The Lumberjack Next Door
(2026)(Book 12 in the Lumberjacks of Evergreen Valley series)
A Story by Emily Crescent
He caught me as I slipped off a ladder in a blizzard.
His hands were sawdust and steady and I tasted pine on his jacket.
Evan Brooks: broad shoulders, flannel forever, a crescent scar on his knuckle and a habit of showing up with firewood. He’s practical where I’m impulsive. He’s soft where the world taught him to be stone. He never promised forever. He promised to be there.
He pulled me into his cabin that first night and didn’t leave. He made coffee at dawn. He climbed roofs at first light. He measured joists with me, traded tools for laughter, sketched our names on a porch plan like it was possible. The town whispered. Ruth warned me I’d lose myself. I packed a bag and left to prove I could stand alone. He followed. He brought blueprints and blunt, honest vows.
Now I’m staring at a choice that hurts: keep my hard-won independence…or let a man who refuses to run build a life beside mine.
He says he’ll show up. I say I’ll stay me.
We promise to try. But can two stubborn people build forever without losing themselves?
Genre: Romance
His hands were sawdust and steady and I tasted pine on his jacket.
Evan Brooks: broad shoulders, flannel forever, a crescent scar on his knuckle and a habit of showing up with firewood. He’s practical where I’m impulsive. He’s soft where the world taught him to be stone. He never promised forever. He promised to be there.
He pulled me into his cabin that first night and didn’t leave. He made coffee at dawn. He climbed roofs at first light. He measured joists with me, traded tools for laughter, sketched our names on a porch plan like it was possible. The town whispered. Ruth warned me I’d lose myself. I packed a bag and left to prove I could stand alone. He followed. He brought blueprints and blunt, honest vows.
Now I’m staring at a choice that hurts: keep my hard-won independence…or let a man who refuses to run build a life beside mine.
He says he’ll show up. I say I’ll stay me.
We promise to try. But can two stubborn people build forever without losing themselves?
Genre: Romance
Used availability for Emily Crescent's The Lumberjack Next Door