Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“I’m headed to the bank,” Marilyn said. “I’ll be back in about thirty minutes to help you close.”
Felicity glanced at her friend and shook her head. “No, go on home afterward. I’ve got it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Marilyn asked as she looked around. They’d had a fairly busy afternoon, and the store needed some attention. In addition to the pastry bar needing to be cleaned, the stock needed to be straightened and the floors mopped. “I don’t mind coming back.”
“Nah.” Felicity waved a hand. Marilyn had been at the shop by herself that morning and had been running all day. Felicity didn’t want to wear her out. “Honestly, I’m just gonna close up and take my time getting things in order as I enjoy the quiet.”
Marilyn hesitated. “I don’t like leaving you with so much work.”
“I don’t like leaving you alone to run the store like I did this morning, so we’re even,” she said with a smile. “Go on and make the deposit before the bank closes and then enjoy your evening. If I don’t finish everything tonight, we can deal with it in the morning.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” Felicity pointed at the door. “Now go.”
Marilyn walked over and gave the younger woman a hug. “Don’t stay too late. Especially if it looks like it’s going to start snowing.”
If it snowed, Felicity imagined she’d knock on the cabin door and join Jackson, but she didn’t need to voice that to Marilyn. “I will.”
Once Marilyn was gone, Felicity turned to the pastry bar and got to work wiping everything down. She was going to need to restock her Holiday Cheer again sometime soon, but they had enough to get them through the next day or so. What she really needed to do was pull some pies from the freezer.
After checking to be sure no customers were in the store, Felicity hurried to the back room and pulled out a dozen apple pies. After loading them on a cart, she returned to the store, finding a tall, dark-haired man standing just inside the entrance of the store.
He turned when he heard her coming and flashed her a brilliant smile. “Hello.”
Felicity stared at the beautiful man, a little mesmerized by his Hollywood good looks. “Are you an actor?” she blurted and then clamped her mouth shut, feeling like a fool.
The man chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m just a guy who’s here visiting family.”
“Right.” Felicity pushed the cart behind the pastry counter and walked over to him. “How can I help you?”
“Are all the apple products made with produce from the orchard, or do you bring some in from outside sources?” he asked.
“Everything is made with our own apples,” Felicity said, her chest swelling with pride. “We also make our own fudge and chocolates, but obviously we import the chocolate for that.”
He nodded. “Impressive. Can I get two pies and a pound of your most popular fudge?”
“Sure.” Felicity got busy packaging his items and then rang him up at the register. When she told him his total, he raised both eyebrows.
“That’s pretty steep,” he said.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Not really, considering we use the highest quality ingredients and everything is handmade.”
“And you sell enough pie and fudge to keep you in business all year?” he asked, sounding skeptical.
Felicity clamped her mouth shut, willing herself to swallow a snarky reply. Why he thought she was going to tell a perfect stranger her business was beyond her. “We’re still here, aren’t we?”
“You certainly are,” he said as he glanced around the shop. After he used his card to pay for his purchases, he nodded to her. “Have a good night, Ms. Hill.”
As the man exited the store, Felicity frowned.
How had he known her last name? While anyone who lived or worked in Christmas Grove would know her, it was weird that a perfect stranger had that information.
Though he had said he was in town visiting family.
They could have mentioned it. But how had he known she wasn’t just an employee?
The question nagged at her while she finished restocking the pastry bar.
By the time she straightened the merchandise and mopped the floor, Felicity had completely forgotten about the nosy stranger. But after she locked up and was walking toward her Jeep, she spotted someone walking down the road that led to the cabin. “Jackson? Is that you?”
No answer.
She peered through the darkness, her heart starting to race. Jackson was supposed to be at Sleighed, working. And the person who was now walking toward her was taller and slimmer with a different gait. Whoever it was, it certainly wasn’t Jackson Bell.
Felicity positioned her keys so that they were poking out of her knuckles and moved to stand right next to her Jeep. She touched the door handle, unlocking the vehicle, and then waited to see who was skulking around her property.
