“You think he made the accounting mistake? How? Did he forget to record some assignments?”

“Oh, I’m sure of it. He probably got distracted by a sci-fi marathon on late-night TV or something. Guy’s a total geek. I’m more of a sports guy myself. Do you like sports?”

“Baseball,” she said without thinking.

“America’s pastime,” Lee approved.

She wanted to ask more about the accounting issue, but Preston Peters tapped the microphone on his lapel, calling the presentation to order. She settled for doodling