The Best Christmas Ever: a feel-good festive romance to warm your heart this Christmas by Karen King

Author:Karen King [King, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2021-10-06T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

When she drove home later that afternoon, Lexi was surprised to find the green lit up by floodlights, and Joel still on the platform. He had a head torch on his helmet that lit up the branches he was cutting with his chainsaw. Andy was on the ground, a light on his helmet too, illuminating the machine he was feeding them into. A chipper, Joel had said it was called. She felt guilty that they were working so late. It was dangerous, surely, to work in the dark.

She pulled up and got out. She walked across the green, calling to them, but of course they couldn’t hear her, not with the noise of the equipment and the ear protection they both wore. She moved closer to the tree.

Then, she was aware that the chipper had stopped and she heard Andy yell. ‘Lexi, get out of the way!’

Horrified, she looked up and saw a branch heading towards her. She stepped back just in time as it crashed to the ground centimetres away from her. God, that could have landed on her.

‘Are you okay?’ Andy was beside her in instant.

She was literally shaking, so could only nod.

Joel was down now and running over to her. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? You could have got killed! What do you think all those bloody cones and signs are for?’

Lexi backed away. ‘Sorry.’

Joel pulled off his helmet, his face furious. ‘“Sorry!” Bloody hell, Lexi! If that branch had hit you . . .’

She bristled at the tone of his voice, but knew that he was right to be angry. It had been stupid of her. So, she simply apologised again and turned to walk back to her car.

‘Lexi!’

She turned around.

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that but . . .’ Joel thrust his hand through his hair.

‘I know. It was stupid of me. I should have been more careful.’ She looked at Andy. ‘Thank you for warning me.’

‘What are you doing here, anyway?’ Joel asked.

What, indeed? How could she explain that she had been so worried about him up there cutting branches when it was so dark – even if they did have floodlights – that she had come to tell him to leave it until tomorrow?

‘I wanted to make sure everything was okay. You’re both working so late and it’s been a long day.’

‘She’s right. We should wrap it up for tonight, mate, it’s almost six,’ Andy said. ‘We’ll come back first thing tomorrow.’

‘Is there a problem?’ Lexi looked from one to the other of them worriedly.

Joel’s face relaxed a little. ‘The ivy has been tougher to cut off than I initially thought. It’s wound itself like tight tendrils around the tree trunk and several of the lower branches and I haven’t made as much progress as I’d hoped,’ he admitted.

‘We’ll come back early tomorrow morning. We’ll get it done,’ Andy said.

‘I’m not so sure we’ll do it in time. I have to email the assurance that the work has been completed, and the tree is safe, to Martin by midday tomorrow.

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