2 - Tobias
Arrivals
~
Tobias
My biceps tensed each time I raised the axe, pounding it hard into the carefully balanced log on the ground.
Every hit sent shock waves up my arms and into my pecs, misted with sweat despite the cool air.
I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop until my pile of chopped wood was at least a whole head higher than Gideon’s and Gunner’s. Just a few more logs.
“Is that a cramp, Tobias?” Gideon teased. “I really won’t think any less of you if you call it quits now.”
I caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye, a smirk, hoping I couldn’t go on because even with his own axe confidently slung over his shoulder, he was struggling to catch his breath. Using the banter as an opportunity to take a break.
“I would say the same, but it would be a lie,” I hit back. “I would definitely think less of you if you gave in after a couple of hours of chopping.”
Gunner looked up just for a moment, slyly calculating how far ahead he was. His axe rose and fell faster. I was catching up, and he knew it.
It was an unspoken contest, much like everything around here.
Driven by pure testosterone. We considered every task a competition.
It was one of the very few things that kept us entertained out here.
That and Lexi. She giggled and squealed intermittently, as thrilled by the playful feuding as the rest of us.
“Gunner’s winning! Stop talking and chop, chop, chop!” She skipped around us.
The remnants of the chocolate chip cookie she had eaten after her lunch smeared her dimpled cheeks.
We had agreed to cut back on her sugar intake, but she had us all wrapped around her little finger.
Who could say ‘no’ to a face like that? Not even Gideon and his cool, calm demeanor stood a chance.
We were hopeless when it came to Lexi. She always got what she wanted, and at just 6 years old, she knew it too. She probably always knew.
“Are you lost?” Gideon asked suddenly, setting his axe down. His voice was tense and irritable, putting us all on edge.
This place, in the middle of nowhere with nothing but trees and mountains nearby, wasn’t the kind of place a stranger could just wander into.
Our cabin was set deep in the woods off an unmarked private road with visible signs.
“Private property.” But there she was, dressed in jeans, a sweater, and sneakers, her hair arranged in some kind of loose bun with wavy strands framing her nervous face.
She scanned the area, and my eyes followed hers to Lexi.
“I’ve been knocking at the door, but I guess you couldn’t hear me way out here,” she said, chuckling nervously. “I’m Brie, the nanny.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked her over.
I had read through her resume, carefully followed up on her references, and cross-checked her nursing qualifications; everything checked out.
On paper, she was perfect for the job, but in person, she was much younger than I’d expected. More Mary Poppins than Nanny McFee.
“Yes, we’ve been expecting you,” I said, stepping forward to introduce myself. “I’m Tobias, this is Gideon, Gunner, and that is Lexi,” I said, leading her into the cabin.
I stopped in the kitchen to catch her surveying the place, cataloging it with her eyes. It was obvious she was a city girl out of her element, walking lightly on the creaking wooden floors, stroking the wooden walls from the living room to the kitchen.
“These are the common areas,” I announced to break the silence, as if it wasn’t already obvious. “Upstairs are the bedrooms, but you don’t need to bother yourself with those; there won’t be any reason for you to be up there. Your room is on this side of the house.”
I led her through the kitchen into a private suite in the cabin. There wasn’t much there, but there was enough to keep her out of the way: a bed, sizeable closet, a coffee station, and her own bathroom.
She looked around the room, nodding her head in approval. “I was already worried about the bathroom situation,” she laughed. A short tinkling sound that stopped as soon as I turned to look at her.
“You’re here for Lexi; she’s six, curious, and very easily bored,” I said matter-of-factly. As if to prove the point, Lexi peeked around the door before running off through the cabin.
“Yes,” she smiled. “She’s adorable. I’m sure we’ll get on like a house on fire… maybe not the right thing to say in a wooden cabin.” She laughed at her own joke.
“I haven’t yet met anyone who didn’t fall in love with her instantly.” I stopped myself from smiling.
Brie walked around me toward the large window to look out into the woods.
It was picturesque. When I first came here, I had done the same thing…
taken in the peace. The tall pines standing almost too still to be real, the small footpath that led into the trees like something out of a storybook. I couldn’t blame her for staring.
“It’s beautiful out here, peaceful, far from everything,” she said thoughtfully. “But you must admit, it’s a strange place to be raising a little girl.”
“It works.” I didn’t mean to be short with her, so I continued.
“There’s a little town not far from here, where we sell wood in season and have a small maintenance and repair business throughout the year.
It keeps us busy, and that’s where you come in.
Lexi can be a handful when we’re out on a job. ”
The room, normally large and open, suddenly felt too small for two people. I walked out with Brie following, curiously looking through the kitchen again, and made our way back into the living room.
“Is that how you met Gideon and Gunner? Work?” she asked.
The question threw me, though it really shouldn’t have. It was an odd setup. Three grown men raising a little girl together in the middle of nowhere.
“We work odd hours, late nights, early mornings. This way just makes sense,” I deflected just as Gunner came down the stairs.
