CHAPTER SIXTEEN – SYLVIE
The old town hall was absolutely freezing. I wasn’t sure I agreed with my sister’s assertions that we could adequately heat it for the wedding, but she absolutely insisted it was under control, and I was going to trust her judgement on that.
Reluctantly.
Given that I’d spent half an hour consoling her after she’d tearfully accepted Cassandra and Steve’s offer of his family veil, I was starting to wonder if I was losing my mind.
Hazel certainly was—and not to be that person, but she was either pregnant or she was about to start her period because there were some wild mood swings this morning.
I really hated being that person, but I knew my sister. I also knew brides. She was both, and her almost hysterical tears over Cassandra’s offer followed by her being overexcited at the sight of cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks was not normal.
Although I had to admit that I understood the latter.
I was thirty years old and was regularly excited by cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks. Couldn’t stand pineapple on pizza, but pop a chunk of it with a tiny block of cheese and a spiky bit of wood through the middle?
Sold.
I was relieved that the veil issue had been sorted.
I was not happy, however, that Thomas was ten minutes late delivering the forest of Christmas trees my sister had insisted upon as her wedding décor.
It was absolutely bloody freezing at the old town hall, and it’d started snowing again about ten minutes ago. My only shelter from the weather was the small entryway that was ironically the warmest place in the entire building.
The snow had gotten progressively heavier over the last couple of minutes, and the tiny dots of snow that had been the first flakes to fall were now much, much larger, and they reeked of the kind of snow that said, “I’m here, I’m staying, get your snow boots out, bitch.”
I did not have snow boots.
Maybe Thomas was right.
Living in the south had made me soft.
Fuck.
Thank God for Gramps’ truck, that was all I could say. My car was completely useless in this weather, and I was glad he’d had the forethought to put me on the insurance before I’d arrived.
I really had to pay him back for that.
I stepped outside into the snow and held up my phone. One little bar of signal popped up, and keeping it held in the air, I pulled my glove off my left hand with my teeth, cringing at the sensation of the fleece seemingly squeaking against them.
Ugh.
My hand froze what felt like instantly, and I tapped my pin in and quickly navigated to the phone app to call Thomas to see where the hell he was. If he wasn’t coming, I sure as shit wasn’t going to stand here any longer and freeze my tits off.
Just as I hit ‘call,’ the sound of a truck rumbling closer drew my attention, and I looked in that direction. It was a huge silver truck that had seen much better days, and the stack of trees on the back showed it was Thomas.
The second truck with even more trees proved it.
Twenty-two Christmas trees looked like a lot more trees that it sounded. Not that twenty-two trees were ever a small amount, but I could swear there weren’t that many when I was picking them out.
Never mind.
It was a bit late for that.
I ended the call, tucked my phone in my pocket, and wrestled my frozen fingers back into my gloves. “What time do you call this?”
Thomas grinned as he shut the truck door. “It’s quarter past six.”
“That’s not dinnertime.”
“It depends when you eat your dinner.”
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here for you? I’m so cold my nipples could key your truck.”
His lips curved into a wry smirk. “I’d like to see you try.”
I kept my gaze fixed on him in the hope he’d understand just how unamused I was. “Thomas. You’re late. You told me you’d be here by five-forty-five at the latest.”
He finally dropped the smile. “I know, I’m sorry. Mrs. Van de Ven came by for her tree this morning and insisted on it being delivered today, so we had to stop there on our way over. It was the only time we could fit it in.”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Ryan said, tugging his beanie over his ears. “She wouldn’t leave unless we booked her in today, and she was starting to scare the children.”
“You could’ve called me,” I said to them both.
They both nodded contritely.
“Stop looking at me like that and start bringing them in, would you? Or I will whip off my clothes and actually key your trucks with my nipples.”
Thomas held his hands up as he walked back to the truck. “I’ve already told you once that I wouldn’t complain.”
“If I had something in my hand that I could throw at you, I absolutely would.”
Ryan hauled one of the smaller trees off the back of his truck. “If you two are done flirting, can you hold the door, Sylvie?”
“I’m not flirting with him,” I replied, pushing open the door and holding it with my foot.
“I might be flirting,” Thomas called from the truck.
I dropped my chin to my chest with a sigh. “Don’t listen to him.”
“I don’t.” Ryan laughed. “Where am I putting the forest?”
The forest.
