Page 16 of Christmas at Black Cherry Retreat
‘Everything looks good to me.’
She nodded. ‘I thought it would. Maybe I really am going a little crazy.’
Tom stopped in front of her and settled his hands on her shoulders. ‘You’re not crazy. I believe you when you said the sandwich was there and now it’s not. I don’t have an explanation, but that doesn’tmean you’re loopy.’
‘If you say so.’ The smile didn’t reach her worried eyes.
‘When I questioned witnesses I made a point of believing them unless proved otherwise. It tended to work better than assuming they were mistaken or lying.’
‘Witnesses?’
Shit. You should’ve kept your mouth shut. ‘Yeah, I was a cop for a while,’ Tom admitted.
‘Doing this job mustbe quite a change. I wouldn’t think it was as challenging?’
Getting through each day is challenge enough for me sometimes.
‘Sorry. That’s none of my business. Anyway thanks for checking and I’ll be extra careful about locking the cabin from now on. I’ll let you get on with your wood delivery.’
He’d politely been given his marching orders. ‘No problem, and don’t hesitateto call if you’re concerned about anything else.’
Fee nodded and quietly closed the door in his face.
Get on with your work, and stay well away from tempting Englishwomen with broken souls. You don’t do fixing jobs on people any more.
Fee covered her face with her hands and allowed the wave of embarrassment to roll through her.
If Tom hadn’t turned up with the woodshe’d have kept her mouth shut about the disappearing sandwich. She made a pledge not to speak to Tom Chambers again for at least twenty-four hours. That should cure her ridiculous curiosity about the good-looking loner with more hidden levels than a complicated video game. A police officer? His revelation made complete sense considering his controlled, ultra-aware manner. In the same way as mostmilitary veterans the job never completely left them. She’d love to discover what made Tom quit his job and retreat here in the woods. Odds were that there was more to it than upholding the Chambers’ family legacy.
You’re not interested, remember?
Fee dug around in her pocket and pulled out Doctor Michael’s timetable.Wonderful. It was nearly mind-numbing yoga time again to befollowed by a healthy supper and more “improving” reading. The only thing this would achieve was boring her to death which she supposed would be some sort of result.
In her head she heard Pierre’s mocking laughter. They’d shared the same world-weary, ironic sense of humour and an awful lot more over the years. If he were here now he’d toss her yoga mat out of the window and pull out abottle of whisky. But their dangerous lifestyle led her to this lonely place, struggling to find out who and what she wanted to be for the rest of her life. Fee had no nonsensical fantasies about marriage and children. If the sights she’d seen in her travels around the world hadn’t already cured her of such thoughts Pierre’s betrayal had slammed the door and thrown away the key.
She cameclose to believing him when he claimed to love her but after his sudden death the lie was tossed back in her face. Fee somehow managed to shake Helene Marchande’s hand at the elaborate Parisian funeral and utter polite commiserations to the widow she hadn’t known existed. When Helene showed off pictures of one-year-old Ethan, the spitting image of Pierre, she’d fainted on the spot and her collapsewas put down to sorrow over the death of the man she’d worked with for many years. Fee was never sure if Helene knew about their affair but by that point it’d hardly mattered.
Tonight she couldn’t face yoga and healthy food could take a running jump but that didn’t mean she was stupid enough to eat the pizza she craved. She would risk her favourite childhood supper of cheese on toast,made with low-fat cheese and wholegrain bread and compared to the bad old days her stomach should feel well-treated.
Fee wondered why she didn’t feel better about sending Tom away. Doing the right thing often sucked.
‘UncleT, up, now.’ Lulu giggled and tugged at Tom’s leg. He swung her through the air to sit on his shoulders, being careful to crouch so her head didn’t bump theceiling.
‘That child has you wrapped around her little finger,’ Aunt Ina scoffed as she bustled out from the kitchen carrying several plates of food.
‘Hey, it’s what beautiful girls do.’ Tom laughed.
She stopped in her tracks and gave him a searching stare. ‘What about if they’re over the age of three?’
Tom kissed the top of his aunt’s head. ‘It works when they’reany age far as I’m concerned,’ he joked, not stupid enough to fall for her obvious probing.
He’d done his usual chores around the cabins this morning and had a quick word with Abel Burton but managed to avoid his nemesis. There was a new family arriving from Florida later so he’d checked everything was clean and ready for them. When he returned to Black Cherry he’d take back some groceryessentials to leave in the new guests’ cabin – all part of the service he provided. Tom had made sure to finish in time for lunch at the cafe to get his fill of Friday’s special fried catfish.
‘Mama! Down, UncleT, down.’
Lulu’s piercing yell deafened Tom and he lowered the little girl carefully to the floor. He watched with unabashed envy as she raced to the door and flung herselfat a smiling Mary-Jo. Tom’s throat tightened. No child would ever run to him that way.
If you’d been the one to die would you have wanted Gina to be alone the rest of her life, and abandon her dream of becoming a mother?His grandmother’s sharp comment the last time he visited slammed back into him. He’d dutifully replied the way she expected but hadn’t fooled her.
