“I think it’s learned its lesson.”
“What?” I whirled around to face the house and found Knox leaning back against the pony-rail fence, booted feet crossed at the ankles, barn coat open, shading his eyes with his hand against the afternoon sunlight.
I’d been so lost in my head, I hadn’t heard him leave the house or walk across the gravel driveway.
“The wood.” He nodded at the chopping block. “It’s safe to say you’ve asserted your dominance.”
I turned back and surveyed my work.
Shit. I’d been chopping the same half log over and over without even noticing, and now it was nothing but wood chips in the snow.
“Doesn’t really matter.” I set the ax down and pulled my gloves on more firmly. “I already have three cords of firewood laid by. This was just…”
“Clearing your head like Dad used to do?” Knox guessed.
I nodded. “Olin’s mom’s bringing Aiden home in a little while. I need to get my head on straight by then.” I picked up a new log and laid it on the block. “You need something?”
“No. Not really.” Knox rubbed his lips together. He glanced back at the house, then at the sky, then at the tree line. He cleared his throat. “You, ah… you wanna talk about it?”
I shot him a deeply questioning look, and he shrugged. “Dude. You started it. I seem to remember someone forcing me to talk about my feelings more than once last fall.”
Whack. Thud.
“That was different. When you were being an idiot with Gage, talking helped. But my shit…” I huffed out a half laugh. “No.”
Whack. Thud.
“This is about Luke Williams, isn’t it?”
Whack. CRUNCH.I overshot the log and impaled the ax into the chopping block. The shock of it reverberated up my arms.
“Fuck.” I dropped the ax to the ground and rubbed at my biceps. “Why would you say that?”
“Webb, you ran out of the town meeting last night ready to declare war on the man?—”
“Exaggeration. Besides, once he and I talked, I figured out it was all a misunderstanding. Luke said he didn’t know what his lawyer was working on.”
“And you believe him?”
“I…” I remembered him bursting into tears and felt my muscles tense in shame. “Yeah. I do. Although, I don’t trust his attorney in the slightest, so I asked Curt to check into things, too.” I picked up the ax once again. “And I decided I’d try to be friendlier. Set a good example for Aiden, you know?”
Knox hooted. “I found the two of you staring into each other’s eyes, holding hands, and blowing a bugle. If you were any friendlier, you’d’ve been arrested for indecent exposure.”
“That’s not funny,” I warned.
“Oh, I beg to differ.” Knox grinned, the fucker. “I was there, and it was hilarious.In fact, I think Neil Diamond sang it best.Hands… touching hands…”
“You suck. And it’snotfunny, because the mayor’s pretending that we’re fucking engaged,and he’s getting the whole town in on the act.” I set another log on the block.
“Uh-huh. The way they were telling it at the Bugle today, you and Luke are already married. Apparently, handfasting means different things in some parts of the world than it does in the Hollow. And Chandra North and Joyce Chan were arguing over your ship name. Joyce saysWilliday.”
“Christ.” Just what I needed. “Awful.”
“Right? I know. Gage and I much preferLubbe.”
I gritted my teeth.
Whack. Thud.
