Chapter one
ANelya
“This is heaven,” I savored the taste of lemon meringue that my sister Carolina made in the diner she now partly owned.
She’d put her savings into this little place in the small town of Grockton, Tennessee, in the shadow of the Smokies. I was here for a visit after finishing my paramedic degree in Knoxville, to check out her diner.
“You must be tired,” I said, watching her smile and chat tirelessly with the people at the bar seats in front of her as she served plates and pies. Other waitstaff who looked like high schoolers helped with nearby booths.
“No, I still have energy for the Lumberjack Days. I’ve been looking forward to this. Everyone said Raymond Jackson is the one to watch.”
“Heard he’s making a whole kitchen set this year,” an elderly man eating a pie flight at the bar said.
I’m getting that next time, I thought, looking at the four mini pie slices he was sampling. That looked like chocolate, maybe coconut, possibly banana, and…
“Anelya? Did you hear that?”
“Hmm?” I realized my sister was talking to me. “Sorry, I was thinking about that pie flight. I want that next time.”
“Sure, I’ll set that up for you tomorrow. We do fruit pies tomorrow. Today was cream pies.”
There are themes? I was starting to understand why this place seemed so popular. My sister always had creative dessert ideas. She came up with amazing desserts for birthdays when we were teens.
“But I want to see the chainsaw competition, where the man is going to make an entire kitchen set.”
I looked at her. “That sounds dangerous.”
“You think everything is an accident waiting to happen. My sister is a paramedic,” she explained to the customers around us.
Many of them smiled at me. I smiled and waved, but it still sounded dangerous.
***
It looked dangerous too, I thought, thirty minutes later, as we watched the first contestant carving some sort of wooden clock with various power tools. As the timer clicked down from fifteen minutes, I watched the young man who looked like he was still in high school deftly cut and chisel the stumps of wood while the crowd cheered him on.
Several huge stumps and blocks were waiting for the final contestant, the reigning champion. I eyed his waiting power tools, including a very large chainsaw. I’d been on a couple runs on ambulances as a student where power saws had gone awry.One had been a home accident, and the other at a job site. The second man lost a couple fingers, and the first didn’t lose anything, but both were gory messes. The patients were in lots of pain and had immediately gone into shock. It was hard to forget that.
I hefted my backpack on my shoulder.
“I can’t believe you brought that,” Carolina teased. “I know the company has medics at the fest.”
“I’ve gotten in the habit of bringing it around with me. Besides, it has my jacket, wallet, and phone.” My shorts did not have large pockets.
The young man finished and the crowd cheered. His clock was pretty good, and he tapped in delicate hands to the face of the clock with a small mallet. I would not have minded that in my apartment, if I had one. My stuff was in storage in Knoxville, where I’d stashed it after I finished my program, waiting to see where I got hired. I was already applying and signing up for testing at various departments during this visit with my sister. Hopefully I’d have a line on a job soon. I know it could take a while to find something permanent.
“Before our final contestant, reigning champ Raymond picks up his saw, I want to remind you all about the demolition derby and pie baking contest tomorrow. There’s still plenty of fun coming up at Lumberjack Days!”
“Who is that?” I asked Carolina, after the deep-voiced man stepped away from a mic on a platform behind where all the carvers stations were set up.
“He’s cute, right?” She winked at me.
He was, but I wouldn’t take her bait. I waited.
“Burris Grockton. He and his stepbrother Greg run the company that pretty much own the town. They sponsor the Lumberjack Days. They come in the diner all the time. I think they are both single, though I’ve heard they date together.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, and was about to ask, when the crowd cheered again as a very tall, wiry man with a beard, cowboy hat, and a flannel shirt stepped up to the final station. This must be Raymond.
He waved over to the judges and then to the crowd, lifting his hat briefly. Then he picked up one of the smaller tools as the clock started and began making small cuts on one of the pieces of wood.
