And I really hate the idea of someone I don’t know digging around in our books.
“Kelly, it’ll be okay,” I say again, softer.
She shakes her head. “You’re terrible at lying.”
Then she smiles, and that’s never good.
“I talked to Lou over at the diner when I stopped by to grab some of those muffins you like,” she says.
“Muffins?” I inquire, but she ignores me.
Truly, my sister is evil.
“Apparently, someone came through town this morning asking about work.”
I blink.
“You’re joking.”
“She said they looked decent. Quiet. Polite. And they forgot their jacket, so Lou’s pretty sure they’ll be back.”
I scoff. “You’re gonna hire some fucking stranger who can’t even remember to dress for Maine in March?”
Kelly lifts a brow.
“Says the man who forgets to eat unless I physically put food in front of him.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
I open my mouth, then close it. Damn it.
“Relax,” she says. “They’ll come in. We’ll talk to them. Worst case, we say no.”
Something in my gut twists—not irritation this time.
Something else.
Restless. Unsettled.
Like anticipation and anxiety are wrestling inside of me, and there’s no discernible winner.
“Fine,” I mutter. “But if they’re useless, this is on you.”
Kelly grins. “Deal.”
She turns to leave, and I glance back out at the mill floor—at the logs rolling in, the saws screaming, the life I understand down to my bones.
Change has a way of sneaking up on you.
And I have the sudden, inexplicable feeling that whoever walks through that door next is about to complicate my carefully ordered world.
CHAPTER 2
WILLOW
Ican’t believe I left my coat behind.
