39. Noah
Chapter 39
Noah
“ I can’t believe I agreed to this.”
Vic patted my cheek. “You’re going to do so well.”
It was after midnight before we fell into bed last night. The festivities had gone late, and there were events to prep and arrangements to be made before the second day of the festival.
Vic had been going nonstop, but she handled it all with ease and a smile.
We stood side by side, nursing coffees, while the chained logs were set up for the boom races. There was a smaller, shallower course for kids, but this was the main event.
There were eight logs, each around twenty feet long, chained together between the dock and a floating swim platform. We’d run across them and back without falling into the water as they dipped and spun beneath our feet.
It looked like fun, but if I fell ass over teakettle into the lake, my brothers would never let me live it down.
Vic rested her head on my shoulder.
“I still can’t believe how well yesterday went. It still feels like a dream.”
I hummed. “The number of donations was wild.”
She buried her face in my neck and inhaled. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could raise this kind of money. Remy Gagnon signed autographs for hours. People were practically throwing money at me. First thing Monday morning, I’m placing a huge order of diapers, vitamins, and meat. All the good stuff.”
With a smile, I dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m proud of you.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t my doing, really. Be proud of the town. And thank freaking Remy Gagnon.”
I grasped her upper arms and pulled her back so she was forced to look at me. “Don’t do that. Don’t minimize your accomplishments. You’re creative and passionate and you work so damn hard.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “Want to know what’s sad? Yes, I am proud. But I still want my mom to see this. I want my parents to see what I’ve done and be proud of me too.”
My heart cracked wide open for her. I’d only been a parent for a year, but I couldn’t imagine turning my back on Tess or belittling her the way Vic’s parents did.
Every comment, every snub, hurt Vic. The worst part was that it would only take the smallest, blandest compliment to appease her. She wanted so badly to share her passion with her family.
“They are coming, right?”
“I think so. Graham signed up to compete, and you know how much they adore their son-in-law.” She rolled her eyes.
“Then they’ll see all this”—I held out an arm and swept it from one side to the other—“and be blown away. You are a superhero, Vic. I’m incredibly proud of you.”
“Thank you.” She clutched the front of my shirt tight. “And thank you for signing up to do the silly race.”
I raised one eyebrow. “One thing you need to know about the Heberts: we are dangerously competitive. Trust me when I say I can’t wait.”
“I can see that. Gus’s chainsaw art? And Finn with the long saw? You Hebert boys came to play.”
I straightened my shoulders. “Our family legacy might be a bit tarnished, but I’m a fourth-generation lumberjack, baby. Don’t worry about me.”
The day started with speed chopping. The large number of competitors meant it had to be broken into heats. The crowd was even bigger the second day, and the line for blueberry pie at Bernice’s booth was dozens of people deep.
Every person here was smiling. The whole town and many people from neighboring areas loved the lumberjack festival. All day, I’d overheard conversations about how this should be a yearly event. My cheeks hurt from all the beaming I’d done. The word proud couldn’t possibly encompass the depth of what I felt for Vic. I only wished she’d wake up and see how incredible she was.
Tess, my mom, Adele, and Thor sat with me in the front row while Finn and Jude chopped wood. Fuck, were they good at it. I made a vow then and there to give in to Jude’s assertion that he should teach me. At the very least, it would be a great workout.
Jude was on a roll, his rhythm perfect until, mid-swing, he looked up into the crowd and froze. A strange sense of dread flooded me. Something was wrong. Was he okay? Had he injured his back or something?
He stared, his jaw hanging. It was only for a moment, but in that time, the axe slid out of his grip.
Fuck.
Startled back to the moment, he instinctively grabbed it, trying to regain control.
His hand caught part of the blade.
And then there was blood.
Wordlessly, I shoved Tess into my mom’s arms, then darted onto the stage. I was already grasping his arm when Finn appeared on his other side, his axe no longer in hand.
Jude blinked at me several times, his face pale.
Blood whooshed in my ears. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Willa, who was the official medical volunteer for the competition, jogged up to us and immediately applied pressure to his hand. “Doesn’t look deep. Let’s get the bleeding under control, and we can see if you need stitches.”
She led him to the stairs, and I followed. He lifted a hand to the silent crowd, signaling that he was okay, and they erupted into cheers.
“Jude.” My heart was still beating too quickly.
Willa sat in front of him and cleaned and bandaged the gash. She was right: it stretched all the way across the back of his hand, but it wasn’t deep.
“What happened?”
He stared at me. “Nothing. Sorry. I thought I saw someone. Got distracted.”
I huffed in disbelief. Jude? Distracted? This guy had been chopping wood since he was in diapers. Who the hell would have the power to make him lose his grip on his axe like that?
“You can tell me. It’s okay.”
Mom rushed in then, fussing and asking Willa questions, but I didn’t take my eyes off my twin.
He shook his head, his expression shuttering.
Something was up with him. And my twin spidey senses were tingling.
Hands on my hips, I exhaled deeply. “We can talk later.”
He nodded. “Don’t you have to go run logs soon?”
