“Um, well, sometimes they aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed?”
Most of the time, the guys who worked for him were reliable and bright. But sometimes they weren’t. “Did they say what happened?” Gavin asked, dreading the reams of paperwork that resulted from an on-the-job injury.
“Something about a strip of bark and a fall.” Clinton checked his watch. “I gotta jet. We have Trish’s ultrasound appointment at four. She’ll skin me alive if I’m late.”
“I remember. Go ahead, and good luck with that.”
“Thanks. Call me if you need anything.”
“Surely we’ve exceeded the day’s quota for catastrophes.”
“Knock on wood,” Clinton said with a smirk.
“Very funny.”
Clinton went spinning out of the parking lot a few minutes later, waving to Gavin as he left. He was happy for his longtime employee and his wife, who’d been trying to have a baby for a while now and were finally getting their wish.
He went into the office, hoping to hear from the mechanics with an update about the repairs being made to the equipment up north. While he waited, he paid some bills, caught up the accounting software and used the office line to return customer phone calls. His employees would know to call his cell phone.
His corner of Butler was one of two areas, Colton’s mountain being the other, that had reliable cell service. And he was damned thankful for that. It would be much more difficult to run his business without a cell phone.
It was starting to get dark by the time the cell rang with a call from one of his men—not the one he’d been hoping to hear from.
“Yeah, hey boss, so a funny thing happened on the way back to town.”
Gavin’s gut clenched. “What happened?”
“The truck jackknifed and we’ve got a load of wood blocking I-89.”
“Were people hurt?” Gavin asked, paralyzed by the image of massive logs rolling off one of his trucks onto cars sharing the road. It was one of his recurring nightmares as the owner of a logging company.
“No, man, I got super lucky. No one was near me at the time.”
Thank God for small favors.
“We got a real fucking mess up here. Can you come help me out?”
“Where are you?”
“Just south of St. Albans.”
Fuck, that was two hours away. “Yeah,” Gavin said with a sigh, “I’m on my way.” He should’ve actually knocked on wood earlier when Clinton suggested it. Before he left the office, he called the Green Mountain Country Store, asked for Ella and was put through to her voice mail. “Hi, this is Ella Abbott. I can’t take your call right now, but please leave a message, and I’ll get right back to you. Thanks.”
The sound of her voice made him smile for the first time since he parted with her that morning. “Hey, babe, it’s me. Total cluster of a day here, and I have to go rescue one of my guys over in St. Albans, so I’ll be late tonight. I’ll be over as soon as I get back to town. Call my cell if you need to reach me.” He rattled off the number. “I’ve been thinking about applesauce all day. Among other things. See you soon.”
Gavin pulled out of the yard a few minutes later and pressed the pedal to the floor. He had a four-hour round-trip and God only knew what kind of a mess waiting for him when he got there.
*
Ella arrived home right at four and flipped on some music to keep her company while she peeled a dozen apples, mixed them with apple juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves and her grandmother’s secret ingredient—maple syrup from the family’s sugaring facility on the mountain.