Page 43 of Christmas at Black Cherry Retreat
‘Yeah, a ton.’
‘I’m sure you do.’ His mother’s dry response made him wince and before they could get into any more trouble Tom leaned across the table to kiss his mother and grabbed Fee’s hand. Without another word he whisked her out of the cafe as fast as he could without engendering more pointed remarks from his nosy family.
‘In a hurry, are we?’ she joked. ‘The day’snot quite turning out as we expected, is it?’
‘Understatement of the year, sweetheart.’ Tom tossed his arm around her shoulder because there wasn’t much point in pretending they werejust friendsnow. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t get fed.’
‘I’m sure you’ll remedy that, MrGourmet Chef.’
Tom spotted his cousin, Suzy, striding towards them, her cheeks turning pinker in her obviouseffort to hurry and not miss anything. The town grapevine had done its work. ‘In the truck, now.’ He hurried Fee across the street and had the engine running by the time she fastened her seat belt.
‘Are we in a race?’
‘Cousin alert.’ He pointed down the street and waved at Suzy while he put the truck in gear. ‘That’s enough for one morning. I’m sure she’ll find out every detailin about two minutes.’ Tom pressed the accelerator to the floor and they shot off down the road. Hopefully his father wasn’t around or he’d get a lecture on his driving later on top of everything else. He glanced at Fee and noticed the air of conspiracy lurking in her warm smile. The idea of having this woman on his side felt strange but good.
