Chapter 5 #2
“I’m really glad this job came with housing,” I tell him, as I scurry to keep up with his pace. How is he moving so much faster than me while carrying my fifty-plus-pound suitcase? I curse my short legs and do my best to keep up.
“Yeah, about that. You probably noticed this place is an old ski area, not a resort. So none of the buildings here were ever set up to be residential.”
I have noticed that. “So, the housing this job comes with isn’t on site?”
“It is.” Milo smiles. “It just might not be what you expected. Let me show you.” He leads me and Bear on a lit path around the back of the property.
And then I see it: behind the community center, set in front of a grove of trees, is a large, grassy area with a small wooden cabin planted directly in the middle of it.
“Oh,” I say. “It looks perfect.” And it does: a cabin in the middle of the woods, all by itself, and it’s just the right size for me.
“Great. I hope you like the inside as much. My stuff’s in there now, but I’ve got it all packed up. I’ll just grab it quickly before I take off.”
“Wait.” I stop walking, and Bear bumps into the back of my legs. “You’re staying in that cabin right now? I’m kicking you out of your house?”
He laughs. “You’re not kicking me out. I’ve been staying there since I came up from New York, but it’s not like I was planning to live there forever.
Gabe always planned for this place to house community center staff long-term.
So, you’ll move in, and I’ll go stay with my friends Jack and Benson and their kiddo Vera. ”
Okay, I guess that plan makes sense. Or it would, except…
Except now that Milo Warner is back in my line of sight, I can’t take my eyes off him.
The logical side of my brain tells me that what I’m about to suggest is probably not a good idea. But the monkey side of my brain starts talking before the logical side can get a word in edgewise.
“Is the cabin only one bedroom?” I ask.
“No, it’s got two bedrooms. But they’re small, and one’s a loft. The whole place is around a thousand square feet, give or take.”
I frown. “Can you show me the inside?” I ask. I decide not to tell him what I’m already thinking.
Milo pushes open the creaky door to the cabin, and an immediate feeling of home rushes up to greet me when I step into the entryway. “Wow. It really is perfect.”
It is. It’s exactly the kind of place Uncle Stan would take me when we’d go camping, or “glamping,” as he likes to call it. Uncle Stan may own a feed store and refuse to learn what all the different forks are at fancy restaurants, but he always says that any vacation should come with running water.
I run my hand across the woodwork on the wall as I study the area around me.
The cabin has the same pine features and accents as the main lodge, and the entire bottom floor is open, with a small living and dining area sitting off to the right of a kitchen space with an island.
A large fireplace sits at the back of the living room, sandwiched between two green accent walls, and a soft sectional circles the sitting area in front of it.
The kitchen isn’t large, but there’s a butcher-block countertop jutting out from an island that looks just the right size for me to make pasta on it.
The stainless-steel appliances are shiny and bright as they stand tall next to what looks to be updated cabinetry.
The island itself is wrapped in the same stonework I recognize from all the fireplaces I’ve seen on the property.
“Wow,” I whisper. “I can’t believe this is where I get to live.”
“We think it was formerly the caretaker’s cabin,” Milo says.
“Colin, Gabe, and I did a lot of upgrades to it when I got here. Tom took care of all the design and decorating. Did you know that Colin and Tom and Gabe once renovated a hotel together? That’s kind of how Colin and Tom met Gabe, I guess. ”
“Huh.” I didn’t know that, but that story sure makes sense when I see this place.
This is basically my dream house. I don’t think about my mother very often, but as I traipse through the kitchen area, idly touching the refrigerator and stove, I find myself wondering if she would have liked it here. I have a feeling she would have.
Milo shows me a simple bathroom on the first floor and a large bedroom with a king-size bed that looks completely unslept in.
Patio doors lead to the yard behind the cabin.
“I’ve been sleeping in the loft area over the kitchen and living room,” he says.
“There’s another bedroom and bathroom up there. ”
“Perfect.” I beam at him. “I’ll stay down here, and you keep sleeping in the loft area.”
Bear, who hasn’t stopped trailing us throughout this tour, makes a yipping noise and leans against my leg. “See?” I tell Milo when he sends me a skeptical look. “Even the dog agrees.” I move to leave the room, but Milo grabs me gently by the shirtsleeve.
“Are you suggesting we live together?” he asks.
Well, yes, yes I am. And for plenty of reasons, that’s probably not a good idea.
Milo’s got no clue I’m carrying around this crush on him, and I’m sure he’d be horrified if he ever found out.
Any New York news outlet would have a field day with the headline that Milo Warner and Noah Hardaway, children of the frontrunners for the New York state governor’s primary race, were living together.
This is definitely a terrible idea. But.
But.
But for such a long time, my biggest goal in life has only been to feel safe.
Milo’s presence encloses me in that feeling, bubble-wrapping me in security and certainty.
From the first ballroom where I watched him give that health-care speech, to that hotel hallway where he was so quick to stand between me and Ezra, to text message chains I’ve spent hours rereading in bed, every space we’re in together ends up feeling like a place I never want to walk away from.
And there aren’t many places on this planet, I’ve learned, where I can fall into that feeling.
Of course, I can’t tell Milo any of that. Maybe I can get close to saying it, though.
“I don’t know anyone here,” I say slowly. “Except for you. I know you, and I’d like to get to know you better. So why not? The place has two beds, and we both need a place to sleep.”
Now that I’ve said it out loud, that actually all sounds like the real, one hundred percent true truth. So I keep talking. “We can share this place. You don’t need to move. Let’s just try being roommates.”
Milo frowns as he stares at me, and Bear yips again as she does a lap around our legs. But then he nods, and I barely manage not to squeal and jump up and down with excitement.
“Okay, Chucks,” Milo says. “We’ll try living together. I’m only here for a few more months anyway.”
Milo turns to set down my suitcase, and that’s when I decide something: if Milo’s going to be one of the very few people who can make me feel safe in this world, I want to be the same kind of person for him.
So I open up my mouth again. “Milo? No pressure, but if you ever want to tell me why you left New York, you can. I’d be happy to listen. ”
Milo’s face contorts into a half smile, half frown as he tilts his head and stares at me. “Well, that’s a long story. Get unpacked, and then let’s eat something. We can talk about why I left New York another time.”
He closes the door softly behind him. I sink down onto the bed and bury my head in Bear’s fur when she trots over to me.
“Girl,” I whisper. “I’ve got no idea what I’m doing here.”