Page 39 of Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge

‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘I’m going to have to call in a few favours.’

‘But first we have to get out of this place,’ she reminded him.

He glanced back at the door. ‘That way out isn’t an option so I guess the only way is down.’

He pointed at the opening in the far corner of the floor.

Lily followed him across the floor and peered through the square hole. Down through the gap she could see a boat bobbing up and down on the water.

‘Is the ladder safe to use?’ she asked, glancing around the rest of the boathouse which, whilst looking sturdy, was also in serious need of renovation.

‘I guess there’s only one way to find out,’ he told her. ‘Unless you’d rather spend the night here with me until someone misses us both.’

He shot her a cheeky grin and for a second, she found herself blushing. Was he actually flirting with her? Surely not, she decided and concentrated instead on watching him slowly descend the ladder. His foot slipped a couple of times on the rungs, causing her to take a sharp intake of breath, but he finally made it safely to the dock.

Once he reached the bottom, he stood next to the ladder and looked up at her.

‘Your turn,’ he called out. ‘But be careful. There’s a couple of rotten rungs. I’ll watch you come down. Don’t worry.’

Lily grimaced before swinging her leg around and tentatively taking her first step onto the ladder. With Ben’s encouragement, she slowly went down step by step. A couple of times, he warnedher to avoid the next step down as it was rotten but finally, and with immense relief, she was grateful to feel the wooden dock below her feet.

She turned around and for a second she was close to Ben as he hadn’t stepped away yet. They locked eyes for a second before both moving away towards the boat at the same time.

It was a wooden rowing boat, obviously not used for a long time given the heavy staining and where the rain had accumulated inside in a few puddles.

They looked at each other.

‘You’re the expert,’ she told him. ‘What do you think?’

He laughed. ‘I am in absolutely no way an expert with boats. But Dad and Grandad have definitely used this in the past to go fishing out in the centre of the lake. It appears to be all right.’

She bit her lip and looked around. The shore was a good twenty metres away. ‘I suppose we’ll have to take a chance. Otherwise we’re going to have to swim for it.’

He nodded. ‘I agree. At least this way, we’ll stay dry and warm, apart from our feet.’

He carefully stepped inside the boat, grimacing as the water sloshed over his trainers. But once he had sat down and steadied it, he called for her to join him.

Tentatively, Lily stepped inside, taking his hand to steady herself before sitting down on the wooden seat next to him.

‘Well, so far so good,’ she said, watching him untether the rope and feeling the boat bob about a little bit more as it was unmoored. She clutched onto the seat as it wobbled.

He drew out the oars and moved them around in their rings.

‘They don’t seem too bad,’ he told her, holding one out for her to take.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?’ she asked him.

‘Row in time with me,’ he replied with a grin.

‘You make it sound so easy,’ she told him, taking the oar and giving it a waggle. ‘For the record, I’ve never rowed in my life.’

‘Well, now seems like a good time to give it a go,’ he said. ‘Okay. Here we go.’

It took a little time for them to find their rhythm. At first Lily wasn’t rowing in time with Ben, causing the boat to aim for the middle of the lake and not the shore.

But eventually they found their co-ordination and they ended up heading in a straight line.

However, Lily’s earlier failure to steer had caused them to be quite far off from the shore.