Sully cuts the engine on his chainsaw. He looks at me blankly and tilts his head to the side, and the tree falls down behind him.
“I don’t fucking know,” I grunt, pushing myself up, a frog hopping at my feet. “I’m just in a mood today.”
“Something happen?”
I brush myself off and climb out of the creek. “Nothing bad.”
Sully sets the chainsaw down, holding my eye.
Goddamn it. I never could hide anything from him.
“There’s someone staying at the Roses’ house,” I try to explain.
Sully’s eyes get wider. “Oh shit. You’ve got a crush.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I know you didn’t. You going to ask her out?”
We stare at each other while a couple of birds sing out.
“Let me get those branches.” I grab the chainsaw.
Sully steps back, not about to argue with me, and for the next ten minutes, I cut all the branches off the tree he felled, then turn my attention to cutting those branches up too. The chainsaw roars and rattles my arms and shoulders, and I grit my teeth and throw myself into the concentration the machine demands.
When my muscles finally ache, I cut the engine and step back, wood scattered at my feet.
“Ask him out,” I say. “And no. I’m not.”
My friend stares at me. I can see him processing.
“Ask him out,” he repeats. “Oh.”
I grunt. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if I’m actually attracted to him. It caught me off guard.”
Sully chuckles. “Hell, that’s a surprise for me too, man.”
I rub my face, wiping sweat away. “Doesn’t matter. I must just be in a mood.”
“Why aren’t you going to ask him out?”
“Cubby.”
“His name’s Cubby?”
“I saved him from a bear.”
Sully stares at me blankly. “So why aren’t you going to ask him out?” he repeats, like it would be that easy.
“You know me. Why would I waste my time?”
“Because you need to get laid before you forget how. And you’re never going to find someone who wants to spend the rest of their life in Lake Steamy with you if you don’t at least try dating.”
“Not going to find someone by wasting my time with an out-of-towner either. He’s just here for the summer. Friends with one of the Rose cousins.” I shake my head. “Not worth turning my world upside down just because someone surprising caught my eye.”
Hell, I don’t know the first thing about this guy.
I pick the chainsaw back up. There’s nothing more to say on the subject anyway, and I still need to cut the log up to make the bridge. But I can read Sully’s mind as well as he can read mine, and he’s giving me a look.
“What?” I ask him, annoyed.
“So you might be bi, huh?”
I frown. “Don’t go trying to set me up with someone.” I adjust my shoulders, straightening my back. “This is just a thing that’s happening. I saw him this morning, is all.”
Sully starts laughing. “Aw, shit. You really do have a crush on him, don’t you?”
“Fucking hell,” I grumble and yank the chainsaw cord. The machine roars to life, I pop earplugs in, and when Sully tries to tell me something, I point to my ear and frown. “Can’t hear you!” I yell over the roaring engine.
The saw vibrates in my hands, and as I work, the smell of cut wood fills the air. I know Sully is going to get back into this later, probably tonight after a couple of beers. But there’s a reason we’re so damn close, and for now, my friend just turns to clearing the branches away, giving me the silence I need.
