Jesse's Place

By Tanya Hess

Kate Adams Shaw is an independent, strong-willed but troubled woman. Ten year ago she hid herself in the wilds of Northern Ontario in an attempt to outrun the heartbreak from a horrible accident that ripped apart her beloved family, and left her life in tatters.

In an attempt to deal with her grief she built a bush pilot business from the ground up, working day and night to make it a success. An unexpected opportunity offered the chance to start up Jessie’s Place, a refuge for troubled inner city kids where they can have a chance to learn about nature, the world outside the city and themselves. But her carefully ordered life hits a road bump when financial difficulties strike; threatening everything she has worked so hard to build.

It’s these same financial problems that allow her husband’s cousin Garth McKee to track her down after ten long years. Angry and bitter at what he has always assumed was her role in the death of his cousin, he yearns for vengeance, but his heart remembers the young woman she once was. Sparks fly the moment he lays eyes on her.

Can she convince him that that his assumptions about her are all wrong and regain his trust? And when she does is she strong enough to overcome her fear of loving and losing again, and allow Garth to become part of her life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tanya Hess
• Release date: Dec 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370453207

Tanya Hess

Tanya Hess is a Chartered Professional Accountant with a love of books in any form. When not deep in income taxes she can be found on her laptop crafting her latest story or trying to figure out the complicated world of e-book marketing. So far she's completed three works of romantic fiction, and hopes to hone her skills through the publication of many more. An action/adventure series for young adults is also in progress, thanks to the request and support of her toughest critics, her two teen aged children. Tanya lives with her family on a 200 acre farm in rural New Brunswick with horses, chickens, sheep, dogs, cats, and lizards.

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Jesse's Place

By Tanya Hess

Copyright 2016 Tanya Hess

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Table of Contents

Other titles by Tanya Hess

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Contact Tanya Hess

OTHER TITLES BY TANYA HESS

Double Diamond

DEDICATION

For Dad.

Tait Hauver was a glider pilot in the army and later a Major in the army reserves and Commander of the local air cadets. He loved planes of all shapes and sizes, and Cessnas, Piper Cubs, Otters and Beavers in particular. He dreamed of someday owning his own and taking us all flying.

I would have been first in line.

One of my very first flights was passenger in a two seat glider as part of an air cadet activity he arranged, and so started my very own love of flying.

One crazy weekend during University my then boyfriend and I drove to Fredericton to take a quick one day jump course. Nothing could be closer to actual flight than the experience of floating through the air with nothing but a few wisps of silk to slow you down. Or at least that's what I was expecting. I wasn't far off.

A few hours after suiting up and running through the safety basics I found myself thousands of feet up in the air standing on the wing strut of a tiny plane as it bumped and rattled across the sky. The only nod to the fact that I might panic and forget to open my chute was that the ripcord was attached to the plane. All I had to do was step off the wing strut… and pray.

I remember repeating over and over 'please open, please open' as I did a lovely freefall for all of 5 seconds. It seemed like forever. Needless to say my chute opened without a hitch and I glided to earth, the only sound the wind in my ears….and the instructions about which way to turn so I made it back to the airfield relayed to the radio pack on my chest.

Other than an embarrassing trip over the edge of the runway, I managed to complete the landing relatively upright and in the correct location. Dad was so proud.

This early introduction to flying spurred me to do my own ground training when I was in my later twenties. Unfortunately I couldn't afford the flight time to complete my pilot training, but learning to fly is still on my bucket list. In preparation for the day I finally do resume flight training I now have all of Dad's training manuals, maps, and navigation equipment. I know he'd be thrilled to know his tools will be used and appreciated.

When I started writing Jesse's Place Dad helped me with some of the details on maintenance schedules and reasonable flight distances for smaller planes. I will always appreciate the time he took to discuss scenes with me and help me craft this story. I still miss him and the support he was always so ready to offer.

I hope you enjoy Jesse's Place.

Tanya Hess

CHAPTER 1

Those penny pinching sons of …

Kate Shaw’s angry words drew more than a few stares of disapproval as she marched across the plush burgundy carpet of the bank lobby with its appropriately hushed clients, formally dressed client service representatives and priceless works of art. She shot a withering glance at a matronly woman clutching a useless little purse sized dog under her pale fleshy arm, as the woman’s tsk of disdain pierced her angry haze. A punter, her football loving husband used to call that type of dog, Kate remembered with an angry smirk. And right at this moment she was tempted. Sorely tempted.

Wouldn’t that just give all these stuck up society dames something to talk about at their next charity function, she thought.

But even her mental picture of the little dog flying through the air, her footprint on its bony rear end, wasn’t enough to loosen the iron band of anger that kept her rigid. With a muffled curse she slammed her way through the heavy mahogany and brass door of the old brownstone bank building.

