Second Chance with the Lonely Lumberjack
(2026)(Book 15 in the Lumberjacks of Evergreen Valley series)
A novel by Emily Crescent
I told him I’d stay for a week. He kissed me. Then an envelope turned up on Evelyn’s porch.
Andrew Cole: sawdust at his temples, woodsmoke in his shirt, hands that catch me before I hit the floor. He stayed when I ran. He built roofs and kept porches lit. He’s steady. He’s stubborn. He makes my heart do things I swore I’d never let it do again.
I came home to stage a house and leave. Instead we pried open attics, moved crates, drank Maeve’s terrible coffee, and laughed until the old ache thinned. He carved me a stupid wooden heart and left it under my wiper. He followed me to my rental. He fed me soup. We mended ourselves in the spaces between work gloves and kisses.
Then reality punches. A creditor’s notice. Liens on Hawthorne. My family’s past—bankruptcies, rumors, nights I nearly drove away for good—comes back loud and legal. Stay and I might drag him under with me. Leave and I protect him by losing him.
He says he’ll stay. He promises to choose me every day. I want to believe him. But can love survive the town’s knives and the paperwork that wants to tear us apart?
Genre: Romance
Andrew Cole: sawdust at his temples, woodsmoke in his shirt, hands that catch me before I hit the floor. He stayed when I ran. He built roofs and kept porches lit. He’s steady. He’s stubborn. He makes my heart do things I swore I’d never let it do again.
I came home to stage a house and leave. Instead we pried open attics, moved crates, drank Maeve’s terrible coffee, and laughed until the old ache thinned. He carved me a stupid wooden heart and left it under my wiper. He followed me to my rental. He fed me soup. We mended ourselves in the spaces between work gloves and kisses.
Then reality punches. A creditor’s notice. Liens on Hawthorne. My family’s past—bankruptcies, rumors, nights I nearly drove away for good—comes back loud and legal. Stay and I might drag him under with me. Leave and I protect him by losing him.
He says he’ll stay. He promises to choose me every day. I want to believe him. But can love survive the town’s knives and the paperwork that wants to tear us apart?
Genre: Romance