Page 28 of Saved By Love at Christmas
Tom knew what I meant, and we threw back our heads and laughed at her confusion. She stood there with her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed as they moved from me to Tom.
“My six battery hens. I rescued them.”
She shook her head as we laughed harder, then she joined in. “You two are so much trouble together.”
“Well, love, what are you going to do?”
Ruby looked from Tom to me, a sweet smile forming on her lips. “As long as you’re sure it’s no trouble.”
“None at all. We look forward to having you over.”
Now all I had to work out was how to keep our friendship intact and not try to kiss her.
* * *
RUBY
I had the feeling that the two men in my life had planned thistripbetween them. It was sweet that they were so concerned about me, but I was more concerned about being on my own with Ben for that amount of time than being in my home alone. Not because I didn’t trust him. I had complete faith in him. It was me I was worried about. The more time I spent in his company, the more the lines of friendship blurred. I’d just have to be strong and focus on our friendship instead of kissing him and being held in his arms.
After Ben and Fred left, I sat on the sofa in front of the fire with Grandad. It was so cosy in there and had always been one of my happy places. My gaze went to the boxes of Christmas decorations piled up in the corner of the room.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Grandad grinned and indicated towards the boxes.
“Shall we?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“But it’s still early November. We usually wait until the last week of the month.”
“I know, but after you put those lights in the front garden that’s all I can think about.”
“What about Notcutts? Do we need to go there first?”
I laughed loudly. “You’re worse than me, Grandad. I think you want the decorations up more than I do.”
The smile slipped from his face, and he exhaled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, moving closer to him.
“This time last year, you were getting ready to move to Spain with that man.” Grandad couldn’t even say his name, and I didn’t blame him. “Although you were here for Christmas, it wasn’t the same.”
I had to agree with him. Usually, Ben and Marie would have joined us, but they had elected to go and visit their parents in Wales. Something they never did because they weren’t close. Grandad and I were more like family to them. Jamie had come just for Christmas Day.
Christmas is for sad, pathetic people. I don’t know why you celebrate it.He’d said that to me in Spain. I’d hinted that I’d like to go home for Christmas this year, and he’d said that Woodbridge wasn’t my home anymore.
“Penny for them?”
I glanced at Grandad, who was studying me. “I want this to be the best Christmas we’ve ever had, Grandad.”
His smile widened and his eyes lit up, tears misting them. Mine felt misty too.
“It will be, love, I’ll make certain of that. Right.” He stood up and strode over to the boxes. “No time like the present. And tomorrow, we’ll visit Notcutts.”
“You’re on.”
* * *
RUBY
That night in bed, I tossed and turned. We’d decorated the house from top to bottom and made a list of any other decorations we might want to buy the next day. I think it made me hyper and was part of the reason I couldn’t switch off. The wind was high, and I could hear it rustling in the trees that surrounded our home; that didn’t help me either. Unable to sleep, I grabbed my laptop and checked my emails. I chuckled when I saw all the attachments from Marie. There was a short message from her on the first email.
