Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
FAITH
Iwas going to kill Adam! He floored that machine as he whipped around corners and dodged fallen logs.
After my initial scream caused him to cackle, I refused to make another sound and encourage him.
Plus, Danny had flinched and didn’t appreciate my volume.
I would have said so many words if Danny wasn’t there, and none of them would have been appropriate for him to repeat.
Adam pulled over and cut the engine. “This looks like a good place to start.” He grinned, clearly pleased. “So, how was your first time on a four wheeler?”
Danny pushed against my arms that caged him between Adam and me. I forcefully pried my fingers off Adam’s jacket, stood on shaking legs, and let Danny get off. My stomach was still doing loop de loops, and I clenched my fingers as I tried to bring the feeling back into my hands.
Danny exhaled loudly. “That was kinda scary and kinda fun.” He stood to the side of the four wheeler and stared at the snow.
Adam turned to face Danny and closed his eyes. “Shoot, sorry.” He squatted so he was eye level with him. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I should have asked first.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay.”
“I’ll ask next time.” Adam tilted his jaw toward Danny. “But if you ever want to tell me to slow down, just slap the back of my jacket.”
Danny nodded. “It’s okay. I think I liked it.”
Adam stood and went to the front of the four wheeler. As he unstrapped the saw and tarps, his eyes searched mine and then his shoulders dropped. “You didn’t like it either?” He sighed. “Sorry.” He looked at his feet.
“It was just a lot really fast.” I flexed my fingers and studied my footprints in the snow.
“Fair.” He pursed his lips and looked down. “I should have asked first.” He flinched and gave me a partial smile. “Sorry ’bout that.”
I brushed my hair out of my face. “It’s fine.” I saw his sincerity in his expression. I couldn’t believe how readily he apologized, even to me. My heart sped up and this time it wasn’t because of the four wheeler.
He grabbed the saw in one hand and Danny’s hand in the other. “All right, let’s see what we can find.” They started up the hill to the left, their feet crunching in the snow.
We were farther into the snowy peaks and they reached to the sky, like fingers of a hand reaching for the heavens. My family wasn’t exactly outdoorsy. I had seen snow and mountains…but these mountains were huge, steep, and powerful.
The insignificance of my existence wrapped around me, and I reveled in it. I thought Hillsdale was quiet and in the middle of nowhere, but this was something different entirely. There was a heavy blanket of silence that enveloped my fears.
“Can we build a snowman?” Danny’s voice drifted down toward me.
I smiled, the boy was obsessed with snowmen right now.
“Sorry, Champ. We are going to have a full day of it as is. Let’s race to that log instead.” Adam pointed up the hill.
“I get a head start.” Danny started charging up the hill. “Count to fifty,” he yelled over his shoulder.
“Fifty!” Adam laughed. “No way.”
Adam started counting. I rushed to catch up.
Finding three trees was apparently no easy feat. The trees weren’t planted in neat little rows. They were spread far and wide with varied shapes and heights.
With the first one I suggested, Adam told me it wouldn’t fit in any of our houses.
“That tree has to be fifteen feet tall.” He smirked.
It looked a little taller than me, but three times? “No way.”
“Trust me, everything is much bigger than it seems on the hillside.”
I glared toward the tree, still unconvinced.
Adam chuckled and nodded. “Go stand by it.”
I trekked up the hill to stand next to it to prove him wrong.
He wasn’t wrong.
This tree seemed small compared to most. The vastness of it all was overwhelming.
We strolled over hills and around large rocks. Every tree Danny or I thought would be good, Adam refused. Finding a tree that was straight and had branches all around it that met Adams standards was like Where’s Waldo in the wild.
“This is it!” Adam circled a tree. It was full and round and was, in fact, quite perfect. It looked like it was from a tree farm with its straight spine and bushy branches. He smirked, proud his perfectionist efforts paid off. “Now, that’s a Christmas tree.” He gestured toward the tree.
I rolled my eyes. “All right, I will give it to you, the tree is pretty good.”
“Good?” Adam scoffed. “It’s perfect!”
Adam helped Danny start sawing the tree down, I walked around for another Adam-standards tree nearby.
I wasn’t sure anymore existed.
“Hey Faith.”
I heard Adam call out my name, the sound echoing easily down the hill. My breath caught. I’m pretty sure that was the first time he hadn’t called me Ms. Faith, but just Faith. My heart picked up speed and I wanted to squeal.
“Faith.”
Oh right, answer. I turned to the sound and saw Adam near the tree, holding up the hand saw.
“Do you want to try?” Adam’s voice called in my direction.
