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Chapter34
Remy
The truck rumbled up the wide road, through the trees and into a vast open expanse. A creek ran along the north side, flanking the boxy wooden buildings. Each sported a new metal roof, courtesy of a nasty blizzard in 2019.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice soft.
I nodded. I hadn’t been up here since Henri’s accident months ago. Back when I went off the rails.
I had deliberately stayed away. Mostly because I was embarrassed. Still was. But I had to man up at some point. I had taken responsibility, and I’d already apologized to each person on the crew. Since the incident, I’d been doing shit work for all three of my siblings. Spending my days in the office and breathing stale air was the harshest kind of punishment for someone like me, who needed to be on the move at all times.
“It means a lot to me. Getting perspectives from the folks up here, seeing how it all works for myself. It will really help my research.”
And that there was reason enough. “We got married to help each other. So that’s what I’m gonna do. Help you like you help me.”
“But I already had the surgery,” she said.
“And? You’re my wife. We’re a team. You’re gonna get that PhD, and you’re going to crush it. Being your chauffeur and tour guide? Those things are insignificant, and it’s not like I’m good for much else.”
“Don’t you dare say that. You’re good for many things.”
I put the truck in park and shifted in my seat, raising one eyebrow. “Oh babe, I know that. I know I was real good to you last night.”
She froze, her face going pink, and I loved it. Getting under her skin, making her body respond to me. It was a rush better than climbing even the tallest trees.
Without waiting for a response, I jumped out of the truck and rounded the hood so I could open the passenger door for Hazel.
She took a few steps away and turned in a slow circle, her eyes wide behind the lenses of her glasses.
“Wow. This is not what I expected.”
With a grin, I teased, “What did you expect? A bunch of dwarves singing and whistling while marching around with chainsaws?”
She giggled. “No, just… I don’t know. We’re really out in the woods.”
I nodded. “This is God’s country, babe.”
Gagnon camp was our main outpost in the north woods. It was outfitted with dorms, houses, an office, and a small shop for repairs, along with a couple of pole barns and storage structures that housed materials and fuel. The main dormitory was a charmless squat building that my grandfather had built in the 1960s.
“Everything is pristine right now because the major logging season is over. You should see this place in winter. Equipment everywhere, guys playing flag football in the snow, pancakes on the griddle at midnight. There’s a lot of life here in our little corner of nowhere.”
“Did you come up here as kids?”
“Oh yeah. All the time. It was a great privilege. Hang out with the guys and stay up late. I’d climb the tallest trees and throw snowballs down at my brothers.”
“So what’s happening right now?”
“Road work, forest management, planning for the upcoming year. And selective cutting; mostly in challenging places like on hillsides or hard to reach areas. We do that stuff in the summer so we’re ready come fall.”
She snapped photos with her phone, fascinated.
“But if it’s really rainy, we can’t do much of anything. Roads wash out, machinery can get stuck in the mud. And Adele gets really angry if we ruin her cranes.”
“I can imagine. I wouldn’t cross her.”
I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “That’s a lot coming from you. My wife is pretty fierce.”
“Oh, stop.” Her face was pink again, and she was biting her lip in that sexy way I loved.
