Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
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.”