Copper to Red (The Dillwyns' Stories) (5 page)

She looked
at her feet, annoyed with herself for wearing heels; they were hurting her now
after walking around the shopping centre and market.  A nice cup of tea and a
rest for her feet, before opening tonight, was sounding better every
uncomfortable minute.  Willow noticed Tom making his way over towards them, her
heart beat initially faltered and then raced.  She coughed slightly to halt her
reaction; she noticed her reaction to him was getting more noticeable.  It
didn’t unnerve her too much, she had been married and was aware of how her body
naturally reacted to the opposite sex, she just needed to deal with it
appropriately and not let it show.

“Hello ladies.”
Tom nodded towards Shirley, who smiled back before continuing her conversation
with the butcher.  “Come for your supplies Willow?”

“Yes, Mam
has dragged me around as usual. Now my feet are complaining.”  She laughed
drawing attention towards her feet and noticed Tom look too.  Soon she felt a
little hot at the attention he was giving to her legs, she tried to get his
attention back up onto her face.  “Are you working today?”  She watched him
drag his eyes towards her, the look of desire in them making her uneasy.  A
familiar hot feeling pooled in her stomach as she realised that perhaps he
wasn’t so immune to her either. 

Tom
struggled to concentrate, damn her legs were good, it had been an effort to
drag his gaze away from them.  His interest in her was certainly getting
stronger the more he took notice of her.  “Yes, I’m just about to get some meat
for my Mam before heading home.  Are you working tonight?”  He suddenly had an
overwhelming urge to see her again, he shook off the feeling.  He always saw
her at the Red Lion now, nothing was new, so nothing should be exciting, but
somehow it was.

“Yes, I am
tonight.  This week, Mam and Dad are going to North Wales to visit my Aunty. 
Mam seems to think I might starve when they are away, so she is filling up the
freezer.”  She laughed as she tried to lift her arms which were laden with
bags.  “We are off to your store next actually,
if
I can carry any
more!” she joked as she placed them down around her feet, trying to fight off
the strange atmosphere.

“Just leave
your bags behind the store with me.  I’ll bring them in tonight if you want.” 
Tom didn’t like the thought of the two women struggling with all the bags.

“That’s very
kind of you Tom...,” she smiled at him, “…but we have just phoned my Dad from
the pay phone and he is coming to pick us up….”  Tom didn’t really hear any
more of Willows reply as his attention focused on looking at her. He noticed a
dimple appearing in her cheek, which was still rosy from the chilly wind.  As
she was talking, her words unheard, his eyes flickered over her full lips which
had a hint of lipstick, he had an urge to kiss them.  Her dimple kept hiding
and reappearing depending on whether she smiled and she kept pushing her hair
off her face with the back of her hand.  Since the other night, when she had
walked in on him and Jane, he had been noticing a lot of new things about Willow,
and everything he noticed channelled his interest in her even more.  Calm
settled through him, like languid hot lava.  The realisation that he would like
to get a little more ‘personal’ with Willow sat very comfortably.  How she
would feel, after her experience with her husband, was another thing.  But one
thing Tom was, when he wanted something, was patient.

“Tom?...Tom?”
Willow enquired, her forehead puckered into a frown.  She was confused to why
he looked a bit distracted.  “Are you okay?  You seem a little spaced out.” 
She touched his arm to shake him slightly, only to remove it suddenly, the
touch of his hard muscles underneath his shirt making her blood flow a little
too quickly.  Her cheeks flushed.

His eyes
narrowed slightly when he noticed the flush, a dangerous looking smile spread
slowly over his lips.  “Yes, I’m fine thanks Willow.” He drawled out.

Willow’s
heart felt as though it thudded to her throbbing feet, she wriggled slightly as
she suddenly felt uncomfortable.  Her reaction, she silently cursed for being
so predictable, was obviously what happened to women when Tom Dillwyn decided
to pile on the charm – their insides turned to jelly!  She consciously pushed
her hair off her face, the wind had pulled some of the blonde curls out of the
braid, using the action to pull herself together slightly. The last thing she
needed was for someone like Tom to know he affected her.

