The plan was to go to bed early so I would be well-rested when Teddy came by. That wasn't what happened though. Instead, my brain kept me up all night with questions and worries.

Why had he looked so afraid at that moment? That fear was more than just shock from dropping a spoon. All I did was ask about why he moved out here. Was there a reason to worry about that? Did he take me too seriously? Was he worried I'd think he was actually an antisocial hermit or something?

That didn't sound right either though. After all, he'd been laughing with me about it right before that. So what had freaked him out exactly? Was he hiding something? What was it?

I tried to push these stupid thoughts from my head, but every time I dismissed one question, five more popped up. I wasn't sure what time I finally went to sleep or how long I slept. All I knew is that I woke up exhausted. I gave an exasperated sigh. I just hoped I wouldn't be too tired when Teddy came by.

First thing I needed to do was figure out lunch. Teddy said it was up to me, but that still didn't give me any idea about what to make. I could have made soup, but we ate chili yesterday. Sandwiches were simple, but I knew he'd be walking for at least half an hour in the cold, so I definitely wanted whatever it was to be hot. My mind was a complete blank.

Why is it always impossible to decide what you want to cook when you have to cook? I never had this problem when I was cooking for myself. Luckily, there was always one go-to meal that tended to work out for me: Spaghetti. Simple to make, hot, filling, and could easily become fancy with a few simple add-ons. I could throw that together in under an hour. Enough time for him to warm up when he got here.

Warm up. The thought seemed ominous somehow, but I wasn't sure why. Then it hit me. When was the last time I checked my firewood exactly?

I glanced at the fireplace. My wood bin was empty. My heart sank as I peeked out the window at the tarp I used to cover the firewood. I let out a deep sigh. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison always cut a good amount of wood when they were expecting tenants. Something to get them started so they could relax when moving in. However, I'd taken that wood for granted. I realized at that moment, that I had not once gone out to restock my wood.

Thankfully, another thing Mr. and Mrs. Harrison had been kind enough to do was to give me the occasional tip about living way out here. One was to find as many fallen trees as I could for firewood. They were probably already dried out and better for burning. Fresh or wet trees would just make a lot of smoke.

This was definitely not how I wanted to start my day off, but I didn't want Teddy freezing when he got here. Besides, I'd need the wood later myself. I sighed and resigned myself to dressing for the cold. I might as well get it over with now, while I had time. I grabbed my ax and a small wood cart from the toolshed and started marching around the forest.

Where should I even begin to look? I saw a couple of pines nearby that had probably fallen in the last storm, but they were full-grown trees! How was I supposed to move them with nothing but a little cart? After a while of having no luck, I settled on cutting some of the thicker branches off the big trees. If nothing else, they'd get me through a day or two. I stripped off what needles I could and tossed the branches into the cart. I'd clean them properly when I got home. I was starting to worry about how much wood I'd actually be able to find today.

I wandered around for about an hour before circling back towards my house. As I feared, it wasn't much wood. It was mostly tree branches, and once I cleaned them off I wasn't even sure how much of those would be left.

I didn't wander too far into the forest, but apparently, I still managed to get turned around somewhere because I ended up in a different area of the field than where I had started. However, this ended up being a lucky break. There was a medium-sized tree that had been knocked over near the treeline. It would be a struggle still, but I was sure I could drag it to the house.

"Struggle" might have been a bit of an understatement. I thought the slippery snow might help the tree to glide over the ground, but all it did was pile up beneath it and make it harder to pull. I felt like it took me forever to pull it near the house. When I finally did, I was hot, panting, and exhausted. I cleaned off some of the branches I had picked up earlier and hacked them down to size. It would be good to take a break and get the fire started now. I could always add to it later.

Pulling the tree had made me feel hot, but I didn't realize how cold I actually was until I went inside. My skin burned numbly from the lack of wind inside the house. I started stacking the logs in the fire. I knew they were supposed to be dry when I lit them, but I didn't have any other options right now. I prayed the snow hadn't soaked them too much. I worried a little when they didn't light up right away, but, to my great relief, they finally started to burn.

I sighed happily and held my hands out to the flames. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to warm up with. Besides, I was sure I could have some more chopped by the time Teddy got here.

Teddy's smiling face popped into my head again. He mentioned he got a lot of his own supplies out here, maybe I could ask him for some tips when he dropped by. I'm sure he had this stuff down to a science by now.

Or did he? Now that I thought about it, I didn't have any idea how long Teddy had been here. He didn't make it sound like he was from Alaska, but I had no clue where he was from. Or how long he'd been living up here. For all I knew, he had been here just as long as I had.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how little I actually knew about Teddy. I didn't know where he lived, where he was from, how old he was. I didn't even know his last name. I mean, it's not like he knew too much about me either. Technically, this was only our third time meeting. How much could I expect to know about the man exactly? Besides, if we were planning to hang out more, I was sure I'd start learning plenty about him.

