Page 23 of Cookie

“Hey, are you ready?” he asked as soon as I entered the shop area. He had his coat on and was zipping it while walking toward me.

“I think so,” I said, making him chuckle.

We got in his truck that I’d seen parked over here but had never ridden in before. “It’s not far. Sorry Larry didn’t just drop it off. There’s no way he could have left it in the alley. He said Millie kept it at her house not at the store, so I’m not sure why he wanted to drop it off there to begin with,” Charlie said. We drove down a street I hadn’t been on yet that led right into the forest that lay just on the edge of Grace. We’d only driven afew minutes, but it felt so far removed from the town. The road changed to dirt and after going around a turn, there in front of us was the most beautiful cabin I’d ever seen. The roof was narrow and at a sharp angle to allow snow to slide off. It was painted deep green with brown trim and blended in with the surrounding forest but stood out like a beacon in a storm.

“Wow,” I said and leaned forward for a better look.

“This is my home,” he said, and his pride in those words was obvious. “Let me show you around before we start stacking.”

We got out of his truck, and I followed him across a porch and up to his front door. My mouth hung open as we walked into his house and directly to a large living room that led right to the kitchen. Everything was so warm and inviting, and I had to force myself not to plop on the comfortable-looking couch and spend the rest of the day there.

“Don’t even think about it. We’ve got work to do,” Charlie scolded. “But after work, you’re all mine,” he said, making my heart warm. Charlie was like warm chocolate chip cookies with a hug, and right now I couldn’t think of anyplace I’d rather be. Even if I did have to help stack wood.

Twenty-One

Charlie

Iwatched as Ryan tried to take in everything in the house, almost like he thought he’d never get the chance to see it again. It had been so easy to fall into the routine of going to the store right after work and then driving home early to get ready for work. But seeing him in my home made me want to have him here more often.

“Your place is so warm and inviting,” he said and finally sat on the couch.

“Don’t sit there too long. That couch has been known to take hostages,” I said, making him laugh. “Let’s go see what we’re dealing with.” The two of us walked outside to where I hoped the firewood had been delivered. I had plenty of wood stacked already, all of it covered with tarps to protect it from the elements, but on the other side of it was a massive pile of wood rounds. “Shit, they were supposed to split it.”

“Is that bad?” Ryan asked and walked closer to the enormous pile of logs.

“It’s more work for us. I have a wood splitter, so that’ll make it a little easier.” I glanced over at what he had on and knew he’d end up with pitch or mud, or who knew what, on his clothes. “Come inside first. I’m going to loan you something to wear, so you don’t destroy what you have on.”

“This is fine. It’s just jeans and a shirt, and it’s not one of my favorites or anything.” I looked again at his clothes, making him glance down, but if he was fine with it, then so was I.

“Come on then, you can help me move the splitter.” He followed me over to the side of the stacked wood and after I found two sets of leather gloves, we pulled the trailer with the splitter on it closer to the pile of logs. “I’ll run the splitter if you stack the wood,” I said as he stood with his hands on his hips looking at all the wood.

“I don’t know how it’s supposed to be stacked,” he said without looking away from it. “I had no clue it was this much. How long does that usually last?”

I shrugged. “Depends how fast you burn it. But you haven’t used that much so far, and as long as we don’t get a bad storm and lose power for any length of time, you should be fine.”

He clapped his gloved hands together and met my eyes. “Let’s do this,” he said.

I started the splitter, which thankfully I’d used recently, so I knew it was ready to use. Picking up one of the smaller logs, I set it on the splitter and watched as it slowly cracked in half. I then repositioned one half of it to split that and on until they were a manageable size. I tossed everything to the side and Ryan brought another round after one was completely split. When we had a big enough pile to show him how to stack it, I explained how it was important to vary each layer so it was more stable and wouldn’t tumble over as we stacked it. “Got it?” I asked and went back to splitting when it was obvious he did.

There were a few pieces that were still a little too big, so I took the ax and split them down to a manageable size and turnedaround to find Ryan staring at me. “What?” I looked down at myself, thinking something was either hanging out or looked weird, but there was nothing.

“You’re very good with that ax,” he said and continued to stare with a smirk.

“Did you already forget how bad I was at the throwing place?” I stuck the ax in the round I was using to split on.

“There is nothing wrong with what I just saw,” Ryan said, and after adjusting himself, went back to stacking. I smirked at him before gripping the ax and going back to splitting.

After two hours, we’d made a dent in the pile but were still not close to being done. Some of the wood was still wet and didn’t split as easily as the drier pieces. Every time I had to use the ax to split a round, I noticed Ryan stopped what he was doing and watched, which made me swing the ax a little harder. “It’s getting cold. Why don’t we give it a break for the day and have some dinner,” I said, and he wrapped his arms around himself.

“Itisgetting a little chilly, and I could definitely eat,” Ryan said. The two of us put everything away where we could find it the next day and covered the wood with a tarp.

“Come on then,” I said and led him back inside. “Did you want to go clean up? I’ll get the fire going.”

“Sure. I wish I’d brought my toothbrush. I’d love to stay the night,” Ryan said and watched me open the woodstove and get busy making a fire.

“I have a spare, and I would love you to stay. We need to be at work in the morning and it’s not like we don’t work right across the street from each other. Now, go take a hot shower. I’m going to start dinner. I’ll put some clothes out for you in my bedroom.” He grinned as I led him down the hall and showed him where everything was. Even though he’d never been here, I’d hoped many times he would eventually, and I’d made sure I had all the things I knew he used at home.

“You’re amazing,” he whispered before kissing me and slipping into the bathroom. He waved at me through the crack in the door before closing it completely. When I heard the shower, I hurried off to the kitchen.

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