Page 2 of Beneath the Mountain Sky

All the things Willow was and I never could be.

My favorite time of day to be out here, trudging through the trees, alone save for my thoughts and ever-present axe.

Quiet.

Peaceful.

Only my footsteps on broken branches and leaves littering the forest floor, the birds starting to chirp at the lightening of the sky, and animals scurrying about after sleep break the otherwise silence of the crisp air.

It almost makes it possible for me to forget that I have nothing to look forward to once we complete our task today. That I will return to the timber yard and finish out my day, then return to the cabin I once shared with her and find it cold and empty. That I will have to sleep in the bed where I made love to her and sleep alone.

I can almost pretend I haven’t spent the last 372 days since she left wandering around in my own sort of fog…

Almost—but not quite.

Her face continues to pop into my mind the deeper I push through the trees and the higher I climb up McBride Mountain.

My hand tightens around the axe handle, eager to use it to work out some of the tension that has only grown since I woke this morning.

I try to concentrate on scanning the area for the goal of today’s expedition—the perfect tree for Liam. The one he says he needs to create his next project. Once we find it, I can put my axe to work, and hopefully, decimating something will make me feel better.

At least for a few minutes.

“Killian, wait up!”

Hell.

Pausing with a groan, I turn back to Liam, watching him thread through the massive trunks and step over a fallen log I just navigated with his own axe slung over his shoulder.

He hustles to catch up, releasing a little annoyed huff. “You got somewhere to be or something?”

I raise a brow at him.

Considering he’s the one who dragged us all out here this morning, when we should be at McBride Timber supervising the final details of the big lumber shipment that needs to go out later today, it’s a bold question.

“What?” He shrugs, tilting his head slightly to the side and offering his boyish grin. “They can handle things ‘til we get back. And you’re kind of rushing…”

“Fuck off.” I shift my axe to my other shoulder. “I’m not.”

I am.

My annoyance at being pulled away from work, plus not being able to wallow in my misery alone because I’m stuck with Liam and Connor, is enough to make me want to get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

Liam gives me a little frown that makes him look like the adorable toddler who used to follow Connor and me around to places he had no business being at that age, instead of the twenty-three-year-old young man he is today.

“Yeah, you are.” His gaze drifts behind us to the path we wove through the trees. “And I think Connor would agree.”

Connor trudges forward, still a good hundred yards back and looking seriously perturbed at either my pace or at having to come out here today at all—probably both.

Running a hand through my mist-dampened hair to keep it out of my face, I scowl at Liam. “Sorry. I didn’t know you two still needed a leash like people put on their children sometimes.”

He playfully bumps his shoulder against mine. “Mom never used that on us.”

“She should have.” I poke him in the sternum, directly over the swirl of ink visible in his half-unbuttoned shirt. “Especially on you.”

Liam gapes in mock offense and presses a hand over his chest. “I’m offended on both my behalf and hers.”

I wave him off. Not really annoyed anymore, just eager to get moving. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Turning back, I call to the straggler. “Come on, Connor, let’s go.”