I looked out the window at the tree that now laid there. A sense of dread filled me as I did. Well, I couldn't avoid it forever. I should just suck it up and be grateful I found some decent wood. I stood up and went to the door. Only to be met by a fist.

I gasped and jumped out of the way. Teddy half-stumbled as he tried to regain his balance. Both of us looked surprised.

"Oh, hey Teddy!" I pulled out my phone to check the time. "Is it noon already?"

"Ah, no. Sorry, I'm a little early. Weather was better than I expected," he explained. "Umm, sorry about almost hitting you a second ago too."

"It's fine, neither of us was expecting it really. Sorry, I haven't started cooking yet. I was still chopping wood, actually."

"No, that's fine," he said quickly. "After all, I was the one who showed up early. You do what you need to."

"Actually..." I paused. I felt a little bad asking him when he just got here, but it wasn't like I had too many options. "Honestly, I've never chopped wood before. Do you have any tips you could give me?"

"Guess that depends on what you're chopping," he said with a shrug.

I pointed over to the tree. He looked at it and started laughing.

"Wait, you don't have a snowmobile, right?" I shook my head. "Holy hell, Linny. How did you get that thing here?"

"It was near the treeline, so I just pulled it here," I explained.

"Oh, Linny! No, no, no." He sighed and shook his head. "If you don't have a vehicle, you need to cut the tree up into smaller sections where you find it. Then carry the smaller logs home from there and cut them down to size. You really pulled a whole tree here by yourself?"

I looked at the ground awkwardly and nodded. I felt stupid. Of course, it made sense to cut the tree where I found it, then cut the rest when I got home. I guess I didn't think about it too much. I just wanted to get home as soon as possible today.

He reached out and tousled my hair. "Ah, rookie mistake. No big deal. Do you have any wood right now?"

"Some. I cut some thicker branches so I'd have a starter fire at least."

He leaned to the side to look through the living room window, checking the fireplace. He shook his head and gave me a half-smile.

"You haven't started cooking yet, right?" He asked.

"Umm, no. I wasn't expecting you so soon and the food doesn't take too long."

"How about I go chop some wood and you get lunch started?" He suggested.

"No, Teddy, it's fine," I insisted. "You just walked all the way here and it's freezing. I can take care of it later."

"That fire you have in there won't last more than a couple hours, honestly," he said, pointing to it. "The fact that you dragged a whole tree here has me questioning this, but I think I'm probably stronger than you. At the very least, I know I have more experience. In the time it would take you to figure out how to chop the wood, I could have everything done already."

"It's my wood though," I mumbled, crossing my arms. "There's no reason for you to chop it for me. Besides, I have to learn eventually."

"Then I'll teach you next time," he teased. "It's fine. You're cooking, so it's the least I can do."

I sighed. There was no arguing with Teddy once he said that. I gave up and waved him off. He winked and shot me some finger guns before heading over to the tree. I shook my head and went to the kitchen.

The least I could do. He was always saying that. I don't know why he felt that way though. After all, hadn't we already agreed to these plans yesterday? It's not like I was doing anything we hadn't already talked about. If anything, wasn't I supposed to be paying him back for cooking for me? I guess, in that case, the least I could do was make sure he had a nice meal after helping me out so much. I wondered if the day would come when Teddy and I would be considered "even" on favors.

Like I thought, it only took about an hour for me to cook everything. However, it seemed Teddy was right about his ability to chop wood as well. He'd nearly cleared half the tree by the time I went to get him. A large stack of firewood had already started to form under the tarp.

"Teddy, lunch is ready!" I called.

He waved to me. "Let me finish this last log so we have some wood inside. Five minutes tops."

"Alright, but hurry before the food gets cold."

He nodded and went back to chopping. I couldn't help smiling. He really did look like a lumberjack with that ax.

As I went back to the kitchen, I couldn't help feeling strange about the conversation we just had. It felt so...domestic. I wasn't sure of another way to describe it really. Woman in the kitchen of a cozy cottage, fixing lunch. Man outside, chopping wood for the fireplace. The simple exchange of words between us. It all felt so comfortable. The kind of thing you'd expect to see at a little cottage in the woods.

Except I wasn't his wife, and he wasn't my husband. I tried to remind myself of this. Teddy was a friend. A friend doing me a favor because I wasn't sure how to do it myself. That was all. It held no special meaning outside of him being helpful.