“Who is
helping you in the pub?” asked Tom, suddenly not too happy with the idea that
she would be on her own.

Willow was
glad they seemed to be back onto a normal conversation with the undercurrents
subsiding a little.  Perhaps it was just her normal emotional-self reacting to
something that wasn’t there anyway.  “Dad has got Fred helping me.  He works at
The Swan, so I don’t have to worry about showing him the ropes.”

Tom rattled
his brain to remember Fred.  A short, rotund man with a few strands of grey
hair, in the popular comb-over style, sprang to mind.  “Ah yes, I know Fred. 
Give me a shout if you need me to carry anything heavy.”

Willow’s
forehead creased in confusion; even though Fred was short he was strong as an
ox.  Suddenly she realised Tom’s mistake, he was thinking of the father not the
son, Fred Junior.  She giggled, “No, Fred’s son, Fred Junior.”

Jealousy
surged through Tom at a ferocious speed wiping out the early relaxed feeling he
had been enjoying.  He knew Fred Junior alright, bit of a swaggering, arrogant,
love-them-and-leave-them type.  Perhaps he needed to keep an eye on Willow.

“When are
your parents off?”  Tom tried to make his voice appear disinterested, but he
was very interested in her reply.

“Monday
morning.  They will be back on the weekend.”  Willow looked towards her mother
who had finished with the butcher and was walking towards them.  “Unless they
prefer to live on the farm.”

“No chance,
all those smelly animals!” Her mother shuddered.  She showed the packet in her
hands, “Although they aren’t too bad to eat at times!”

The trio
laughed, “Okay, better get my meat for my mother before I’m in the dog house! 
See you at the Lion.”  He raised his hand in goodbye before turning calmly
towards the butcher. 