“Well, actually, we came here first,” he explained before I cut him off.
“There’s a lot of work all year round. Logging through the warmer months in preparation for winter, and maintenance work in town when it turns cold. It gets pretty busy, and as I said, we need someone to keep an eye on Lexi.”
I shot Gunner a look that he immediately understood meant we weren’t going there. This woman was a stranger. I didn’t want her dissecting every aspect of my life. I didn’t want her digging around, asking questions.
“It gets pretty cold out here, city girl. Especially at night,” Gunner said with a gleam in his eye. His lips curled into a flirtatious smile.
We’d been out here on our own for too long. Having a woman in the house had obviously drained a dizzying flow of blood from his brain.
“I need to make this clear right out of the gate. You’re here for Lexi, nothing else. If you’re cold at night, get an extra blanket or something. There are plenty in the closets,” I said irritably.
Brie raised her eyebrows, offended by my insinuation. Her nostrils flared slightly.
“Excuse me?” she asked, looking me up and down. “I came here for the job—looking after Lexi and nothing else. The fact that you’d even think… I have a boyfriend,” she hissed.
“Glad we’re on the same page.” I glared at Gunner. “I’ll show you Lexi’s room, and you can start getting to know each other.”
Brie crossed her arms over her chest, her hands gripping the ends of her sleeves indignantly.
She was more offended than she was curious, because even though we had framed landscapes and pictures of Lexi on the walls going up the stairs, she didn’t slow down, didn’t run her hands over the walls like she had been doing since she got here.
I walked ahead, glancing back at her every few steps, hearing her matching me step for step, not slowing down until we reached the top of the stairs.
Gideon stood on the landing, watching. I knew that look; he was calculating, watching for signs, reasons to be suspicious, and growing slightly disappointed that he was finding none.
I knew how his mind worked; the lack of suspicious behavior didn’t make him any less uneasy, it just made him more observant.
We were at Lexi’s door. I could hear her giggling and bouncing around inside, but I also felt Gideon’s eyes on us, still watching, waiting.
I understood. Allowing a stranger anywhere near Lexi wasn’t an easy decision; we had wrestled with it, tried to avoid it at all costs. But the older she grew, the more restless she became. She needed someone we could trust with her, and Brie could be that person in time.
Lexi was quiet, suspiciously quiet inside. One of her games was hide-and-seek. I flung open the door dramatically and ignored the giggling coming from her closet. I stepped over the previously folded pile of clothes on the floor and pushed open the curtains.
“Lexi?” I called.
Brie stood watching from the door, holding back her laughter as I mock-searched the room. I looked under the bed with a flourish.
“Hmmm… I was sure she was in here. I don’t know where she could have gone,” I said loudly.
I made a show of searching the drawers, walking past the row of closets, and thoughtfully looking everywhere but where I already knew she was. Lexi’s giggling grew louder until she couldn’t contain herself anymore, and burst out of the closet in a fit of laughter.
“I’ve been right here all along.”
I grabbed her in a bear hug. “Clever girl. I had no idea where you were!”
I had almost forgotten Brie was there, smiling, the tension from before dissolving in Lexi’s presence.
“This is Brie,” I announced with a smile that was more for Lexi’s benefit than anyone else’s.
“Hi, Brie,” Lexi beamed, reaching out a small hand to shake. “I’m Princess Lexi.”
I ran my free hand through my hair, tossing it to disperse the bundle of nerves collecting inside me.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Highness.” Brie smiled with a small curtsey.
Lexi wriggled out of my arms to take a closer look at her.
She smiled as she walked around her. In her own way, she was making an assessment of the woman in front of us.
A woman in the cabin was new to all of us.
Only Lexi could so openly show her curiosity.
When a little girl did it, it was precocious; a grown man doing the same would be creepy.
“You’re really pretty, Brie,” Lexi said, satisfied with her assessment. “Are you going to stay with us?”
Brie smiled back. “Almost as pretty as you are. I hope we can be friends while I’m here.”
She reached to touch Lexi’s hair, and I instinctively moved to stop her, but caught myself and pulled back, letting her tuck a wild tuft of curls behind her ear.
“Maybe we can go outside, and you can show me all your special hiding places. I want to be just as good as you are at hide and seek,” Brie offered, with Lexi’s hand already naturally in hers.
“Maybe later, princess,” I cut in, nodding at Lexi. “Let’s go get ready for dinner and leave Brie to settle in.”
We walked out ahead of Brie toward the bathroom, with Lexi already asking questions about her new nanny… Where she came from, how long she’d be staying, and what she liked.
I was about to walk into the bathroom when I heard Gideon’s heavy steps in the hallway. I turned to see him block Brie’s path to the stairs.
“I don’t know who you are, where you come from, or if you really are who you say you are, but until I’m sure, you don’t go anywhere with Lexi on your own,” he said in a low and steady voice before stepping out of Brie’s way and letting her walk down the stairs.