Read Online What Once Was Lost by Kim Vogel Sawyer - Free Book Online Page B

his anger. At least where his hands were concerned. He grated out harshly, “What are you doing here?”
    “I-I followed you.” Tommy’s teeth chattered. His eyes, blue as the cloudless sky, seemed to stare at Levi’s chest. “Wanted to know what you do out here. It … it smells good.”
    The boy’s comment took the edge off Levi’s fury. Was there any sweetersmell than fresh-cut wood? He couldn’t fault the boy for following his nose to the source of the aroma. But he shouldn’t have come on his own. Levi loosened his grip but didn’t release the skinny arm.
    “Listen to me. You can’t come traipsing out here. The mill is next to the river. What if you’d missed the building and stepped on the ice instead?” A shudder rattled Levi’s frame as he considered the possibilities. He gave Tommy’s arm a shake. “It was foolish to leave the house.”
    The boy jutted his jaw. “It’s lonely in there all day by myself. Why can’t I be with you?”
    Levi closed his eyes, stifling a groan. The empty black behind his eyelids brought a rush of empathy he didn’t want to feel. He snapped his eyes open. Tommy stood sullen before him. Helpless as a lamb being led to slaughter. What must it be like, sitting day after day in a dark world with nothing to do? Of course the boy wanted companionship. Needed companionship. But Levi didn’t.
    He turned the boy toward the doorway. “You can’t be out here, Tommy. A mill is a dangerous place for a boy who can’t—” He swallowed. “For a boy. You have to go back to the house.”
    Tommy dug in his heels. “Lemme stay. I’ll sit still, an’ I won’t touch nothin’. I promise. I just don’t wanna be all alone again. The days are so long when I’m by myself.”
    Levi sucked in a big breath and held it. He liked working alone. Liked his solitude. And he had real concerns about the boy stumbling around in the mill, running into things the way he did in the house sometimes. He huffed out his breath. “Won’t be much fun just sitting.”
    “That’s all I do in the house—just sit.” The boy’s voice held an edge.
    “And it’s colder out here than inside.”
    “I can keep my jacket buttoned.”
    “I’ll be working. I won’t be paying you any mind.”
    “Don’t care.” For a moment Tommy’s chin quivered. When he spoke, he’d lost the hint of beligerence. “It smells good out here …”
    Levi shook his head. He must be losing his senses to give in so easily. He marched Tommy to a nail keg near the stove where he’d catch some warmth. “Sit.”
    The boy eased onto the keg’s lid.
    “And stay there.”
    “Yes, sir.” A triumphant grin tipped up the corners of Tommy’s lips.
    Grinding his teeth together, Levi stomped to his workbench. He un-cranked a wooden vise. “You’ll be hearing funny noises, but don’t you get up to explore. You just stay right on that keg.”
    “What’cha doin’?”
    “Never mind that. Just do as I say.”
    The boy’s shoulders lifted and sagged. “Yes, sir.”
    Levi turned his back on Tommy and set to work clamping a square of wood between the vise’s jaws. When the wood piece was secure, he picked up a chisel and positioned it to begin a rosette in the square’s center. But something made him pause and peek over his shoulder.
    Tommy sat, hands pressed between his knees, chin raised and eyes closed. His nostrils flared as he sucked in air, and a smile—one of pure satisfaction—formed on his face.
    Something seemed to roll over within Levi’s chest. He jerked his gaze back to his workbench and bent over the piece of wood. Miss Willems needed to get the kid out of here. And soon.
    Tommy listened to scritch-scritches and rasping scrapes and rattling clank-clank-clanks . He sniffed his fill of the rich, almost sweet smell that permeated the building. Just as he’d promised Mr. Jonnson, he neither moved nor said another word. But as the minutes turned into hours, his backside became so numb he could no longer