I looked back to the tree and Danny was no longer sawing but making snow angels farther down the hill.
“What?” I tilted my head.
“Do you want to cut down the tree?”
Like use the saw? Yes? No? Kinda.
Adam must have sensed my indecision and chuckled. “Come here.”
I trekked back toward him. I mean, what’s the worst thing that could happen, right? He taught Danny how to use it safely.
Adam handed me the saw and pointed to the tree. “Have at it.”
Wait, what? That’s it. I held the saw away from me at an awkward angle.
“No instructions, just go for it?”
What if I saw it wrong? Would he laugh? Would I break the saw? Would I break the tree?
Adam rolled his eyes, “Seriously, Faith, relax.” He grinned. “You can do this.”
I bit my lip but his eyes and voice held kindness, not frustration or annoyance. The fact that this man, who used to terrify me, was now a source of peace and comfort wasn’t lost on me. I gave a forceful exhale. “Okay. But can you at least tell me how?”
Adam gestured for me to come even closer. “All right, scaredy cat, come here.” And butterflies erupted in my stomach as I obeyed.
Tree. Focus on the tree. You have a saw in your hand, woman!
Adam squatted down near the base of the tree. “You see how it has a triangle cut out of the back?”
I squatted next to him and saw a small wedge cut out of the tree trunk, showing the pale bark underneath. I nodded.
“Okay, so that’s how you control which way the tree will fall.” He shifted and pointed to a strip of pale scratches on the front. “This is where Danny was cutting. I’d use the main, deeper one right here.” His arm reached forward, and he brushed his glove along the groove.
I leaned closer to see better. “Okay, yeah, I see it.”
Adam was so close to me, I could smell his cologne, and it was mouthwatering.
Stronger than the scent on his coat, it was citrusy like orange, maybe, and cloves or something.
I couldn’t quite figure out the spice. Adam turned his head and jumped a little at finding our faces so close together. He raised a brow and smiled.
He knows I was staring at him.
Oh my gosh, how embarrassing. I cleared my throat. My cheeks flushed, my eyes flew to the base of the tree, and I begged the heat in my cheeks to go away.
Adam leaned back and then pointed toward the base of the tree. “Have at it.”
I rushed in toward the tree trunk. Needing to pull the focus from Adam and my embarrassing self.
“Whoa, careful there tiger, it’s still a sharp blade.” He chuckled, and his hand rested on my arm. I ignored him and his hand.
“Okay, so I just put it in the slot and then what?” New rule for the day: no more daydreaming about Adam.
“You’re just going to pull back and forth.”
I put the saw into the deepest slot and pulled, it hardly budged.
I frowned. I adjusted my weight and pulled again.
Nothing. Ugh! Seriously. Danny could do it!
I should be able to. I adjusted my hands for a better grip.
Then I yanked hard, feeling a pull in my shoulder muscles.
The blade moved that time but got stuck again when I went to go back the other direction.
“Am I doing something wrong?” I asked over my shoulder.
“It gets kinda tighter as it gets toward the end.” Adam shifted position and stood.
I guess he thought this might take a while.
I tugged hard and eventually I felt the saw give, and then I was sawing.
I went back and forth, and it was easy now.
I didn’t stop even though my arms burned; I might not get it started again.
I was cutting a tree down in the forest like some freaking mountain man, well, woman.
I could dance in excitement, but I was busy… cutting down a tree!
I glanced up at Adam and found him standing over me, pushing against the trunk of the tree. He winked at me.
Tingling ran up my spine and my cheeks heated.
Wait. Why was he pushing on the tree?
I frowned. “Aw, I thought it was easier because I was pulling harder, not because you were pushing on it.” I pouted.
Adam smirked. “Maybe it was both.”
I rolled my eyes but continued to saw, and the tree groaned in protest.
“Okay stop, did you hear that crack? It’s basically there,” Adam said.
I froze. “Do I keep going?”
I could see the war in his eyes as he pursed his lips. “Actually, maybe let me finish. I don’t want you to get hurt when it falls.”
I’m not sure if it was the saw in my hand, but I decided I needed to cut down this tree. “Can you tell me how to do it safely?”
“Okay…here.” He held out his hand for me.
I reached up and put my hand in his.
“No, the saw.” He smirked.
Oh my gosh! Ugh, of course he wanted the saw. My entire body heated with embarrassment.
I grabbed the saw and handed it to him without making eye contact.
“Here.” I heard the smile in his voice, and his hand extended to me again.
Nope, not falling for that again. I looked around for anything else I could hand him.
I looked up at him and waited, unsure of what to do.