I checked my watch, and my stomach twisted. Shit, I needed to get over to the lake. With a peck to Tess’s cheek, I took off, hoping I hadn’t missed the warmup.
It turned out that I should have been more worried about boom running. We were given a few practice runs to get a feel for the logs, and every time, my ass went straight into the lake. I was fast and I was agile from all my training, but I was missing something.
Graham, the asshole, had special spiked shoes. Of course he did, fucker. He was running the logs like a gymnast on a balance beam. I was shocked he hadn’t done a cartwheel to show off.
Fuck, I was going to embarrass myself and Vic by losing to this popped-collar finance bro. Vic’s whole family was here watching too. Alexandra wore a full-length dress that looked like it belonged on a runway in Europe as opposed to a town festival in rural Maine, but she gave me a friendly wave, which I reciprocated.
They would all bear witness to me making a fool of myself. And the asshole who had cheated on Vic—the kindest, most selfless person I’d ever met—would come out victorious.
No. I wouldn’t allow it.
As I dried off, I caught sight of Gus. He stood by the edge of the lake, arms folded over his chest, surveying the scene.
“What am I doing wrong?” I asked my oldest brother as I approached him.
“Is that the guy?” He nodded toward Graham.
“Vic’s ex, who cheated on her and married her little sister? Yes.”
He grunted. “You gotta beat him.”
“Fuck. I know, but I don’t know how. He’s got special shoes and weighs like a hundred pounds. I’m a moose compared to him.”
Gus shook his head. “Your mechanics are wrong. You gotta angle your feet and lean forward while you run, create forward momentum and try to take fewer steps. This isn’t about speed. It’s about strength.”
I squinted at him, dubious. “It’s a sprint.”
“Yes. But it’s nothing like running on the ground. Trust me. Angle the feet. Focus on moving and leaning forward. He’s fast, but he’s got skinny legs. Once things start to really move, he won’t be able to work against the momentum of the logs.”
I did two more practice runs, keeping Gus’s tips in mind.
Both times, I stayed upright, but I was still painfully slow.
“You’re getting it. Now keep your focus on the finish. Do not look down. You’ll get there.” Gus surveyed the competition as he coached me.
Since there were only four sets of linked logs, we’d be doing this in heats.
In my first race, I made it down and back in one piece. I wobbled a bit, but the forward lean kept me upright. And in the end, I won.
Gus clapped me on the back, his lips quirking in a half smile.
Tess sat with my mom, shouting “da, da, da” over and over.
The sound of her voice bolstered me. So did the wink Vic gave me as I lined up for the next race.
This time I was faster. The practice had helped me to anticipate the roll of the log so I could compensate with my footing. I stepped the wrong way on the last one and stumbled forward, but I managed to get my feet under me and launch myself onto the platform. It wasn’t pretty, but I finished in first place.
While the next group of guys ran, I chugged water and said a prayer of thanks that I hadn’t yet ended up injured, concussed, or embarrassed.
“And now for the final race. This one will determine our boom race champion,” Vic said, her voice blaring from the speakers set up around the area.
A decent-sized crowd had gathered. Damn, the pressure was starting to get to me.
The remaining four of us lined up.
I was on one end, with fucking Graham next to me.
One of Chloe’s brothers shook out his arms in preparation on the other side of him. Jack Mosely, a friend of Jude’s who worked as a crane operator, stood at the other end.
With a friendly nod to Jack and Chloe’s brother—I could never remember which was Calvin and which was Cedric—I bounced a little, bending my knees, trying to psyche myself up.
Gus clapped me on the shoulder. “You did good. one race left.” He narrowed his eyes on Graham, then gave me a stiff nod. That was Gus speak for beat the cheating city-boy asshole .
I nodded in response. That was the power of Gus. He didn’t need words to get his message across.
“Get out there and impress your girl. And don’t disgrace the family name. Dad already did that.”
The moment the starting gun sounded, I was off. The first log was the easiest. It was chained to the dock, so it moved the least. The logs in the middle were the trickiest. Dangerous too. They bobbed and spun pretty freely, especially with the others close by disturbing the water.
Keeping my breathing steady, I slowed down, focused on my foot placement, and pushed forward through the middle.
Behind me, the crowd roared, and several people screamed my name.
Focus, Noah. Lock it down .
I made it to the floating platform, turned around, and zeroed in on the finish line, pushing out all other thoughts as I took off.
Halfway across, Gus’s voice rang out above the din. At the same time, movement in my periphery snagged my attention. Fucking Graham.
No fucking way was he going to pass me. Not in my town.
Hands balled into fists, I picked up the pace, willing my burning legs to move faster as I navigated the treacherous middle. I sprinted at full speed over the last two logs and dove onto the platform.
Flat on my back, I stared up at the sky, panting.
My pulse had just stopped thumping in my ears when she appeared above me like a beautiful angel in plaid.
“You won, hotshot.” Her face broke into the brightest smile.
As the fans cheered, I hauled myself up. Standing face to face with her, I not only realized that I was madly in love with her, but I was in love with this whole damn town too.