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“What will he owe you?” Isa asked from behind Hunter.
“I’ve been looking into a full marketing package—one I can’t afford.”
“You think I can?”
She shrugged. “That’s the wager. My café or your marketing budget. Either way, one of us loses our business. Sounds fair, right?”
“Sounds awful,” Isa muttered. “Maybe you two should work this out some other way.”
Hunter’s core trembled. But as he stared at Janie, the full force of his anger kept him from backing down.
This woman made him crazy. And he always ended up doing something he’d come to regret.
Even so he stuck his hand out to meet hers. They shook. The deal was done.
And even as he sealed the bet, he knew the truth. He’d just lost what had mattered most.
Twenty-Three
BennettfoundHazel’scabinempty, which was a disappointment but not really a surprise. She had a client for the next two days. More than likely they’d been up at sunrise and on the trail not long after.
But as was expected, her front door was not locked. With a gentle push, he opened it and stood back. “Head on in, Nathan. I doubt the hike over the ridge will be very fun for you.”
Nathan hobbled past him and into the cabin. But then he pivoted to face Bennett. “What am I going to do here by myself?”
A good question. Hopefully, not mess up Hazel’s home. Bennett didn’t truly think Nathan would do that, but he’d brought him up the hill with him to keep him out of trouble at home. Especially since Bennett’s mom was there, and that seemed to irk Nathan, making him even more unpleasant.
Bennett adjusted his stocking cap. “I don’t know, Nathan. You’re kind of putting me in a hard spot here. I can’t trust you on your own—you wander off. I can’t leave you with my mom because you’re determined to make her miserable even though she’s done absolutely nothing to you. But you seem to like Hazel, so I guess I’m hoping I can trust you not to mess up her cabin.”
“Hazel doesn’t treat me like an unwanted kid.”
Sharp pain drove through Bennett’s chest. Did he treat Nathan like an unwanted kid? He didn’t think so. He got frustrated with him for acting like a punk, but that wasn’t the same thing. For several moments Bennett examined the past few weeks with his younger siblings. He was out of his element, admittedly. Butunwanted?
He honestly didn’t feel that way about them. Truthfully, Bennett didn’t see his actions communicating that.
Their father, however . . . Yeah. This could easily be a projection of how their dad treated Nathan. And Bennett got that. Deep in his soul, he understood.
Sighing, he shoved his hands into his pockets and leveled his gaze back on Nathan. “What do you want to do?”
“I could try, you know.”
An unexpected response. It dawned on Bennett that maybe there was something up here in this wild, nearly untouched place that called to Nathan. Perhaps that was why Hazel seemed to have some undefined connection with the boy.
And there was Hazel’s statement after Nathan’s accident. The thing about a boy needing to prove something to himself.
Bennett nodded. “If you want to. Let’s do it.”
Nathan’s expression remained stoic, but he crutched his way back to the door, past Bennett, and out the cabin.
The short hike between the upper lake and the pond took longer than the typical eight minutes, but Nathan managed just fine—and without complaint. Did he hold his head a little higher? He certainly hadn’t speared Bennett with a glare of resentment every ten seconds. That seemed a marked improvement.
Hazel had been onto something.
As they descended the slight hill that led into the meadow where Hunter’s lodge was taking shape, the sound of metal whacking wood cracked with rhythmic clarity.Whack, whack, whack,then ashrrk—the sound of wood tearing apart. Bennett followed the sound around Hunter’s trailer and into a cove tucked among aspens. There, Hunter wielded a small axe as he set up another section of pine to split.
Whack, whack, whack . . . shrrk.
One round piece of wood cleaved into two wedges. Hunter nudged the half that hadn’t tumbled to the ground off his splitting base.
