Chapter 4
FOUR
Rune
I can’t stop thinking about my curvy little strawberry shortcake. I’ve been staring at the same documents for half an hour, but I’m not really focusing on them. My thoughts are completely on Jem and her offer.
“Fuck,” I groan, leaning back in my chair.
I can’t seem to escape my thoughts of her. I tried working out in the yard this morning, but I was so distracted that I almost lost a finger on my axe and decided it was safer in my office. Now I’ve wasted an hour in here with nothing to show for it.
I should probably just call it a day, but it’s barely noon, and I know things won’t be better if I go home. I’ll be consumed with thoughts of Jem there, too.
My phone rings, and I lunge to answer it, grateful for the distraction.
“Hey, man,” I answer when I see Camden’s name on the screen.
“Rune! How’s my old Marine buddy doing?”
I can tell he’s grinning, and I’m guessing he’s at work too. I can picture him leaning back in his chair at Semper Fly, careless and relaxed.
He’s always been like that. A lot of guys in the Marines were intense or aggressive, but not Camden.
He was great in a fight, always had your back, but as soon as the danger was over, he was the first to smile and crack a joke.
He helped to keep things light. It wasn’t the same in the Marines after he left. That’s part of the reason I got out.
It was a shock when I moved to Wolf Valley to discover that he’d moved here, too. He was working with some other military buddies I’d met over the years, and he’d offered me a job, but working at a helicopter tourism place isn’t for me.
“I’m good. What have you been up to?”
“Just working and waiting for my girl to get back from her latest trip.”
“Sounds like fun,” I deadpan.
He laughs. “It’s not, but I thought lunch with my buddy would make it better.”
“Lunch? Today?” I glance at the clock.
“Today or sometime this week. Dinner is also good. Lymric comes back to town Friday.”
“I’ll check my calendar,” I tell him.
He snorts. “What do you have going on?”
“I, uh, I met someone.”
“What?” he asks excitedly. “What’s her name? Where did you meet?”
“There’s a problem.”
He sighs. “What did you do?”
“Nothing!”
“What happened?”
“I was at the market last night, and she came up to me and asked me to be her date for this wedding she’s going to.”
“Okay, going good so far. So, you said yes, and then what?”
“I said I’d think about it.”
He groans. “What the hell is wrong with you, Rune?”
“She said it was fake,” I interrupt before he can go on.
“Okay, not ideal. Why did she need a fake boyfriend?”
“I don’t know. She said something about not going to another wedding as the only single person there.”
“Huh,” he muses.
“What do I do?”
“Do you like her?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so say yes to her offer. Go as her date, then convince her it should be a real relationship.”
“And how do I do that?”
“I don’t know, man! Treat her right. Show her what it would be like if she were your girl, and maybe it will change her mind.”
“All right, I can do that.”
“What’s her name?”
I smile. “Jem.”
“Oh! Lymric knows her. They have girls’ nights sometimes.”
“Cool.”
“We can double-date.”
“We’ll see.”
“Speaking of we’ll see… how about lunch?”
“Yeah. This week. I’ll call you,” I promise.
“Sweet. Talk to you later, Rune. Good luck!”
Camden hangs up, and I toss my phone onto my desk.
I can do what he says. I can treat her right. Make her fall in love with me so she never wants our dating to end.
I take a deep breath, dig Jem’s phone number out of my pocket, type it in, and hit call.
It rings twice. My palms sweat. I should have practiced what I wanted to say before I called her. The call connects, and I clear my throat.
“Hello?”
“I’m in,” I blurt out.
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m in,” I repeat.
“Sorry, who is this?”
“It’s Rune.”
“Oh! Um, great!” she says, sounding surprised.
“I’ll pick you up tonight, and we can go over the details.”
“Okay.”
“Text me your address.”
“Will do.”
“See you tonight. Six o’clock.”
“See you.”
We hang up, and a minute later she texts me with her address. I program her number into my phone, smiling when I add a strawberry emoji next to it.
My phone rings again, startling me, and I almost drop the dang thing. I frown when I see Trevor, the owner of the lumberyard and my boss, calling me.
I hate the guy. He ran this place into the ground before I took over. He’s a gambling addict who’s getting up there in years.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Rune! It’s good to hear from you.”
I want to remind him that he called me, but I bite my tongue.
“Listen, pal, I wanted to talk to you. I’ve decided to sell the lumberyard. It’s time for me to retire.”
Retire from what? He doesn’t do anything around here.
“Good for you,” I say evenly.
“So, I need some reports run. Just the numbers. I need them to show potential parties.”
“Well, maybe I could buy it.”
“You?” he laughs.
I grind my teeth together. Trevor is an idiot. I’m the reason this place is doing well. I handle everything around here. If it weren’t for me, Trevor would’ve run this place into the ground by now.
“Yeah, me. How much?” I ask him.
“I’ll be asking five million for it.”
I lean back in my chair. Damn. I’ve been saving for years, but I’m nowhere near that number. If I could get him down to maybe one million, I could do it. I know Trevor would never go for that, though.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do,” I say coolly.
Trevor laughs. “Whatever you say.”
He hangs up a second later, and I toss my phone onto my desk angrily.
What the hell am I going to do now? I could hope that the new owner keeps me on as the manager, I guess, but there’s no guarantee that will happen.
I’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe no one will be interested in this small lumberyard in the middle of nowhere.
With that settled, I get back to work. I’m a lot less distracted now, so I manage to get stuff done. At quitting time, I practically leap to my feet and bolt out to my truck. I need to shower and change before I head into town to get my girl.