I was glad to see Teddy kept his word about not taking too long. A few minutes later he walked in the door with an armful of wood. He set most of it in the wood bin and threw a couple logs into the dying fire. They sat unchanging for a minute, then the fire started to spread across them. Teddy brushed his hands off and turned towards me with a smile.

"This is only half the tree, but it should keep you going for a minute. Word of advice though, try to chop your wood ahead of time. Wet wood makes smoke, not fire."

I sighed. "I know, I know. I got up this morning and realized I was out of wood. I guess I've been so busy with work and everything else that I forgot about restocking it. It was kind of a rushed thing today."

"Well, you should be good for a couple weeks now. But onto more important things. What's on the menu for the working man today?" He asked.

"Spaghetti."

He grunted jokingly. "Ah, a real man's meal! Excellent choice."

I couldn't help laughing. "Well, get your man-butt in the kitchen and eat before it gets cold."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He went to sit at the table and I fixed us both some plates. He didn't talk much while we ate, but based on the way he shoveled the food into his mouth, I'd say he enjoyed it. He ate about three plates of the stuff before finally leaning back and resting his arm on his stomach. He let out a content sigh.

"Wow. I can't remember the last time I ate this good," he commented. "You're a good cook, Linny. Better than Italy!"

"Have you ever even been to Italy?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Well, no, but I imagine your food's probably about as good."

"I'm glad," I said, rolling my eyes. "Speaking of food, it looks like the weather won't be too bad today. Feel like staying for dinner?"

"Ha! If this is how you normally cook, then good luck getting rid of me! I might have to roll back home tonight."

I chuckled. "There's still a lot of sauce left and I got some leftover rolls from work the other day. Meatball subs sound good?"

"Miss Linny, are you trying to seduce me?" He teased.

"Miss Linny?"

"Yeah, I just realized I don't actually know your last name," he admitted.

"It's Roberts," I answered. "Honestly, I was thinking about that earlier myself. What is your last name?"

"Baker."

"Teddy Baker?" I couldn't help smiling.

"See, I told you." He laughed. "I'm a hundred times less terrifying when you hear my name. How can you possibly be terrified by a man whose name sounds like a Hello Kitty character?"

"I suppose that does cut down on your fear factor a bit. By the way, how long have you been in Alaska?" I asked. "It doesn't seem like you're from around here either. Did you come up for work or family?"

Silence filled the room. It wasn't a silence like he was thinking though, this one was awkward. It felt more like he didn't want to answer than he didn't know how to. I wondered if it was a sensitive subject or something. The silence continued.

"Sorry," I said finally. "I didn't mean to touch a nerve or something. I-"

"No, that's a completely reasonable question," he said, shaking his head. "You're right though. It is a bit of a touchy subject for me. I mean, I guess technically I came up here because of family, but it was more to get away from them than to get closer."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no, Linny, it's fine. Again, that's a perfectly reasonable question to ask someone. You're not psychic after all." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I've been up here about a year or so, I think. My family and I were never really 'close' so to speak, but we got along okay.

Then, a couple years ago, there was an incident and it really damaged our relationship. I guess I decided it would be easier to cut ties than try to deal with them anymore. Haven't spoken to them since. I barely speak to anyone anymore, honestly."

"Teddy, I'm so sorry."

I felt like I should have said more, but I wasn't sure what to say. My family life wasn't perfect either, but if I went home tomorrow, I knew they'd take me back without question. I couldn't imagine things getting so bad that I cut off all contact. He gave me a weak smile.

"You know the funny thing? I'm kind of glad you asked me." I must have looked confused because he laughed. "I know, all that talk about it being a sensitive subject and such, but I am. Like I said, I've kind of been avoiding people for a while. I haven't had anyone to talk to. About anything. Big or small. Telling you about my family just now, it hurts, but it also feels kind of liberating, you know? Like I'm not dealing with things all by myself anymore."

"Well... we did technically say we'd vent together again," I said, shrugging. "Anything else you want to get off your chest?"

"Tons. How about we talk about it over a game of poker?" He asked, pulling a deck of cards from his pocket.

"Sounds good. How about we play in the living room? Warm up a little?"

"You got it!"

He stood up and walked towards the living room. I followed behind him, but I had anything but poker on my mind.

He mentioned an "incident" was the thing that caused a rift between him and his family. I guess I didn't know Teddy like they did, but he seemed like a great guy. What could have gone so wrong that he felt like an outcast in his own family? What could have happened to make him cut off all contact with everyone? It had to be a misunderstanding, right?

I watched as he scooted the small side table in between the armchairs and started to shuffle. He was smiling excitedly again. A man of simple pleasures. Yes. It had to be a misunderstanding between them. I was sure of it. After all, what else could it be?