The person walked across the parking lot, heading for the white SUV that was parked right in front of the store.
Felicity stayed quiet, watching, and when the man got to his vehicle, she wasn’t all that surprised to realize he was the man she’d assumed was some sort of actor.
The one who’d asked if they sold enough product to stay open all year. The one who’d known her last name.
What in the world was he up to?
“Are you lost?” she asked.
He froze and then let out a soft chuckle. “You startled me.”
“I startled you?” she replied incredulously. “I’m not the one skulking around in the dark on someone else’s property.”
“I’m hardly skulking,” he said, sounding amused. “I heard there was a cabin rental here, and all I did was go check it out to see if I might want to stay there sometime.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering why this man was ruffling all her feathers. “There are pictures online.”
“I know,” he said. “I saw them. It’s a nice place. Maybe I’ll book it sometime.” Then without another word, he climbed into the white SUV and backed out of the parking space.
Felicity stood by her Jeep, waiting for the SUV to disappear down the long driveway.
Just as the vehicle was starting to round the corner, a loud crack reverberated through the silence and a large pine tree fell right on the road, barely missing the SUV.
Shocked into complete silence, Felicity stood frozen for just a moment before she took off at a dead run.
The man jumped out of his SUV and ran to take a look at the tree that was lying just behind his car. Then he started to yell. “This tree almost killed me!”
Felicity’s heart was nearly beating right out of her chest, and a cold sweat had broken out over her skin. If that tree had fallen only a moment sooner… She couldn’t even think about the consequences. “Are you all right?” she huffed out when she was about ten feet from the man.
“I almost died!” he cried.
Felicity stopped and stared at him, giving him a look of exasperation. “The tree didn’t hit you or your car.”
“If I’d been going five miles an hour slower, it most certainly would have. Do you have any idea how much of a liability it is having diseased trees on your property?” He was fuming, walking back and forth as he ranted.
“Pardon me, but my trees are not diseased.” She walked over to the pine and peered at it through the darkness.
It was impossible to tell what had happened, but when she poked at the stump, it wasn’t soft in any way, and it made zero sense to Felicity why the tree might have fallen.
It wasn’t windy and as far as she knew, there wasn’t a pest problem on the property.
At least there hadn’t been the last time they’d done an inspection, which would have been in the fall during harvest time.
“Obviously something is wrong if your tree just fell with no other cause,” he huffed.
“Well, that’s my issue, now isn’t it?” Felicity shot back, her nerves frayed. The close call had shaken her to her core. “I assure you that we’ll get to the root cause of why this tree fell. Beyond that, there isn’t much more I can do right now.”
He glared at her and then climbed back into his SUV before peeling off down the road.
Felicity stood in the dark, watching until his taillights faded, and then turned and knelt beside the tree.
She took her phone out of her pocket and engaged the flashlight so she could see the split of the tree better.
Both the stump and the trunk were jagged, but once again she confirmed that neither were soft.
Confused, she stood and started to walk back to her storage shed.
That tree would need to be moved if she wanted to leave that night.
Or if Jackson was going to get back to the cabin.
Just as she took a few steps, she felt magic brush up against her skin. It was the light, airy magic that she often felt during the harvest, the kind that indicated the woodland fairies were nearby.
“Did you do this?” she called out.
The magic intensified for just a second as she heard the faint tinkling of laughter.
Felicity let out a sigh. “Thank you for watching over me. But scaring guests like that isn’t going to help.”
The laughter vanished, but the magic remained, and this time it felt like a warm hug.
“I know you’re just trying to protect me. Thank you. But now I need to get the chainsaw out and cut up that tree before I can go meet Jackson.”
There was silence for a moment before she heard a faint, “Sorry,” off in the distance.
The magic vanished and she knew the woodland fairies had disappeared.
Feeling both a little amused and a little annoyed, she went to the shed, got her chainsaw and a battery-operated lantern, and got to work.