“The deck looks new,” Trish said once they stepped closer.
“I’ve been doing a little work out here, off and on,” he admitted.
Squirrel poked his head around the side of the cabin, curious about the unfamiliar voice. Sometimes Allen or Chet came out and gave Wade a hand with the heavier work, but Wade had never brought a woman here before. First sight of Shadow, however, and the cat went back to hiding.
“Can you get here by road?” she asked. “Like with a truck?”
“It’s a pretty rough one.” He nodded to the overgrown dirt path. “Better for the four-wheeler. But my truck can get within a quarter mile. Then I walk in.” Just another reason it didn’t make sense for Bill to try to sell off the north pasture. Of course, Uncle Bill hadn’t been out here himself in a few years. Likely he only remembered the view.
Wade unlocked the cabin’s door, suddenly aware that he’d left cabinet doors scattered all over to let the stain dry. “It’s a little messy right now,” he warned.
But Trish hadn’t even turned toward the front door. She had her phone raised and was snapping pictures. “I bet the sunsets out here are amazing. This view!”
“Give it about thirty minutes and you can see for yourself.”
She turned toward him, bumping into his shoulder. “I get it now.”
It rattled him how natural this all felt, standing so close on the deck of his personal sanctuary. “Get what?”
“I get why selling even a single acre would be impossible.” Electricity crackled between them. “There’s something magical about this land.”
Wade could imagine the two of them standing on this deck seasons from now, Trish with her back nestled against his chest, his cheek tucked against the top of her head, watching the sunset with his arms around her. The thought jolted him, and he stepped away. “Let me show you the cabin.” He opened the door wider, to hold it for her. “As I said, it’s a little messy.”
He flipped the light on. Shadow zipped inside to investigate every event and smell she’d missed over the past few days. Squirrel hopped up onto the porch and peeked his head around the door before ultimately darting inside. The two ran circles around each other in greeting.
“Thisis a base camp cabin for cowboys?” Trish slowly wandered the room, her eyes studying the refinished hardwood floors. Wade had spent an entire week sanding them down before they were ready for the cherry stain. She trailed fingers along the black granite surface of the island.
“Well, it was a little more rustic before I started renovating,” Wade admitted.
Trish spun around and pinned him with a look. “Are you planning to move out here?”
Because Wade hadn’t admitted to anyone that he actually was, he started gathering cabinet doors and lining them on the counters. A basket beneath the sink held the hinges, and he dug that out along with a drill. Anything to keep himself averted from Trish’s too inquisitive stare. “I like my quiet.” It wasn’t a lie. More of an omission.
“You are, aren’t you?” Trish rounded the island until she was standing hardly a foot away from him. Wade’s traitorous heart thudded loudly in his ears.
Squirrel saved him, hopping onto the counter and meowing. “We shouldn’t stay out here too late,” Wade said. “Grams’ll worry if she shows back up and we’re not around.”
Trish folded her arms, refusing to move out of his way. “This cabin . . . it’s great for a temporary getaway. I mean, I could easily spend entire weekends out here writing.”
He dared to meet her eyes and caught a sparkle in them. “You could?”
“Well, duh! Have youseenthe view?” Squirrel turned and strutted toward Trish, winning a scratch under his chin. “But Wade, wouldn’t you get lonely living out here full time?”
He didn’t think so. Grams would have Bill and Tabby when they returned from Europe to help fill the house with noise. Well, until Aunt Tabby booked another speaking tour. But he could come down for dinner a couple of nights a week. And Kate and Ty would surely visit when Eli made it into the world. Who’d notice if Wade slipped off quietly to his cabin to live? “I like the . . . peacefulness.”
“The ranch is quiet.”
“Sometimes.”
“I think this cabin is great for the occasional escape, but you’ll break your grandma’s heart, moving way out here all by yourself. The road within a quarter mile? Where she can’t evengetto you.” So Trish had seen through that little flaw. One of the perks to a rough, overgrown road was a limited number of visitors. Especially uninvited ones.
“Look, it’s a ways off. I see that. But I need to build an addition.”
“Addition?”
“You don’t expect me to put my master suite out here in the open, do you?”
Trish raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have running water.”
