The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (good short books .TXT) 📕

Tessa could almost taste the pad thai already. “I hope they have good spring rolls. That’s how I judge Thai restaurants.”

Gloria waited by the place’s front door, arm-in-arm with another woman. Gloria wore spiked heels that sent her soaring over everyone but Silas, and that was close.

Tessa admired Gloria’s miniskirt and embroidered pink shirt. “Much better than the pant suit.” She grinned.

Gloria rolled her eyes. “I’ll take that as a thank you for being the best boss ever and saving your behind more than once.” She winked. “This is Ella.”

Tessa beamed at the blonde, who wore her hair in two braids and sported huge round glasses. They shook hands, and Tessa could already feel a kinship. She threw an arm around Ella and headed into the restaurant. “So, tell me. What’s it like to date Gloria? She’s super bossy, right?”

Unfortunately, Ella wouldn’t give Tessa any good dirt. She merely smiled and kept repeating that Gloria was lovely and had no bad habits.

Once they had their drinks and had ordered food, Gloria regarded Tessa. “I heard the cops found footage of Mrs. Green leaving the house the night Nathaniel died.”

Tessa took a sip of ice water and nodded. “I had to give Detective Taggert a nudge on that one, but they found it eventually. She took the golf cart Mr. Green had used to get around the property, heading in the direction of Hannah and Nathaniel’s house. Between that and the cleaner in her secret passageway, there’s enough to charge her.”

“Great instincts, finding that hidden stairwell and that stuff,” Gloria said. “How’d you know to look for it?”

Heat burned Tessa’s cheeks. “I didn’t. I was actually looking for some evidence that Mrs. Green had practiced Nathaniel’s handwriting. When I saw a Post-It note on my apartment door, written by someone other than Silas, who usually writes them, I remembered Hannah saying the suicide note wasn’t in her husband’s handwriting. Then, I remembered something Mrs. Cross told me about Mrs. Green—that after she got sick, she spent a lot of time inside practicing calligraphy. That’s when I realized she must have killed Nathaniel.”

Gloria held up her glass for Tessa to clink. “Well, cheers. Glad that’s over. As your new boss, I’d like to request that you stay out of any future murder investigations, okay?”

“Okay.” Mentally, Tessa was crossing her fingers behind her back. Physically, her fingers were laced with Silas’s.

“I really do want to avoid extra paperwork.” Gloria pursed her lips. “Besides, I’m going to have to focus on finding and training a new reaper to take my place. That should be fun.”

“How does one find a new reaper?” Tessa wondered aloud. She made a mental note that Ella knew their real job. She wasn’t surprised, after the way Gloria had encouraged her to be truthful with Silas about it. “I think my mom chose me just because I was desperate for a job and she didn’t want me to move in with her.”

Everyone laughed. The smile stayed on Gloria’s lips as she answered. “Well, there are a lot of ways to go about it. But, generally, if there is someone around who already knows about reapers and has proven themselves to have good values and a stellar work ethic, that’s where we start.” Her gaze slid over to land on Silas.

Shock coursed through Tessa, making her feel weak for a second. She set the water glass down.

But Silas didn’t look surprised. He just gazed back at Tessa, calm as could be.

“Wait, you already offered him the job?” Tessa asked.

“Yep.”

Tessa’s head whipped around to Silas. “And you said yes?”

He held out his hands. “I’m kind of in a tight spot,” he said. “I’ve already been looking for maintenance jobs, but the pickings are pretty slim.” He shrugged. “If you don’t want me to accept, I understand.”

Tessa drew in a breath and thought about it for a minute. Was it a good idea to mix romance and work?

Probably not.

But Silas’s expression, even though it was obvious he was trying to keep it blank, held a hint of pleading. He really wanted to do it. Who was she to block him from being a reaper?

“Congratulations!” She squeezed his hand. “You’ll be an awesome reaper.”

Relief skipped over his features. “I hope so.”

“Aw! How sweet,” Ella sighed and leaned into her girlfriend.

“Yeah. Lovebirds who get to be co-workers too.” She put on a fake stern expression and pointed at Tessa and Silas. “I expect you to be professional and get along. Souls come first,” she chided.

Tessa nodded along with Silas. Yeah. They could make it work. It was going to fine. Maybe even fun.

She pushed away thoughts of working with Frank and how not well that had gone. Silas wasn’t Frank. He was everything Frank wasn’t. Someone she wanted to take home.

Everything would be okay.

THE NEXT MONDAY, TESSA made it a point to get to work early. It was Silas’s first day on the job, and she wanted to be there before him.

She was surprised to see her mother in the lobby when she walked in. “Oh. Hi. What are you doing here?”

Cheryl gestured to a cardboard box on the floor next to her. “Just grabbing the last of my things.” She glanced at her watch. “You’re here early.”

“I’m turning over a new leaf,” Tessa said. “I’m nose-to-the-grindstone girl now.”

Cheryl smirked. “Big plans. Good luck with that.” She tapped perfect red nails on the reception desk. “You’re doing a good job, you know,” she said finally. “I’m proud of you.”

Woah. “Thanks, Mom.” There was more she wanted to say, but the words didn’t want to come. There hadn’t been many times in Tessa’s life when Cheryl had verbalized her feelings so clearly. It felt . . . good.

But the moment was over quickly. Cheryl turned away, flipping through some papers on the desk. “I did do a little something for you. Consider it a gift before I go.”

“Really? What’d you do?”

Cheryl glanced at Tessa and then away again. “I used the reaper secret Mr.