The Remake (Second Chance Flower Shop #4) - Noelle Adams Page 0,16
evidence to the contrary of her claim. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” He was still peering at her face with disapproving concern, as if he had a problem with her current mood. “Did you know that you lost a tree branch out here? It took out part of the picket fence.”
“What?” Her droopiness completely forgotten, she hurried out to the porch steps to look. She whimpered as she saw one of the large branches from the big oak tree in the front yard had broken off and crashed down onto the low picket fence that lined the sidewalk. “Oh no! It wasn’t like that when I came home.”
“It must have just happened. Some of these gusts have been pretty strong. You want me to take care of it for you?” Fitz sounded laid-back. Matter-of-fact. It was strangely comforting. “I can haul off the branch and fix the fence.”
“That would be nice. Not tomorrow or anything. No need to mess with it on Christmas. But maybe a couple of days from now.”
“I can do it now. Won’t take long. I probably won’t be able to get the fence perfect, but I can rig something until I get all the materials.”
“Fitz, it’s Christmas Eve!” Belinda hugged her arms to her chest, suddenly conscious that she was wearing her soft red pajamas. They covered her as much as any clothes would have done, but she still felt very undressed.
“So what? I’ve got nothing else to do. No need to have this mess in your yard, bothering you all through Christmas.”
It would bother her. A lot. No matter how much she would have told herself not to worry about it. In fact, it would probably bug her to such an extent that she’d go out tomorrow morning and try to clean it up herself. She hated for anything in the house to be so completely out of order.
“Are you sure?” she asked, peering up at Fitz’s bland face. “You really don’t have to. I’m sure you’d rather... do something else.”
His blue eyes met hers without wavering. “Belinda, seriously. I’d rather do this for you than anything else I have available.”
She swallowed hard, strangely touched for no reason she could understand. She nodded and gave him a little smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Won’t take long. I’ll just use the tools in your shed if you don’t mind. Now go on in. You look like you’re about to freeze to death.”
She wasn’t really freezing, although the wind was chilly. She was mostly hugging her arms to her because she wasn’t wearing a bra and she was afraid Fitz might notice even beneath the thick material of her top.
She went inside but watched through the window as, for the next twenty minutes, Fitz removed the large branch. Cut it up into a neat pile in the corner of the yard. Then tacked up the broken piece of fence so that it stayed put. She’d need some new boards to replace a few broken ones, but Fitz’s improvisation would work fine for a week or so. She felt a lot better when he finished up, like her world wasn’t falling apart.
Fitz carried the tools around the house to the shed in the backyard and then came to her back door. Since she’d been watching him, she opened it before he had to knock.
“Thank you so much,” she told him, smiling with genuine affection. “It looks great. I really appreciate it.”
He smiled back at her, his eyes warm and watchful. “You’re welcome. I’ll come over the day after tomorrow with the stuff I need to fix it up right.”
“Here. I’ll give you some money so—”
“Oh no. Don’t you dare offer to pay me.”
“But you—”
“I did it because I wanted to. It wasn’t a job.”
There was no arguing with that look in his eyes. “Okay. Thank you. Can I at least give you some hot chocolate and cookies? Or I could make you something if you haven’t—”
“I ate something earlier, but I wouldn’t say no to hot chocolate and cookies.” He glanced behind her. “But I don’t want to interrupt your Christmas Eve.”
She snorted and stepped out of the way, feeling excited for the first time all week. “What exactly would you be interrupting? My time alone in front of the TV?”
His eyes widened as he let his jacket slide off his shoulders. He was wearing a worn pine-green sweater beneath it with his old gray pants. “Are you on your own tonight?”
“Of course I am.