Page 2 of The Woman By the Lake

“I get how it is, gel.”

The “g” in “gel” was hard, and I had a feeling he meant the word as “girl.”

He kept talking.

“These days, heck, all through history, you gotta be careful. My Brenda was supposed to meet you so you’d feel comfortable during the walk-through. She got to feelin’ bad, so, my apologies, but it has to be me.”

Before I could fully process what he said, he unexpectedly tossed a set of keys toward me, and fortunately, I moved fast enough and caught them.

He continued speaking.

“I’ll keep my distance as I show you around.”

Ah.

He meant me being in the middle of nowhere with a strange man.

It was lovely he thought of that, because, considering his Green Acres Santa look, I hadn’t.

He swept a hand around to indicate the entirety of the space.

“Brenda told me to put the pillows out so you’ll get the full effect. And you can do it if you want, but she said she’d come and water the plants, but she won’t come unless you know she’s comin’.”

Considering I had little else to do, taking care of all these flowers sounded like a good meditative task to have.

A responsibility.

Something that counted on me.

Yes, that seemed a good thing to do.

“If she tells me how much water they need and how frequently they need it, I can take care of it,” I told him and shot him another smile. “I’m not known for my gardening chops, but I can learn.”

He nodded. “I’ll give her that heads up.” He hooked his thumbs in the straps of his overalls and carried on, “As a welcome home, we got the essentials in there for you, so you don’t have to head back out and grab yourself some groceries. Not like the market is close.”

That was nice, though my trunk was filled with about fifteen bags of groceries because I’d had that same thought.

He went on to share, “Coffee. Creamer. Milk. Some bread and cold cuts. Oatmeal. And Brenda added her world-famous taco meat with all the fixin’s, so you have some dinner. There’s also a bottle of champagne in there for you too.”

“Wow,” I replied, not hiding my surprise. “That’s very generous.”

And it was.

Shockingly so, considering how well-kept this adorable cabin was, on top of the fact the rent was very inexpensive. It was, essentially, a one room cabin, but if the pictures were anything to go by, it had kitchen, living and bedroom areas, as well as a reading nook.

I didn’t need much, so I hadn’t been perusing mansions. Everything I’d looked at was kind of like this, but this cabin was by far the least expensive, and because of that, I worried all the fabulous photos had been taken twenty years prior and the place would be a wreck.

Unless the inside told a different tale, it was not.

“Let’s get you in,” he said, turning toward the door. He turned back. “We got the boxes you sent. Me and Doc stacked ’em up inside. You got anything in the car I could help you with?”

First…Doc?

Who was Doc?

Second, I had two big suitcases, a carry on, a laptop bag, my purse, and the aforementioned groceries in my car.

“I’m excited to see the inside,” I told him.

---