Love me till the end

Chapter 6

Luke thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as he neared the cabin.

At first he thought the movement was a deer, until he was close enough to make out that it was Charlie. She was layered in clothing and chopping wood. At least she was making a good effort. For the first time in a long time he found himself laughing. He paused to observe, watching her awkward movements yet sensing her determination to succeed. She could hardly lift the heavy ax but she wasn't giving up.

Several times Luke thought he heard her swear. He could relate to her frustration, recalling his first attempt to chop wood. It had taken him a lot of patience and practice before he learned how to control where the ax fell. The breath caught in his throat when he saw Charlie swing wildly. She missed the tree stump completely and lost her balance. The ax went flying in one direction as she fell to the snow in another.

That's when Luke spied the snowman. A little lopsided, it looked more like a scarecrow than a snowman. It was wearing one of his flannel shirts, the sticks Charlie had used for arms filling the sleeves out grotesquely. She'd placed a pot on the head for a hat and its face reminded him more of a Halloween jack-o'-lantern with its crooked smile and small beady eyes.

It was apparent she'd kept busy while he was gone.

The sound of huffing and puffing pulled his gaze back to Charlie in time to see her taking another wild swing. She went flying with the momentum this time, and Luke decided she'd had enough. Besides, he didn't want to see her get hurt. He stepped out from behind the tree.

"If you insist on helping out around here, you can skin and clean these fish." He held up a string supporting half a dozen.

Red-faced and panting, Charlie stopped what she was doing. She eyed the fish with a look of distaste. "I don't do fish." She shuddered delicately, making a face. "My idea of fish is the frozen square kind you buy at the grocery store. I draw the line at cutting off the heads or tails of any dinner you bring home."

"Is that all?"

"I won't skin or gut anything either."

"Looks like you don't do wood chopping, too," Luke joked. His gaze moved over her snowman shape. This time he didn't have to guess what lay hidden beneath the layers of clothing. "Is that snowman and I use the term lightly, supposed to scare away the critters that venture too close?"

The look that came over Charlie's face was one of mild surprise, and there was no disguising the humor in her sparkling eyes. "Are you making fun of Mr. Google? There are repercussions for that, you know." She slowly laid the ax down on top of the scarred stump. Then bent and scooped up a handful of loose snow.

Recognizing her playful mood, Luke's frame of mind changed almost instantly. Just for a moment he'd let his guard down. Forgetting he didn't want her there disrupting his life and making him horny. He didn't want to feel the things he was feeling. Didn't want to admit he was beginning to feel human again. He'd purposely stayed away as much as possible since bringing her home. There was something about Charlie that made his blood warm and his gut clench.

If she recognized his mood had changed, she didn't let it stop her. "It's been a long time since I've made a snowball, longer since I've been in a snowball fight."

"Charlie, I'm not in a playing mood." Luke watched as she deftly rolled the snow until it was a perfect little ball.

"You were a second ago. There was no sign of the quiet, moody mountain man I've been holed up here with the last three days."

The light dancing in her eyes almost pulled him in. He wondered what it would be like playing in the snow with Charlie. "That was a second ago." Her hesitation was visible. She narrowed her bright eyes on him, disappointment slowly filling them.