Maid for Him.

Chapter Sixteen

Back at the ranch, Cole sat, back straight, with one leg slung over the other. Shattered glass crunched underfoot, and his eyes glazed over, oblivious to the chatter of the two men replacing the glass window.

What did Tess mean his mother had fired her? He pulled out his phone and rang his mother's number. She answered on the first ring.

"What the heck's going on Cole? Why are there repairmen here and where's Tess?"

"I need you to come to the guest house." He demanded into the phone. As he pulled the phone from his ear he could still hear her spitting out questions.

"Why, what's wrong? Is everybody alright?"

He ignored it and hung up the phone, slipping it back into his pocket.

"You wanna scoot out the way so we can clean up this mess?" One of the men in the blue tank top asked.

Cole stood and in a daze, shuffled to the kitchen. Within minutes the workmen had finished and were packing their tools into their van. Cole met them at the door and paid in cash, allowing for a hefty tip.

"Wow, thanks." They said in unison before jumping in their van and taking off. Probably wanting to get out of there in case he changed his mind about the tip.

They peeled down the drive and as the dust settled Cole saw his mother in the distance, chugging along on a golf cart. He walked back into the cottage and waited for her in the kitchen. He needed answers. 

When she arrived, she rushed in, looking almost disheveled. "Cole, Cole darling. Where are you?"

"In here mother." He answered. His voice sounded almost cold in comparison to her frantic one.

"Thank goodness you're alright. What's going on?"

"Did you fire Tess?" Straight to the point. The way he liked it.

His mother's face lifted in shock. "What? When?"

"Back when she worked here. When she left, was it because you fired her?" He watched her every move for clues to see if she was lying. Not that he'd ever known his mother to deceive him before. But he trusted both Tess and his mother so he'd need to base his conclusion on facts. 

"Absolutely not. Why in the world would I fire such a charming girl?" She clutched the pearls that hung in a single strand around her neck. "Cole, I'm not sure I like your tone and I suggest you tell me what's going on here."

Cole let out a deep sigh and let his weight collapse against a bar stool. "Maybe you found out about our relationship and didn't think it was fitting, so you got rid of her."

"Have you gone insane? How dare you accuse me of such things? I wasn't even aware of your relationship."

Cole stared at the ground. Scared, if he talked he might realize things about Tess that he wasn't prepared to learn. They stayed like that in the kitchen, his mother, shaking all over, stood right in front of him. He slumped on the stool, staring at a tiny scuff mark on the tiled floor.

A clock ticked somewhere behind him overpowering the hum of the refrigerator. Finally, he looked up. "So, let me hear it one more time. What caused Tess to up and leave?"

"I couldn't tell you, dear. I was sitting out under the rotunda, I remember it being a beautiful day. The birds were chirping and the gardener had done a brilliant job that year. The framework was covered in flowers, all different colors and the scent, oh Cole if only you had of smelled it. It was to die for. It was old Frank that did it. The garden I mean. Oh, I wish he didn't retire, he was so much better than—"