Page 12 of The Grouchy Lumberjack’s Bride

But it kills me to owe so much to Jade that I will never be able to repay. It kills me that I can’t have her. That I will never be good enough for her. And it kills me that I’ve never been able to walk away from her. Not emotionally, at least. And now she’s my wife? The woman I’m supposed to live with?

And I’m pretty sure a pair of twelve-year-olds orchestrated the whole series of events. Sasha obviously didn’t ask her mother to come to town sniffing around and looking for kinks in our armor. But Sasha and her best friend forever, Taylor, were full of plans and shenanigans after that.

Which is why I’m currently unpacking a series of baskets full of food and gifts left on my cabin porch for our “honeymoon at home.” My wife isn’t here yet. She insisted on working despite it being our wedding night. She doesn’t need a job, yet she goes into Madison’s Mercantile shop every day and works.

It’s almost irritating how attractive I find that quality. She could be sipping wine on a beach somewhere, but instead, she goes to work every day.

But back to my sister and her partner-in-crime… after the diner, plans were made. Somehow, Sasha convinced me it would be a great idea for her to go with Taylor, Grady, and Jess to Los Angeles for a week. Jess is filming a music video or something. Ultimately, the decision was easy. Sasha will have constant protection. Not only is Grady a brute of a man, but Jess has her own security team.

So I helped my sister pack and let her go off with her best friend on her stepmom’s private plane. The amount of tween girl giggling probably propelled that plane all the way to California.

My phone buzzes, and I look down to see a text from Caleb.

CALEB: Heard you got hitched.

ME: I’m sure the whole town is talking about it. Did you win money?

CALEB: A gentleman never tells.

ME: Fucker.

CALEB: What are you doing, Cain?”

ME: What do you mean?

CALEB: You and I know you’ve been in love with Jade for years. Then she did something, you stopped talking to her, and now you’re married?

ME: It’s for Sasha.

CALEB: Sure. Tell yourself that if it’s what you need to do.

ME: WTF do you want, Caleb?

CALEB: I want to know what happened between you and Jade five years ago. I wasn’t here then, and all you ever told me was that you couldn’t trust her anymore.

I sit at my small kitchen table, the one I made with my own two hands, and start typing out a response.

ME: You know my dad’s diagnosis was late. I mean, he was younger than he should have been for Alzheimer’s, but we didn’t find out until it was advanced.

ME: Because Courtney is a selfish cow. She was hiding things and stealing his money.

ME: We didn’t get time to figure out a treatment plan. He needed full-time care, but his wife had already divorced him and left him alone with their six-year-old daughter.

CALEB: Sorry, man.

ME: Yeah. Fucking sucks.

CALEB: Your dad was always awesome.

ME: Still is. Somedays.

ME: Anyways, we couldn’t afford the constant care he needed. In one of his more lucid moments, he asked Jade to do the favor to end all favors. Of course, she said yes.

CALEB: So she paid for him to move into that place?

ME: Yes. And has the funding hooked to a trust that will pay for him until he dies.

CALEB: Was it because she did it behind your back?