A man and woman in their early twenties jumped out of the way as the force of Kate's push smashed the door against the wall of the building. Shaken, the woman clutched the man’s arm as he paused to glare at Kate’s retreating back. But Kate was oblivious, too consumed with the black anger that swirled in her head, and the acid churning fear that curdled in her stomach, to see more than the ground in front of her feet.

She marched into the bright midday sunshine, squinting as the light blinded her, then turned and followed the sidewalk, her pace furious. She didn’t know where she was going and, at the moment, she didn’t care, she just needed to move. Her uncomfortable high heels clicked an angry staccato on the steaming sidewalk as she stepped in time with the crush of rushing pedestrians.

The whole afternoon had been a waste of time. She shook her head in disbelief. She had been so sure they would agree…at least have the grace to talk to her, try to work with her. But to throw her out after mere minutes? Paul had been polite enough, but cool and so obviously disinterested, and had quickly eased her toward the door as soon as he realized the intention of her visit. She’d expected more from Steve’s relative….but from the time she had taken a seat in the well appointed waiting room, until she watched the elevator doors close on her way back down to the lobby, barely half an hour had elapsed. Hardly long enough to call it a real meeting.

They wouldn’t even let her explain….

The edge of the sidewalk and the red don’t walk signal stopped her forward momentum and drained some of her steam. She removed her dark sunglasses from her handbag and turned to look up at the bank building behind her as she slipped them on.

Anger warred with a feeling of desolation as she followed the lines of the ornate brick to the window of the office she had been in for such a short period of time. She had entered the meeting this morning knowing there was a good chance the bank would reject her plea for the money she so desperately needed. But it still came as a blow. With the ties she used to have to this branch…. her relationship with the current manager, she had hoped that they might look upon her problem favourably, or at least charitably. After all she hadn’t just been an ordinary customer. Her father-in-law had been their president for years and his father had been one of the original founders, her husband had been the heir apparent until he'd given it all up…...

They had been family, not a very close family, but still family.

Once upon a time they had considered her a member of that family, welcomed her, albeit grudgingly, into their tight circle. She’d hoped for at least some remaining understanding, a small amount of compassion. Obviously she’d been wrong. She had underestimated the depth of the hatred they felt for her since the accident that had taken Steve.

The flight school and charter service had been his dream too, and now she was going to lose it all…unless…. She shook the thought away, she couldn’t do it. It wasn’t right. It went against everything she had planned, everything she believed to be important.

But maybe it was the only way….

She rubbed away the threatening tears with an open palm, irritated at the unwanted show of emotion, and pushed the sunglasses further onto her pert freckled nose with one slim finger.

Turning with unseeing eyes, she started across the street.

The blare of a horn and the angry shout of a taxi driver shocked her awake faster than a bucket of ice water. Leaping swiftly back onto the sidewalk and out of harms way, she paused for a moment to catch her breath. That was all she needed, she thought, pressing one open hand to her racing heart, to end up in the hospital would be the perfect finish to a perfectly awful day.

The rush of pedestrians past her, as the light finally changed, barely registered as she raised one work-roughened hand and angrily pulled out the pins holding her hair in the intricate bun she had fought it into this morning. She shook her head and allowed her hair to fall in a strawberry-blond wave to partially cover her face. In a characteristic gesture she looped it behind her ears and tried to regain some of lost composure.

Tried to gather her thoughts.

The unceasing cacophony of sound crowded her mind, confused her senses and irritated her already overwrought nerves. Squealing tires, honking horns, the undulating sounds of conversation as people approached then continued on their way; hit her like a never-ending wave. She tried hard to block it out, the way she used to when she was a city dweller herself, but just didn't have the strength.

God, I hate the city. She looked up at Toronto’s skyscrapers looming above her and a wave of homesickness hit her. She needed to go home. She could think at home. She shut her eyes briefly. What am I going to do now?

With a last look up towards the twenty-fifth floor office she had been in so briefly just a few minutes earlier, she straightened her shoulders, raised her chin proudly and vowed she would find a way.

Seeing an opening in the sea of humanity surging past, she turned and joined the long line of strangers rushing down King Street. As she headed in the direction of the bus stop she wondered exactly how she was going to break the news to Bob and the rest of the crew.

For once she was actually grateful for the long flight back. It would give her the time she needed to think.

CHAPTER 2

My family’s gone, my business is about to fall down around my ears. But there is no way in hell I’m going to let you get the best of me too! Kate Shaw yelled, her voice echoing from the rafters of the nearly empty hangar, and let loose a stream of curses that would make a sailor blush.

With a determined frown, Kate approached her adversary. She wiped a greasy rag across her sweat-dampened forehead, returned it to the back pocket of her army green coveralls and, bracing one foot against a handy cement block, grabbed the long wrench in both hands.

