Page 65 of Christmas at Black Cherry Retreat
Chapter Thirty-One
‘Oh, hello. I was looking for Tom.’ Fee frowned at the younger, dark-haired man sitting at Tom’s desk. He swung the revolving chair around and scrutinised her closely.
‘You must be Ms Winter.’ His soft drawl marked him out as local but she still didn’t have a clue who he was. Getting to his feet the stranger held out his hand. ‘Billy Robbins. Tom’sbrother-in-law. I’m married to his sister, Rayna.’
‘Right,’ she said, shaking his hand. ‘Is Tom sick?’
‘Nope, he’s fine, ma’am. Just gone to Knoxville for the day. I’m getting a touch more practise in for when me and my lovely wife take over for a while next week.’
Fee’s head spun. ‘Take over? Why, where’s Tom going?’ This time Billy’s intense stare made her shiver.
‘Not sure he’s decided yet.’ Billy shrugged. ‘Did you need something?’
She struggled to think up a good reason for coming in. ‘Um, a light bulb. The one outside my front door isn’t working.’ An absolute lie but the best she could manage under the circumstances. She had rushed over here with two things pressing on her mind neither of which she could share with this stranger. Fee hadbeen desperate to plead for Tom’s forgiveness over her thoughtless behaviour in New Orleans and to share her devastating news about Allain. When the DNA results revealed he couldn’t be Fee’s father she wasn’t certain who was more shocked.
‘No problem. I’ll come on over with you now.’ He grabbed a bunch of keys off the desk and opened a cupboard by the window. ‘I’ll bring a selection ofbulbs. Not sure which one we need.’
None. For a second she almost admitted the truth but slammed her lips shut and gave him a grateful smile. ‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’
They left the cabin and walked along the path together leaving Fee open to being interrogated in the typical, polite Southern way. All Billy’s questions were hidden under a discreet layer of old-world courtesy.Fee picked her words with extreme care because every answer she made would no doubt be spread around the Chambers family, and by default the whole of Pine Ridge. She raved about the beautiful scenery and talked about her photography while giving nothing personal away.
‘You’ve paid for another week. Are you thinking of staying on for the holidays maybe? It sure is pretty here at Christmas.’
‘I shouldn’t think so,’ Fee said with a brief laugh as though the idea had never occurred to her. ‘Why? Has anyone enquired about booking my cabin?’
‘Not yet. Just thought I’d ask.’
They reached her cabin and Billy stepped onto the porch to try the light switch. Of course it worked perfectly because there was no reason for it not to.
‘Light bulbs are unpredictablethings sometimes.’Like women. The unspoken words made Fee cringe. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ Billy nodded and half way back down on the path he turned around to shout over his shoulder. ‘I’ll tell Tom you stopped by when he returns.’
He carried on walking, whistling as he went, and Fee knew she’d been rumbled.
Tom fiddled with his London plane ticket. He’d bought it to travel onthe same day Fee was due to leave but with an open-ended return date. How would she react when he told her? At this moment his priority needed to be hurrying back to Black Cherry so he could take over from Billy. He’d worry about Fee later.
As he pulled off the main road and drove slowly on the rough gravel towards his cabin a welcome sense of peace surrounded him. Thank goodness Raynaand Billy saved him from doing something terminally stupid. How he could even have thought of selling was beyond him. This was Chambers’ land and his name on the deed did nothing more than make him the caretaker.
‘About time too,’ Billy grouched half-heartedly as he walked into the office. ‘Your sister’s been pestering me on the radio for the last thirty minutes. She’s got supper readyand I’ll get the sharp end of her pregnancy temper if I’m late.’
‘You implying Rayna’s turning into a witch?’ Tom teased.
‘You said it. I didn’t.’ Billy rolled his eyes. ‘I won’t be up until the afternoon tomorrow if that’s okay? I’m going into town in the morning to sort out the internet and phone installation.’
‘Yeah. No problem.’
Billy unhitched his leather jacketfrom the hook by the door and tugged it on. ‘By the way, your lady came by.’
‘Fee?’
‘Got more than one have you?’
‘Course not,’ Tom protested. ‘What did she want?’
Billy grinned. ‘I’d say you. She claimed her porch light was out but when I took a new bulb over hers worked fine. I think she made up that little tale when she found me here.’
‘Did she ask forme?’
‘Sure did. I kinda thought she went pale when I mentioned Rayna and me taking over this place but could be wrong.’
