Page 2 of Christmas at Black Cherry Retreat
Fee nodded and cleared her throat. ‘Thank you.’
Wow, she’d granted him two more words – he’d hit pay dirt. ‘There’s no internet or cell phone service here, but you knew that. You can drive back down into Pine Ridge for supplies. I’d say it’s the nearest town but that’s kind of anexaggeration.’ He smiled, but her unrevealing expression didn’t alter. ‘There’s Wi-Fi available in the Mockingbird Cafe along with the best biscuits this side of Knoxville. Of course my aunt makes them so again you’d call me biased.’ Tom didn’t miss the slight upturn in her mouth, giving the first hint of softness to her severe features. Everything about Fee Winter was pared down from her thin dark-framedglasses, short black hair, cheekbones sharp enough to hang clothes on and lean muscular legs. ‘Your phone will work there too. I’ve got a radio here to use for emergencies.’
‘Fine.’
Tom grabbed a set of keys from the board. ‘Okay, let’s get you settled. Yours is the second cabin along and is called Knox. I named them all after local counties here in East Tennessee. If you driveover and park outside I’ll walk along to meet you there.’
‘You could ride with me.’ She stumbled over the words and the small amount of colour in her skin drained away.
‘Thanks but I could do with stretching my legs.’
‘Why, aren’t they long enough?’ she quipped.
Tom chuckled. ‘Hey, you do have a sense of humour in there after all, even if it is a weird British one.’A rush of heat flamed her cheeks and he guessed she’d take back her words if she could. ‘Sorry. That was rude. Mama would smack me if she heard me talking this way.’
She inclined her serious face in a nod and briskly walked back outside without saying another word.
Tom trailed after her and set off walking across the damp grass. It was a more direct route than the narrow road andhe easily beat her to the cabin. He wasn’t a boastful man but when he looked at Knox Cabin he felt a quiet sense of achievement. If he left nothing else behind preserving this small piece of his family history wasn’t a bad legacy.
‘It’s beautiful.’
Fee’s surprisingly gentle voice next to his shoulder took him by surprise and he turned to meet her appreciative gaze head-on.
‘Yeah, it is.’ He risked carrying on, afraid to break the thin thread of communication strung between them. ‘They sure knew how to build. No modern tools. No decent plans. Hell of a leap of faith.’
‘It must’ve taken a lot of time and work on your part to get it back to this.’
‘The best things always do.’
Fee’s eyes shone, the way women’s do when they are about to cry.Too afraid to ask whether he’d said anything wrong Tom stayed silent and she glanced away. ‘Right. I’ll show you around and then leave you alone.’
‘Good idea, MrChambers.’
Damn right. He’d make his escape as fast as possible and stay gone. Black Cherry was his refuge too.
