Page 10 of The Christmas Tree Farm
‘Of course I do. It’s fine.’
‘Fine? I don’t know about that. Looks pretty run down.’
Kira put her hand on her hip, fully intending to give this know-it-all asshole a piece of her mind, when an image of poor sweet Iris buried under a pile of old wood beams flashed through her mind.
Oh, God, what if this know-it-all asshole was right!
She turned and ran, the dogs hot on her heels. Well, Elizabeth and Odie were. Poor chubby, Pudgie was pulling up the rear.
‘Iris! Iris!’ she called, racing toward the little cabin on the other side of the farm. ‘Iris, you’re in danger!’ Kira had thought it was rustic. She’d thought it had charm. She’d thought it looked very cute and post-able when she’d strung twinkle lights up along the roof. She had not once thought it might fall down and kill her only employee!
‘I don’t think it’s that imminent!’ Bennett yelled to her as he followed behind the dogs. Imminent or not, Kira couldn’t risk it. Mostly because she couldn’t bear the thought of Iris getting hurt, but also because she didn’t have insurance yet and definitely couldn’t afford anyone’s medical bills.
‘Iris, get out of there!’ She skidded to a stop in front of the booth. A wide-eyed Iris pulled aside the little window and peered out.
‘What’s going on?’ Iris asked, taking in Kira, red-faced and panting, the three barking dogs, and Bennett striding in last, but no less harried than the rest of the crew.
‘Get out of that death trap!’
‘Deathtrap?’ Iris’s brows furrowed.
‘Everyone just calm down,’ Bennett said. ‘I don’t think it’s that serious.’
‘Not that serious?’ Kira spun toward him. ‘Not that serious?! Then why did you say it? Why did you waltz in here and just start spouting helpful little tidbits like maybe that booth is a death trap…’
‘I never said death trap.’
‘Argh!’ Kira was out of intelligible words. This guy! Why was he even here?
‘How about I just go in and check it out for you?’
‘How about you go the hell back to Buffalo!’
His eyes widened at her outburst and the southern accent that was now bursting through her defenses and she was suddenly very thankful she didn’t have any other customers right now. That would be … awkward.
She took a deep breath. ‘Why would you be qualified to check it out?’ she asked through clenched teeth, instead of yelling at him that possessing testicles did not make him a handyman. You had to have actual skills for that sort of thing. You had to know what you were doing.
Not that she did, either … but still.
‘My dad’s a contractor. I have some experience…’
Kira let out a noise somewhere between a groan and a shriek. ‘Of course you do. Fine. Go look.’ She gestured toward the little cabin and noticed Iris still staring at them.
Right. She was having an interesting first day of work.
‘Iris, why don’t you go grab a cup of coffee and take a short break? I just made some in the house.’
Iris’s gaze flicked from Kira to Bennett, a bemused smirk on her face. ‘Okay, sure.’ She came out of the cabin and gave Kira a knowing smile. ‘I’ll take a break. Try not to kill this guy while I’m gone.’
Did Iris just wink at her? What on earth did she think was going on here? Kira didn’t have time to set her straight before Iris hurried away down the drive to the house.
Bennett meanwhile was sniffing around the perimeter of the shack and then peering up at the roof before finally heading through the door. Kira followed him in.
There wasn’t much inside, but she’d thoroughly cleaned it all on her own. She’d even relocated the family of possums that had taken up residence inside. And by relocate, she meant she’d screamed when she saw them and they had voluntarily left.
But the wood floors were scrubbed clean, there was a cozy space heater in the corner and a small table and two chairs. She’d lined up the saws on hooks on the wall and had even made a giant carafe of hot chocolate for all the customers she’d imagined having today. Clearly, that wasn’t going exactly as planned.
She glanced at Bennett who was examining the small space with a furrow between his brows.
