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She appreciated him and he desperately needed to feel needed. Being away from her tempted change. He feared returning and finding walls surrounding her. He didn’t want to lose their connection or risk her taking it away, because it was one of the strongest connections he’d ever shared with someone. But what if she didn’t feel everything he was feeling?
A paper slid under the door and he knew right away what it was. A comedian’s pink slip—a check for his act with no invitation to return.
He canceled his hotel and drove home that night, but he didn’t go to Erin’s. He needed to talk to his father.
His stomach burned like acid the longer he thought of what his dad would have to say to him. He could hear the I told you so already.
Giovanni didn’t sleep all night. His father found him sitting at the kitchen table, just after the sun came up.
“What are you doing here?” He dug out a heaping scoop of coffee from the canister and dropped it into the percolator trap.
Giovanni shoved down his resentment, irritated by the self-assured way his father always carried himself. Nothing inside of him wanted to have this conversation, but he was out of options.
He desperately hoped his success would have saved him from this moment, but it wasn’t easy to make a name for himself as a new comedian. Especially while living in Jasper Falls. He had no choice if he wanted to stay close to Erin.
“I need a job.”
His father stilled at the coffee pot, then reached for a cup. “You can start today. You’ll answer to Finn and Ryan. Be in the yard by seven and wear work boots.”
Giovanni pushed up from the table and left the kitchen.
Finn was surprised to see him but quickly understood what was going on. If Giovanni had followed his father’s plan and started at the lumberyard full time, directly after college, he’d hold the same authority as his two cousins. But he’d never wanted to be a lumberjack, so he had no choice but to take orders as Ryan told him where to clock in and Finn barked out instructions about gear.
“Grab your harness and equipment from the bin. Take your cleats to get sharpened and meet me on the eighty-fifth acre.”
He passed his cousin Luke by the trailers and shame crawled up his neck. They all knew Giovanni didn’t want to be there. His presence only emphasized his failure as a comedian.
“It’s temporary,” he told Luke. “I’m waiting for a call from my agent.” He had no agent.
No one mentioned his standup career or broke his balls for lacking the lumberjack gene the rest of his family possessed. When they were teenagers, they all had to work in the lumberyard, so he had the training but severely lacked the skill.
Climbing trees was hard and boring, and he’d rather jamb an ice pick in his eye than do it for one more day. It didn’t matter that the branches were wet or that the ground was frozen. They worked in any temperature, so long as the weather was dry.
But forty feet in the air, on the top of a mountain, in upstate Pennsylvania during late February might as well be the center of the arctic. His ears burned from the cold, despite the safety ear muffs they wore. By the end of his shift, he could barely walk straight.
The guys were heading down to O’Malley’s for a beer after work. “Come grab a drink,” Luke invited.
“Nah, I’ve got somewhere to be.” He checked his phone, but there was no service this high on the mountain.
Giovanni’s boots were caked with mud and his back spasmed when he finally sat down in his car. He shut his eyes and leaned back, resting for just a moment.
A fist pounded on his car window and he jerked awake, Tristan and Luke laughing at him. “Don’t sleep here.”
He started his car and drove home, fantasizing about the heat of the shower the entire way.
His dad asked about his day, but Giovanni had nothing positive to say, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Have something to eat,” his mother pushed. “You look pale.”
He shook his head. “I need a shower.”
He hadn’t slept since he left Erin’s and he could barely keep his eyes open. His muscles were wrecked and he dreaded having to use them again tomorrow.
After the shower, he collapsed on his bed, distantly hearing the buzz of his cell from the pile of clothes on the floor, but too exhausted to move. He needed to shut his eyes…for…just…a…sec…
CHAPTER 21
Erin stood in the silent store, everything encapsulated exactly as her father had left it. Her gaze moved over the dim aisles, scanning the various items hung on display, until she came to the table beside the register where the cake and coffee usually sat.
