‘Maybe.’ I took a sip of my drink.
‘Maybe? Mae, he cheated on you, and broke up with you. You’re allowed to hate him for that.’
‘Do you hate Jessica?’
He frowned. ‘What? No. She never cheated on me though. And I broke up with her.’
‘Do you think she hatesyoufor that?’
He stared at the fire for a while thoughtfully. ‘No. She doesn’t.’
‘I don’t hate Nick either. He fell out of love with me. It hurt, yes. But that’s heartbreak for you. We all experience it at some point or another. I can’t be mad at him for that. At least he was honest enough to tell me, instead of carrying on until we were even deeper involved. That would have been worse.’
‘Yeah I guess it would have. I can still hate him though, right?’
‘How can you hate someone you don’t know?’
‘That’s a good point. And I suppose I should be thanking him anyway. If he hadn’t broken up with you, you might never have moved here, and we wouldn’t be sitting here together on this beautiful night.’
I leaned my head against the back of the chair and stared up at the night sky. I was still getting used to the stars here, away from the light pollution of Chicago. I’d never known so many stars existed until I’d moved here. It had become a bit of a fascination for me, and I’d even ordered a book online about the various constellations so I could learn to pick them out.
‘It is beautiful isn’t it,’ I agreed. ‘I don’t remember the last time I ever just stopped and looked up at it, back in the city. I was either at work, or home, or transiting between the two.Moments like this…’ I gestured towards the fire and him ‘…only existed in movies. I didn’t think people actuallydidstuff like this.’
‘This? This is nothing. Typical Friday night around here.’
‘And that’s why I moved here. For moments like these. Moments you locals probably take for granted. It’s such a cliché, but I wanted a slower pace of life. I wanted to enjoy the simple pleasures, not spend all my time rushing between two places. Living to work, not working to live. I was making a difference, sure, but at what cost? I didn’t want to get to the end of my life and regret my choices. Not all of them, anyway. Not the things that were in my power to change.’
‘I can understand that.’
‘It’s like that trip you took me on the other day, to the frozen waterfall. I would never have seen that if I hadn’t moved here, and that would have been tragic.’
‘Which is why I want to offer excursions to the hotel guests. Show them things that they might otherwise not have seen.’
I listened to the sounds of the night. The waves gently lapping against the frozen shore. The pine trees creaking in the cold, their branches bending underneath the weight of snow.
‘Have you got any other sights that I should see?’ I asked.
‘Are you kidding? Yeah. I’d be happy to take you to more places, if you’re keen to see them.’
‘I’d love that.’
‘I guess I’ll start doing some planning then. Saturday? Bright and early?’
‘Sure, why not. Sleep-ins are overrated anyway.’
He grinned and put down his mug, then picked up a skewer off the tray. I watched as he expertly threaded a few marshmallows onto it, like a sweet kebab. When he was finished he passed it over to me, then repeated the process.
‘Ever toasted marshmallows over an open fire before, city girl?’ he teased. ‘Or is that going to be another new experience.’
‘I have, actually,’ I informed him. ‘You’re looking at a junior Girl Scout, four years running.’
‘You were a Girl Scout?’
‘You don’t believe me?’
‘The night we met you were relying on your phone for directions. As a four-year seasoned Girl Scout, shouldn’t you be able to find your way by the layout of the stars and direction of the wind or something like that?’
I laughed. ‘I can tie a pretty decent clove hitch knot and identify twenty-three species of birds, but no, I have zero sense of direction. Personally, I think that’s something you’re either born with or you’re not.’
