Page 1 of Wrong Number, Right Lumberjack
CHAPTER 1
JACE
My stomach twists as I punch in the number. My finger hovers for an extra second before I press call. Then the phone rings twice before a woman answers.
"Southern Knights Football Family, this is Missy Tieddy." Her voice is clipped and efficient, but there’s a warmth to it too, and I wonder if that’s how they continue to recruit the top players.
I clear my throat. "This is Jace Crews. I'm calling from Lumberjack Lagoon about the contract."
"Okay." I hear the shuffle of papers. "What can I do for you?"
The words stick in my throat for a moment before I force them out. "I need to cancel."
There’s a long pause. Then her voice sharpens. "Cancel? As in, you're backing out of a signed contract three weeks before camp?"
"Yes, ma'am, I guess I am. To be fair, though, I haven’t signed anything. I?—"
"Jesus." She lets out a frustrated breath, and just like that, all the warmth and magic is gone. "This is why I don’t work with new vendors. Everyone is coming in-house.
Vendors? What the hell is she talking about?Before I have a chance to get another word in, Missy launches into a full-scale attack.
“You’ve caught me on the wrong day. I don’t need this right now. Do you realize we’ve got a welcome banquet for our new recruits and a youth summer camp coming up all within the next few weeks? Now I’m scrambling. This is inconvenient. Irresponsible…" Her tone cuts through the line like a blade.
Heat floods my chest. "Hold on. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but don’t ever come at me with a conversation about responsibility." I ball my fist and look across the room at my brother as he settles onto our old couch with a video game controller in his hands.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I call it like I see it, and this is leaving me in a bind.”
What kind of recruiter talks to talent like this?
Fury erupts inside of me. I pace across the small kitchen, my boots hitting the worn linoleum with sharp thuds. I pick up the offer letter and read it one last time. Housing, food, and a paycheck with more zeros behind it than I’ve ever seen. Walking away from a contract to be on the practice team for the Southern Knights is devastating. It was only a one-year offer, and my brother is technically an adult now, but I don’t feel right about leaving him.
Something about her tone triggers an eruption. "Look, I've been the guy who stayed behind while everyone else chased their dreams. I raised my little brother when our dad walked out on us. I took care of my mom through two years of chemo. I've worked sixteen-hour days at a logging yard to keep our family afloat until the life insurance paid out." My voice rises despite my efforts to keep it steady. "So yeah, maybe your precious contract has to go to someone else. Because I don't get the luxury of chasing dreams when peopledependon me."
The silence stretches between us, thick with tension.
"I—" she starts, but I'm already hitting the end call button with more force than necessary. “Shit. Jace, you aren’t with Cruise Bakery, are you?”
“What?”
“You aren’t cancelling our contract for two thousand sugar cookies. You aren’t even looking for the events office, are you? Oh my God, I’m such an idiot. I’ve been running on no sleep, and there’s so much happening.” The tone and pitch of her voice speeds up like someone’s hit the fast forward button.”I’m so sorry. I’m so incredibly sorry. I’m not a recruiter. I’m an event planner. You’ve got the wrong person.”
“You thought I was cancelling… A cookie order? Missy, with all due respect, you should probably take a damn day off.”
The silence that pours from the phone is deafening.
Then I hear a laugh come through the line. It’s warm, light, and totally unexpected. “I really freaked out there. Oh wow, I need to take a few days off. The panic…” She laughs at herself, and the sounds pull me in.
What the hell is happening here?
I can’t help but join her. After a week of agonizing all alone over an impossible decision, the release feels good. Ever since my football coach at the local community college mentioned that a recruiter reached out about me, I’ve been in turmoil. It’s all I could do to show up at Timber Logging for my shifts and keep the offer a secret from my brother James.
“Hey Jace, I’m so sorry. I know I’m overstepping here. But listen, since we’re giving each other life advice… I think you should take the contract. Especially in light of everything you just told me. We have new recruits come to the practice team for one year. It sets them up for the rest of their lives. It sounds like you deserve it more than most. Why not take a chance on yourself?”
Her sincerity catches me off guard, and a lump wells in my throat. “Ha, well, thanks. If this whole event planning thing doesn’t pan out, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you as a recruiter…”
There’s no reasonable explanation for what happens next.
Five minutes ago, I was ready to walk away from football forever. Now I'm flirting with the team’s event planner. I toss my flannel over the back of the couch and drop onto the worn cushions. I should be splitting the cord of wood stacked outside. Or finally fixing that damn pipe that's been dripping behind the sink for three weeks.
