Meet Me At 10: A bittersweet story about love crossing boundaries. by Vicky Jones & Claire Hackney

Author:Vicky Jones & Claire Hackney [Jones, Vicky & Hackney, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2017-11-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 54

It was first thing on Monday morning and the workers had all been summoned to the canteen for a quick briefing.

“You OK?” Cuban said in a low voice to Shona, knowing Chloe was about to emerge onto the balcony.

“Yeah,” she replied, looking everywhere else but up.

First onto the balcony was Ron Black, followed by Jeffrey Ellis, who laid a supportive hand on the younger man’s shoulder. Seconds later, Kyle and Bruce appeared looking bored as they waited for Ellis and Black to address the crowd.

Then out came Chloe.

Her simple peach-colored blouse floated over her curves, her matching pencil skirt resting just below the knee and finished off by a thin white leather belt. Her hair was pinned back to the side by her glistening butterfly clip. Around Chloe’s neck was her precious pink pebble necklace. She hadn’t taken it off since Shona had given it to her. Her entrance drew admiring gasps from the men in the crowd, but Shona just took a deep breath and clamped her eyes shut.

Glancing down, Chloe deliberately looked to the back of the crowd, but the sight of Shona’s strange expression caused her initial smile to evaporate.

“Good morning, everybody,” Ellis began. “I know I don’t come down here half as much as I should . . . apparently, according to some, I’m always at the Copperpot.” He turned and glared at Kyle. “But I really felt for my town after such a devastating storm. Of course, we can prepare, but Mother Nature soon lets us know how insignificant we really are. But we have big hearts in this town! So, Ron came to me with an idea and I liked it. We’re going to have a fete this coming Sunday to bring the community together—hold it here at the site! Tell your wives to make or do something to help bring in people to donate money to those who were most affected. Ron’ll be around to give you more details, but if you have any ideas, come and see me anytime.”

Bruce and Kyle looked at each other and rolled their eyes. For a split second, Shona opened her eyes and met with Chloe’s anxious gaze, but looked away first. Cuban sighed to himself, noticing Chloe’s downcast reaction.

“Shona, you and Cuban could build a couple of benches, couldn’t you? Sell ‘em real cheap at the fete to raise some money?” Elbie suggested.

“Yeah, OK,” she replied

“Miss Jackson!” It was Kyle calling from behind.

“You go on ahead,” Shona said to Cuban and Elbie, smiling to reassure them as they both reluctantly left her standing in Kyle’s imposing shadow.

“Just to let you know, in case you’ve already put your mark on the money we raise, we won’t be giving any to white nigger lovers like yourself,” he whispered in her ear.

Shona stared emotionless at him, not in the least bit surprised that his consideration towards her in Chloe’s office the other day had been a total sham.

***

That Sunday morning, the day of the fete, Shona felt like she’d actually been given a plum job for once, looking after the horses.

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