Chapter 29
The first fortnight of November brought endless days of grey skies and rain.
‘At least it’s not cold yet,’ Ben said to Noah as they both grappled with a large oak window frame, trying to put it in place from inside the lodge.
Despite the bad weather, Noah had liked working on the lodges so far. He was using completely different skills to his boatmaking but it was enjoyable.
Together, he and Ben had built and erected the frames for each of the four lodges. Cutting and then placing the heavy timber logs horizontally around the frames to form the outside of each lodge had been exhausting and physically demanding work, even when Alex had been called in for extra muscle.
But it was worth the aches and pains each night to see the lodges gradually rise up from their concrete platforms to become individual small buildings.
Now that each lodge had its main structure in place, they had decided to concentrate work on the first lodge, the one set back a little from the others further into the forest, although it still had that great view of the lake beyond.
Once the windows and front door were in place, it would only require the roof tiles to make the lodge weatherproof going into the winter months.
‘When do the roof tiles arrive?’ asked Walter, who was sitting nearby on a camping chair inside the lodge and watching the progress.
Although he professed to be in less pain, he still winced every once in a while when he was inclined to over-gesticulate even with his sling on and forget that he’d broken his collarbone in the first place.
‘Friday,’ Ben told him, as he passed a couple of long screws to Noah. ‘The order got delayed again.’
‘Told you not to order them fancy ones,’ muttered Walter.
Noah and Ben exchanged a brief smile before carrying on fixing the frame.
‘They’re not fancy,’ said Ben in a patient tone. ‘They look like normal slate tiles but are in actual fact solar panels which will save our electricity bills from skyrocketing when they’re rented out next year.’
‘Hmmph,’ said Walter under his breath.
Despite his gruffness, Noah was enjoying working under his tutelage. His own grandparents had been quite cold in nature and so he was enjoying having a mentor, especially one who knew so much about carpentry.
Noah and Ben finished securing the window frame and stepped back to admire their effort.
‘Nice work,’ said Walter, nodding his approval. ‘Gotta say, you didn’t inherit your woodworking skills from your father.’
‘Definitely not,’ replied Noah.
That was something else he was having to get used to. Talking about his father. But in a strange way, he found it soothing and helped him to grieve for his dad.
‘Dad always did the bare minimum where manual work was concerned,’ admitted Noah.
‘Aye,’ agreed Walter. ‘But what he did, he did it with a smile.’
Noah smiled in return. ‘He was a charmer. But he would have been no good with boatmaking.’
‘I must come and see what progress you’ve made,’ said Ben. ‘How are you getting along?’
‘There’s a lot of rotten timbers which I’m slowly replacing,’ replied Noah.
‘But the frame is holding up well.’ He shook his head in disbelief.
‘You know, I still can’t believe I have my very own boat.
I’ve been saving up for a long time but never found anything I really wanted.
It’s perfect. Or it will be if I ever get it renovated. ’
‘You will,’ said Walter. ‘Your skills are excellent.’
‘I agree,’ said Ben, before laughing. ‘Glad one of us has inherited Grandad’s proficiency. I always felt a bit guilty about that.’
‘You’ve got other skills,’ Noah reminded him. ‘Like designing this.’
He looked around the inside of the building, admiring the look of the logs that felt both warm and solid. It was certainly going to have a lot of charm when it was finished.
Suddenly Beth appeared at the opening where the front door would be.
‘Hey,’ she said, by way of greeting.
‘Thought you were working on your magazine column today,’ Noah told her. ‘You finished already?’
She blew out a sigh. ‘Not even started, to be honest,’ she replied. ‘Can’t think of what to write this month so I’m using you as an avoidance tactic.’
‘Lodge builder, fake boyfriend and work evasion,’ said Noah, with a grin. ‘My list of skills has certainly expanded since I arrived here.’
She giggled as she stepped inside. ‘I’ve also been told to remind you, Walter, that you have your physiotherapy appointment in an hour’s time,’ she said.
Walter rolled his eyes. ‘Waste of time that’ll be,’ he muttered.
‘But if I don’t take you then it’ll be my head that Grandma’s wrath will come down on,’ said Ben, with a grimace. ‘We’d better get going.’
He looked at the window frame once more.
‘It really frames that vista,’ said Walter, standing up and looking out.
Noah looked through the gap where the pane of glass would eventually be and had to agree.
Ben had chosen as large a window as he could afford and the light was flooding into the lodge.
It not only brightened up the interior but meant that the view down to Dragonfly Lake, as well as the surrounding forest and hills and sky, were also framed from every angle.
Beth walked around the inside of the cabin, empty apart from various sockets and pipes which were waiting for the second fixing of bathroom and kitchen facilities.
‘Where’s the bed going to go?’ she asked.
‘There,’ Ben told her, pointing to the far wall.
She went across and looked around, screwing her eyes up, in deep thought.
‘What is it?’ asked Ben. ‘What have we missed?’
‘Hang on,’ she told him, before lying down on the wooden floorboards.
‘Feeling tired, are we?’ asked Noah, with a grin.
Beth looked up to the apex of the roof which, although currently covered in green tarpaulin, would soon be tiled. Noah followed her gaze, thinking that the oak beams were a lovely feature.
Finally, Beth leapt up from the ground and brushed down her dusty flared jeans and coat.
‘This roof needs a skylight,’ she announced.
Noah and Ben exchanged a look. ‘Why?’ asked Ben.
‘For the stargazing, of course,’ she told them.
Ben shook his head. ‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘Glass is pretty expensive and we’ve already ordered the right amount of roof tiles.’
‘But it’ll be totally worth it for the romantic view,’ she countered. ‘It’ll light up the place for a while longer in the darker months and in the summer, just think of that glorious sunshine flooding in.’
Ben was at a loss for words and looked across at Walter. ‘What do you think, Grandad?’ he asked.
Walter stared up for a moment before nodding his head. ‘I think she’s onto something,’ he announced. ‘Not sure why we didn’t think of it before now.’
‘Because it means extra work and funds,’ replied Ben, grabbing his phone and scrolling through what appeared to be a shopping page of skylights before looking across at Noah. ‘What are your thoughts?’
Noah looked up at the roof and then through the window frame to the endless sky outside.
‘Why wouldn’t anyone want to see more of our beautiful surroundings?’ he finally said.
Ben nodded at his cousin. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Let’s go for it.’
‘And I reckon Lily would totally agree with me about this,’ Beth told him.
‘Why do you think I’ve just agreed to it?’ said Ben, with a grin.
‘Yay!’ Beth clapped her hands and walked over to Ben, laughing.
Noah was just about to join in when he found his laughter catching in his throat as he watched Beth give Ben a kiss on the cheek.
He knew it meant nothing. That Ben would never cheat on Lily and that it was just between friends.
So why did he mind so much that Beth was kissing someone else and not him?