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Holly
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THAT DID NOT SOUND delightful. In fact, of all the things Lawson had put me through so far, this might very well have sounded like the least delightful. I let out a sigh.
“I have hung lights. I have decorated a tree. I have baked cookies. I have listened to Christmas music. Must I chop?” I asked.
Lawson walked up to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He pulled me closer so our bodies were tight together, making me melt. He certainly knew how to get my attention. I slid my hands up his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck as he smiled at me with those sparkly green eyes holding me right in place.
“Yes,” he said. “You have to chop.” I sagged, dropping my head forward so my forehead hit his chest. He laughed and used one finger to lift my chin so I was looking at him again. “You have to remember, I have you in Christmas spirit boot camp. You have to participate in all the training activities.”
I wasn’t on board with this whole thing. There were Christmas activities that made sense, and then there were ones that I felt went out of style in the days of Laura Ingalls and making butter and head cheese with Ma during the harvest season. Back then, chopping wood was one of those things they just had to do if they were going to have light, be able to cook, and survive the winter.
But I had electricity. And an electric stove and oven. And central heat. I didn’t need to go through all the effort of constantly having a fire roaring in the house. And I certainly didn’t need to go outside and chop the damn wood to keep those fires going.
Lawson leaned down and kissed me. That made me feel a little bit better. He gave me a little pat on my butt, and my mind drifted to curling up with him in front of the fire, and that made it even better. I wouldn’t take the leap to saying I felt gung ho and was ready to take up the hatchet, but I was getting a bit more motivated.
“Alright, well, if I’m going to be a lumberjack for the day, I’m going to need more breakfast in me,” I said. “I need the fuel.”
Lawson grinned and went for the coffee machine. I ate, drank, and delayed the inevitable for as long as I could, but eventually, I had to get a move on. He needed to get to the assisted living facility to see his mother, and I apparently needed to replenish the stack of wood I honestly didn’t even know was there until he pointed it out to me. Up until now, I hadn’t had any reason to build a fire in the house. The fireplace looked pretty with candles arranged in it, but that was about as far as I had gone with it.
Now he was determined I was going to progress to bigger and better things.
I met him on the front porch in several layers of thick clothes, and he eyed them with a quirked eyebrow. I looked down at my outfit, trying to figure out what about it was bothering him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Is there a problem with what I’m wearing?”
“It’s just a lot of clothes,” he said.
For a second, I thought he was making a flirty comment. Maybe there was another meaning to Lawson talking a lot about wood and wanting to get me outside. I smiled at him and stepped up a little closer. It would be a bit chilly to begin with, but an outdoor romp with him could be fun.
“Oh, is it?” I asked. “If you helped me, I could probably...”
“You’re going to get overheated. Chopping wood is really hard exercise, and I wouldn’t want you to pass out. Or for your sweat to freeze on you,” he said.
Well, damn. That didn’t go the way the slow-motion image in my mind was unfolding.
That was probably a good thing, though. I didn’t know what was really happening between us, but whatever it was, we were just at the beginning. If that next step ever came, this wasn’t exactly the ideal scenario for it to happen. But that wasn’t going to stop me from imagining it.
I decided to cling to all my layers until the situation deemed them unnecessary, and we headed toward the back of the house. I looked around.
“Where do we find the wood?” I asked.
Lawson laughed. “Remember cutting down the tree at the farm?”
“We’re not going back there and turning the rest of their stock into firewood, are we?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think they’d appreciate that. We’re going into your woods.”
“My woods?” I asked. He gestured to the trees that surrounded the house on three sides. “Oh. Right. I have woods.”
They weren’t really something I thought about all that much. They were set back from the house, and I knew from going over the paperwork with the lawyer when I first found out about my inheritance that I not only owned the woods, but that there were hiking trails through them. I just didn’t go out in them. Doing something with those trails was on the list of things I thought might be nice for future guests, but that was several steps and a couple of crises away.
But Lawson was determined to make this happen, so I fell into step with him, and we headed beyond the tree line into the shade. He looked around, and I followed his lead in selecting large chunks of fallen wood that could be cut down to smaller, more manageable pieces.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess you weren’t the camping kind when you were younger. Or now, for that matter,” he said.
“Was that a pun?” I asked. “Out on a limb?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Happy accident.”
I chuckled, and we continued gathering until our arms were full. We walked out of the trees, and he showed me a spot to dump what I was carrying. He pointed out he’d seen a wheelbarrow in the shed and would come back and collect it all when we were finished.
