Page 37 of You Met Me There

Natalie

“So, what do you think? Will it suffice for a few months?” Cam rests his shoulder against the doorframe, his back outside, his front in the entryway. Light streams in around him, and I can see from the way his eyes pass over every part of the cabin that this isn’t just any old building to him.

It’s fully furnished, like he said, with a long brown leather couch sitting before a tall stone fireplace framed by two bookshelves. Scanning the spines, I see most are on nature and mathematics. A few are even high school textbooks.

Luke stands in the kitchen, appreciating the view of the woods out the back window. “This is a great spot. It’s really quiet.”

“That’s why I like it so much. It’s hard to think of giving it up.” Cam shifts his weight, crossing his arms.

“Did you live here?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he answers, “before I met your sister. But when we got married, we moved into my Pops’s house. He used to own the lake house before he passed away. I didn’t get it directly from him, but I bought it from the guy who owned it.” He shrugs. “The guy worked in the city and wasn’t even here that much, so it sort of fell apart. Jules and I did a lot of work on it.”

Luke’s brows rise. “That was your grandpa’s house?”

Cam nods, a smile tugging at his lips. “I spent a lot of time there growing up. It felt right to live there again.”

Luke slides his hand over the wooden chopping block counter. “A lake house and a cabin. Man, that’s a dude’s dream, I think.” They laugh, deep and manly, like they’re already best friends or brothers or something. In a way, I guess they are since their wives are sisters. “I love the updated interior in here. This is the perfect rental cabin for someone wanting to get out of the city.”

I turn to them, abandoning my tour of the house to include myself in the conversation as much as possible. I don’t know Cam very well, but I get the feeling he holds some weight on what Jules thinks of me.

I ask, “What are the best spots for fun summer activities?” My eyes catch Luke’s, and I smile at him. He gives me one of his own bright smiles, making my heart skip a beat.

Cam joins us at the counter. “The summer fair is coming up. I think it’s in a few weeks. And there’s always fishing, hiking, rafting, kayaking. Oh”—he snaps his fingers—“there’s a new zipline course. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good.”

When I check on Luke’s face, I’m surprised to find it alight with wonder. He’s not really a fly through the trees kind of guy. He’s more of a wine and dine on a yacht or beers on the golf course kind of guy.

“That sounds awesome.” He turns to me. “Let’s do that.”

My brow lifts. “Really?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

“I don’t know. I just didn’t know you liked to do stuff like that.”

“I’ve never gone zip-lining before, but we’re in the mountains. We’re gonna do something new.”

I nose-laugh. “Okay. I’m up for it. Cam, do you and Jules want to come?”

“Nah,” he says. “Jules is scared of heights.”

“She is?” I don’t remember that.

“She’s never been into things that could potentially be life threatening. But she’s gotten even more nervous of that kind of stuff since having kids.”

“Oh.” I think of Luke’s fear of not being able to keep our kids safe if we had them. But I hadn’t really thought of how we’d have to keep ourselves safer than we do now too.

With all the activities my parents—especially my dad—did with us when I was young, I never thought about how an accident could turn into something devastating. That’s the bliss of childhood, though. I’m glad my dad didn’t let his fear of the what-ifs keep him from teaching us to ski or any of the other things we learned from him.

“So I know she won’t go zip-lining,” Cam continues. “But I think she’d be up for rafting or going to the fair. With her—your— parents staying all summer, too, they’re happy to watch the kids whenever we want a date night out. They said so already, like, a hundred times.”

Mom and Dad were so excited about my staying for the summer, they decided at that moment to do the same. They’ll keep their RV parked in Juliet’s driveway, but will stay in her guest room during their visit.

“It’s nice that they’re close with the kids,” I say, wishing I, too, felt like a seasoned member of the family.

“The kids love having them here, and Kent and Shirley are really great with them.” Cam slaps a hand on his thigh. “Well, I’ll let you two get settled in. Call us if there’s anything you need.” He shakes Luke’s hand and gives me a wave, then he’s gone.

Luke’s eyes take in the light of the kitchen and the view of the fireplace in the living room, easily visible from where we stand. When his eyes land on me, he smiles more widely than I’ve seen him smile in a long time. He steps close and puts his arm around my shoulder. Into my hair he says, “This is going to be a great summer.”