Page 59 of Forever Enough

When he stood, he looked back at me and grinned. “Some friends of mine who helped set this up. Want a tour?”

“Yes!” I said with excitement. I loved everything and anything old, and even though you could tell the cabin had been updated, it still held its old rustic charm.

He spread his arms open. “This is the living room. In here is the kitchen.”

We made our way through an open doorway and into a decent-size kitchen.

“Oh my gosh. That stove!”

Bradly laughed. “I like to cook.”

I turned and let out a quick laugh of my own. “That is the coolest stove I’ve ever seen. How old is it?”

“Early nineteen hundreds.”

“It’s so neat. I love it! Do you have the kitchen stocked with things?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I figure I’ll slowly start buying things to fill it up. I’ll split my time between here and your place.”

I felt my cheeks heat. “I’d like that. But this place is so…cozy. I wouldn’t mind staying here a night or two.”

Bradly laughed. “I’m glad you like it. Let me show you the rest of the place.”

We headed out of the kitchen, and I noticed a basket sitting on the small table in the little eating area. “What’s that?”

“That’s our lunch.” My stomach took that moment to let us know it was hungry. Bradly raised a brow and smirked. “Should we eat or finish the tour?”

“Let’s finish the tour.”

He took my hand in his and led us across the cabin to the bedroom. “This bedroom has a queen bed and a bathroom.”

Stepping into the room, I couldn’t help but smile. The room was incredibly quaint. A vintage bed sat in the middle of the back wall, flanked by two windows. The bed covering was a red and white plaid with matching pillow shams. A large cream-colored blanket was laid across the bottom of the bed. The bathroom had a shower, a rustic cabinet that housed two copper sink bowls. Ivory towels hung on the racks, and a small bowl on the cabinet housed things that anyone who visited might use…a brush, hand lotion, Tylenol, a disposable toothbrush, among another things. On the floor, cream-colored rugs matched the towels.

“Did you decorate?”

Bradly laughed. “Heck no. My cousin Rose came in and did all the decorating. The painting above the fireplace is one she painted.”

“I hadn’t noticed. I’ll look when we head back out there.”

When we made our way back into the living room, I studied the stunning painting hanging over the fireplace. I hadn’t noticed it because the fireplace had captured my eyes first. But the painting was truly beautiful. It was a river meandering down from the mountains during the winter, and if I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was looking out a window to the very scene in the painting.

“That painting is gorgeous. She’s so talented.”

“She really is,” Bradly said as he looked at it with clear pride on his face. “The paintings we saw at Cassens Fine Art, in Hamilton, were just the tip of the iceberg. Rose is incredible.”

I nodded and made a mental note to go back to admire her paintings more closely the next time I was in town.

“Upstairs is a larger bedroom that holds a king bed. The bathroom is bigger up there as well.”

We walked up the steps and right into the bedroom. A huge bed with a wooden frame took up most of the room. A chair was tucked in next to the large picture window that overlooked the backyard.

“Is that a lake?” I asked as I stared out the window.

Bradly came and stood next to me. I could feel his warmth, and a part of me wanted to lean into him.

“It’s a small lake, yes. Dad keeps it stocked with fish. We used to fish there when we were kids. It’s part of the reason I loved this old cabin so much. We’d sometimes pack up for a sleepover and fish during the day, then stay in the cabin at night. My mother had it set up so we could sit on the porch and pull down a screen so we would watch movies. I loved that as a child and hope to do the same with my own kids someday.”

He smiled as if reliving the fond memories.

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