His outward
appearance was not reflective of his insides, they were still churning with the
uneasy feeling of Fred being alone with Willow.

~~~~

“I’ll get
these boys.” Tom rose off the bench ready to go to the bar. 

“Make mine a
mild this time, all that bitter is making me feel full,” Dai patted his stomach
to prove his point.

Tom rolled
his shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief, it had been a long stressful
week.  Willow’s parents would be home tomorrow and as far as he could see, Fred
had behaved himself around Willow.  The churning feelings of distrust weren’t
sitting well with him, it had unsettled him and he liked to feel hassle-free.  It
wasn’t that he didn’t trust Willow with Fred, he just didn’t trust Fred not to
make a play for Willow.  She was beautiful and unattached, ideal for Fred to
make a move, he shifted uncomfortably on his feet.  Dismissing the fact that
what he was feeling could be jealousy, he knew whatever the feeling was, he
didn’t like it.

He walked
over, leaned on the bar and tried to look relaxed.  A smile played on his lips,
but never reached his usually animated eyes.  “So…” he dragged the word out,
“…your parents are back tomorrow then?”  He gave a wary glance towards Fred who
was busy serving a customer, oblivious to Tom’s feelings towards him.

“No … did
you want any snacks this time?” asked Willow.

“No?” Tom
almost spluttered the word out as he moved to put both hands on the bar. 

“No, my
cousin has just had a baby, so they are staying for a couple more days to coo
at the baby!”  Willow initially expressed some amusement at the image of her
parents in her mind then her breath caught in her throat, they should be cooing
at their own grandchildren by now.  She shook the negative feeling away.  “They
insisted coming back for the delivery and of course, the weekend, but I
eventually persuaded them that Fred and I can cope.”

Tom didn’t
like the look that Willow and Fred exchanged when she smiled at him and Fred
returned it.  He wasn’t comfortable with intimate looks or smiles going on
between them.  But there was nothing he could do, so he took the drinks and
returned to his friends.

“Christ,
what’s wrong with you tonight?” Michael asked his brother.  “You certainly are
snappy, like a bear with a sore head.  Jane giving you problems?”

Tom scowled
at his brother. “Why do you assume if I am not the life-and-soul that it is to
do with a woman?”

“Because it
usually is!” John responded, enjoying teasing the usually content Tom.  His
good friend had been in a strange mood all week and tonight, he had turned
snappy too.  John sat back and reflected, “Well Sally certainly affects my
moods more than anything else I know. Luckily it is usually for the best.” 
Talking about his wife suddenly made him want to go back home.  “Anyway guys,
I’ll leave you to it.  Time to get home to my wife and baby.”  He downed the
remains of his drink and waved his goodbyes.

“Great, now
you are frightening people off Tom!” laughed Michael.  It felt good to let off
some steam teasing his brother, the mines had been hard today, hence why his
father had gone straight home after their shift.  He leaned over the table to
chat quietly to Tom without the others hearing him.  “So brother, what
is
the problem?  You’re not normally so agitated with folk.”

Tom dragged
his eyes away from the bar, but still scowled at his pint.  “It’s nothing
really Michael.  Things are fine honestly.  I’ve just got a few things on my
mind, that’s all.”  His eyes were drawn towards Fred again, his eyebrows still
puckered in testiness.

Michael
followed his brother’s eye line, things started to make sense.  Not too
difficult to understand what was winding his brother up, Willow certainly was a
woman that would make a man take a couple of looks.  Perhaps his brother was
receiving something he didn’t usually experience, liking someone who wasn’t interested
back.   Curious, but time to change the subject to make the evening more
pleasant. 

Tom relaxed
back into the chair, the conversation with Michael and his friends had put him
in a better frame of mind.  In the lulls of the conversations, he had covertly
watched the interaction between Willow and Fred.  It still didn’t sit too
comfortably with him, but from what he could tell about Willow’s body language,
it was just a working relationship.  He unwound a little.  Tom knew that he was
attracted to her and he knew he would act on it, sometime, but he wasn’t
comfortable with anyone else trying before him.

“Sorry Fred,
the crisps are gone.  Would you mind getting a box from below for me?  I’m
stuck with this big order otherwise I would do it myself.”  Willow enquired. 
She had enjoyed working with Fred while her parents had been away.  He had even
been good company when they weren’t working, her card skills were certainly
getting better.  Although she hadn’t shared her fears with her parents, she had
been secretly worried about working with him as she knew about the reputation Fred
had. Luckily, he had been nothing but courteous and professional with her, so
they enjoyed an easy going working relationship.  She turned back to her
customer.  “Yes Will, what else would you like while you are waiting for the
crisps?”  As she half turned to reach for the vodka, Willow heard a noise and a
shout from the basement.  She threw the glass onto the bar, vodka spilling out
of it.

Tom had been
observing Willow, liking the way she used the back of her hand to push any
stray hair off her face, he wouldn’t mind pushing her hair off her face.  Suddenly
she turned and left Will at the bar, who was now trying to lean over and look into
the back.  Something wasn’t quite right, Fred wasn’t there either. Tom made his
way over to the bar.

“Someone
call an ambulance!” Willow shouted up the stairs, hoping that one of the
customers would be nosey enough to wonder where she was.  She cradled Fred’s
head on her lap, his face pale and sweat already starting to bead on it.  She
didn’t dare look towards his leg where he was trying to hold, but with the pain
being so bad, he couldn’t.  She shouted louder, afraid to leave Fred just in case
he became unconscious. 

Tom
shouldered his way through the increasing crowd around the bar.  Everyone
sensed something was wrong, but didn’t know what.  “Willow?” he shouted but
heard nothing in return.  He felt uneasy.  Too concerned about her, he went
behind the bar and found the door that led down to the cellar.  He took in the
scene below him.  He turned and shouted over his shoulder, “Jack, use the phone
and phone for an ambulance, Fred looks as though he has fallen down the
steps.”  Tom cursed, irritated that John had already gone, as like his father,
Dr Bevan, John had started training to be a doctor, which would be very useful
now.  He made his way carefully down the stone steps, he certainly didn’t want
to end up like Fred, although he wouldn’t mind having his head in Willow’s
lap! 

~~~~

Even though
it was still too early, Willow was glad when she finally bolted the door, she
still felt queasy.  Gripping the bolt she lay her head against the door,
breathing in a little of the clean air the open door had brought in.  Nobody
had really complained about the early closing time, only the occasional grumble
from the customers who had nothing better to do with their evening.  Most of
them could see how upset and green Willow was.