That was enough for Molly. Her mind was adjusting to the possibility. She needed to think about what she could live with. She changed the subject.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
“Would you like to watch me chop some wood?”
“Only if I can also watch the shower after.
Molly gave him her best one hour show chopping wood. He adjusted the fire pit chair to watch. Taking big sweeping swings of the heavy axe, she split the rest of the rounds, cutting them into eighths, and hauling them to the wood shed for stacking.
She also gave him her best ten minute shower show.
She set up a wood chair for him by the shower. He watched her strip, soak herself, soap up, shampoo, and rinse. After, she walked up to him naked and dripping wet, standing before him with legs spread, an invitation. Her skin wasn’t the only place she was dripping wet. He accepted her invitation and it started as a fun, sexy gesture, but his hand felt so good. She spread her legs further, leaned forward with her hands on his shoulders, and let him take a firm grip. She ground her pelvis against his hand until she shrieked and the convulsions shook her body. Oh my God. She needed that. She really needed that.
She looked around and saw Bear and Shadow watching on their haunches.
“Don’t get any ideas, you two. Your time will come, but it’s not now.”
That night, they built a fire outside in the pit and pulled both chairs up close. Silas had packed a bottle of Jack Daniels, and Bart indicated he could use a drink. He’d had three pretty goodmeals. His stomach was managing the food, his strength was increasing, and he was moving about slowly on his own.
She poured two fingers in each glass.
She raised hers for a toast. “To Dark Hollow.” They clinked and drank.
“You might want to put Shadow in the cabin for a few minutes. Bella likes to come down when we build a fire. We’ll introduce Shadow to Bella and her family later. If you put out a bowl of something, I think she’ll show up.”
Molly took Shadow inside and leashed her to the bed. “It’s okay, girl, we’re going to be outside meeting Bella. You can meet Bella later. I know you don’t understand why Bear gets to go outside and you don’t, but we’ll work this out later. It’s okay, girl. Love you.” Molly gave her a warm, reassuring scruff and slowly walked away. She didn’t look back to see the look in Shadow’s eyes.
She took a big bowl of the tuna noodles and set it down away from the fire where Bart recommended. When Bear immediately moved to it, Bart called him back. “That’s for Bella, big boy. You stay right here.”
Bear came to Bart, lying down next to him, letting Bart work his neck and back with his hand.
The fire was hot and beautiful. The evening air cool and fresh. The scent of pine tickled her senses. The Jack Daniels created a nice high. Molly and Bart hadn’t completed their conversation about the future, but Molly was feeling better about it. The most important parts were that he’d originated the idea and was negotiating in good faith. And the goal was spending more time together.
After about twenty minutes, Molly saw cat eyes moving toward the fire until Bella came into view. She was moving slowly, three kittens at her feet, her partner holding back behind. Bear got up and went over near the bowl of food and lay down. The kittens immediately piled on Bear, crawling all over his head and body. He was a friendly, safe toy. Bella ate part of the bowl, then sat back as her partner crept forward and ate his share, leaving a final portion for the kittens, who licked the bowl clean before returning to Mount Bear.
“This is amazing.” Molly was moved. Having beautiful, wild animals as friends was special. She watched as Bella and her partner lay down away from the fire and let the kittens play on Bear.
She said, “So, are you trying to get to fifty-fifty?”
“I’m thinking about thirds.”
“Thirds?” Molly had no idea what that meant.
“Yeah, you spend two thirds of your time at Summer’s End. I spend two thirds of my time at Dark Hollow. We spend two thirds of our time together.”
Molly thought about that. He was proposing that they be together two thirds of the time but also leaving time when they’d be on their own. That allowed them to spend most of the time where they wanted to be and also spend most of the time together. Very creative.
He continued, “Like, we spend a month together at Summer’s End, a month together at Dark Hollow, then we each spend a month at our own places.” He paused. “Or something like that.”
He was being reasonable, and the negotiation was proceeding. It would give them time to live together to see how that went. And, they would only be apart one month at a time.
“Are you open to the idea that we’d eventually settle at Summer’s End, using Dark Hollow as a retreat?”
Her heart was in her throat as she waited a long time for his response. She couldn’t look at him, her eyes focused on the fire. She took a drink of Scotch, the soothing warmth in her throat calming the tightness there.
“At some point, if we decided to have kids, we’d need to be close to schools.”
