Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60905 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“We’re going outside? At night? Won’t I get eaten by a bear?”
Cole grinned. “Not while I’m around, you won’t.”
After I changed, I found Cole in the kitchen gathering some glasses. “Here,” he said, handing me two bottles of wine.
That’s when I noticed something. “They didn’t do the dishes.”
Cole grinned. “They were otherwise engaged. Come on, I’ll show you.”
25
LILA
“Oh my god,” I said softly as I stood on the deck and looked out into the yard. Cole stood next to me, his tall, warm body close enough to touch.
The clearing behind the house had completely been transformed. Strings of lights stretched between the trees and a large, dome-shaped tent that was now set up in the middle of the space. More light came from inside it. Brady and Gideon sat on lawn chairs outside the entrance to the tent, as if they were on its front porch.
“When did they do all this?”
“While we were looking at websites,” Cole said. “But we’ve been planning this out for a while, it wasn’t just the spur of the moment.”
“You planned this?” I got the sense that he didn’t just mean for tonight.
“We’re going to offer it as an extra place to stay in the future. In another few months, people will be able to book a room in the inn, the honeymoon suite in the cottage, and this tent. We figure some families will want to try out the tent with their kids. Or maybe a group of friends.”
“I think they will,” I said as I slowly made my way down the stairs. I didn’t want to fall, but my attention was drawn back to the tent. It was nice and large. It looked like something someone would want to stay in rather than have to stay in. “Glamping is in right now.”
“Glamping?” Brady repeated as I drew near.
“Glamorous camping. It’s like camping but in a luxurious way. Isn’t that what you were going for? Because I’d say you really hit the mark.” The tent was clean and new and downright inviting. “Can I go inside?”
“Be our guest.” Gideon held open one side of the canvas door, and I stooped to step into it.
Once inside, I was able to straighten up. I bet even Cole would be able to stand upright in here, at least in the center of the tent.
Turning in a slow circle, I grinned. This was perfect. There were soft fake-fur blankets and mounds of pillows on the floor of the tent. More lights hung from the ceiling. There was a little low table and a small heater in the corner that seemed remarkably effective.
I beamed at the others when they joined me inside. “You guys, this is going to get booked out so fast once we get it up on the new website.”
“We?” Gideon said, and I blushed.
“I just meant—”
“Lila’s already been a big help with my plans for the website,” Cole interrupted, and I was grateful he’d taken the attention off me.
“Shall we try it out? Have some wine and snacks?” Brady asked.
“Sounds good.” I settled on a plush blanket on the throw, and the guys sat down, too. “What are we having? Marshmallows?”
Brady threw a pillow at me while Cole groaned. Gideon actually laughed, though. Normally, it seemed like the stick lodged up his butt prevented him from doing that.
Soon, we all had wine and a shared tray of cheese and crackers. Gideon had done something so that the lights in the tent were lowered. It created an intimate, and quite frankly, romantic atmosphere. I had a feeling that in the winter, this tent was going to give the honeymoon suite a run for its money—if it ever got done.
The men were telling me about the plans for the honeymoon suite now. It was two rooms, neither of which—they assured me—smelled like cured meat anymore. And when they were done telling me about the finishing touches they planned to add, and the cozy furniture they planned to order, talk turned to the summer they’d slept out there.
“Every night?” I asked.
“Nah,” Cole said. “Just when Gran thought we were laughing and talking too loudly late into the evening.”
“So yeah, basically every night,” Brady said, and we all laughed.
“Did you bring snacks and stuff out there?”
It was Gideon who answered. “Yep. No wine—though once we found a case of beer that had been forgotten in a shopping cart outside the grocery store. Remember how sick we were the next day?”
“It was an epic hangover,” Brady said.
“I’m pretty sure the night before was epic, too. If only I could remember it,” Cole said.
I grinned. “You guys were all in high school that first summer Gidon spent out here, right?”
“I was just about to enter my freshman year,” Brady said.
“So did you ever bring any girls out here?”
“No,” Cole said, sounding offended.
“No,” Brady said at the same time, but he sounded regretful.