In short—I bite my lip, trying and failing to dash the thought before it helplessly bubbles in my mind—Juniper is freaking hot.
Shut up, brain.
I swallow.
“So, I guess I should show you around?” Juniper breaks our awkward silence, and I all but gasp at the relief of having some direction after taking so much control over this whole god damn day.
“Please do!” I beg. Go ahead, I’m more than happy to let someone else take the lead.
We kick off our boots by the door then shake off our coats and hang them on the stand.
“Um … well…” Juniper takes a few steps back then spreads her arms wide, gesturing to the room around us. “This is the living space.”
We nod.
She points. “T.V.”
She gestures. “Log fire.”
Ethan and I share a smile, and Juniper’s eyebrows wiggle up and down suggestively. “I know, right? Pre-tty niiiiice.”
We all laugh.
“But yeah, there’s um … there’s lamps.” She shrugs, and I notice, looking up, there’s no “main light” or “big light” as we call it. It’s very modern. Chic. Still super cosy, though. I love it.
“Couch.” She gestures some more. “Though I’m guessing you guys call it a so-fa?” she says in a hideous attempt at a London accent. Oh lord. “Windows …” she carries on, undeterred.
I bite my lip to stop from giggling. She’s funny. Hot and funny. “And our room?” I ask, my voice pitching a little higher than normal.
“Right. Yes!” Juniper beams. “This way!”
She leads us down the short hallway then pauses to open a door. “And this”—she walks right in ahead of us—“is your room!”
We follow and— Wow.
We’ve saved and saved for this trip, for what we’ve jokingly coined “the ultimate romantic getaway,” but I still can’t believe we’re actually here.
I walk over to the window, practically pressing my face to the glass.
We didn’t have a big wedding. We barely had the budget for the paperwork, let alone a honeymoon. We got hitched in a registry office, which was fine, standard, not exactly special, but it was more about the “I Do”s than the decorations. Then we both took a week off work and honeymooned at home together—and agreed we’d do it “properly” when we had the money. Yearslater, I worked my way up in programming, and Ethan scored himself a permanent teaching position, and with that, we were finally good to go.
Until, of course, everything kicked off with our parents.
I step back again, almost afraid to fully believe how far we’ve come.
Our honeymoon plans got postponed until Mum was better, then until Ethan’s dad had finished radiotherapy, and somehow we made it to December …
But it doesn’t matter. I look around in delight. We’re here now, so this must be the right time. And as I try to take it all in, I can say, without a doubt, this is so the right place.
Fairy lights dance about the wood-panelled walls, and the window takes up almost the entire side, looking right out at the wilderness.
I gape at the surrounding forest, the snow still whirling. It rushes the window, pounding the glass as if to demand we let it inside. I step closer again, reaching out as if I could touch it, then I let my hand fall, leaving the biting wind behind.
“Um … Another window …” Juniper commentates. “Bed.”
I turn, and she raises an eyebrow.
“Looks great.” I grin, taking in the king-sized bed, with its tartan bedspread and the blanket on top which might actually be real fur?
