“I don’t like the idea of him being in your house with you.”
“He’s not in the house with me now, since I’m obviously with you.” Her eyes narrowed. “He’s been super nice. He even offered to keep an eye on the animals today and take Bandit for a short walk.”
“Did he smell like alcohol or act funny at all?”
“Aside from looking like he needs some new, clean clothes, he hasn’t done anything strange. You don’t need to worry, Theo.”
Stopping on the path, he pulled her close. “I do worry about you, pixie. He doesn’t like me, and I don’t want him taking it out on you.”
When he kissed her hair, he could smell the floral scented shampoo she loved so much.
She reached up and stroked his cheek. God, it was heavenly.
“I promise if he does anything that makes me uncomfortable, I’ll call you right away.”
Which didn’t thrill him, since the man could do all sorts of things to her while he was trying to get there.
“Let’s get this last tree done, then we can break for lunch. You’ve been a great helper today.”
“I haven’t done all that much. Just clipped a few roots and stood here while you did all the hard work.”
“You kept me company and are much better looking than some of the volunteers I’ve had. This is one of those projects we need to have a second person in case of accidents. I appreciate your coming along.”
“Happy to.”
Setting his backpack and the chainsaw aside, he started around the perimeter of this last tree. It was huge and leaning heavily on its side with tons of roots exposed. It might not take much to get it all the way down. Chelsea stood about halfway down the trunk, kicking at the dirt where one of the larger branches rested, waiting for his assessment.
As he rounded the back, he realized that some of the roots had already been cut. Who the heck would have done this? Rico was on the other side of the lake, and he never would have severed these specific roots as the tree would tip in a dangerous direction.
Whipping around, he trotted back toward Chelsea. She was most likely out of the way, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
“Chel, why don’t you move back a few more steps? These roots are kind of wonky.”
A noise behind him grabbed his attention, but when he took a few steps around the large tree, nothing was there except some swaying leaves in the undergrowth. Had someone been there? Or only an animal?
As he carefully picked his way back around, the tree started to creak. Another loud sound cracked behind him, but the tree started listing to one side, so he ignored it and ran. The trunk started to fall. Then, one of the large branches hit the ground, and it altered course. Straight for Chelsea.
“Pixie, move!” Tearing off in her direction, he thrust her out of the way, but his foot caught on something, and he tripped. The ground rushed up to meet him, scraping his hands and knees. The tree continued to fall. He rolled over, unable to scramble out of the way fast enough. Too soon, a hundred and fifty feet of white pine descended, pinning him to the dirt.
Chapter thirteen
“Theo!”Chelseacried.
As she crouched near him, tears leaked out. Had this been her fault? She’d been kicking around near one of the branches holding it up. If Theo died because of her…
“Theo?” she screamed again, praying he’d be okay. A few of the smaller branches had kept the tree from totally crushing him.
“I’m okay, pixie. I’m okay. Just pinned a bit. I can’t seem to get my leg loose. Luckily, the whole weight of the tree didn’t land on me.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?” God, why did these things happen when she was around?
“The leg’s…stuck. Can’t really move it, and it’s feeling a bit of a pinch. Nothing too bad right now. We need to get this stupid tree off. Can you call Rico?”
“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God,” she chanted, her heart racing like a rabbit being chased by a fox.
“Chel!” Theo snapped at her. “Get the radio off my belt and call Rico.”
“Yeah, yeah, I can do that.”I can do this.Moving closer, she reached under and tried unhooking the radio. It was stuck.Why can’t anything go right?Finally, she managed to get it and pressed the button like Theo had taught her.
