Page 86 of Brandt's Rule

“Maybe. But for now, we’re going out on the boat.”

She turned to look at Brandt already standing on the bow of a very sparkly boat.

“We use this for fishing, for skiing and tubing,” he explained, extending his hand to steady her as she climbed on board with him.

“Can I drive?” she asked.

“Let me show you the layout of the river, where you should and shouldn’t be, then you can drive.”

Tempest gave a little happy dance and took a seat where Brandt indicated she should sit while he untied them and got them ready to head out.

As they slowly made their way away from the dock and out of the sheltered cove onto the main part of the river, the cold air really became apparent without the shelter of the trees once they were on open water.

“Maybe I should have told you to bring a coat,” Brandt said.

“I’m good,” Tempest said, holding out a hand with wisps already swirling around her fingertips. Almost instantly a blue fleece-lined flannel coat Brandt recognized as his own appeared in her hand along with a smaller red one for Tempest.

“Comes in handy to be able to just wisp things into being, doesn’t it?” he asked, winking at her as he took his coat from her.

“It does,” Tempest said, quickly slipping on the one she’d conjured for herself.

“Come stand by me, baby, I’ll show you how everything works and show you the landmarks out there, too, so you’ll be able to orient yourself while you’re out here.”

“See the tip of that land up ahead?” he asked, pointing.

“Yes. Is that ours, too?”

“Yep. That’s ours. It’s also the part we have the most trespassing on.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s more accessible than the rest, and further away from our houses. It’s about twenty acres sitting up here at the fork in the river and the bank is low so it makes it easy to get to. Anybody going by could decide to explore it. And they do, often. I’ve caught hunters on it. Had to remove traps from it.”

“I see it’s posted as private property,” Tempest said as they got closer to it.

“Yeah, but it was accessible for so long that people got used to having access to it and it’s hard to break them of that habit.”

“Was it public land before?”

“No, it was privately owned, but the owner died and his family don’t live down here, so there was nobody to enforce that it was private land. After we bought it, that changed and there are some people unhappy with it. They’ll get used to it, though. Eventually. I just have to be a hard-ass until they do. If you ever happen to hear a gunshot or the sound of an engine over here, let me know.”

“I will. It’s only accessible by boat, right?” Tempest asked.

“Boat, and through our property.”

Tempest nodded.

“You ready to try your hand at driving?” Brandt asked.

“I am!” she excitedly.

“Come on!”

The afternoon was spent with laughter and excitement as Tempest drove them up and down the river for several miles in each direction, repeatedly, and Brandt smiled proudly and laughed as he watched her perfect her new skill.

When they were tying the boat up at the dock, Brandt stood up slowly from where he’d been securing the boat and looked off toward their home. “Damn it,” he cursed softly.

“Is there a problem?” Tempest asked.

---