“I’m glad it’s not just me who refers to it as that,” I muttered. “In the main room, please. As long as they’re grouped by size, I can take it from there.”
“I don’t have a clue where that room is.”
“Uh.” I looked around for a door wedge and after finding two on the windowsill, I tucked them under the doors to hold them open and motioned for Ryan to follow me.
I showed him to the main room where the ceremony would be taking place and pointed to a rough area to put the trees.
“I have the stands in my truck,” Ryan said after a minute. “There are different ones for the trees depending on the sizes. Do you want me to put them with the right ones?”
“If it’s not too much trouble,” I replied. “Thanks.”
“Nah, not at all. You wait here. We’ll bring them all in.”
I smiled at his back as he left to fetch another tree, and I checked the tag for the size of it. It was a four-foot tree, so I grabbed my notebook, scribbled it on a sheet of paper, then tore it off and rested it on top of the netted tree.
Thomas and Ryan brought in all the smaller trees followed by a couple of bigger ones, and I watched them lug them in. It seemed as if they were bringing in all the snow from outside, too, and I frowned as their boots left little lumps of ice and dirt across the floor.
Great.
I knew I’d end up being the one to clean that up.
My sister could spend the better part of two grand on trees for her wedding, but a cleaner coming more than once was out of the question.
“There you go,” Ryan said, dropping the last small tree down. “There’s a few big ones left for Thomas to bring in, but if I don’t get to my nan’s house in the next ten minutes, she’s threatened to send out a search party.”
I laughed, bending over to move my paper sign. “Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” He turned, paused mid-step, then looked back at me. “Hey, Sylvie?”
“Mm?” I asked, bracing myself on the trees as I looked over at him.
“Are you free tomorrow night?”
Oh.
Oh.
Plot twist.
“I’m not,” I replied with a soft smile. “Sorry, Ryan.”
His lips tugged to one side, even as a flicker of disappointment flashed in his eyes. “Is it Thomas?”
I snorted. “Don’t sell yourself so short. I’m only here for the wedding, and by extension, Christmas and the new year. I’ll be back in Dorset after that, so it’s really just a waste of your time.”
“It’s Thomas.”
“It’s certainly not Thomas,” I replied, standing up. “Please don’t give him any ideas. He already thinks we’re friends.”
“We are friends,” the man in question said as he walked in, dragging a tree behind him. Thomas looked at Ryan. “She’s too good for you anyway.”
“Why do you think I was asking if you were the reason she said no? If she’s too good for me, she’s sure as shit out of your league.”
I laughed, covering my face with my hands. “Don’t you have to get to your nan’s house?”
“I do,” Ryan replied with a chuckle of his own. “Thomas, can you manage the rest of the trees?”
“I dragged this big fucker in here by myself, didn’t I?” Thomas gestured to the huge tree. “Although I might need some help for the nine-foot ones.”
I glared at him. “What? You couldn’t bring those in first?”
“That’s my cue.” Ryan darted away from us and disappeared down the hallway before I could tell him to get his arse back here, his nan’s orders or not.
“You little shit!” I yelled after him.
Thomas shook his head. “I told him we needed to bring the big ones in because you wouldn’t be happy about doing it.”
“I’m not happy about doing it. Would you make your other customers do this?”
“You’re not the customer, technically speaking. Julian is.”
I opened my mouth, then quickly snapped it shut again and glared at him. “You’re such a dick.”
“Come on. I’ll buy you dinner afterwards.” He nodded his head in the direction of the doors and stared walking.
I followed him, making sure to grump my whole way outside into the snow. “No. I just turned Ryan down and told him it’s not because of you. That’ll make me look like a liar.”
“I’m not asking you on a date.”
“Good, because I’d say no either way.”
“I was trying to bribe you with food. I thought that might be more successful than asking you out.” He peered over the bed of the truck at me. “Am I right?”
I sniffed. “I take offense at you thinking you can bribe me with food, but you’re wrong. I just said I’d say no to you.”
“Would you, though?”
“A thousand times in every life.”
He tugged on a tree trunk and pulled it out of the bed. “You take the light end. If you drop this end and break your foot, your sister will kill me.”
“I’ll kill you, and I’d have crutches, so I’d even have a weapon on hand.” I huffed and took the freezing cold end of the tree. “How am I supposed to carry this? For God’s sake, this isn’t in my job description.”
Thomas burst out laughing. “Rest it on your shoulder, preferably, but under your arm would work.”