Rainbow Cove Christmas by Nora James Susanne Bellamy Shirley Wine Renée Dahlia Shona Husk

Author:Nora James, Susanne Bellamy, Shirley Wine, Renée Dahlia, Shona Husk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Published: 2023-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Joe looked across and saw Emily hanging back. She stood stock still chewing on her lower lip, obviously uncomfortable and out of place among all these strangers. He wanted to erase her bleak unhappiness; after all he’d badgered Christophe into inviting her, and he felt responsible.

If Marta took exception, it was just too bad.

He leaned close to Marta and whispered, ‘I’ll just go and get Emily. She’s looking lost in this crowd.’

As he approached, Emily sidled up close beside him, her delicate brow pleated in a frown, worry darkening her eyes. ‘Where are you sitting, Joe?’

Around them, the other guests were taking their places at the elaborately decorated table. He put a hand on Emily’s arm. ‘Over there, last spot before the end. There’s no one facing me. Come on.’

Emily hung back. ‘I should never have come.’

‘You needed to.’ Joe kept his voice brusque. She did not need sympathy.

He knew she was battling loss and grief, and trying to put a brave face on it, the strain in her eyes clear to see. Today, the anniversary of her sister’s death, made her loss that much more poignant, and tougher to deal with.

God knows, I still miss Dad, and he’s been gone for years—a shaft of grief pierced clear through to his heart—hell yeah, I know what Emily is dealing with.

A commotion in the doorway drew everyone’s attention. Under cover of the noisy diversion, Joe said very softly, ‘Take a deep breath, sweetie, lift your chin. You can do this.’

Tears filmed her eyes, but she managed a faint smile. ‘Does it get any better?’

‘Eventually.’

She straightened her shoulders and smiled.

‘You’ll do.’ Joe eased out a relieved breath. ‘Come on before the seat is taken.’

He could only hope she could keep it all together. He ushered Emily to her seat then slipped into his seat opposite and beside Marta.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Marta hissed as he sat down.

Joe stared at her in blank astonishment. ‘What are you on about?’

‘What’s going on with you and that sheila? You’ve been chatting her up from the minute she walked in.’

‘Who? Emily?’

‘I believe that’s her name. What the hell is she to you?’

‘I’ve known Emily since she was knee-high to a grasshopper,’ he whispered, anger spiking his voice. ‘We’re friends, nothing more.’

‘Well that explains it then.’ The sarcastic words tumbled from lips turned down in a bitter sneer. ‘How come I’ve never met her before now?’

‘You’ve been gone from Marandowie a long time,’ he muttered, his patience strained. ‘Life doesn’t sit still and little kids do grow up.’

She narrowed her eyes and burned him with a scorching look. ‘And now little Emily is all grown up, and very nicely too, you’re all over her like a rash. There’s no accounting for tastes.’

‘You have to be kidding,’ he muttered. What the shit has gotten into Marta? Is she jealous? Of little Emily?

‘Shit. You insist on me coming here for Christmas dinner and all these other loners,’ she hissed in his ear. ‘Yet within two minutes you’re chatting up some other female.

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