When we’d gathered enough, Lawson and I filled our arms again and headed for the house. We dumped them by a stump that had clearly been used for chopping wood many times before. He went for the wheelbarrow, and I followed him to help collect. Once we’d gotten everything transferred, Lawson took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.
He selected a large piece of wood and positioned it on the stump. Grabbing up the hatchet he’d gotten from the shed at the same time as the wheelbarrow, he gestured for me to step back.
“This is how it’s done,” he said.
He took a wide stance and swung the hatchet up and over. It easily split the piece of wood in two. The two pieces fell to the sides of the stump, and he replaced them with another chunk. It was incredibly sexy watching him split the wood that way. The grunts he let out with each split worked me up, and I felt like I needed to get some of the heat and energy out.
“My turn,” I announced.
Lawson looked over at me and laughed. “I was just kidding about you needing to chop. You don’t have to.”
I shook my head. “I want to try.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
I nodded, and he gestured for me to come over to the stump. Standing behind me, he wrapped his arms around me and helped me to hold the hatchet. He guided me through the first chop, and I let out a delighted shout when the head buried itself in the wood. It didn’t split as easily as when Lawson was putting all his strength into it, but it was something. He helped me pull the head out, and I took another swing, this time managing to split the wood.
As shocking as it was, I actually found myself enjoying going through the wood with Lawson. I didn’t have the strength or the stamina to do nearly as much as he did, but I still felt accomplished when every piece was stacked neatly on the woodpile and we headed inside.
Just like he warned me, I had a few of my layers in my arms but was still feeling hot and sweaty. And sore. I had a feeling the next day was going to be a limited-upper-body-movement kind of day.
“You did a really good job,” he said. “I have to admit, I’m impressed. I thought maybe you would take a swing or two, but I figured you would realize how hard it was and stop.”
“You underestimate me,” I said.
“And heaven help me for that,” Lawson said with a laugh. “I should have known better. With everything you did while we were in school, I should have realized there wasn’t any kind of challenge you weren’t going to plow into headlong and take down like a master.”
“Well, I don’t know if I would go all that far. I don’t think I’m going to be joining up in those lumberjack timber games anytime soon.”
“The what?” he asked.
“You know, the timber games. A bunch of guys wearing a lot of denim and plaid go out into the woods, and they do all these games that are like the Olympics, but they have to do with timber. So there’s speed chopping and sawing, and climbing trees, and peeling bark, and running in place on a log that’s in water, trying to stay upright,” I said.
He blinked at me a few times, and I sighed. “Sometimes when I’m feeling particularly stressed, I stay up late watching TV and end up finding some strange things.”
Lawson laughed. “Alright, well, that’s something that sounds like I need to see it. If nothing else just to say that I did. I feel it’s part of rounding out my existence in life. But you really did do a great job. You have to admit, that’s much better than just calling somebody and buying the wood.”
I glared at him. “I could have done that?”
“Yes. But it wouldn’t have been as fulfilling.”
I shook my head at him. “All this fulfillment has me feeling very grimy. I have a mountain of laundry ahead of me, and I should get some refreshments out into the parlor for everybody. And you should get going. I’m sure your mother will be eager to see you.”
“She doesn’t know I’m coming,” he said. “Not for sure, anyway. I tried to make a schedule with her when I first got here, but she was very adamant that there were always things going on and she’s really busy, so I didn’t need to worry about being there all the time or blocking out specific times. To just come by when I felt like it.”
I laughed. “Glad to hear she is so filled with warm, clingy holiday feelings. That’s really good, though, honestly.”
“I know. It’s a lot better than I thought it would be. When I first found out that everything had happened and she was in the facility, I was afraid it was going to be horrible. I thought it was going to be like a hospital and she would have no one around her ever. She wouldn’t have anything to do. She’s still so vibrant and full of life, and I hated the thought of what might happen to her there. But I went the first time, and it’s actually really great.”
“Good. I know that makes you feel better,” I said.
There was still sadness in his eyes, and I knew he was thinking about his childhood home and everything that wasn’t a part of his life anymore, but at least he had the comfort of knowing his mother was safe and living a life that made her happy.
We went our separate ways to take showers and so he could get ready to go to the facility and I could tackle everything around the bed-and-breakfast.
I got back downstairs before he did and had an idea. There were still plenty of cookies leftover from our marathon baking session, so I stacked a couple dozen of them on a plate and wrapped them with plastic wrap. Lawson came down as I was throwing a load of laundry into the washer. I finished up and went into the kitchen with him. I held the plate out to him.
“Here,” I said. “These are for your mother and her friends.”
He looked touched and leaned in to kiss me. “Thank you. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay.”
He gave me one more kiss and started out.
