“Look at the incredible art you create. The home you built.” She pointedly scanned the room, her chest lifting with pride. “Your commitment to your brothers and this town. You are a helper. It’s who you are at your core. And I’m so proud of you.”
She gently scratched Clementine’s ears, her steady, calm presence settling the pooch. Settling me too, if I was being honest.
With one last pat to the dog’s head, Mom stood and brushed off her pants. “I need to run. We’ve got a fall festival volunteer meeting this morning, and then I’m delivering meals for the food pantry.”
She leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Don’t get up. She wants some love.” Mom dipped her chin at Clem.
Sure enough, Clementine’s nose was a few inches from my fingertips. I froze, being sure to keep my breathing steady so as not to startle her, and let her sniff me. Holy shit, she was getting more comfortable.
Mom headed toward the door.
“And about Chloe LeBlanc.”
My heart sank at the sound of her name. Dammit. I was hoping she’d forgotten.
“Don’t let her push you around. You’re smart, and no one knows that business better. If she can’t appreciate the incredible man you’ve become, then she can fuck right off.”
“Mom,” I snapped, causing Clementine to recoil. I couldn’t help the reaction. My mother never, ever cursed.
“Eh. I’m human.” She shuffled to the door and turned back to me. “I can throw around a fuck now and again.”
The sound of that word leaving her mouth a second time made me laugh.
“I mean it,” she said. “I raised you not to take any shit.” She blew me a kiss as she stepped outside. “Don’t forget it.” With that, she shut the door, leaving Clem and me alone in the silent room.
Being in the office made me restless and anxious. Too much time without fresh air and trees would trigger my nervous system to shut down. But I was here, ready to assist my new boss in whatever crunchy-munchy bullshit she might need. I was operations manager now, whatever the fuck that meant.
I’d never really had a formal title, though I’d acted as both COO and CEO at one time or another. But I’d been working for this company since I was twelve years old and had done every single job at least once.
I’d scrubbed toilets and stuffed envelopes and driven for hours back and forth to the sawmill. I’d camped out in blizzards, and I’d dug out stuck tires. Through it all, I’d had dozens of injuries.
And I’d done it all for love. For the love of my family, our business, and our land.
Today, I was nothing more than an employee.
Chloe would make changes, sell off assets, probably reorganize. And all I could do was watch it happen.
Pure torture.
Desperate for fresh air, I’d escaped to the shop earlier to see Sam. He was one of my oldest friends. Long ago, we’d started out running machines together, and we’d bonded. He was quiet, thoughtful, and didn’t take any bullshit.
Now he was our chief mechanic. He ran the shop, oversaw our fleet of vehicles, and kept all our equipment in top shape. He was the older brother I’d never had, willing to talk and listen and sometimes just take a silent hike in the woods.
When I popped in, he was swamped with work. Chloe was demanding maintenance records and had some guy from Vermont coming in to inspect equipment. So rather than distract him, I wandered back to the office, feeling useless and unmoored.
I’d just settled in to read my emails—fuck, there were way more emails now than ever before—when a knock sounded on my office door.
My heart rate spiked. Jude didn’t knock, and neither did Sam or Mike or any of the crew.
So that left one possibility.
“August.”
When I forced my attention away from my computer screen, she was standing in the nearly empty office, wearing a black skirt that hugged her hips and accentuated her small waist. Her hair was pulled back into a messy knot on her head with a scrunchie, showing off the smattering of freckles on her collarbone. Like a punch to the gut, I was hit with a memory of kissing and licking every single one.
She cleared her throat.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m calling an all-staff meeting for this afternoon. I’d like to give a brief presentation to the field crews, and I need you to review it for me first. Add details specific to your operation and let me know if anything is unclear.”
I nodded. Sweet. There was nothing like a PowerPoint to inspire a bunch of wilderness-hardened lumberjacks.
She shifted from foot to foot, the movement drawing my attention to her shoes. They were purple today. And massive. She was tiny in stature, but the way she held herself and the calm confidence in her expression exuded power and authority. Even so, beneath the business suit and the cold, professional exterior, she was still my Chloe, the steely, sad girl with the fiery hair who had completely captivated me.
No matter how many decades had passed, the spark inside me came alive only when I was with her.
If the way she regarded me from across the room was any indication—brown eyes darkening and full of curiosity and heat—she felt that spark too.
She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, challenging me. In return, I watched her, waiting for her to speak. She could push me all she wanted, but I wouldn’t budge. I didn’t mind silence.
“The FBI called,” she said after an excruciating amount of time.
I nodded, ignoring the sharp pain that lanced my chest. “Those fuckers never go away.”
She rolled her eyes. “Thanks for your commentary. They’re coming next week to meet with us.”
