Flames of the Forgotten

Chapter Twenty

"I think this will work!" I say excitably as I pound in the last nail in my newest idea, the winter- food box for the roof.

The past week went by in a blur. We have been working hard, dividing tasks each morning and meeting again at camp for dinner. Both of us are usually exhausted by the end of the day, and after dinner, we crawl into bed and talk softly until we fall asleep.

Jackson, especially, he has spent a good bit of the week looking for dead and downed trees to drag back to camp. Pulling logs across the forest is a lot of work, but we have more firewood now than our tarp can hold and several trees waiting to be chopped.

I have been checking and resetting traps every day, then fishing or hunting. Today, I caught a bunch of fish early, so I brought them and the sap we collected back to camp to make syrup as I watch the smoker. Jax is out looking for  big game. Yesterday, he got nothing and looked pretty dejected. I am really hoping he gets a deer today, not just for my belly but also for his mood.

Just as I finish the box, I see snowflakes start coming down.

"Really?" I ask as I look up at the sky. We figure it's Halloween today based on Jax's tree tallys. Snow at this time of year isn't unheard of, but we were both really hoping it wouldn't start until late November.

Crap. Hopefully, it's just some flurries. I set the box aside and head over to the pot in the fire. It's finally thickened and looks just like real syrup! I pour it carefully into a jar and set it down to cool.

"Sam! You're not going to believe this!" I hear Jackson yelling and see him coming, the sled is behind him, and I can't see what's in it but can see he's dragging it hard.

"Did you get a deer?" I'm asking as I hurry over to help him. My jaw drops at the huge animal that barely fits in the sled. It looks like a deer but much bigger.

"It's an elk. A smaller female one, but even still, this is over a hundred pounds of meat." Pride is oozing in Jackson's eyes.

"Oh my god! Jax, you're amazing!"

I throw my arms around him, and he doesn't hesitate for a second to hug me back. Picking me up slightly, he swings me around, and I giggle in surprise as my belly erupts with butterflies. He sets me down, and I marvel at the sparkle in his eyes and smile that seems to light up his whole face.

"We are amazing. No way I could have spared a whole day only looking for big game without everything you do," he says.

His words, as casually delivered as they are, send a rush of warmth through my belly, and I wonder when the last time I felt appreciated.

"We better get moving. We have a lot of work ahead of us to process this thing," Jackson says, looking like a kid in a candy store as he yanks on the rope to pull the sled. "We're having steaks tonight, baby!"

I am positively giddy as I grab the other end of the rope to help him drag it, partially for the steaks but mostly because he just called me baby. I know he was saying it excitedly, but it's not the first time he casually dropped a little pet name like that. Something is happening here between us, and we both know it. 

This is all so new to me. I'm used to the crush only existing in my head, and this is all so real. It's a mix of scary and exciting, and I don't know what to do with it. I'm hapless when it comes to stuff like this.

I brush off my thoughts and roll up my sleeves as we reach our clearing. Jax wasn't kidding, this elk is huge, and we have a lot of work to do.

***

It was well past dinner by the time we processed that large animal and the snow never let up; instead, it got thicker as the day went on. At one point, we even had to go inside and put our coats on.