She came easily, laughing as she flopped next to him. He’d been bracing with his feet, making it easier for her to mount the hammock. Once she was situated, he let go, and the hammock swung.
“Ahh!”
“If you want to use the hammock properly, if you want to read here, or just contemplate the treetops, you have to lie the long way.” He maneuvered them accordingly. They settled with one of his arms around her. She was half on her back, half resting on his chest. He could feel her relax as the hammock rocked.
He could feel himself relax, too. As much as coming here had meant stepping on an unexpected land mine of history, this was a good place. He inhaled its familiar scent. It was an earthiness, which he realized was probably not the right word for a lake. But there was the smell of life and of decay at the same time ripe in the air.
Layered over that, though, was the familiar orange scent of Blair’s hair, which had splayed out on his chest. Tropicana, he’d thought earlier, and that hadn’t been a compliment. But maybe he’d been incorrect. Maybe it was more orange Crush, and thatwasa compliment.
The sun dappling through the trees was hitting both of them. He held up his free arm and rotated it, watching the play of light and shadow on his skin. He felt lazy—in a good way, like a self-satisfied cat. It was an unfamiliar sensation.
They lay there a long time in silence as the hammock gradually came to rest.
“Jack,” Blair whispered. She held up her arm as he had done earlier. The sun had moved. The pattern the light made on her arm was subtler than that it had made on his.
“Hmm?” He pulled her in tighter to him. It probably wasn’t a smart move. It seemed an awfully romantic gesture.
“This place isperfect.”
His phone dinged, saving him from getting cuddly with Blair in a way that was uncalled for.
Allie:I may have screwed up. I stopped in town on my way home and ran into Mary. Before I could think better of it, I mentioned that you were at my place for a few days. I was assuming you were going to see your dad while you were here, but as I was driving home, I thought I shouldn’t have said anything.
Jack put his phone back in his pocket, pushed down the dread rising in his gut, and snuggled back up with Blair on the hammock.
Chapter 26
Unicorn Central
Oh, I have order envy,” Blair said a few hours later as their dinner was being served at an establishment called Dahl Hus. The laminated menu informed her the restaurant had been established in 1928 by the Dahl family of Swedish immigrants. Inside, it matched her image of a Midwestern dive bar. The hulking oaken bar they were seated at was decorated with a neon sign advertising Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, a TV showing a baseball game, several pairs of mounted antlers, and strings of colored lights that could have been left over from Christmas or could have just been intended to impart a generic celebratory vibe.
Dahl Hus, though, added its own charming twist, which was the addition of literal dollhouses throughout the space. There were a dozen or so of different styles and sizes on shelves on the far wall, and on a shelf above the booze behind the bar, an impressive Victorian was displayed such that patrons sitting at the bar could see into the rooms—which were inhabited by Nativity figurines. Jesus and Joseph were chilling in the living room, but Mary was in the bathtub upstairs. The three wise men were seated at the kitchen table, and there were assorted donkeys throughout. Which, come to think of it, probably meant the strings of lights were in fact Christmas remnants.
“We can switch.” Jack picked up his plate of parmesan pan-fried walleye and tried to hand it to her.
She waved him off. “No, no, you told me.” He had explained that parmesan pan-fried was the best way to order the Minnesota state fish, and still Blair had gone with lemon broiled.
“You have to at least try some of this.” Jack cut off a generous chunk of his fish and plopped it on her plate.
“You were right,” she said after a bite. It was meaty and crisp and cheesy but not overly heavy like deep-fried fish often was. “Walleye: Who knew?”
He tried again to switch their plates and yet again she had the semisuspicious thoughtWhy are you being so nice?“We’ll come back, and I’ll rectify my error in judgment.”
“How long do you think you’ll want to stay in town?”
Forever.
Not really, but this was the place. Everything about the cabin, and the town, screamedGreen Light. Blair’s body was buzzing. But not in the cyclone way. In a good way, and she had forgotten what that felt like.
“I don’t think Ineedto stay too long up here. Maybe I’ll poke around a bit tomorrow, look for some secondary locations, but the cabin is a winner, as long as Allie’s cool with it. I just… find myself not wanting to leave.”
“We don’t have to. Allie said they’re not going to be using the cabin for at least a couple weeks.”
“But if I’m done scouting…”
“Then you’re…” He made a face of mock horror. “On vacation.”
“Oh, like you’re so good at R & R.” She reached out to swat his arm but reversed course. Arm swatting was awfully flirty. She and Jack were having sex, but they shouldn’t be flirty. Right?
