Chapter 81 – Tillie's Jealousy

• “Let’s go. I think we’re done here.”
• I follow her down the rustic stairs, made of split logs, leading to the great hall, doing my best to steer the uncomfortable conversation away from the upstairs floor. The crackling of the fire in the large stone hearth helps.
• “So? What do you think, boss?” Connor asks, crouching to move the flaming logs with an old iron poker, the muscles of his back shifting beneath his T-shirt. Though he was drunk and it was dark the first night I met him, weeks of outdoor work in Alaska have further honed his physique. But I keep that thought to myself.