Christmas with the Spitfire Girls by Jenny Holmes

Author:Jenny Holmes [Holmes, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473574779
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2020-10-14T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ray had considered making a quick exit. He’d watched from the bedroom window as Bobbie and Viv had driven into the yard and had experienced an urge to scuttle out through the back door then cut across the copse up on to the gallops where he would lie low until the girls had left.

A glance in the mirror told him that he was scarcely presentable. He ran his hand over the rough stubble on his chin then made an attempt to straighten his thick dark hair. At least this morning he could stand upright and walk in a straight line if necessary.

What to do? Bobbie would be here within minutes. No time to shave or to get properly dressed. Ray glanced down at his creased shirt and bare feet. How could he possibly face her in this state?

But then the idea of sneaking away from his own home, and from the woman he loved, filled him with hot shame.

She would be at the front door any moment. Quickly he ran a comb through his hair then put on some socks. His head hurt like hell when he bent forward – as if a drummer was bashing out a hasty retreat. He heard a knock on the door. Must he really go down and face her? What if he just stayed here in his bedroom and waited for her to go away?

Bobbie raised the lion-head knocker and knocked a second time. ‘Ray?’ she called, standing back to get a better view of the upstairs windows. She’d stayed in the yard just long enough to see Giles emerge from the tack room and engage Viv in conversation before taking matters into her own hands – she’d seen Ray’s MG in the cart shed next to Giles’s Austin so she knew he must be in. And if he was nowhere to be seen in the yard then he must be up at the house. ‘Ray, where are you?’

There was no reply and Bobbie’s heart sank into her boots. This had been a bad idea – she should have talked to Ray on the telephone and tried to iron out their differences. Instead, she’d agreed to Viv’s more impetuous course of action and now here she was in the flesh, not knowing what her reception would be. She was about to turn away when the door opened.

‘You didn’t call,’ Ray croaked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

‘No – I thought I’d come and talk to you in person.’ There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes and he was unshaven, standing with his shirt open at the neck and with his cuffs unfastened. ‘Shall I come back another time?’

‘I waited for you to call.’ Grasping the edge of the door and uncertain whether or not to invite Bobbie in, he stared at her face for signs of why she’d come. Was it to end things once and for all? Yes, that must be it – Bobbie had had enough of him and was here to tell him so.

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