Page 32 of Unrivaled Love
He starts walking but still asks, "What do you need her help with?"
"I'm working on a tra-" I stop myself before saying trap. He was against pranks when I texted everyone last night, so I need to tread carefully. "I mean the path behind the house and I want to know if I line things up will one cause the other to fall over."
"What things?"
"Trees." I answer with a little shrug and Emmett just looks at me cautiously before handing the phone to his grandmother.
"Hello Bryson, dear," she starts. "What can I do you for?"
"If I have a log in a path and it gets stepped on with a, say 5 '9", 145 lb woman, would it be enough down-force to trigger another tree falling if it's been chipped at the trunk?"
"How far off the ground is the log and the chipped section?" She asks, getting straight to the point. I see Emmett in the background with an eyebrow raised. I just grin.
"The log is about six inches off at the low end and rises up to maybe eighteen. High enough that stepping over it would be tough and low enough that you can't go under it."
"Gotta go through it." She sing-songs. "And what about the tree that will be knocked down?"
"I cut the section out between four and six inches from the bottom. I went at least three quarters of the way through."
She hums as she scribbles something and Emmett chimes in. "Does this have anything to do with Jo?"
"Nope, just working on a path by the house."
The low battery notification pops up. Shoot. I forgot to charge my phone last night after my movie research.
"It might work but you could use another force to help your cause. If you can, weigh the top of the lever; that'll help create a stronger reaction."
"Thanks so much Granny! Okay, my phone is gonna die. I'll talk to you later!" I hang up before E.T. can ask more questions and make me reconsider this.
I roll my shoulders back and remind myself this is simply payback for years of Jo ghosting me. I might have felt differently if her first reaction to seeing me after seven years wasn’t to call me gross, and yell at me to leave. But alas, it wasn’t so now, it’s game time.
I pocket my phone and head to the garage for the chicken wire Dad always had on hand. The plan is to fill it with rocks and use that on the end of the log that is balanced against the tree.
When she steps on the log, the other tree will fall, startling her and hopefully making part of her trek back a little more difficult. The fallen log is on a part of the path that heads out towards the road. It's the long way home from the lake and on warm summer nights, like the one we'll have tonight, we'd go swimming in the lake in the afternoon, enjoy a picnicdinner on the shore and then savor the walk back while trying to catch fireflies.
I positioned the log against a tree which should cause the tree next to it to fall onto the hiking path by the house. It'll probably bring a bunch of brush down too and that'll make it more difficult to pass.
Focusing on the task at hand doesn’t distract me enough from my thoughts. I walk through the woods looking for rocks and each step brings questions.
Am I ready to return for training?
Can I give hockey everything again?
How am I supposed to compete when the best player in the league is me?
I stumble over a rock the size of a grapefruit and pick it up. This will definitely help my cause against Jo.
As I continue my walk the questions are still circling in my head but they’re different.
Why is Jo down in Colorado?
Why is she wearing her practice kit?
Do I have a chance to be her friend again?
Is pranking her the best way to go about that?
“Probably not,” I chuckle to myself. But it’s clear she needs a shake up just like I do and focusing on driving her nuts will preoccupy my thoughts about next season.
