“Yeah.” Dropping onto the couch, Axel let his head fall back against the cushions. “Nothing was seriously damaged, but there are a lot of trees and limbs down. That’s a whole different kind of cleanup, but I’m glad that’s all it is. From what I can tell, all the structures fared okay. There are three cabins that got clipped by falling limbs, but the damage is minimal.”
She put a pod in the coffeemaker and made him a cup of coffee. “That’s good news, Axel. It really could have been so much worse.” She added cream and sugar, just as he liked it, before bringing it out to him. Carefully, she sat down beside him, placing the mug on the coffee table.
He smiled gratefully at her. “Thanks.”
And then he kept smiling at her until she started to squirm.
“I’m sorry I was gone so long,” he finally said. “I kept telling myself I’d stop and go back out later, but my curiosity got the better of me.”
“It’s fine. I slept until around nine and then just kept myself busy around here. I wanted to have breakfast waiting for you, but I didn’t know when you’d be back.”
“You don’t have to wait on me, Maisie.” Then he glanced around. “And I certainly didn’t expect you to clean the place. I know it was kind of a mess, but…”
Placing her hand on his thigh, she leaned in and kissed him softly. “I didn’t mind. Besides, you’ve been working hard and have had to deal with a lot these last few days. The least I could do was help with a little housekeeping.”
When she pulled back, Axel gently tugged her back into his arms, kissing her soundly. She melted against him, loving the fact that he clearly was thinking about her just like she’d been thinking about him.
Lifting her head, she smiled. “I’m preheating the oven so we can make those waffles. I thought…oh my God!” she screeched as Axel stood with her in his arms like she was as light as a feather. “What in the world?”
“Waffles can wait,” he said firmly as he strode into his bedroom. “But I can’t.” He tossed her down on the bed and grinned when her robe exposed a whole lot more than it covered. Then he crawled up her body and showed her how much he missed her.
The waffles were equally good in bed for lunch.
Chapter Six
It had been a while since the resort was this quiet. For months, there had been a constant hum of power tools and all kinds of machines getting the property back in prime condition. But as Axel and Maisie walked around, the quiet was oddly comforting.
The Lakeview Harbor Resort had always felt like a peaceful step back in time, cradled by the natural beauty between the Adirondacks and the Catskills. The resort was tucked among tall pines and maples with branches whispering in the breeze.
Well, the ones that hadn’t been torn off in the storm.
They walked along and Axel told her all about the different types of cabins; one section’s style had weathered log cabins with stone chimneys scattered across a gently sloping hillside, each one framed by hand-built fences and wildflower gardens. Other sections had more modern cabins that felt like part of the tiny home trend of the last several years, even though they were built ten or twenty years ago.
“Isn’t there a saying—everything old is new again?” Maisie asked with amusement.
“I don’t know, but it sounds right.” He took her hand as they made their way around a felled tree before he made a note of it in his phone. That was the only way he was going to remember it all so that he could let the tree company know.
This gravel path wound its way through the property, connecting the main lodge—a massive timber-framed building with a wraparound porch and rocking chairs—to smaller guest cottages and a quiet lakeside dock. When the resort was open, the air would smell like wood smoke, pine needles, and cool mountain earth. Fresh. Clean. He always considered the air up here to be the cleanest he’d ever breathed.
“It’s all so beautiful,” she commented. “And peaceful. I know that’s mainly because we’re the only ones here, but I’ll bet even when the resort is open, it’s still that way.”
“It is. This is the kind of place you come to when you want to relax and unwind. Or unplug. Back when Walker’s grandparents owned the place, they refused to put TVs or any kind of technology up here. No Wi-Fi, no streaming, no cell service,” he added with a small laugh. “Back when they opened the resort, that was fine. But now? Now, people don’t want to unplug that much. So Milo’s got it all set up so every cabin, every room up in the lodge, will be connected to all the modern conveniences.”
“Well that’s a little disappointing.”
“You think?”
She nodded. “I would think that was part of the charm of a rustic resort, you know? The whole being disconnected from the outside world for a while.”
“I would have to agree, but unfortunately, most travelers want at least some connection. So now there’s the option. Slater’s putting together a bunch of activities that we think will keep guests out of their rooms or cabins all day so they won’t want to stay inside on their devices.”
“That’s got to be a bit of a challenge, right?”
“Definitely. But he’s been working as a travel guide for years. He’s done a lot of extreme sports and activities that the average person probably wouldn’t do. So really, his big challenge is to tame it all down and find enough to interest guests—families—and keep them coming back.”
“This is a totally new concept for me. My family would never do anything rustic like this. They prefer all the conveniences.” It was the first time she’d willingly mentioned anything personal about herself.
“What kind of places do you go to on vacation?”
