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Pressing his lips closed, he looked toward his feet and rubbed one arm. “Maybe you and Hunter should—”
“Don’t,” Janie snapped.
Bennett’s head jerked up.
Janie fastened a hand on her hip. “Don’t take his side.”
“I’m not. It was a stupid thing for him to do, and I don’t think that he meant—”
“It doesn’t matter what he meant or didn’t mean. I’m going.” Her heart throbbed in her chest, and Janie huffed. “Never mind. I should have known better than to ask.”
“Don’t say that,” Ms. Crofton said. “I only hesitate because I have no experience running a business like yours. But if you have instructions and you need help, I’m here and available.”
A rush of emotion nearly brought a surge of tears. Finally. Someone who wasn’t going to tell her how dumb this whole thing was. More than she’d found from anyone else—including her own mother.
“Janie, this is ridiculous. You can’t bet your whole livelihood on you doing something you know you won’t enjoy because you’re too mad at a man to have a real conversation with him!”
“He made the bet, Mother.”
“And you took it. What were you thinking?”
She’d been furious, that was what. There Hunter had been, all handsome mountain man standing beside the fire, sidled next to that pretty little friend of Bennett’s, looking condescendingly down at Janie. There wasn’t a whole lot of thinking—only reacting. And now it was done, and she wasn’t going to give Hunter the satisfaction of victory—especially when it would only confirm what he’d thought of her. That she was a coward and she wasn’t capable.
Even as steam billowed through her veins, Janie focused on the hope Ms. Crofton had tossed her way. “You’ll do it?”
Ms. Crofton glanced at Bennett, who stared at her with stern disapproval. Then, with a small lift of her chin, she turned back to Janie. “Yes. I’m happy to help. Maybe I can get Gemma to help me after school and on the weekends. It might be good experience for her.”
Bennett jammed a hand through his hair, shook his head, and walked through the kitchen. “You two need to be locked together in a single room cabin during a weeklong blizzard.”
That was a weird thing to say. Why would she need to be locked in a cabin with Bennett’s mom?
Throwing both hands up, Bennett continued through the kitchen and turned toward the dining room. “Leave us out of the middle.”
Us? Us who? What was he ranting about? Janie looked back at his mom, who watched her son with disapproval. When she looked at Janie, she shook her head. “Don’t worry. He’s gone up to try to talk sense into Hunter. By the looks of it, that was a failed venture.”
Oh. Hunter . . .
Locked in a cabin with Hunter? As mad as she was with the man right then, he’d not last a day.
Twenty-Four
Hunterturnedonhiscot for the hundredth time, or so it seemed. Sleep refused to offer its relief, despite his physical exhaustion. Landing on his back, Hunter growled into the darkness. The muscles in his neck, shoulders, and back screamed in protest against his second full day of wood splitting. Obviously, it had not been enough though. He still couldn’t sleep.
What else could he do? Squeezing his eyes shut, he willed himself to enter rest. Rather than drifting into numb, black relief, his mind replayed the whole encounter again. Janie hanging on Grady’s arm. Janie gazing up at Grady as if everything he said was amazing. Janie pinning Hunter with a loathing look.
Maybe just not the right opportunity.
She knew exactly how sharp that spike was and how deep she’d driven it. Even now, several days later, Hunter could barely breathe through the pain.
He sat up, his thick, rated-negative-twenty-degree sleeping bag slipping off his frame. The frigid night bit at his exposed skin as he braced his elbows against his legs and buried his face in his hands.
“Help,” he groaned.
What was he supposed to do? Every time he thought he should go down and call off this whole stupid bet, reaching for that humility he’d told Bennett he needed to put on, his emotions tumbled straight through that willingness to beg and landed right back in anger. He didn’t want to risk that response when he faced Janie again.
Hadn’t God asked him to trust Him? Hunter was an outstanding failure.
Putting off talking to Janie wasn’t doing him any good. Every day he resolved to apologize, and then he didn’t do it, because it might spark yet another round of bickering. Every night he went to bed miserable and exhausted, only to toss and turn and agonize and replay the whole thing all over again.
