She reached for her cell phone, hoping it wasn’t too late to call the caterer and add another appetizer to the order for this afternoon’s housewarming gathering. While she chatted, she heard familiar footsteps coming up the basement stairs. Logan’s warm hands slip around her from behind just as she finished the call and laid the phone on the counter.
“The mushroom experiment was a bust,” she said, as she turned into his strong, hard chest. “I’ll look for more chanterelles after the next rain.”
A wicked grin split his face. “I’ll go with you.”
She slung her arms around his neck and enjoyed a frisson of expectation. They’d bought this house, in part, because of the reservation land that abutted their backyard. In those deep woods, they’d already found some secluded places to enjoy a frolic or two in the open air, reliving their woodland pleasures without the emergency tracheostomy interfering. She couldn’t get enough of Logan and suspected she never would.
She ran her fingers through his thick hair and a wood shaving fell into her palm. Lifting it up, she tilted her head in question. “You’ve been unpacking.”
“Maybe.” His eyes were half-lidded as he stripped off her clothes with his gaze. “I was looking for the grill basket and tools, just like you asked me.”
“You didn’t pack those tools in wood shavings, darling.” The wood shavings were a certain kind of packing, for a specific pile of goods that didn't weigh much but held a ton of meaning. “Any chance those birds will make a showing today?”
Her heart squeezed as the expression on his face shifted. When they’d left John’s rented cabin months ago, Logan had packed up all his carving equipment as well as the flock of wooden birds. He put them in storage because there was no room for all that in her tiny apartment, and no work room, either. But now that they’d bought this house together, all those boxes had been stowed in the basement. Considering that today they were throwing a party, it was a strange time for Logan to dig through the past.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, taking her hand to rock her in a slow dance. “John is bringing his baby daughter Lily, and three of my younger nieces will be here this afternoon, too.”
“That’s why you made the macaroni and cheese.” She tilted her chin toward to the foil-wrapped tins as they sashayed by
“I thought they might like the birds.” He shrugged. “Maybe the kids could take a set home, one set for each of them.”
She caught her lip against a gasp. The kids would love the carved birds. Their other guests would love, them, too. Everyone would marvel that Logan had carved and painted each one with his own hands in those terrible months when he’d avoided everyone, lost in his grief.
“I adore that idea.” She ran her fingers across his smooth-shaven jaw. “But are you sure you’re good with it?”
“It's time." His smile was soft. “I'll set them on the railing around the deck. The kids can pick their favorites.”
“And then those birds,” she whispered, “will finally fly free.”
A shadow fell over them as the back screen door suddenly squealed open with a bang.
“Break it up, you two,” came a booming voice. “You want your mother to catch you like that, Logan?”
Jenny stepped out of Logan’s embrace to glimpse a man striding across the kitchen like a marauding Viking. He planted a six-pack of beer on the center island just as Logan greeted him with a crash of chests. She winced, fearing for Logan’s recently-healed rib. But the two of them still went at it, some complicated manly ritual, trying to haul the other up off the floor.
The Viking barked a laugh as they broke apart. “Dude, you look a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you.” The Viking turned his clear blue gaze on her. “Is this the woman responsible for bringing you back to life?”
Logan turned and looked at her like a man for whom the world was his oyster, and she the pearl. “Jenny, this is Dylan MacCabe. College friend. Rugby teammate. He’s a professor like you. He’s pissed at me now because he tagged me for a three-week canoeing trip, but I bailed on him for you.”
“I absolve you of that sin, now that I see the reason why.” Dylan engulfed her hand in his and nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jenny.”
She blinked at the impact of Dylan’s blue, blue eyes. “Logan has told me all about you, Dylan.”
“Not everything,” he winked, “I hope.”
“I really am sorry for stealing Logan away from your expedition.” She knew that Dylan, like Logan, had experienced a devastating loss in the past year. Each of the men had been making efforts to honor those they grieved. It pained her to think she might be responsible for making a difficult process even more complicated for Logan's friend. “If it weren’t for us buying a house so quickly and—”
“No worries.” Dylan waved a dismissive hand. “I only invited this guy on the canoeing trip because I thought it would pull him out of his funk. You did that, Jenny. Garrick and I are much obliged.”
Logan slipped his arm around her waist. “So Garrick’s taking my place in the canoe?”
“He is. Have you seen him lately?” Dylan shook his head in wonder. “He took up rock-climbing. He's ripped to shreds. With his arms, we’ll be making fifty miles a day—”
“Are you talking about me?”
The door squealed open and banged shut again. The ripped-to-shreds guy who barreled in could only be Garrick. With a roar that made her