The tire needed to be changed, and that meant this bolt had to be loosened. If she couldn’t do it, she’d never get all the overhauls done on the older planes in time, she thought. And, although the yelling and swearing at nothing wasn’t going to get the work done, it had made her feel marginally better.

Thank God no one was around to hear her, she smiled slightly at the thought, or they’d all think she'd gone mad. They probably wouldn’t be too far off.

She ran the maintenance schedule through her head as she took a deep breath and pushed with all her strength on the recalcitrant bolt. The Piper Cub she was working on was in for its one thousand-hour check. The Cessna would have to come in later in the week for a minor tune-up; she was only a few hours short of five hundred already.

Sweat ran down her forehead into her eyes, blinding her. She eased up on the wrench to wipe her brow with the rag again.

Damn it was hot.

She thought longingly of a break and a nice cold glass of sweet iced tea, with just a hint of lemon….. She gave her watch a quick glance. Shit, she muttered with a little more restraint this time, noticing the lateness of the hour, and glanced around at the mess she had created in the hangar. Spilled oil oozed across the cement floor, tools lay scattered in no particular order, and a pile of greasy rags lay in a heap.

A representative from a firm in the city would be arriving later today to check out their facilities and do a fly-by of the lodge. They were interested in using the space for some of their clients. She hated the thought of turning the lodge into a commercial venture; it wasn’t what she wanted for it. But if that was the only way she could save the business, then she really had no choice.

If the business failed she wouldn’t be able to run the lodge anymore anyway. She’d finally had to give in to the pressure of mounting bills.

In any event, there was no time for a break, she told herself, if she was going to be ready to greet him, or her. This mess wouldn’t endear them to anyone, either. Maybe if she was lucky they could skip this part of the tour until she could find the time to clear it up.

She adjusted her footing, grunted once and pulled at the wrench. Her face turned red with the exertion. Beads of sweat stood out on her forehead.

I can do this, she muttered defiantly, but was just seconds from giving it up as a lost cause and calling Bob to help, when the bolt came loose with a pop. The bolt, the wrench and Kate flew across the hangar floor to land in a heap just inside the open doorway. Her head smashed against the cement floor with a loud crack. Eyes closed, she groaned at her incredible ineptitude and tried to will away the myriad of tiny stars floating behind her eyelids. She wasn’t a young girl anymore, she reminded herself again. Too many years in the office had turned her soft. What in hell had ever made her think she could do this job without her fully trained maintenance crew, or at least a working air gun? She should have known better, she knew it, but was just too stubborn to let go.

The damn bank, she cursed the suits silently and, she knew, unfairly as she lay still on the cold cement waiting for the world to right itself again. If they’d approved the loan Shaw Aviation wouldn’t have had to make any drastic cuts. If they hadn’t had to lay off all the other mechanics just to make ends meet, she wouldn’t have to be doing this work at all. But on the flip side she knew that if work hadn’t slowed to the point that they needed to lay people off then they wouldn’t have needed the loan, and if the work hadn’t slowed so drastically in such a short time, then the bank would have been more than happy to make them a loan. It was a vicious circle, and one Kate needed to straighten out before it all spiralled down into the toilet.

To top it all off, if the contracts hadn’t slowed so drastically, she wouldn’t be rushing through work she wasn’t really trained for to get ready for an appointment she really didn’t want to have. To diversify into an area she had never wanted to touch. And that, she knew, was the real reason for her anger and the desperation that hung like a weight around her neck. But what choice did they really have.

She balled one hand into a fist and pounded the floor once. It didn’t help. It just made her hand hurt nearly as badly as her head.

She let out a low moan full of abject misery. For the first time in the weeks since they had found out that the bank wouldn’t renegotiate their loan, she let the hopelessness of their situation wash over her. And for the first time in years, she let one slow, hot tear escape her iron control and roll down her grease streaked cheek as she allowed herself to wallow in self pity.

But only for a moment.

She wouldn’t, couldn’t, give up everything she and Steve had dreamed about for so long. She would fight until there was no other choice left. She’d just call this little set back a small battle and move on. She was a fighter, hadn’t she been fighting uphill for years. What was one more little hump in her ultimate goal?

The first step would be to get upright, though, and she wasn’t totally sure how easy that feat was going to be.

Taking a careful inventory of her aching body, Kate slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the slightly blurred shape of a man approaching from the direction of the office building. She blinked to clear her vision. Just great, she thought, a customer. And here she was lying around like a passed out drunk.

The man’s ground eating strides carried him swiftly across the tarmac. With a groan she closed her eyes again. The fall must have been much worse than she had ever imagined, she thought almost hysterically. The figure was beginning to look like Garth McKee, and that was impossible. He wouldn’t be here. And even if he was he certainly wouldn’t be