Beneath the Evergreens by Susan Berry

Author:Susan Berry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: clean comtemporary romance, heartfelt romance, warm romantic suspense
Publisher: Susan Berry
Published: 2023-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“Please, take a seat.” Charles waved toward the logs Emma and Tess had been sitting on.

As she stared up at him from her now seated position, she had no doubt he was going to ask about the butts. If only he’d returned later when she’d thought up a perfectly, acceptable lie to explain where they had come from.

“Come on, let’s get it over with,” she thought to herself as she squirmed on the log, resisting an overwhelming urge to get up and retreat to her tent.

But if she did, there would be no hope of keeping Dolores, Betty, or herself, for that matter, out of the doghouse. She needed to stay and try to explain the unexplainable. One of her eyes was twitching from the stress, and Charles must have noticed her distress, because she saw his facial expression soften and his tone of voice was reasonable when he finally spoke.

“In the cabin this morning, as I was waiting to pour my first cup of coffee, I ran into Dolores, who was sleepily filling her own cup. As I stood next to her, exchanging the usual morning pleasantries and waiting my turn to use the creamer, I noticed the distinct smell of cigarette smoke coming from her work shirt. Luckily for her, Cook came over to talk to me at that exact moment, so Dolores was able to slip away before I could ask her about it. I managed to get outside just in time to see her make a beeline for your tent. That’s when I remembered she was your roommate. With that in mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that either you're both smoking, which I highly doubt, or the cigarette butts belong to Dolores and you’re protecting her. So which is it, Emma? Who is it I have to fire today?”

“The lunch pail is mine.”

“And the cigarette butts?”

“No comment.” Maggie lowered her head.

Charles put his foot on the log next to her, leaned his arms on his knee, and spoke in a more authoritative tone as his finger lifted her chin. “You know, I will have no qualms about firing you both for this, no matter how much I don’t want to. Dolores for smoking, and you for covering it up.”

“I know.”

“And you have nothing else to say to defend yourself?”

“What is there to defend? I’ve already told you, the cigarette butts aren’t mine.”

“And Dolores?”

There it was. The moment she had to decide whether to tell him the truth or not. Emma felt her left eye twitch again as she contemplated lying. Never any good at it, and always self-conscious of her telltale signs, like the blasted eye twitching, she decided to plead her case using all her inexperienced feminine charms, in the hopes it would do the trick—persuade him not to fire either of them.

Her best smile on her lips, she held his gaze and purred the words. “Just suppose, for the sake of argument, that someone had stupidly smoked a cigarette, only once, mind you, and was caught in the act by a, let’s say, concerned friend.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.